I much prefer gelato or frozen yogurt to ice cream. Ice cream tends to be a bit rich for me and I don’t love the way that it’s unctuousness seems to coat the inside of my mouth, making me incredibly thirsty. But while gelato and frozen yogurt are delicious, they don’t usually come with all the various extras that ice cream does, like peanut butter swirls, chocolate fudge ripples or cookie dough chunks. The easy solution to this was to, of course, add my own in.

I have a recipe for frozen yogurt that I really love. It’s sweet and creamy, with that slight tang from the greek yogurt that I use. It’s usually a struggle for me to resist eating it until after its been through my ice cream maker. But I’m always rewarded for my restraint.

After taking this batch out of the ice cream maker, I folded in some chopped up, frozen brownies. If you’re thinking that you won’t be able to restrain yourself when you have made a particularly good batch of brownies, don’t worry. The brownies I used were leftovers from a less-than-perfect, rather cakelike batch that froze suprisingly well. Not only do they actually taste better frozen, they keep for ages, just waiting to be added to things like frozen yogurt. But if you can set aside a few of the good ones, by all means do so. Take note that it is better to fold the chunks in once the yogurt is semi frozen, as the ice cream maker will break them up too much.

Do I really have to say what a fantastic combination this is?

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can simply pour the unfrozen yogurt mixture into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer. If you give it a good stir every 45 or 60 minutes, it will turn out quite well. The greek yogurt, again, is thicker than most ordinary yogurts, so I urge you to strain your yogurt for at least and hour or two over cheesecloth if you cannot find a thick yogurt at your local market.
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I find it difficult to write actual “recipes” for salads. In my experience, people do not often measure the amount of lettuce, tomato, etc. that they are adding. You add whatever you have on hand and you add how ever much of it as you want. Maybe people don’t eat a lot of salad at home because they are put off by this lack of black-and-white instruction. Maybe they are afraid of making a bad salad. Here’s the thing, though: you can’t really make a bad salad.

Sure, some salads are going to be better than others, but with vegetables, dressing and some sort of lettuce, you really can’t go too wrong.

I like my salads simple and this one is no exception. I used canned artichoke hearts and broke up some garlic toast crackers for croutons. The garlic toasts were a packaged version of crostini that came in a gift basket I received over Christmas. I hadn’t expected to use them, but they proved to be great crouton substitutes. The artichoke hearts were packed in water, not oil, which I find much too greasy. Everything else I already had on hand, like lettuce and light ceasar dressing. The whole thing proved to be incredibly delicious, light and refreshing, in a nice contrast to a lot of heavier winter fare.

This salad can be made for one or for ten. Use or as much or as little of the following ingredients as you want to, but be sure to use croutons of some sort, since a ceasar salad just isn’t the same without croutons.

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The temptation to do a vegan recipe for this round of Sugar High Friday was high, with a theme of avoiding sugar from our host, Sam, of Becks N Posh. I considered going this route for some time before choosing not to. Honestly, I make quite a few vegan recipes and often simply experiment with them because the challenge of baking without eggs is fun for me.

I specifically wanted to find a nonvegan recipe for this event, as it would give me a chance to experiment in baking without sugar, without taking into account anything else. Interestingly enough, though I’m certain that many other participants will find recipes to fit the theme, there did not seem to be a huge number of non-vegan recipes that didn’t use sugar at all.

I chose this Honey Tea Bread for its simplicity, as it only has a few ingredients (except for the spices, of course) and no added fat. It seemed almost too good to be tru to have a recipe for this even that was low in both fat and sugar, and yet this bread turned out to be delicious. It was easy to make and had plenty of sweetness, both from the honey, the tea and the dried fruit. I used Rooibos Vanilla tea, but a chai or other sweet-spiced tea would work very well in this recipe, too. The loaf has a crisp crust and a soft interior when it is freshly baked and makes fantastic toast, with a little bit of butter and extra honey optional, of course.

