The Deeper Living

Skyr Tiramisu Parfaits

This lightened up version of the classic tiramisu is perfectly delicious and super simple to make! A classic, creamy homemade zabaglione custard is folded with Icelandic Provisions extra creamy coffee skyr and laid on top of espresso dipped lady fingers. Each parfait gets a showering of black cocoa powder for their signature look and a dark velvety finish.

Classic Tiramisu

• Serving: Makes about 3 individual 5 inch deep glasses

Ingredients:

For tiramisu custard

• 4 egg yolks

• ¼ cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons rum

• A pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• Big bowl full of ice/cold water

• 4.4 ounces of Icelandic Provision’s extra creamy coffee skyr (1 container)

• ½ cup of cold heavy cream

For coffee soaked ladyfingers

• ½ cup of strong coffee or espresso

• 1 scant tablespoon of white granulated sugar

• ⅛ teaspoon of espresso powder

• 1 teaspoon of coffee liqueur

• About 8-10 lady finger biscuits (look for the crisp variety they soak the coffee syrup better.)

• 2-4 tablespoons of good quality chocolate powder

• Chocolate bar, option for topping

Method:

1. In a heatproof bowl, combine egg yolks, sugar, brandy, coffee liqueur, salt, vanilla and whisk till smooth. Place bowl on top of a pot of barely simmering water to create a double boiler.

   • Note: Your bowl should be bigger than your pot so that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water. This allows for the eggs to gently heat up to create a silky custard while also pasteurizing the eggs. Too much heat can scramble your eggs.

2. Continuously and vigorously whisk the custard mixture over the heat until it is thick and the custard creates ribbons when falling from the whisk. The alcohol smell and taste should also cook off by this point. This should take anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes.

   • Note: If your custard is not thick by this point or the alcohol smell continues to linger, continue to vigorously whisk until you achieve that consistency and the alcohol smell cooks off. Vigorously whisking helps create a silky smooth custard without bits of egg cooking unevenly. Also, make sure to scrape the sides of your bowl with an rubber spatula constantly to make sure that the custard on the edges does not dry up.

3. Once your custard is done cooking, quickly remove it off the double boiler and place it in an ice bath. This will help the custard cool down quickly and prevent it from over cooking.

4. While the zabaglione custard is cooling, drain any liquid (whey) from your skyr. In a clean bowl add the drained skyr and he cold heavy cream and beat on low speed with your electric blender until they are incorporated. The mixture will not fully whip up into stiff peaks but that is okay.

5. Make sure your zabaglione custard is no longer warm. Strain the custard through a sieve to remove any overcooked bits.

6. Add the zabaglione custard to the whipped skyr and heavy cream mixture and gently fold them together with a rubber spatula until full incorporated.

   • Note: Gently folding will preserve the volume we created in the custard and the skyr mixture thereby giving us a light silky tiramisu.

7. Brew your cup of strong coffee/espresso, you may need more or less depending on your serving dish/dishes and the number of lady fingers you use. Pour the hot coffee/espresso into a shallow flat dish and whisk sugar, espresso powder and coffee liqueur. Let the mixture cool slightly.

8. Get your serving dish/dishes ready and dip the ladyfingers into the cooled coffee mixture just until they are 60 to 70% soaked.. Arrange the ladyfingers so they cover the bottom of your desired dish.

   • Note: Depending on the size of your dish you may have to break your ladyfingers into varying pieces after soaking so that they fit into the dish.

9. Once the lady fingers are arranged, evenly spoon the custard mixture between your dishes so it covers all the ladyfingers.

10. Once everything is assembled, dust a light layer of chocolate powder on top, wipe the edges of dish/dishes, cover and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

11. When ready to serve you can dust some more chocolate powder and chocolate shavings to create a more finished look. Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Bourbon Skyr Tart

Warm nutty brown butter graham cracker crust gets layered with a luxuriously silky, creamy vanilla bean bourbon skyr filling and gets topped with fresh juicy blueberries. The skyr creates a thick, sumptuous filling that rivals any cheesecake while being healthier and lighter! The vanilla and bourbon play off each other to create a delicately flavored filling that is truly addictive. It is super easy to whip up and is the perfect dessert to make ahead and serve after dinner. Dress it up and it will be an absolute show stopper for any party you attend this season!

Vanilla Bourbon Skyr Tart

• Serving: Makes 8 slices in an 8 inch tart pan or 9 squares in a 6x6 square pan.

Ingredients:

For Brown Butter Bourbon Graham Cracker Crust

• 6 whole graham crackers (90g)

• 3 tablespoons brown butter (42g)

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

• 1 ½ teaspoon brown sugar

• ¼ teaspoon bourbon

For Vanilla Bourbon Skyr Filling

• 2 whole 4.4 oz containers of Icelandic Provision’s extra creamy vanilla bean skyr (250g)

• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons of white granulated sugar (88g)

• 1 egg yolk (about 18g)

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

• ⅛ teaspoon bourbon

• pinch of salt

To Serve

• Blueberries or fruit of choice

Method:

First hang/strain your skyr:

1. Measure out the vanilla skyr and place it in a strainer lined with a paper towel (or cheesecloth) over a bowl. Wrap the skyr with the towel/cheesecloth and add a weight on top to help push the water out of the skyr. Wrap the strainer and bowl with cling wrap and place it in the fridge overnight to strain.

   • Note: By removing the extra liquid (the whey) the skyr tart will be thicker and creamier once baked.

Make the Brown Butter Bourbon Graham Cracker Crust:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

2. Grind the graham crackers in a mini food processor until they are uniform and fine. Set aside.

3. In a light colored sauce pan place butter and melt until it is lightly golden brown.

   • Note: Using a light colored pan makes it easier to see when the butter has browned fully. Be careful not to let the butter go too dark. As soon as the butter is golden, cut the heat and pour the butter out of the saucepan.

4. Combine brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, pinch of salt and the liquid brown butter until it resembles wet sand.

5. Press the graham cracker mixture evenly all over the pan, packing it down firmly so it is and evenly spread.

   • Note: If you are using a tart pan with a removable base: Spray the pan generously with baking spray or rub it with butter, this will help the tart slide out when removing the pan.

   • Note: If you are using a 6x6 square pan, create a double hang from 2 pieces of parchment. Use non-stick spray to adhere parchment to pan.  This will help you pull out the tart when it is done.

   • Note: Use a rubber spatula, an offset spatula or the bottom of a flat cup to smooth out the graham cracker base. All three are great tools to do this.

6. Once the crust is has been spread evenly, place the graham cracker crust into the 325 degree oven for about 5 to 7 minutes until golden and puffy. Once baked, let it cool while you make the vanilla skyr filling.

Make the Vanilla Bourbon Skyr Filling

1. Pull out the strained skyr from the fridge and discard any liquid/whey that has collected in the bowl underneath.

2. Combine the strained skyr along with the granulated sugar and whisk the mixture just until the sugar crystals are no longer gritty and are blended in.

   • .Note: Excessively mixing creates air bubbles in your tart which will lead to cracks and sinking when it bakes and cool. If possible try to whisk by hand to prevent overbeating.

3. Once beaten, add the egg yolk, vanilla extract, bourbon and salt and whisk just until combined and smooth.

4. Pour the skyr mixture into the cooled graham cracker crust and smooth it out so it is even.

5. Find an empty baking pan or oven proof dish and fill it with water. Place this dish/pan of water in the bottom rack of your oven. This will help cook the tart evenly.

   • Note: Rather than creating a water bath, this method provides the same amount of moisture without worrying about the tart getting wet.  Creating steam in the oven creates a sauna like environment which prevents the tart from cracking and provides more even cooking.

6.  Place the skyr tart into oven and let it bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or just until there is a slight jiggle in the middle when tapped.

   • Note: Keep a watch on your skyr tart because cooking times might vary based on the temperature of individual ovens.

7. Once baked, turn the oven off and let the cheesecake cool in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes with the oven door open. Then let the tart cool down to room temperature.

