Spring & Summer Cooking Classes

Spring & Summer Classes are posted at PCC. I'll be teaching Mexican Fiesta this quarter.

Mexican Wedding Cookies are just a few of the hands-on recipes that I'll be sharing this season.

Unveiled for the summer these buttery cookies will be served with a scoop of my Mexican Hot Chocolate Gelato and juicy berries. A play off of a traditional wintry dessert cozied up next to a steaming mug of Mexican Hot Chocolate, the perfect treat after playing in the snow. The summer version is equally delicious after a day at the beach or a long day spent gardening in the sun.

Hope to see you all there!

Happy Cooking!

A Day of Dahlia Desserts

Dahlia Bakery
4th Avenue, Seattle

Fig Bars

Thai Noodle Palette

Tamarind is a must for Thai noodle dishes! That is the funky brown pulp in between the reddish orange chile paste and the garlic cloves. Starting at the Tamarind paste and traveling clockwise...next up garlic cloves, fresh lime, rice noodles, shallots, ginger or galangal and chile in some shape or form, whether fresh, paste or dried.

Palm sugar, Oyster Sauce & Fish Sauce are also traditional Thai ingredients.

Chocolat & Sel Gris

Chocolate + Butter + Sugar = Buttercream

I whipped up this decadent buttercream for my nieces' 16th birthday! Her favorite cake combination this year is lemon & chocolate. So I made cupcakes using one of Martha Stewart's lemon cake recipes. I scooped out the center of each cupcake and filled with lemon curd then frosted with my Dark Chocolate Buttercream.

For the Dark Chocolate Buttercream, of course I happened to have two 3-ounce Rich 70% Theo Chocolate Bars lying around therefore I broke them into bits and melted in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. After the chocolate was melted I cooled to room temperature. Then creamed together 2 sticks of unsalted butter with a scant 2 cups of powdered sugar and a pinch of sea salt until light and fluffy. Finally, the addition of the cooled melted chocolate for flavoring. This recipe can be adapted to suit your frosting fancy. Leave out the chocolate and cut back on the powdered sugar a smidgen then add a tablespoon of vanilla extract and half of a pod of vanilla bean seeds for a basic Vanilla Buttercream or add a touch of pure maple syrup for a Maple Buttercream, lemon zest or orange zest for a hint of Citrus. This recipe creates enough buttercream to frost at least 18 cupcakes!

Buon Compleanno Miss N!

xoxo Auntie

My Gluten-Free Belly...The Tale of a New Blog

Come and check out my new blog, my gluten-free belly. A place where I'm sharing my gluten-free and mostly dairy-free recipes. I'll still be here at honey-dumplings; cooking, writing, snapping photos & eating, of course.

my gluten-free belly is for those of us that are curious about ancient grains, whole-grain cookery, allergy-free cookery & anyone who is up for an exploration of the gluten-free kitchen.

Hope to see you there!

Winter In Tuscany

This warming winter stew simmers up quickly for a delicious dish any day of the week. Dried herbs are always a quick way to perk up any winter meal. We are lucky here in the PNW as we have World Spice Merchants for our dried herbs, sea salt & chile needs.

This meatball stew was inspired from my winter spent in Tuscany almost a decade ago now. Best served with a few slices of rustic crunchy bread! For those gluten-free folks try this lovely loaf.

Top with a few shavings of Parmesan. For those dairy-free folks, I think it's best just to leave out the cheese as I don't believe that there is any substitute for REAL cheese, sorry. This dish is just as satiating without it.