For Valentine’s Induced Sugar Cravings…

It’s Valentine’s Day, which means we all officially have permission to binge on chocolate bon bons and mushy, gushy romance stuff for a few days. In public. Which is fabulous.

The ginormous chocolatey store displays that are everywhere must be working, because I’ve been craving some sort of sweet thing for a couple weeks now. But, I haven’t quite been able to put my finger on what my tummy has been wanting. Cookies felt too sweet. Macarons seemed too risky to try this weekend. Brownies are out since I kind of OD-ed on them over the holidays. But, chocolate cake? That sounded just about right. But, to find one that is satisfying and gluten-free: Now, that’s a challenge.

Enter one of my new cookbooks, Béatrice Peltre’s La Tartine Gourmande. This recipe caught my eye when I first flipped through the gorgeous pages. Oh my gluten-free gods of goodness, it’s delicious, and it feels at least a little bit healthier than the typical box mix. So, if you find yourself suffering from a Vanlentine’s candy display induced craving attack tomorrow, whip yourself up one of these; it’s easier than it looks, I promise, and you can truly say, “I made it from scratch”…

Say Goodbye to Summer Cakes

Although autumn may officially be here, it’s been so damn hot and sticky lately that I figure summer isn’t going out without a fight. To honor that valiant effort, I thought I’d bake up one last summery treat to say farewell to my second favorite season.

I spotted this recipe it in some spare copy of Food & Wine back in July and when I saw St. Germain listed in the ingredients, I just had to make these (A little note: if you’re my friend and don’t know about St. Germain yet, we may need to reconsider our friendship…). My little kitchen is currently lacking a food processor, so I kept putting this recipe back in my “to make” pile. But, this weekend I think the humidity was giving me crazier ideas than usual, and I thought I’d improvise by trying this recipe out in the margarita blender instead. And guess what?

IT WORKED; they were delicious. Even the overcooked ones were amazing bites of spongey, sweet, citrusy, cool awesome. They were so good, I maaaay have licked the icing drippings and crumbs off the counter as I cleaned up. And bonus: they are wheat free (just make sure you get a wheat free almond paste!!).

Since I don’t want to pick up bad blog karma early on, I feel that I should send you here to pick up the recipe before we go further. Did you click on the here, yet? Good.