   • Note: This helps the tart cool gradually without shocking it too much. It also lets it finish cooking in a low latent heat.

8. Once cooled to room temperature, wrap the tart loosely in a foil and refrigerate it for at least two hours, or until fully chilled.

9. When ready to serve, decorate the tart with blueberries or fruit of your choice. Let the tart come to room temperature for serving. Enjoy!

Coconut Pineapple Zucchini Skyr Muffins

These fluffy, tender little muffins are the tropical escape you’ve been looking for. Icelandic Provisions creamy pineapple coconut skyr not only makes these muffins a pina colada paradise, but they bring an incredible amount of moisture and plushness to the texture of the muffin itself. The nutty streusel topping creates a crunchy textural contrast to the soft interior of the muffin and the lightly sweetened pineapple coconut skyr glaze takes these from snack material to after dinner dessert!

Coconut Pineapple Zucchini Skyr Muffins

Serving: Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

Pineapple Coconut Zucchini Muffins

• 1 cup all purpose flour (125 grams)

• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed (5 grams)*

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ cup dark brown sugar (65 grams)

• 2 tablespoons white sugar (25 grams)

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (45 grams)

• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil** (78 grams) (use virgin triple filtered coconut oil if you want a more subtle coconut flavor)

• 1 egg, at room temperature (about 54 grams)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ cup of Icelandic Provisions Pineapple Coconut extra creamy Skyr, at room temperature (125 grams, about one container)

• ¾ cup zucchini, lightly packed (145 grams, about 1 small zucchini)

• ¼ cup lightly packed, well drained crushed pineapple (65 grams)

Nutty Streusel

• 1 tablespoon flax meal*** (6 grams)

• 2 tablespoon ground pecans (20 grams)

• 1 tablespoon flour (6 grams)

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (28 g)

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, solid (13 grams)

• 1 tablespoon raw sugar, for sprinkling

Pineapple Coconut Skyr Glaze

• 2 tablespoon skyr yogurt (30 grams)

• 2 tablespoon powdered sugar (15 grams)

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

• Pinch of salt

• 2 tablespoon heavy cream, cold (30 grams)

Method:

Make Nutty Streusel

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a small bowl combine flax meal, ground pecans, all-purpose flour, dark brown sugar, salt and cinnamon and give it a good whisk so it is well combined.

3. Using solid room temperature coconut oil, rub the coconut oil through the dry ingredients until the oil is fully incorporated and the mixture takes on the texture of slightly wet sand. Set your streusel aside.

Make Muffin Batter

1. Grate your zucchini, measure it and set it aside. Drain your crushed pineapple well and set aside in a bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, add all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and ground flax seeds. Whisk all dry ingredients until combined and set bowl aside.

3. Melt your coconut oil until liquid and add dark brown sugar, white sugar and maple syrup. Whisk the coconut oil and sugars until well combined.

   • Note: Your mixture might look a little chalky in color but that is okay. You will still see sugar crystals after whisking for some time, but that is okay too.

4. Add your egg and vanilla extract to the coconut oil/sugar mixture and whisk well until the mixture is smooth and light in color.

5. Add your Icelandic Provisions creamy pineapple coconut skyr to the wet mixture and whisk until well combined. Once well whisked, gently fold in your dry ingredients until fully incorporated and batter is homogenous.

6. Fold in your grated zucchini and crushed pineapple and measure out your batter across the 12 muffin tins and sprinkle each muffin with your nutty streusel mixture and raw sugar.

7. Place the filled muffin tin into the preheated oven for about 20 – 23 minutes.

   • Note: These muffins are very tender due to the zucchini and pineapple so make sure to test with a toothpick towards to the end to make sure the muffin is cooked through the full way.

8. Once the muffins are done, let them cool for at least an hour.

Pineapple Coconut Skyr Glaze

1. While the muffins cool, you can prepare the glaze. Simply whisk Icelandic Provision’s creamy pineapple coconut skyr, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt until well combined.

2. While whisking, stream in cold heavy cream and whisk until you get a slightly thickened, whipped texture.

3. Drizzle glaze over cooled muffins. Top with some toasted coconut if desired for more tropical fun!

Notes:

• *If you do not have flax meal you can sub more all purpose flour in the muffins.

• **You can substitute your oil with a neutral olive oil or any other mild oil.

• ***If you do not have flax meal for the streusel you can sub more ground pecans

Mini Batch Zucchini Carrot Muffins with Crème Fraiche Whipped Cream

These fluffy tender muffins are a cross between carrot cake and zucchini bread with hints of cinnamon, pecan oat streusel, nutty flax seeds and the most delicious crème fraiche whipped cream.

Mini Batch Zucchini Carrot Muffins with Crème Fraiche Whipped Cream

Serving: Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

• 2 tablespoon butter, melted

• 3 tablespoon neutral oil

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon white sugar

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1 egg

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• ¾ cup all purpose flour

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ⅛ teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• Pinch of nutmeg

• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons shredded zucchini

• ¼ cup shredded carrots

Pecan Oat Streusel

• 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

• 2 teaspoons pecans

• 2 teaspoons ground oats

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• 3 tablespoon all purpose flour

• ⅛ teaspoon baking powder

• ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon

• Pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon raw sugar

Crème Fraiche Whipped Cream

• 1 ounce cream cheese

• 1 tablespoon crème fraiche*

• 1 tablespoon skyr yogurt or full fat Greek yogurt

• 2 tablespoon powdered sugar

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

• Pinch of salt

Method:

Make the Zucchini Carrot Muffin Batter

1. Melt butter and let it cool.

2. Add oil, brown sugar, white sugar, maple syrup and honey and whisk vigorously until the is creamy, opaque and homogenous.

3. Crack one egg into the mixture and whisk until fully combined.

4. In a separate bowl, combine all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground flax seeds.

5. Pour dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir everything with your spatula just until no flour pockets remain. Set aside.

6. Grate your zucchini and carrots on a medium sized grater and fold them directly into the batter.

7. Line 6 muffin tins with paper liners. Portion out batter between 6 muffin tins. Set aside.

Make Pecan Oat Topping & Bake Muffins

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grind oats and pecans in your food processor so they are roughly chopped but not fine. Place mixture in a bowl.

3. Add butter, brown sugar, all purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt to the oat and pecan mixture. Rub the mixture with your fingers until combined and crumbly.

4. Crumble this topping mixture evenly over all the muffins.

5. Sprinkle raw sugar over the muffins evenly.

6. Let muffins bake for about 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean.

Make the crème fraiche whipped cream

1. While the muffins bake, combine cream cheese, crème fraiche, yogurt, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, heavy cream and salt in a medium sized bowl.

2. Using a whisk, vigorously beat the mixture so it becomes fluffy and light. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Let muffins cool completely and then spoon the crème fraiche whipped cream over the muffins and enjoy!

Notes:

• *If you do not have crème fraiche you can substitute more yogurt or sour cream.

Triple Layer Golden Kiwi Popsicles

Bright and sweet, sun-kissed golden kiwis get prepared three types of ways to create the ultimate summery kiwi popsicle. The top layer is a super creamy vanilla kiwi frozen yogurt type situation, while the second layer is a tart and refreshing golden kiwi and lemon sorbet. Finally, the last layer mixes my favorite creamy coconut pina colada along with golden kiwi puree to make a delicious kiwi colada!

