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Bites from other Blogs

  • Add Arty Sarayiote’s Koulourakia from Herbivoracious to the list of cookies to make this holiday season. The sweet, sesame-topped cookie twists are fun to make and a great departure from cut-out cookies because they are shaped by hand. The recipe comes from Amy Sedaris’s cookbook, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, which is one of those cookbooks that is as fun to read as it is to bake from.
  • It’s always good to have a light and easy dessert option or two around the holidays, and Made Healthier‘s Light Pear Bread Pudding is a good one too add to the list. The bread pudding uses sweet Hawaiian bread and canned pears, so while it has a lot of flavor, it is a dessert that can be put together at the last minute without much fuss. Because the syrup from the canned pears are used in the recipe, very little extra sugar is added to it, but if you want to play with using fresh pears, a substitution with honey could probably be made.
  • Don’t be fooled by the presentation of these treats. Culinary in the Country‘s Miniature Sliders aren’t the hot and savory type. These sweet treats are made with cookie “buns” and have patties made with chocolate sandwiched between them. The devil is in the details, so be sure to get some little sesame seeds for the buns and red and yellow food gels/frostings to give the appearance of ketchup and mustard, as well as some green-tinted coconut for “lettuce.”
  • Farinata is a type of Italian flatbread or cracker that is made with chickpea flour. Kalyn’s Kitchen experimented with the very simple basic recipe with great results, making Farinata with Rosemary and Pepper. Kalyn likes this flatbread because farinata, as well as chickpea flour in general, is gluten free and is very low-glycemic, though the crispy versatility of this cracker should be enough to sell anyone on trying it out at least once.
  • There is no reason that pies need to be saved for dessert, and in fact winter is a great time of year to bake up a hot, savory pie for dinner. The Good Mood Food Blog has Mini Steak and Mushroom Pies to warm up with – the steam from the hot pies was even perfectly captured in the photos that accompany the recipe! The base for the pies start with cubed beef or steak, which is cooked with onions, garlic and mushrooms to make a kind of beef stew. Ladled into individual dishes, each is topped with puff pastry and baked until golden, then served hot.
  • Cranberry bread is one of my favorite holiday snacks, but adding a streusel topping to he otherwise simple combination takes the dessert up another notch. The Cranberry Streusel Cake from Amanda’s Cookin’ has fresh cranberries in both the cake and the streusel topping. The cake base is moist, and made with yogurt, while the streusel has a generous amount of cinnamon and crunchy nuts included in it.

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4 Comments
  • Kalyn
    November 19, 2008

    Hi Nic,
    Thanks for the shout-out for my farinata post. I really loved it, although David L. has verified my suspicion that the chickpea flour in Italy is much different than what we get here. Now I’m on the quest to find some of that so I can make a more authentic version!

  • Michael Natkin
    November 19, 2008

    Hi Nicole – thanks for the link to the cookies on Herbivoracious. That recipe really is a winner. Fun to make with kids too, they can help shape ’em.

  • Lori
    November 20, 2008

    Hi Nicole,
    Thanks for mentioning my pear bread pudding recipe. Hawaiian sweet bread makes such delicious breakfasts and desserts!
    Take care and Aloha!

  • Amanda
    November 20, 2008

    Hi Nicole!

    Thanks for the mention of the Cranberry Streusel Cake, it was definitely a hit in this house!

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