Caramel Pecan Brownies

The lovely Sarah O, in whose kitchen I baked scones last week, graciously lent me her Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook and I am adoring it.  The Macrina Cafe is located in downtown Seattle (there are other locations in Seattle as well).  I like it because it is a local chef but mostly because the bakery is delicious and so are these recipes.  These brownies are amazing.  Trust me, you should probably make them right now and be transported to gooey chocolate caramel heaven.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

I didn't make pumpkin pie this year for Thanksgiving.  I like to try to shake up Thanksgiving every now and then.  However, I didn't want total anarchy to ensure so I made pumpkin bread pudding as a replacement.  I still had a lot of people who looked shocked when I told them I wasn't making a pumpkin pie, but the actual people at Thanksgiving were perfectly satisfied by this.

Caramel Eclairs

I realize sometimes my idea of an easy recipe does not align with most people's ideas of an easy recipe.  I suppose if you've been cooking since you learned to read and you especially love trying new and complicated recipes, you may have a slightly skewed world view.  Specifically I think I say a recipe is easy if each step is easy, regardless of how many steps there are.  Perhaps instead I should say a recipe is straight-forward. 

Anyway, this is a recipe that is not easy, regardless of which definition I use.  To begin with, it is actually 3 different recipes, one for the dough, one for the cream filling and one for the icing.  The recipes themselves are a little finicky.  There really is no surprise here.  The French are renown for their pastries.  However, I know at least two good reasons to give it a try anyway.  First, if you are at all serious about learning to bake delicious desserts, you will eventually have to make a foray into French cooking.  Second, if you succeed no one will stop you from eating the entire batch of eclairs yourself.

Caramel Matzo Crunch

Happy Passover

Passover is the holiday that celebrates the Israelites' escape from Egypt, where they were slaves. With the help of 10 plagues (one of which involved the Angel of Death, who "passed over" the Jewish houses), Moses secured the release of the Jews. However, based on the whole slavery thing, the Israelites were not very trusting of the Pharaoh and worried he would change his mind so they booked it out of Egypt, not even allowing their bread to rise. God parted the Red Sea for them to escape and then let them wander through the desert for 40 years.