Triple Layer Golden Kiwi Popsicles

• Serving: 5-8 (Depends on your popsicle mold

Ingredients:

Lemon-lime Golden Kiwi Sorbet Layer

• 3 large golden kiwis (about 1 ½ cup, 300g) (I used Zespri’s because they are so sweet)

• ½ lemon juiced (1 ½ tablespoon, 25 g)

• ½ lime juiced (1 tablespoon, 6 g)

• 2 tablespoon maple syrup, (40g)

• Hefty pinch of salt (about ⅛ teaspoon)

Vanilla Golden Kiwi Frozen Yogurt Layer

• ¼ cup of full fat vanilla Icelandic skyr or Greek yogurt (120g) (I use Icelandic Provision’s Krimi skyr)

• 1 teaspoon golden syrup (7g)

• ¼ cup of the Lemon-lime golden kiwi mixture (65g)

Kiwi Colada Layer

• ¾ cup frozen pineapple (160g)

• ½ lime juiced (1 tablespoon, 6g)

• ½ cup full fat coconut cream (120g)

• 1 tablespoon of full fat vanilla Icelandic skyr or Greek yogurt (15g)

• 2 teaspoon good quality Rum (12g) I used Plantation Rum

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (10g)

• 1 tablespoon golden syrup (10g) (I use Lyle’s golden syrup, if you don’t have it you can easily substitute maple syrup)

• 2 tablespoons of the Lemon-lime golden kiwi mixture (27 g)

To Decorate

• Peeled golden kiwi wedges (you’ll need about 1 kiwi)

• Lemon zest

• Lime zest

Equipment:

• Popsicle Mold - I used this one but feel free to use whatever you like! This one makes about 6 popsicles.

  • You might have a little extra filling left over in some layers. Feel free to chill it and drink as a chef’s snack or freeze them as ice cubes and blend as a frozen drink for later!

Method:

Lemon-lime Golden Kiwi Sorbet Layer

1. Peel your golden kiwis, and make sure to cut the ends off.

2. Add peeled kiwi, lemon juice, lime juice, maple syrup and salt into your blender and blitz it until it super smooth and the seeds are no longer whole. The mixture should be a light beige color.

3. Set aside in a bowl and rinse your blender.

Vanilla Golden Kiwi Frozen Yogurt Layer

1. Combine the vanilla yogurt, golden syrup and the ¼ cup of lemon-lime golden kiwi mixture with a spatula until smooth, set aside.

Kiwi Colada Layer

1. Add frozen pineapple, lime juice, coconut cream, vanilla yogurt, rum, maple syrup, golden syrup and 2 tablespoons of the lemon-lime golden kiwi mixture to your blender and blitz until smooth and no pineapple chunks remain.

2. Set aside in a bowl.

Assembly

1. Gather all your popsicle layers and your popsicle mold as well.

2. If you are using a flat popsicle mold like I have, arrange your kiwi wedges and insert your popsicles sticks as well.

3. Prop your flat popsicle mold on a small 1 inch dish or level to help with layering. This helps the top layer stay on top.

4. Pour about a tablespoon of the vanilla golden kiwi frozen yogurt layer at the very top of your mold. It will slide a bit but that’s okay. Place your popsicle mold in the freezer for at least 2 hours with the 1 inch dish underneath to help the mixture stay in place.

   • Note: If you aren’t fussed about distinct layers, go ahead and spoon the lemon lime kiwi sorbet layer and then the kiwi colada layer as well until the mold is ⅞’s full. The mixture will expand as it freezes so it is good to give it room.

   • Note: If you are using a top fill popsicle mold, you can pour your first layer of popsicle mixture and let it freeze. Cover the mold and insert your popsicle sticks.

5. Once two hours have elapsed, your mixture should be sort of solid, you can scrape and adjust the top layer with your spoon to create a clean layer and then spoon the lemon lime golden kiwi sorbet mixture, follow the same step as above with the once inch level and the two hour freeze time.

   • Note: If you are using a top fill popsicle mold, you can now pour your second layer of popsicle mixture along with the kiwi wedges and let it freeze.

6. Repeat step five again with the kiwi colada mixture. Make sure not to fill your mold more than ⅞’s way. The mixture will expand as it freezes.

   • Note: If you are using a top fill popsicle mold, you can now pour your third layer of popsicle mixture let it freeze.

7. Once all the layers have been assembled, clean the edges of your popsicle mold and let it freeze for at least 12 hours.

8. Once the popsicles are fully frozen, unmold them and eat them 🙂

9. If you have any extra popsicles that you won’t be eating right away, store them in an airtight container in the freezer. It helps if you place a piece of wax paper between the popsicles to prevent sticking.

Nectarine & Brown Butter Whiskey Frangipane Galette

Lushly tart and bright honey hued nectarines get bathed in a sumptuously fragrant brown sugar, vanilla whiskey sauce and layered over a deeply nutty brown butter almond frangipane. All that nectarine and frangipane goodness gets wrapped in an all butter crust to create the most rustic summer galette. Drizzle this beauty with some salted caramel sauce and serve with some classic vanilla ice cream for the perfect summer dessert.

Nectarine & Brown Butter Whiskey Frangipane Galette

• Serving: 5-6

Ingredients:

All Butter Crust

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• Pinch salt

• 1 teaspoon white sugar

• 8 tablespoons of butter, cold (113 grams)

• 3-4 tablespoons of ice water

Brown Sugar Whiskey Nectarines

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• squeeze of lemon juice

• Heaping ⅛ teaspoon salt

• ¾ teaspoon of vanilla paste

• ¼ teaspoon of your favorite whiskey

• 2 golden fleshed nectarines

Whiskey Brown Butter Frangipane

• 4 tablespoons butter

• ¼ cup +2 tablespoons of raw almonds

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons white sugar

• 1 tablespoons of all purpose flour

• ½ a teaspoon of vanilla paste

• ¼ teaspoon your favorite whiskey

• ½ an egg (roughly 25 grams)

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Assembly

• ½ an egg (roughly 25 grams)

• Raw sugar, for topping the crust

• Your favorite Salted Caramel Sauce

Method:

Make the All Butter Crust

1. Combine flour, salt and sugar and mix until combined.

2. Cut up ice cold butter into small one-inch cubes and set aside.

3. Add the butter pieces into the flour mixture and rub the butter in with you fingers you have pea sized chunks of butter.

4. Adding one teaspoon at a time, add a little bit of ice cold water into the flour mixture just until a dough comes together.

5. Gather the dough together into a ball and shape it into a disc and wrap galette dough tightly in plastic wrap and let it chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.

   • Note: Dough can be made night before as well.

Brown Sugar Whiskey Nectarines

1. Combine brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, vanilla and whiskey until mixture is combined.

2. Wash and slice your nectarines so that they are about less than ½ inch thick and then toss them into the brown sugar mixture. Let them sit and marinate while you make the frangipane.

Whiskey Brown Butter Frangipane

1. Melt butter on the stovetop until just lightly golden brown and fragrant.

2. While the butter cools, grind almonds, brown sugar and white sugar in food processor until it becomes a fine paste.

3. Crack one egg in a separate bowl and whisk well. Pour half (about 25 grams) of the whisked egg into your food processor, reserving the other half for later.

4. Add cooled brown butter, all purpose flour, vanilla paste, whiskey, salt and pulse till combined and thick. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F degrees.

2. Pull out chilled galette dough from fridge, unwrap and place it on precut parchment paper (roughly the size of your baking tray)

   • Note: By using a parchment paper you can easily move your galette onto your baking tray.

3. Roll the dough out to be ¼ inch thick circle. Make sure to work with dough quickly so that it remains cool.

   • Note: The colder your pie dough, the flakier your crust will be. If you find that your dough is very hard to roll out because of how cold it is, hit the dough firmly with your rolling pin to help it soften a bit. As you keep rolling in small motions, you will find it more pliable. If your dough feels a little tacky when rolling, sprinkle a little flour while you roll or stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

4. Once the dough has been rolled out, mark a 2 inch border with a knife. This will be the flap you fold over to make your galette.

5. Spread your frangipane mixture evenly within the confines of your border and top the nectarines along the frangipane, making sure to not have any nectarines stick over the border. Don’t overcrowd your galette. You may have a few nectarines left over. Pour a little bit of the nectarine sugar mixture on top of the nectarines, like a tablespoon or so.

6. Fold over the border of galette dough over the nectarines and frangipane mixture and make sure no nectarines or filling are spilling out. Rearrange your nectarines as needed.

7. Brush the galette dough with the remaining egg you reserved from earlier and sprinkle generously with raw sugar along the sides and top of the galette.

