Apple-Cranberry Fruit Crisp

As we approach the year’s end once again, food seems to gain more and more attention, with desserts in particular gathering the majority of it. My workplace seems to revolve around food to a large degree on a normal basis and so as you might imagine, this time of year requires a huge reservoir of willpower even from the most devout of the health conscious. This week we  exemplified that with our first Autumn potluck in which we had to make a dish beginning with the first letter of our last name (no, I did not orchestrate this). Being as how I had about 4 pounds of Granny Smith apples on hand, an apple crisp was the first thing that popped into my head.

Sablés or Butter Cookies with Apricot Jam

My sister makes the best Sablés cookies ever.  Sablés are butter based cookies filled with apricot jam (home made in my case). They probably one of the rare things that don’t include chocolate and that I love.

I have been willing to learn to make them for some time now, but her visits were always short because the kids had to go back to school. But with the benefit of the summer vacation she has been paying us a visit since Tuesday and what better than a long visit to learn.

Scones for Tea?

My daughter came home from school on Thursday with an invitation from her teacher for full tea at high noon on Sunday. She seemed excited about the idea as you might expect most little girls would be prior to such an event. What girl doesn’t like the idea of dressing up, using dainty table settings, and practicing her outrageous British accent for an hour or so? The invitation was for seven girls in her class and at the bottom it read “You may bring food or snacks appropriate for afternoon tea,” along with an in-character reference to parents’ vehicles as carriages when announcing child pick-up times.

Knefeh Surprise

Last Thursday, my nephews’ and niece’s Easter vacation started. Marc my sister’s second, decided he wanted to stay at Grandma’s till Saturday, when his family will come to pick him up and take him home.

Marc, I noticed, has taken quite an interest in cooking along the last couple of years. Whenever I am in the kitchen, he rushes in saying:”A vos ordres, Chef!”  (At your orders, Chef!). Marc also is a huge Knefeh fan. So it seemed like a great Saturday morning activity with him, to surprise his family.

A Knefeh Dessert Experience

Last weekend was the perfect opportunity for me to make the knefeh for the challenge. I wanted my family to try it since it is not something that one finds on the average menu here in the USA. So after the kids finished school for the week and the rain set in a bit, I decided I would prepare this for all the house’s cooped up occupants.

Challenge 13: Knefeh

Anyone visiting Lebanon, learns it is a must to try Knefeh: A sort of a cheese (or cream) pie, served in a special kind of bread with syrup.

Knefeh is usually eaten for breakfast, where pastry shops offer it hot on big trays from which they serve their customers.

Knefeh has another variation, made with ashta or clotted cream.

Also, this kind of sweets is pretty easy to make and people have had several versions they make at home. Today I am posting as a challenge Knefeh from scratch; even the dough of it (called Mafroukeh), that represents the crunchy part.

Guest Post: Chocolate Cupcakes

Mireille is one of our first blog followers and is my cousin/best friend at the same time. She always read our posts and shared her thoughts about them; she even tried cooking some with us. I have tried to bring her to share her experiences with us and she finally decided to join us in this guest post about cupcakes. Mireille is a Lebanese expat, living in Dubai. We Taste-Buds welcome her contribution to our blog and we hope she can share more of her cooking experience with us. Continue reading below to see Mireille’s take on cupcakes.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Cupcakes are generally not on my list of top desserts. However, I was convinced I could find a way to make them more like something I really enjoy. I browsed the internet in search of ideas and happened to come upon these delectable little treats, Black Bottom Cupcakes!

Chocolaty Cupcakes

I have decided to make the challenge on Wednesday. I know I am late to post, but between dealing with work and jet lag, I was surprised I was even able to pull it. Especially since it is a baking challenge and our regular readers probably already know how I feel about that.

The people who know me can tell also that I am no picnic when I lack sleep… So the circumstances were not ideal really to even make the cupcakes.  Zee also set the standard really high in her post, so don’t expect anything near that perfect!

Saying “Thank You” with Cup Cakes

As I have mentioned in the challenge entry, I had made the cup cakes as gifts for my colleagues at work. The cup cakes were easy and quick to make and I made them a day in advance and kept them in the fridge.