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The wacky cake (aka crazy cake) is sometimes known simply as a “dump cake”. Interesting and appetising (or not) names aside, it basically comes doen to one thing: this cake is made all in one bowl and has no egg, dairy or other animal products. It is leavened by the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar. The recipe originated in wartime, when there was a shortage of eggs, butter and milk, but managed to stand the test of time. This isn’t surprising at all if you have ever made one of these cakes, since they are supremely simple. In fact, if you are not using a bundt pan, the whole cake can be mixed in the pan.

The other reason they have stood the test of time is obviously the taste. These cakes have a moist, light texture and an excellent chocolate flavor. The interior of the cake, which unfortunately cannot be seen in the photo above, is quite dark and rich looking, though the cake has none of the heaviness that can result from “richer” chocolate cakes. I much prefer this sort of cake to dense ones, because I find that the relative lightness goes very well with coffee or tea, not to mention that I migh have room for a second piece.

There are lots of recipes, all with slight variations, for this cake as simple, one layer cake. Bundt recipes seem to be much more difficult to find. The advantage to using a simple square baking dish is, again, that the cake can be mixed entirely within it, but bundt cakes look a little more interesting and I’m willing to dirty one bowl when I cook.

The cake is actually vegan, but there is no way to discern that from tasting it (if you can ordinarily taste the eggs in your cakes, you might want to rethink the recipe you’re using). The glaze I made is not vegan, though I’m sure that vegan equivalents could be substituted. It’s thick and chocolatey, as well as easy to pour. It also sets firmly, so it is easy to slice through. It makes a great bundt glaze for a 9 or 10-inch cake, but could just as easily be spread on top of a round or square cake. The richness of the chocolate glaze is the perfect contrast to the light, delicious texture of the cake and the cake as a whole turns out to have a peasantly dark chocolate taste.

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A while back, I saw a picture of some luscious looking cream cheese cookies at dessert comes first. Shortly thereafter, I received an e-mail request for cheesecake cookies. I knew I had to try.

Cream cheese in used in many cookie recipes to enrich and soften a butter dough, but the flavor is subtle and often blends in with the butter. If you are told that there is cream cheese in the dough, you might taste it, but otherwise it is not an obvious flavor. This was the biggest challenge to overcome, since too much butter would overwhelm the cream cheese. I settled for an equal amount of butter and cream cheese. I needed enough flour to give the cookies a nice, stable texture and used an egg to bind everything together.

I have experimented a bit and this is the best version I have come up with so far. They are soft, chewy and definately remind me of cheesecake, though perhaps cheesecake crossed with a sugar cookie. I did not include any vanilla because I didn’t want to mask the relatively delicate flavors, though a little bit surely wouldn’t hurt. Don’t over bake them or they will firm up and loose that soft cheesecakey texture.

These cookies keep very well, so you can store them in an airtight container for several days.

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When I think of a rustic bread, I picture long, slow rises and large holes punctuating the chewy interior of a dark, crispy loaf. It has to be hand-shaped, too. I don’t generally think of short rises and a fine crumb or texture. I chose to call this bread semi-rustic because it seems to have properties of both categories.Both the feel and flavor of the bread give it a sense of rusticity. There are no large, chewy holes here, but the bread does have a medium, fairly open crumb. It is a darker loaf with a crisp crust, and cutting it into wedges gives it a very casual edge when it comes time to serve it. Of course, it is still fairly quick to put together, with no overnight rises and the use of active dry yeast.

The secret to the bread is that I added some masa harina - the finer, lime-treated type of cornmeal used in tortilla making - which gave the bread a slightly coarser texture than most breads and a hint of corn tortilla flavor. The hint of lime (as in limestone, not the citrus) is what really makes the bread different.

Rustic or not, this bread is unusually tasty. It is particularly good with butter or used to sop up soup (try a spicy soup with it). You will get the best results with bread flour, as the higher protein content will help the bread to rise .

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