8. Slide your parchment paper with the galette onto your baking sheet and bake for about 35 to 37 minutes or until crust is golden and nectarines look kind of shriveled.

   • Your frangipane might look a little undercooked but it should firm up by the time you let it come to room temperature. If you feel that the frangipane needs to cook a bit more you can turn your oven off after 37 minutes and leave the galette in the oven for a few more minutes. The residual heat should cook the frangipane fully.

9. Let the galette cool for about 10 - 15 minutes once out of the oven so it can firm up. When ready to server, drizzle warmed up salted caramel all over the galette and sprinkle some raw sugar. Slice your galette and enjoy it plain or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Super Chewy & Soft Cinnamony Gingerbread Friends.

These gingerbread cuties are seriously the most chewy, soft gingerbread cookies I’ve had! They are lightly spiced and have the perfect amount of cinnamon, ginger and molasses. I don’t like my gingerbread cookies to be too spiced but these are the perfect balance of sugar and spice and everything nice 🙂 They are just delightful to each right out of the oven.

Super Chewy & Soft Cinnamony Gingerbread Friends

• Recipe adapted from: Handle the Heat

• Serving: Makes about 25 - 30 cookies

Ingredients:

Gingerbread Dough:

• 2 ¾ cups + 3 tablespoons all purpose flour (372 grams)

• 1 tablespoon corn starch

• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, I used McCormick

• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• a pinch of allspice powder, optional

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (170 grams)

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (130 grams)

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla paste

• 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses (36 grams)

• ¼ cup dark corn syrup (79 grams)

• 3 tablespoons of golden syrup or light corn syrup (57 grams)

• 1 egg

Simple Vanilla Icing:

• 1 cup of powdered sugar (125 grams)

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

• Pinch of salt

• 1-2 tablespoons of milk

Method:

Gingerbread Cookies

1. Prepare your gingerbread dough by whisking flour, cornstarch, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mixing until combined. Set aside.

2. In a new bowl, beat butter and dark brown sugar until it is combined and smooth. The butter and sugar should be homogenous.

3. Add an egg to the butter mixture and beat until fully combined.

4. Add in the flour mixture a bit at a time and blend on low speed until no flour pockets remain. Do not overbeat!

5. Gather the dough and shape it into a disc and cover with plastic warp. Let the dough chill in your fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6. Once the dough has chilled, let it stand at room temperature for a few minutes.

   • Note: The dough needs to thaw out a bit so it is easy to roll. To see if it is ready, give it a press with your finger to see how soft it is. It should indent with a little force.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your baking trays with parchment while the dough thaws.

8. Once the dough is thawed, cut the dough in half. Place half the dough back in the fridge wrapped in plastic and place the other half of the gingerbread dough between two large pieces of wax or parchment paper.

   • Note: Working with less dough will make it more manageable to roll. Also it’ll prevent your dough from getting to warm and soft, making it hard to cut shapes.

9. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness.

   • I like to use rolling pin rings to get a consistent thickness.

10. Pull off the top piece of parchment and using your desired cookie cutter, begin to cut out your shapes. Place your cut out shapes on your pre lined baking sheets. Give each cookie at least ½ an inch of space.

    • If your dough has become too sticky to cut, place it in the freezer for a few minutes and then try to cut out your shapes.

11. Bake the cookies for about 8-12 minutes, or until the cookies are set and begin to turn golden. It is okay if the cookies look a little underdone, this ensures that the cookies are soft and chewy.

    • Note: The baking time will vary based on the size of your cookie cutter.

12. Re-roll your gingerbread dough scraps until it is unified again and place it in the fridge to firm up. You can work on the other half of the dough while the rerolled scraps firm up.

13. Repeat the steps until all the dough is used.

    • Note: When making multiple batches of cookies, make sure your pans are fully cooled before putting your next batch of cookie dough on them. Hot pans will prematurely melt the butter and create chubby, spread out cookies. A quick way to make sure your pans are cool are to remove the parchment and run the pans under cold water and wipe them before placing the next batch. This ensures that your cookies don’t spread and become blobby.

Simple Vanilla Icing.

1. Add powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract and give the mixture a quick stir.

2. Add milk gradually and mix continuously to achieve the desired thickness. I find that the best consistency is similar to toothpaste. It should be smooth and thick but not too thick that its hard to move with your spoon.

   1. Note: If your mixture is too thin, add more sugar. If too thick, add more milk.

3. Using a piping bag and a small round tip, I used the Wilton Tip 2, scoop icing and pipe your details on the fully cooled cookies.

4. Adhere any sprinkles or dragees right after piping. The icing will begin to harden and will fully harden after a few hours.

Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

This cookie is pretty magical. No oil, no butter and no flour yet they are probably the most delicious chocolate cookie you’ll ever have! These cookies chewy and very chocolatey with a nice nutty edge from the walnuts. Finish them off with a little flaky salt and watch them disappear. Naturally gluten free and dairy free too!

Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

• Recipe adapted from: Food 52 & Francois Payard  

• Serving: Makes about 15 to 16 cookies

Ingredients:

• 137 grams of walnuts halves/pieces

• 175 grams of powdered sugar

• 35 grams of Dutch processed cocoa powder, I like Valrhona’s chocolate powder

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

• 2 egg whites, at room temperature

• 1 ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

• Flaky salt

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350-degree oven.

2. While the oven preheats, measure out walnuts and spread them evenly over a lined baking sheet. Once oven is preheated, bake the walnuts for about 5 to 6 minutes or just until crisp and toasty. Do not over roast or they will get a funny roasty taste to them.

3. While your walnuts cool, combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt and mix with a whisk until just combined.

4. Once walnuts are cooled, pulse them in a mini food processor until they are broken up into small pieces (the size of pearl couscous).

   • Note: The smaller the walnut pieces are the thicker your cookies will be. If you don’t have a mini food processer feel free to use your knife to chop up the nuts until they are small pieces.

5. Add the chopped nuts into your cocoa powder mixture and mix till combined.

6. Once the walnuts are mixed, stream in your room temperature egg whites and vanilla extract and whisk mixture until just combined. and no pockets of flour are visible.

7. Line 3 baking trays with parchment and using a tablespoon scoop, scoop batter onto trays, you should be able to fit 6 scoops onto one tray, leaving a good 1 inch to 1 ½ inch gap between each scoop. 

8. Once the dough is all scooped, leave the dough to sit out for about 30 minutes (minimum).

   • Note: Similar to a macaron, when the dough sits out at room temperature, volume is created and a thicker cookie is produced. If you skip this step you may have a flatter cookie, which is still tasty but will lack a bit on that chewy center.

9. Your oven should be preheated at 350 but before putting the cookies in, reduce the temperature to 325-degree and then place cookies in oven. Placing one rack on the bottom and one on the top.

10. The cookies will bake for a total of 9 minutes but we will rotate the pans 2 times while they bake.

    • After 3 minutes: Rotate the back of pan to the front.

      • Note: At this point if you’re cookie hasn’t spread a lot feel free to press the dough a bit with a spatula or a measuring cup to encourage spreading.

    • After 6 minutes: After another 3 minutes have elapsed, switch the top pan to the bottom and bottom to top. Also rotate the pan 180 degrees from back to front for both pans. Keep the cookie in for another 3 minutes for a total of 9 minutes.

11. After 9 minutes, when you pull the cookies out, they should have a nice crackly glossy top.

12. After baking, if you find that your cookie has a few wonky edges, round them out using a small bowl or cookie cutter and making circles over the cookie until it shapes up but do this within a few minutes of the cookies coming out of the oven.

13. The cookies will stick to the parchment at first so slide off the parchment paper with the cookies on it onto a cookie rack and let them cool there. As they cool on the parchment, finish them off with a little bit of finishing salt. After a few minutes you can use a sharp-edged spatula to pull the cookies off the parchment.

14. These cookies have a tendency to stick to each other so when storing it’s best to put parchment before each layer of cookies and then place them into an air tight container.

15. Let these cookies rest for a day as they tend to taste the best the next day! Enjoy.

Note:

• Unfortunately, there are no cup measurements for this recipe because it is just as finnicky as a macaron and needs the ingredients to be measured precisely for best results.

