All my life I’ve been making banana bread when I could be making banana cookies. So here’s the recipe for that!
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Cheesecake Topped with Lemon Curd
These days, with everything going on in the world I’ve been cooking and baking much more than I normally do. Cookies, a big pasta dish, focaccia… To the point I’ve decided I’m going to start a curbside pickup service for my neighbors. Recipe below.
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Fig & Peach Galette
In early 2019 I did a very turbulent apprenticeship at a bakery here in Houston that shall remain unnamed. There I discovered that professional kitchens aren’t for me. That’s because the whole hospitality and service industry in the U.S. is trash, but that’s beside the point. I learned how to make a bangin’ galette dough, though. The secret is apple cider vinegar.
Ingredients:
Catalan traditions: Panellets
Being in a relationship with someone from a completely different culture than I am surely is enlightening. Each time we enter a new weather season there’s a new tradition to be immersed in. This has made me begin a series within my blog where every time I try a different tradition, I’ll share it on here. Call it “Joanne and a series of catalan traditions” if you will. Fall brings ‘Panellets’. Panellets are probably the most traditional sweet pastries in all Catalunya. They’re made of almond flour, sugar and pine nuts. Think: marzipan with less sugar. Don’t tell Marc’s mom I compared them to marzipan.
In Catalunya you know fall is officially here when pastry shops and grocery stores start getting ready for “La Castañada” (the chestnut party). It’s the holiday where everyone take the streets to eat roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes. I like to think of it as a street food festival. Everyone is drinking moscatell and eating chestnuts and sweet potatoes. On the following morning, to cure your moscatell hangover you eat panellets (I made up the hangover part). This weekend I learned how to make them, these you don’t enjoy on the street, you have them at home, I made them with guidance from Marc’s mom (Lourdes), of course. Not as traditional without a Mama present. But don’t worry, I’ll show you guys how to make them!
This is what you’ll need to make pine nuts, cherry, coconut, and membrillo (quince cheese) panellets:
Apple Pie Pastelitos
My mom hosted the gnarliest girls night at home when I was a kid. To a five-year-old me, they were wild and insane. But now, in hindsight it was probably the only relaxation time she had with our family and her friends. It consisted in all of my aunts and their friends coming to the apartment and playing bingo. Also, some light gambling. I remember playing under the table while they gossiped about things I can’t remember or were beyond me. It was awesome. I remember feeling like a grown up (at 5!) just by being surrounded by the amazing women in my life. Also, my grandma was the fucking boss.
Often when they couldn’t play at home, they’d go to an underground bingo at the 181st subway station in Manhattan. My mom would take me with her when she couldn’t get one of my cousins or brothers to look after me. She doesn’t believe in baby sitters. So I would go there and hang out. But sitting down on a table wasn’t my thing. I would fidget and it was just terrible. I remember being restless and annoying so she’d leave me at the cafeteria with my brother’s godmother, Miriam. It’s the only place where I’d sit still. There, Miriam taught me how to make pastelitos. Pastelitos are pastry in the shape of small pockets. They’re also known as empanadas. Often filled with savory fillings such as chicken, beef, cheese, or sweet fillings like guayaba. I perfectly remember closing the little pockets with a plastic fork so vividly. My biggest responsibility in life at that moment: don’t let the filling spill. This memory came rushing to me as I was making these little hand pies on a Saturday afternoon, so I just had to share. Anyway, it’s fall! Time to bake pies nonstop, apple pie to be specific!
Sunday Quiche: El antojo
¿Nunca les ha pasado que hay veces que tienen cierto anhelo por algo que rara vez tienen en su vida? Ya sea tener a un ser querido cerca, leer un buen libro o como en mi caso: comer un buen pedazo de quiche. Para serles honesta no recuerdo la última vez que comí quiche aparte de esta tarde. Pienso que quizás fue en un desayuno de trabajo o algo así, la verdad es que no tengo ni idea pero desde hace una semana o así, tengo tremendo antojo de comer uno… Desde la semana pasada tengo los ingredientes en la nevera pero por alguna razón no la hice. Ese ya no es el caso, porque hoy me desperté con esas ganas de hacer cosas, como hacer un quiche y darle cariño al blog y aquí está:
Quiche de champiñones, cebollas y queso Parmesano.
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Galletas de avena, canela y semillas de calabaza.
Desde que me mudé a Barcelona hornear dulces, pasteles o tartas se me da muy mal, ya que con eso de las conversiones de gramos a tazas y me ha dado mucha pereza comprar una taza de medir y soy torpe y me gusta quejarme y la vida es así o te ajustas a los cambios o haces mierdas de galletas y pasteles, entonces eso precisamente he hecho, he aprendido a convertir tazas a gramos y bueno, hoy he hecho galletas.
Estas galletas son el resultado de un gran antojo que vino de la nada, y por pereza y miedo de ir a comprar un paquete a alguna repostería y que no me gustasen, preferí editar una receta de uno de mis blos favoritos, ya que he hecho algunas recetas de ahí y siempre terminan siendo divinas, igual no los aburro más y les cuento la receta de mis Galletas de Avena, Canela y Semillas de Calabaza.
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