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You Put the Lime in the Coconut

Lime-In-The-Coconut Macaroons

Could this holiday weekend be off to a better start? There’s no snow in the forecast and it’ll be warm enough to ditch my coat! SPRING IS HERE, and not a moment too soon!

To celebrate, here’s a little gluten-free treat that’s appropriate for both Passover and Easter, which overlap this year. I’ve posted about macaroons several times, but these Lime-in-the-Coconut Macaroons are a delicious spin on the original. The lime zest and reader-recommended tablespoon of juice are a perfect complement to the coconut shavings and put me in a tropical state of mind, which this glorious weather only encourages. Spring fever: Catch it!

And really, how gorgeous are these eggs from Nina’s Red Barn Farm? They’re practically ready for Easter without any dyeing at all.

A Crêpesplosion in My Kitchen

The Crêpes of Roth (and Bialas!)

When Gil and I visited Quebec City last July, I toured the city on foot during the day while he was working. My very first stop was the year-round farmers’ market down along the water. It was July, so produce was abundant and I ate my fill of flavorful wild blueberries and local cheeses, but once I tried Marche ou Crêpe, my breakfast for the week was decided. No tourist trap, this; it was out of the way enough that I never ran across huge crowds, plus I enjoyed a delicious crêpe each morning that sustained me through a day of climbing the hilly, winding streets.

Since then, I’ve tried my hand at making crêpes from time to time without much success — my sad little pancakes tear or fold over on themselves, inevitably imperfect thanks to my substandard technique — so when Kasha suggested a cooking/shooting play date around the theme of crêpes, I jumped at […]

Day 15, Sweet Potato Pie

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 15

Today, we liberate sweet potato pie from the tyranny of Thanksgiving! We free it from the bonds of turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans! No more shall this dessert be relegated to one holiday when 364 days of the year are so glaringly sweet potato pie-deficient. Radiating a spirit of Christmas generosity, give the world a slice of heaven; I assure you, no right-minded pie-eating person could deny it.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 15

Like a lot of people, I grew up eating pumpkin pie, which was fine because I didn’t know better; the spices were there, but the flabby, wet consistency was a turnoff. I grew up with this idea that sweet potato pie could be amazing because my dad gets this dreamy look in his eyes when he talks about the ones his co-worker used to bring in. But he never tried to duplicate them at home, so sometime in adulthood I discovered sweet potato pie on my own […]

Day 12, Churros & Chocolate

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 12

When Gil and I visited Madrid for a week in October (it was for work! really!), I fell head over heels in love with the city. It wasn’t just the beautiful scenery (though it was a feast for the eyes), or that there seemed to be one restaurant per resident (though dining establishments were numerous and mostly quite good) or the flirtatious old men (though they were wonderfully, shamelessly mischievous). No, my friends, it was the churros.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 12

We needed a pick-me-up the day of our arrival, and I insisted upon visiting Chocolateria San Ginés, where I discovered the wonders of the churro. You may wonder why a gluten-free blogger went straight for fried dough. A fair question! When I travel, I throw aside gluten-free considerations and indulge, knowing I’ll pay the price. And while my joints got progressively worse, it was tolerable — nothing like the hobbling I’d experience here if I’d eaten even a fraction of that wheat. So yay, […]

Day 8, Macaroons

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 8

For our Save the Date wedding cards, Gil and I originally wanted something along the lines of, “A Cajun Mennonite and a Jew walk into a bar…” Upon further reflection, we decided fielding questions or hearing the end of the joke from a couple hundred people while we were planning a wedding in another city wasn’t the brightest idea, so the card defaulted to more traditional wording. But you can see that, right from the very beginning, we knew how to blend.