Pecan Almond Raspberry Tassies

These little cookies have the most tender, buttery, nutty, crusts and are filled with a deliciously simple brown sugar caramel, raspberry jam and are topped with a showering of chopped almonds and pecans. You won’t be able to eat just one!

Pecan Almond Raspberry Tassies

• Serving: Makes 24 tassies

• Equipment: 24 Mini Muffin Pan

Ingredients:

Pecan Almond Topping

• ¼ cup almonds (50 grams),

• ¼ cup pecans (40 grams)

Pecan Crust

• 6 tablespoons of ice cold butter, (85 grams)

• ¼ cup of pecans (40 grams)

• ¼ cup sugar (60 grams)

• ½ teaspoon salt (4 grams)

• ¾ cup of all purpose flour (95 grams), plus a little extra for shaping dough

• 2 -3 tablespoons of ice cold water

Brown Sugar Caramel Filling & Raspberry Filling

• 1 tablespoon of melted butter (15 grams)

• 1 large egg

• ½ cup of light brown sugar, packed (115 grams)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 grams)

• Pinch of salt

• ⅓ cup of raspberry preserves

Method:

Pecan Almond Topping

1. In a food processor add almonds and pulse till almost finely crushed.

2. Once the almonds have been crushed add the pecans and pulse a few more times until the entire mixture looks finely crushed. Pour out mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Pecan Crust

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your mini muffin pan by spraying each cavity with a little bit of nonstick spray and dab off the excess with a napkin

2. Cut your ice cold butter into small chunks and set aside.

3. Add pecans, sugar, salt, and all purpose flour into your food processor and pulse until the nuts are ground the ingredients are combined.

4. Add a couple ice cold butter chunks in batches and pulse with the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

   • Note: The mixture should still be separate but will stick together if you press it between your fingers.

5. Slowly add a little bit of ice cold water to your mixture until the dough just comes together.

   • Note: Do not add too much water as it will make your dough too tacky and hard to handle.

6. Pull the dough out of your food processor and using a little extra flour, shape it into a log and divide the log into 24 even pieces.

   • Note: If your dough is too sticky add a little bit more flour so that the dough is no longer tacky.

7. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place into each cavity of the mini muffin pan and press down. Make sure the dough is pressed evenly along the bottom and side and make sure the it isn’t spread too thin.

   • Note: If the dough is too thin the filling might leak and will be hard to pull out of the pan once baked.

8. Once all the dough is pressed into the pan, place them crusts in the oven to bake for about 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown and slightly puffy.

Brown Sugar Caramel & Raspberry Filling

1. While the crusts bake, prepare the brown sugar caramel filling by mixing the cooled melted butter, egg, light brown sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt and whisking the entire mixture until smooth and well combined, set aside.

2. Prepare the raspberry jam filling by taking a Ziploc bag or a small pipping bag and filling it with ¼ cup of raspberry jam and smoothing it with your hands to get rid of any lumps. Cut a little tip of the end of the bag so you can pipe out a little bit of jam at a time. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Once the tassie crusts are done baking, pull them out and while hot, press each tassies with the back of a tablespoon or teaspoon measure to create some depth for the filling.

2. Squirt a little bit of the jam into each tassie (about the size of a chocolate chip) and pour a teaspoon of the brown sugar caramel filling so it covers all the jam and fills up till the edge of the tassie crust.

3. Cover the entire top of the tassies with the ground up pecan and almond topping and press it in lightly so it sticks.

4. Place the tassies into the oven for about 12-15 minutes or until the tops are crackly and dome a bit. Let them cool for about 20 minutes at room temperature and then using a toothpick, pry them loose. Serve and enjoy!

Notes:

• Tassies are a great cookie to pack in holiday cookie boxes as they hold up pretty well and can stay out at room temperature for 3 to 4 days without any change in flavor.

Pecan Whiskey Chocolate Center Brown Butter Cookies

Brown butter, brown sugar a touch of whiskey and buttery pecans create thick, chewy cookies that you can really sink your teeth into. These big butterscotchy cookies are filled with delicious 70% dark chocolate and topped with more chocolate chunks, flaky salt and pecans. My family has named them the best chocolate chip cookies ever and I think you might too!

Pecan Whiskey Chocolate Center Brown Butter Cookies

• Serving: Makes 10 cookies

Ingredients:

Pecan Whiskey Chocolate Center Brown Butter Cookies

• 1 stick butter (113 grams)

• ½ cup bread flour (75 grams)

• ½ cup all purpose flour (76 grams)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ⅛ teaspoon baking powder

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (125 grams)

• ¼ cup white sugar (50 grams)

• 2 tablespoons of bread flour* (20grams)

• 1 egg

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

• ¼ teaspoon whiskey

• ½ cup of chopped pecans, 65 grams

• ½ cup good dark chocolate chunks, I chopped up some Tony’s 70% chocolate (75 grams)

• Flaky sea salt

Method:

1. Melt butter on the stove in a medium sized pot until butter smells nutty and the color is a golden brown hue. Set aside to cool.

2. While the butter cools, in a separate bowl, combine ½ cup of bread flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and whisk until incorporated. Set aside.

3. Once butter is cooled, add dark brown sugar, white sugar into the browned butter and whisk vigorously.

4. Add 2 tablespoons of bread flour to the sugar mixture. and whisk in to the mixture until it is thick and you no longer see any butter pooling to the sides.

   • Note: Adding a little flour during this step helps absorb some of that melted butter and helps develop chew and some lift to your cookies.

5. Crack one egg and one egg yolk, vanilla extract and whiskey into your sugar mixture and whisk until smooth and combined for a good minute or so.

6. Pour the flour mixture over the sugar mixture in batches and using your spatula or a wooden spoon, mix until just combined.

7. Place cookie dough in fridge to chill for at least two hours. No need to scoop just plop it in into a bowl with a lid.

   • Don’t skip this step, this is what lets your cookie dough develop flavor and firm up so it’s easy to scoop and give you nice thick chewy cookies.

8. Once the dough has chilled for at least two hours, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment liner.

9. Measure out chocolate chips and peanut butter chips as well so you have them ready.

10. Take out the chilled dough and use a small cookie scoop to scoop out all of the dough. You should have about 20 balls of dough. Flatten the dough lightly 1 or 2 times so they are about half the height. Pair off the cookie dough into sets of two so that you’ll have 10 sets of cookie dough discs.

11. Take a set of cookie dough and place 3 to 4 chocolate chunks in between them. Seal the cookie dough edges together so no gaps remain. Roll the filled cookie dough ball so its nice and round. Repeat this step until you finish all the cookie dough.

12. Place 5 balls of dough on the baking tray, leaving about 2 inches or more of space between each. These cookies spread a lot!

13. Press in as many chocolate chunks and as many pecans as you can onto the tops of each cookie ball.

    • Note: Placing the pecans on the cookie dough right before baking helps prevent them from getting too soft and soggy.

14. Place cookies in oven for about 10 minutes or until they spread quite a bit, just golden and set at the edges. It’s okay if they look slightly under baked in the center, they will firm up as they cool.

    • Note: Pulling them out when they look under baked will help keep them chewy and soft after they cool.

15. Once cookies are finished baking pull them out. If any cookies seem wonky or spread into each other slightly, use a cookie cutter or small sharp edged bowl larger than the cookies and scoot the cookies so they are put back into shape and are separated from each other. A little trick I learned from the amazing Cloudy Kitchen 😉

16. Once you finish scooting the cookies, top the warm cookies more chocolate chunks and some more pecans. Fill in all those gaps!

17. Sprinkle a little bit of flaky salt on each cookie and eat them hot or let them cool and enjoy them later.

Notes:

• * You can substitute the bread flour for all purpose flour if you are in a pinch and don’t have any but I highly recommend in buying some bread flour! They make your cookies divinely chewy!

