kitchen diptychs

 

books and iced tea

i finally got around to buying some books that i’d been meaning to get: the tartine bakery in san francisco is one of my favorite cafes, and their cookbook is amazing, and the photos are beautiful! i also had to get pia jane bijkerk‘s new book, made in paris. and to top it off, while reading i also enjoyed my favorite summer drink: hibiscus mint iced tea!

mast brothers chocolate

when i was in san francisco last, i was lucky enough to stumble upon these amazing chocolate bars! these rugged and handsome  brothers, rick and michael mast have taken williamsburg by storm with their experimental chocolates. they pretty much do everything themselves in their lofty greenpoint warehouse and they use only certified organic cacao from co-op, fair labor farms in the dominican republic and the ocumare region of venezuela, which michael says produces the rarest and most valuable cacao. i also love the patterned paper they use and their beards! 

their website and blog

almond cinnamon + meringue biscuits

today i made these delicious biscuits from breakfast lunch tea, the rose bakery cookbook; which happens to be my favorite bakery in paris. these were inspired by austrian star biscuits, which are popular around christmastime. 

Makes 40-50 biscuits

4 egg whites

450 g (4 1/2 cups) confectioner’s sugar

juice of ½ lemon and grated zest of 1 lemon

320 g (3 1/3 cups) ground almonds

100 g (1/2 cup) finely chopped mixed peel – candied citrus peel

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

unsalted butter, for greasing

 

First make the meringue. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then, very gradually, add the sugar. When the mixture is very stiff, beat in the lemon juice.

 Set aside 200 g (6 ounces) of the meringue for the topping and put the remaining meringue in a bowl.

 Add the ground almonds, mixed peel, cinnamon and lemon zest.

 Mix until you have a dough-like paste, then chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

 Butter a baking tray and line it with parchment paper.

 Dust your work surface with sugar and roll jthe paste out to make a sheet 1 cm (1/2 in) thick. Cut into your desired shapes (stars, squares or rounds). Because the paste is sticky it is tricky to cut, so add more sugar or some flour.

 Brush the tops with the reserved meringue and leave to dry on the prepared for about an hour.

 Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / Gas Mark 4 and bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes until the bases are lightly golden. The tops should remain white and the bases must be soft and moist.

 Cool and enjoy.

world market

found some goodies at cost plus world market today! i remember these from when i was a little kid. 

don’t you just love the packaging? :D

 

organic honey granola

organic honey granola recipe

rose bakery cook book