Daily Loaf

On Saturday, the Ybor Market put on its yearly Flan Fest, an event centered around celebrating the creamy dessert with everything from a bake-off to a flan-eating race.

28 competitors lined up with traditional and non-traditional variations of this cultural staple of local cusine to be judged on taste, presentation, and texture.

Entries included flans large and small, with mix-ins including citrus, cheese, alcohol, fruit, and even bacon (yes!  bacon flan!).

For $5, spectators were able to purchase VIP passes into the competition area, allowing them to sample as much of the competing desserts as their hearts desired. Read the rest of this entry »

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. A heart pierced by Cupid’s arrow is a traditional symbol of this special holiday honoring love and lovers, and giving someone a heart signifies bestowing your love on that person.

Each year at this time, the stores brim with red and pink heart-shaped boxes filled with all manner and form of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. I admit, I’m not above enjoying one, two or ten of these edible tokens of affection. After all, chocolate is even said to be an aphrodisiac. However, I’m married to a man who doesn’t like chocolate. Can you imagine anyone not liking chocolate!?!? Not only that, he doesn’t really care for sweets at all. (Someone tell me again why I married this man?) So, coming up with an sweet treat on Valentine’s Day that he might actually eat is a challenge all on its own.

Lucky for me, I have lots of friends. Some of these friends actually write bestselling cookbooks, like Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re looking for a decadent and delectable treat that’s also easy to make, look no further. These Caramel Crunch Bars are  cookie bars with a kind of caramelized, brown sugar shortbread base laced with a shot of espresso and studded with bits of chocolate. The bars are then topped with a layer of even more chocolate and finished off with a generous sprinkling of toffee bits. Even though there isn’t any actual caramel in the recipe, the cookie base bakes up gooey, crunchy and chewy all at the same time, with a rich “caramel-y” flavor. The perfect fake out! Read the rest of this entry »

(Editor’s note: This cake was chosen by our CL bake sale auction winner as the item she wanted made by Susan Filson. Enjoy.)

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Do you categorize your food by season? I do. It makes sense to cook with ingredients that are at their peak of freshness. Certain foods, by their nature are also more suited to particular times of the year. For example, it just doesn’t feel right to me to eat butternut squash in the middle of July. Likewise, I feel somewhat out of place serving up peach dishes in December.

I also tend to categorize desserts by season. I enjoy lighter, fruity desserts in warmer weather, and denser, richer ones in the Fall and Winter. One of my favorites is this a moist, rich and spice-laced Classic Carrot Cake, preferably with lots of little chunks of fruits and nuts inside. Oh yeah, and it’s gotta have a ton of rich, tangy, silky and fluffy cream cheese frosting slathered all over it too! Read the rest of this entry »

I happened onto this classic family recipe when a friend came over for a cookie baking project a couple of weeks ago. What I found was the yummiest ginger delicacy on the planet, with hints of spice and sweetness that balance perfectly. I’ll be making more for the holiday season- likely for work friends, and definitely with family later in the month. Not only are they festive and delicious, but very simple to assemble as well.

Note that you can really use light or dark brown sugar for these depending on your flavor preference. The molasses keeps them rich though, so I prefer light brown and find that it lets the cinnamon and ginger shine through in a big way. Be sure to mind the cooking time also to avoid overbaking, as they will firm up but stay chewy while they rest. The crisp exterior and moist middle are what make them so good days after they’re made!

Here’s the recipe: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Ev’rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Toys in ev’ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.

- James Pierpont (1857)

The holiday decorations are up. The Muzak in all the stores has been tuned to the “Christmas Lite” channel. Santa has been hanging out at the mall. Even the check-out ladies at the supermarkets have donned their elf hats and little light up wreath brooches. Yes folks, it is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas on the Suncoast, minus the snow of course!  Read the rest of this entry »

(Check out Vegan Thanksgiving part 1 and part 2.)

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Best. Cookies. Ever.

We need to talk about vegan almond-raspberry thumbprint cookies.

This is an amazing recipe. I found it two Thanksgivings ago, the first time I had to cook for myself as a vegan. I loved it so much, I decided to experiment with all kinds of vegan pastries and then give them out as Christmas presents (more about that next month, when I share some of my Starving Artist Tricks with you). Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, the temperature topped out around here at 86 degrees. The humidity was so high that when I stepped outside from my air conditioned digs, my sunglasses promptly fogged right up, forcing me to stumble my way to my car. That’s muggy, people!  Now I ask you – is that any way for autumn to behave? It’s November, for crying out loud!

I compensate by turning my a/c down really low and padding around the house in sweaters and big, woolly socks. Pathetic, isn’t it? Another way I console myself about this situation is to cook and bake warm, spicy things, using many of the fall fruits and vegetables I find at my local market. This lovely apple cake is one of them.  Read the rest of this entry »

Few things in life are certain.  We’re born. We die. And somewhere in between the two, we all get our hearts broken at least once. There’s no escaping it. It’s as inevitable as the rising and the setting of the sun.  That is the risk we take for the giddy, glorious feeling of being in love.

I’ve certainly experienced my share of heartbreak, beginning in the 5th grade when Benny Buffamante threw me over for Mary Rose Kelly. Who could blame him, really? With her big blue eyes and long, golden curls, she was adorable. Plus, she had three first names! How could I compete with that!?!?

I survived being spurned by Benny and lived to love again. And, of course, my heart was stomped on many more times in the process. I’d like to think that it made me stronger and more resilient. I’d like to think that, but the truth is that each time I lost in love, it hurt just as much as the time before. Thank heavens I met my Mr. Right before my tender heart was completely pummeled into a quivering, bleeding mass of mush!

Although I don’t normally advocate self-medicating with food, there are some situations where a decadent, sticky, gooey, creamy and chewy dessert is just what the doctor ordered — and a broken heart is one of them.  Allow me to introduce you to just such a treat: Break-Up Bars! Read the rest of this entry »

I get paid to decorate cakes. Or, rather, I get paid to teach other people how to decorate cakes.

A sweet deal, no pun intended. Helping others do what I love is a real hoot, and this summer’s class really churned out some nice ones.

Cake decorating is simple:

You need desire. You need drive. You must be able to focus. And your short term memory must be somewhat intact.

If you have all of the above, you’re good to go. Find yourself a book, a teacher, the necessary equipment, and get started. What you don’t already know, you’ll learn along the way.

You can start with this, the basic white cake recipe for the cakes we decorate in my class. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s nothing better than a warm slice of banana bread for breakfast slathered with some butter, and maybe even jam. Or peanut butter. I love the two tastes together in a sandwich, so why not put them in bread form? I decided to go a little nutty and combine the two for this quick bread concoction.

Quick breads (like this one) are very versatile and super easy to make, even for you novice bakers, and for those, like me, who are lazy and hate to measure out a jillion ingredients and wait for dough to rise, etc., etc. They also make a great treat for breakfast or a snack.
Read the rest of this entry »

Bread pudding is one of my favorite throw-together, quick and easy recipes. If you have at least these three items on hand, you can make the base pudding: bread (preferably day old and dry), eggs, and milk or heavy cream. It’s also a great go-to because it works for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. It just depends on the extra ingredients you throw in: sweet for breakfast or dessert, savory for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Plus, prep time is ten minutes or less. How great and versatile is that?  Read the rest of this entry »