Vanilla Apples & Bourbon Brown Butter Frangipane Galette

Vanilla infused, brown sugar apples are pressed into a sumptuous brown butter bourbon frangipane and enclosed in a flaky all butter crust. Almond croquant, flaky sea salt, salted caramel and dusting of powdered sugar get showered on top to create a deliciously simple galette perfect for any gathering. Top it with some vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or caramel gelato!

Vanilla Apples & Bourbon Brown Butter Frangipane Galette

• Serving: 5-6

Ingredients:

All Butter Crust

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• Pinch salt

• 1 teaspoon white sugar

• 8 tablespoons of butter, cold (113 grams) ( I love to use Lewis Road Creamery butter!)

• 3-4 tablespoons of ice water

Vanilla Brown Sugar Apples

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• squeeze of lemon juice

• Heaping ⅛ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ of the caviar from one fresh vanilla bean or ½ teaspoon of vanilla paste

• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 2 crisp tart apples, such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith

Bourbon Brown Butter Frangipane

• 4 tablespoons butter

• ¼ cup +2 tablespoons of raw almonds

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons white sugar

• 1 tablespoons of buckwheat flour

• ½ of the caviar from one fresh vanilla bean or ½ a teaspoon of vanilla paste

• ¼ teaspoon bourbon

• ½ an egg (roughly 25 grams)

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Assembly

• ½ an egg (roughly 25 grams)

• Raw sugar, for topping the crust

• Your favorite Salted Caramel Sauce

• Almond Croquant

• Flaky sea salt

• Powdered Sugar

Method:

Make the All Butter Crust

1. Combine flour, salt and sugar and mix until combined.

2. Cut up ice cold butter into small one-inch cubes and set aside.

3. Add the butter pieces into the flour mixture and rub the butter in with you fingers you have pea sized chunks of butter and the until the mixture holds together when pressed.

4. Adding one teaspoon at a time, add a little bit of ice cold water into the flour mixture just until a dough comes together.

5. Gather the dough together into a ball and shape it into a disc and wrap galette dough tightly in plastic wrap and let it chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.

   • Note: Dough can be made night before as well.

Vanilla Brown Sugar Apples

1. Combine brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg until mixture is combined.

2. Wash, peel, core and slice your apples so that they are about less than ¼ inch thick and then toss them into the brown sugar mixture. Let them sit and marinate while you make the frangipane.

Bourbon Brown Butter Frangipane

1. Melt butter on the stovetop until just lightly golden brown and fragrant.

2. While the butter cools, grind almonds, brown sugar and white sugar in food processor until it becomes a fine paste.

3. Crack one egg and whisk well. Set half (about 25 grams) of the whisked egg in aside in another bowl.

4. Add cooled brown butter, buckwheat flour, vanilla paste, bourbon, half of one whisked egg, salt and pulse to combined and thick. Set aside

Assembly

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F degrees.

2. Pull out chilled galette dough from fridge, unwrap and place it on precut parchment paper (roughly the size of your baking tray)

   • Note: By using a parchment paper you can easily move your galette onto your baking tray.

3. Roll the dough out to be ¼ inch thick circle. Make sure to work with dough quickly so that it remains cool.

   • Note: The colder your pie dough, the flakier your crust will be. If your dough feels a little tacky, sprinkle a little flour while you roll or stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

4. Once dough has been rolled out, mark a 2 inch border with a knife. This will be the flap you fold over to make your galette.

5. Spread your frangipane mixture evenly within the confines of your border and top apples along the frangipane, making sure to not have any apples protrude over the border. Don’t overcrowd your galette. You may have a few apples left over.

   • Note: You can cook the leftover apples down on the stove and serve it with some oatmeal for breakfast!

6. Fold over the border of galette dough over the apples and frangipane mixture and make sure no apples or filling are spilling out.

7. Brush the galette dough with the remaining egg and sprinkle generously with raw sugar along the sides and top of the galette.

8. Slide your parchment paper with the galette onto your baking sheet and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden and apples look kind of shriveled.

9. Drizzle warmed up salted caramel all over the galette and sprinkle it with a bit of flaky salt, almond croquant and powdered sugar. Slice and enjoy plain, with vanilla ice cream, caramel gelato or a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

Brown Butter Bourbon Cookies with Peanut Butter Butterfinger Caramel Filling

Thick, chewy, brown butter bourbon cookies get stuffed with a delicious Butterfinger peanut butter caramel that creates this amazingly chewy center when you bite in. The entire cookie is studded with dark chocolate chunks, Reese’s peanut butter cup wedges, peanut butter chips, crumbled butter fingers and a hefty pinch of flaky salt. It’s a peanut butter lover’s paradise!

Brown Butter Bourbon Cookies with Peanut Butter Butterfinger Caramel Filling

• Serving: Makes 10 cookies

Ingredients:

Brown Butter Bourbon Cookies

• 1 stick butter (113 grams)

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (125 grams)

• ¼ cup white sugar (50 grams)

• 2 tablespoons of bread flour* (20grams)

• 1 egg

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

• ¼ teaspoon bourbon

• ½ cup bread flour (75 grams)

• ½ cup all purpose flour (76 grams)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ⅛ teaspoon baking powder

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Caramel :

• 2 tablespoons of your favorite salted caramel sauce (40 grams)(I like Trader Joe’s)

• 1 heaping tablespoon of creamy peanut butter (30 grams) (I like using regular Skippy peanut butter)

• 2 fun size Butterfinger bars (37 grams)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Topping:

• 2-3 fun size Butterfinger bars

• 3-4 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

• ¼ cup Reese’s peanut butter chips

• ⅓ cup Good quality dark chocolate chunks (56% or higher)

• Flaky sea salt

Method:

Make Brown Butter Bourbon Cookies

1. Melt butter on the stove in a medium sized pot until butter smells nutty and the color is a golden brown hue. Set aside to cool.

2. Once butter is cooled, add dark brown sugar, white sugar into the browned butter and whisk vigorously.

3. Add 2 tablespoons of bread flour to the sugar mixture. and whisk in to the mixture until it is thick and you no longer see any butter pooling to the sides.

   • Note: Adding a little flour during this step helps absorb some of that melted butter and helps develop chew and some lift to your cookies.

4. Crack one egg and one egg yolk into your sugar mixture and whisk until smooth and combined for a good minute or so.

5. Add vanilla paste and bourbon and whisk into the sugar mixture.

6. In a separate bowl, combine remaining bread flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and whisk until incorporated.

7. Pour the flour mixture over the sugar mixture in batches and using your spatula or a wooden spoon, mix until just combined.

8. Place cookie dough in fridge to chill overnight. No need to scoop just plop it in into a bowl with a lid.

   • Don’t skip this step, this is what lets your cookie dough develop flavor and firm up so it’s easy to scoop and give you nice thick chewy cookies.

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Caramel

1. Take two mini sized Butterfinger bars and scrape the chocolate coating gently with a knife and break up the Butterfinger bars with your fingers until they are all flakey and fine. Set aside.

   • Note: You can also whizz these in your food processor real quick too but they may not be as flaky.

2. Combine salted caramel and peanut butter and heat over the stove in a small pot until both are homogenous and combined without lumps. Once smooth and combined pull off heat.

3. Add the crumbled Butterfinger mixture into the peanut butter caramel and mix until full combined.

4. Pour mixture out into a bowl or container and let it cool completely. Set aside.

   • Note: I let mine cool down overnight so the mixture was not liquidy at all. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated.

Assembly

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment liner.

2. Measure out chocolate chips and peanut butter chips as well so you have them ready.

3. Take out the chilled dough and use a small cookie scoop to scoop out all of the dough. You should have about 20 balls of dough. Flatten the dough lightly 1 or 2 times so they are about half the height. Pair off the cookie dough into sets of two so that you’ll have 10 sets of cookie dough discs.

4. Take the peanut butter caramel you made and divide it evenly into 10 little balls into the size of a small cherry (the caramel should be solid at this point). Flatten out each caramel ball slightly so its about the size of a half dollar coin, it should be smaller than your flattened cookie dough.