While we both came into this thing with an appreciation for Mel Brooks and Faulkner House Books, Gil has taken on LSU football and the whole “Christmas with a large family + boudin” thing with gusto, and I’ve learned to appropriate a few of his holidays while putting a southern spin on them. Example the first: Pecan-Brown Sugar Macaroons.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 8

. . . with bourbon vanilla extract and drizzled chocolate! Happy Hanukkah, y’all! (I know I should be frying something instead, but these are […]

Day 5, Orange-Scented Rice Pudding

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

It’s a real joy to reach into the fridge for prepared ingredients and pull together a new dish in no time flat. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know I made extra rice for the smoked turkey gumbo on Day 2 and was left with orange sugar syrup from yesterday’s candied orange peels, so I added just a few staples and came up with this quick, elegant rice pudding.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

The orange flavor wasn’t assertive at all, but the scent was divine. To send it over the top, add a little orange flower water.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

Garnish individual cups with a sprinkle of cinnamon, add a few candied orange peels, and you could serve this to guests who’d never know they were eating leftovers. Hah!

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

Day 1, Mini Apple Pies

Hello, and welcome to this year’s Advent Calendar! Are you in the holiday spirit now that December’s here? Maybe you’re the organized sort with your shopping done and presents wrapped. Maybe you’re dreading the idea and hope to put it off for another day. If so, consider yourself among friends; have a glass of prosecco and hang out for a bit. If you’re looking for inspiration, I’m here to help! My goal with this series is to post every day till Christmas with gift ideas and recipes (many southern-inflected, all gluten-free). Think of it as my own NaBloWriMo, only my failure is guaranteed the posts are planned to end on Christmas day. Wish me luck; it’s a huge undertaking for someone who typically posts once a month.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 1

You won’t find sweet stuff here everyday, but let’s start off with a bang, shall we? For your consideration, mini apple pies: all the goodness of the deep dish version, but portable, adorable and (hint, hint) perfect for giving. If […]

Panna Cotta

gluten-free dessert

Gil and I go to Fairway entirely too often, or more frequently than we need to, anyway. It’s usually because Gil’s running low on the only dried figs that meet his standards, but if you turn me loose in a well-stocked grocery, I’m going to do some damage whether I have a list or not. Gil and I tend to divide our labor unnecessarily; he pushes the cart while I scan the aisles, but he wanders off while I’m picking up groceries, so I spend the next 10 minutes looking for him. Fun times! But we never learn, so our last visit found me wandering around the produce section with my arms full when I spotted him back by the entrance, gazing longingly at fresh figs.

Which never last. That’s why he doesn’t buy them.

But these figs were calling his name, so he challenged me to do something with them before they turned brown and moldy, which usually happens within 3.7 seconds of hitting the fridge. They actually sat there like a ticking time bomb for three days before I got around to making this panna cotta, but […]

Two-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse

gluten-free dessert

I’ve had this chocolate mousse bookmarked since Food52 first posted it, but I’ve never had a great excuse (not that I needed any, I suppose) to make it until now. Gil was out of town for our sixth anniversary earlier this week, so I wanted to make something special for the weekend. I mean, there’s a beef heart thawing in the sink, but that’s maybe just a tiny bit less romantic than chocolate mousse.

gluten-free dessert

This an incredibly easy and forgiving recipe with only two ingredients — chocolate and water — so how can you mess that up? Just be sure to use the best chocolate you can, since it really shines here.

gluten-free dessert

My first batch didn’t really set (which is where the forgiving part of the recipe comes in), so I added a little more chocolate to the mixture then put the pot back over a low burner to melt. Starting over […]

Chocolate Cake!

gluten-free chocolate cake

I saw this chocolate-sour cream cake on Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn last week and simply could not get it out of my mind. A two-layer chocolate-sour cream cake! I had to make it. HAD TO. Because Gil’s birthday was just a few days ago, it gave me the great excuse I didn’t really need (because I have this here blog, you see). I used Jules Gluten-Free Flour in place of the AP flour in the original recipe.

gluten-free chocolate cake

So I got to work as soon as Gil left for for the office this morning, and it still took most of the day because I’m not much of a baker. Nor am I much of an icer, from the evidence presented above. Still, a crumb coat must be applied, no matter how messily.

gluten-free chocolate cake

I think it looked pretty nice once I was finished. And even though powdered sugar-based frostings […]