5. Take a set of cookie dough and sandwich the flattened caramel in between them. Seal the cookie dough edges together so no gaps remain. Roll the filled cookie dough ball so its nice and round. Repeat this step until you finish all the cookie dough.

6. Place 5 balls of dough on the baking tray, leaving about 2 inches or more of space between each. These cookies spread a lot!

7. Press in 4 to 5 pieces of chocolate chunks and 4 to 5 peanut butter chips into the top of each cookie ball.

8. Place cookies in oven for about 10 minutes to 12 minutes. It’s okay if they look slightly under baked, they will firm up as they cool.

9. While the cookies are baking chop the Reese’s peanut butter cups into eight wedges and chop the Butterfinger candies into very small pieces so they become very flaky and crumbly. Set chopped candies aside.

10. Once cookies are finished baking pull them out. If any cookies seem wonky or spread into each other slightly, use a cookie cutter or small sharp edged bowl larger than the cookies and scoot the cookies so they are put back into shape and are separated from each other. A little trick I learned from the amazing Cloudy Kitchen 😉

11. Once you finish scooting the cookies, top the warm cookies with Reese’s peanut butter chunks, butter finger crumbles, more chocolate chunks and more peanut butter chips. Fill in all those gaps!

12. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on each cookie and let them cool. Enjoy!

Notes:

• * You can substitute the bread flour for all purpose flour if you are in a pinch and don’t have any but I highly recommend in buying some bread flour! They make your cookies divinely chewy!

Pink Lady & Almond Frangipane Mini Galette with Raw Sugar Crust

The most buttery, flaky crust gets smothered in a brown sugar & almond frangipane and layered with thinly sliced pink lady apples. The sweet and tart pink lady slices get macerated in a cinnamon vanilla infused brown sugar mixture and are brimming with flavor. A final sprinkling of raw sugar gets pressed up on the galette and creates the most delicious crunchy caramelized crust.

Pink Lady & Almond Frangipane Mini Galette with Raw Sugar Crus

• Serving: 2-3

Ingredients:

Raw Sugar Crust

• 6 tablespoons of butter (85 grams) ( I love to use Lewis Road Creamery butter!)

• ¾ cup + 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour

• Pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon white sugar

• 3-4 tablespoons of ice water

Brown Sugar Almond Frangipane

• ½ teaspoon + ⅛ teaspoon ground flax seeds

• 2 teaspoons + ¼ teaspoon half & half

• 3 tablespoon raw almonds (about 5 tablespoons of ground almond)

• 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

• ½ teaspoon all purpose flour

• ⅛ teaspoon vanilla paste

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Vanilla Pink Lady Apple Filling

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• squeeze of lemon juice

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla paste

• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1 ¼ pink lady apples

Assembly

• Half and half, for brushing the crust

• Raw sugar, for topping the crust

• Your favorite Salted Caramel Sauce

• Flaky sea salt

Method:

Make the Raw Sugar Crust

1. Cut up ice cold butter into small one-inch cubes. Place the cut up butter back in the freezer until ready to use.

2. Combine flour, salt and sugar and mix until combined.

3. Pull butter out and rub it between your fingers and the flour mixture until the mixture holds together when pressed and you have some pea sized butter chunks.

   • Note: Do not over work or else you won’t get that ultra flakey crust.

4. Adding one tablespoon at a time, add a little bit of ice cold water into the flour mixture just until a dough comes together.

   • Optional: Once the dough comes together, flatten it out and fold it into thirds, flatten again and then fold into thirds again. This step provides lots of flaky layers to your crust similar to a lamination process for pastry dough.

5. Gather the dough together into a ball and shape it into a disc and wrap galette dough tightly in plastic wrap and let it chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.

   • Note: Dough can be made night before as well.

Brown Sugar Almond Frangipane

1. Combine ground flax seeds and whisk vigorously with half and half until the mixture thickens. Set aside for about five minutes or so.

2. While your flax mixture thickens add almonds, brown sugar, melted butter, flour, vanilla paste and salt into your food processor. Once your flax mixture is thick and gloopy in consistency add it to the food processor as well. Grind everything until it becomes a smooth paste. Set aside.

Cinnamon Vanilla Pink Lady Apple Filling

1. Combine brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg until mixture is combined.

2. Peel, core and slice your pink lady apples so that they are about less than ¼ inch thick and toss them into the brown sugar mixture. Let them sit and marinate while you get ready to roll out your crust.

Assembly

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F degrees.

2. Pull out chilled galette dough from fridge, unwrap and place it on precut parchment paper (roughly the size of your baking tray)

   • Note: By using a parchment paper you can easily move your galette onto your baking tray.

3. Roll the dough out to be ¼ inch thick circle. Make sure to work with dough quickly so that it remains cool.

   • Note: The colder your pie dough, the flakier your crust will be. If your dough feels a little tacky, sprinkle a little flour while you roll or stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

4. Once dough has been rolled out, mark a 2 inch border with a knife. This will be the flap you fold over to make your galette.

5. Spread your frangipane mixture evenly within the confines of your border and top apples along the frangipane, making sure to not have any apples protrude over the border. Don’t overcrowd your galette. You may have a few apples left over.

   • Note: You can cook the leftover apples down on the stove and serve it with some oatmeal for breakfast!

6. Fold over the border of galette dough over the apples and frangipane mixture and make sure no apples or filling are spilling out.

7. Brush the galette dough with a half and half and sprinkle generously with raw sugar along the sides and top of the galette.

8. Slide your parchment paper with the galette onto your baking sheet and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden and apples look kind of shriveled.

9. Drizzle warmed up salted caramel all over the galette and sprinkle it with a bit of flaky salt. Slice and enjoy plain, with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

Maple Honeynut Squash & Carrot Muffins with Mascarpone Bourbon Glaze

Sweet nutty maple roasted honeynut squash and fresh shredded carrots come together with a hint of cinnamon, pumpkin spice and a touch of mascarpone to create these ultra moist and tender muffins. Did I mention they are 100% refined sugar free?

Maple Honeynut Squash & Carrot Muffins with Mascarpone Bourbon Glaze

Serving: Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

Roasted Honeynut squash

• 1 honeynut squash

• 1 tablespoon neutral oil

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon maple sugar*

Muffin Base:

• ¼ cup grated carrot

• 5 tablespoons of neutral oil

• ¼ cup maple syrup

• 2 tablespoon maple sugar*

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese**

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 egg

• ¾ cup all purpose flour

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• pinch of pumpkin pie spice (optional)

• 1 tablespoon almond meal

• 1 tablespoon flax seeds

• ⅓ cup roasted & mashed honeynut squash

Almond Oat Topping:

• 1 tablespoon almond meal

• 1 tablespoon oats

• 1 ½ teaspoon maple syrup

• 1 ½ teaspoon maple sugar

• 1 ½ teaspoon honey

• ⅛ teaspoon baking powder

• ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons raw sugar

• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Mascarpone Glaze

• ¼ cup of mascarpone cheese**

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (I like Runamok’s Bourbon Maple Syrup!)

• 2 tablespoons honey

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• splash of bourbon (optional)

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Method:

Make Maple Roasted Honeynut Squash

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a foil lined baking tray.

2. Wash your honeynut squash and slice it in half.

3. Remove fibrous parts and seeds and place on baking tray. No need to peel the skin, its edible and also peels easily.

4. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of neutral oil all over both pieces of honeynut squash with a brush or your hands.

5. Drizzle maple syrup evenly on flesh side of the honeynut squash and sprinkle maple sugar.

6. Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 35 to 40 minutes or until squash is fork tender.

7. Let it cool. You’ll only need about ¼ of the whole honeynut squash to make one batch of these muffins.

   • Enjoy the rest plain or use the puree in place of pumpkin in any recipe.

8. Once cool, scoop out a portion of the honeynut squash and mash with a spoon until nice and smooth. Measure out ⅓ cup and set aside.

Make Honeynut Squash & Carrot Muffin Batter

1. Grate your carrots and set aside.

2. Combine oil, maple syrup, maple sugar and honey. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is creamy, opaque and homogenous.

3. Add mascarpone cheese and vanilla extract and whisk in until fully combined.

4. Crack one egg into the mixture and whisk until fully combined.

5. In a separate bowl, combine all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, almond meal and flax seeds.

6. Pour dry ingredients into the wet maple/oil mixture and stir everything with your spatula just until no flour pockets remain.

7. Fold in mashed honeynut squash and shredded carrots until evenly distributed.

8. Line 6 muffin tins with paper liners. Portion out batter between 6 muffin tins. Set aside.

Make Almond Oat Topping & Bake Muffins

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine almond meal and oats and blitz in food processor until it is fine. Pour to a small bowl.

3. Add maple syrup, maple sugar, honey, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and melted butter to the oat and almond mixture and mix until combined. Should be a loose paste like consistency.

4. Drizzle this topping mixture evenly over all the muffins.

5. Sprinkle raw sugar evenly over muffins as well.

6. Place muffins on the top rack of your oven. Place an oven proof dish underneath the muffins and fill with an inch or 2 of water. This helps create a sauna like atmosphere which prevents your muffins from drying out.

7. Let muffins bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean.

Make the Mascarpone Bourbon Glaze

1. Make the mascarpone bourbon glaze.

2. While the muffins bake, combine mascarpone cheese, maple syrup, tablespoons honey, vanilla extract, a splash of bourbon and salt. Stir until smooth and liquidy. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Let muffins cool for a few minutes and then drizzle half of the glaze all over the muffins. The glaze soaks into the muffin making it super moist.

2. Once fully cooled, drizzle remaining glaze and enjoy!

Notes:

• *If you do not have maple sugar, feel free to substitute brown sugar, but note the recipe will no longer be refined sugar free.

• **If you can don’t skimp on the mascarpone cheese, it’s so rich and delicious! But if you don’t have any you can get away with using a rich creamy yogurt like skyr or full fat Greek yogurt.

Peach Melba Kind of Ice Cream Sundae

Ripe golden summer peaches are strewn with the purest honey gold peach puree, crunchy caramelized almonds, a creamy vanilla ice cream with jammy peach swirls and an ethereal peach almond whipped cream.

Peach Melba Kind of Ice Cream Sundae

• Recipe adapted from Zoe Bake’s

• Serving: 2 to 3 people

Ingredients:

Peach Slices

• 3 blanched ripe yellow peaches

Peach Puree

• 1 blanched yellow peach (use from above)

• 2 tablespoons white sugar

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• pinch of salt

• 1 ½ teaspoon corn starch

Caramelized Almond Crumble

• ¼ cup sugar

• pinch of salt

• ¼ teaspoon golden syrup

• 1 tablespoon water

• ¼ cup of blanched almonds

Almond & Peach Whipped Cream

• ¼ cup of heavy cream

• 1 tablespoon of cooled peach puree (from above)

• 1 tablespoon of almond crumble (from above)

Semi homemade Peach Ice Cream

• ½ cup of good vanilla ice cream

• 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooled peach puree (from above)

Method:

Prepare Blanched Peaches

1. Wash three peaches and gently create a little x-shaped score on the bottom of all three peaches.

2. Bring 6 quarts of water to a rapid boil in a large pot.

3. White the water boils, prepare an ice bath for the peaches so they can be blanched.

4. Once the water starts to rapidly boil, place the 3 peaches into the water and them boil for about a minute or 2 most and then immediately transfer them into the ice bath.

   • Note: Let them sit in the ice bath for about 3-5 minutes so they cool down.

5. Once you fish them out of the ice bath you should be able to gently peel the skin off.

6. You can now slice the peaches into 6 wedges and remove the seed.

Prepare the peach puree

1. Chop up 1 whole blanched peach and place it in a pot on your stove.

2. Add white sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to the chopped peaches and let them cook down until the juices start to release the peach softens

3. Once the juices start to release, use your immersion blender to puree the mixture. (If you do not have an immersion blender you can use a potato masher to break the peaches up).

4. Once mostly smooth and uniform, add corn starch and let the mixture cook and bubble for another 3 minutes and then remove it off the stove.

5. Pour mixture into a bowl and cool it in the fridge for at least 10 to 15 minutes or until cool.

Make the Caramelized Almond Crumble

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and have measure almonds ready in a bowl.

2. Place white sugar in the center or a pot (make sure it doesn’t touch the sides) and add salt, golden syrup and then gently pour the water on top so it covers all the sugar.

3. Turn the heat to high and let the sugar mixture caramelize untouched until it becomes a warm amber color. Pull it off the heat immediately and add almonds into the sugar mixture.

4. Quickly pour out the mixture onto the parchment. The mixture will harden up fast so scoop and spread the mixture quickly.

5. Let the caramelized almond cool fully, about 6 to 7 minutes.

6. Once it cools, break the caramelized almond brittle and put it in your food processer and keep pulsing until the mixture looks sandyish.

Make the Peach Ice Cream

1. Scoop your favorite vanilla ice cream and let it soften for about 3 minutes at room temperature until it is soft and pliable.

2. Swirl cooled peach puree into the vanilla ice cream and then place the mixture into the freezer until ready to serve.

Make the Almond Peach Whipped Cream

1. In a clean bowl add heavy cream and whip until soft and fluffy.

2. Once whipped, spoon in peach puree and crushed almond crumble and gently fold in. Set aside.

Assembly

1. To serve, layer a spoon of whipped cream and layer peach wedges on top.

2. Pull your ice cream out of the freezer and scoop a few small scoops of ice cream to the side.

3. Layer some more whipped cream and peaches and then drizzle the remaining peach puree all over.

4. Finally top it off with a generous sprinkling of the caramelized almond crumble and enjoy!

Salted Brown Sugar Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Butterscotchy brown sugar, a touch of bread flour, an extra egg yolk, high quality dark chocolate chunks and a hefty pinch of salt make these cookies stand out from the crowd. They are chewy, rich and absolutely divine. Finish them off with a touch of maldon salt and you are all set!

Salted Brown Sugar Chocolate Chunk Cookies

• Recipe adapted from : Sarah Jampel

• Serving: Makes 15-20 cookies depending on size of cookie scoop

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons of bread flour*

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup white sugar

• ⅓ cup dark brown sugar

• ⅓ cup light brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste*

• 2 large eggs

• 1 egg yolk

• 6 - 8 ounces of good dark chocolate

• Flaky sea salt for finishing

Method:

1. Melt butter on stove top just until it is liquid, set aside and let it cool.

2. Combine all purpose flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a clean bowl.

3. Add white sugar and brown sugars into your pot of melted butter and whisk vigorously until homogeneous.

   • Note: The butter should not separate from the sugars, it should be well combined.

4. Add eggs, egg yolk and vanilla bean paste into the sugar mixture and whisk until nice and smooth.

5. Fold in the flour mixture into the brown sugar mixture until no more flour pockets are visible.

6. Chop up your choice of good dark chocolate into bite sized chunks and fold it right into the cookie dough.

   • Note: I like to use Valrhona Caraibe baking bar, Guittard 64% baking bar or a nice bar of Tony’s 70% dark chocolate.

7. Once the chocolate is combined, refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.

   • Note: This makes it easy to scoop out the dough into balls.

8. Once dough has been refrigerated, scoop dough into balls and place them in your freezer for 12 hours.

   • Note: Now, this step is optional but I highly recommend it! I find that my cookies taste even better after this step! The freeze time helps meld the flavors and make the cookies nice and chewy.

9. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

10. Place a piece of parchment on your baking tray and leave at least 2 inches between between each cookie and the edge of the pan.

11. Bake the cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes until the cookies are puffy and golden.

12. When you pull the cookies out, give the pan a nice bang your counter. They get a nice little crinkly edge.

13. Scoot your cookies with a cookie cutter or a small round bowl to create a nice smooth edge for any wonky looking cookies. This is a neat little trick I learned from the talented Cloudy Kitchen.

14. Let the cookies cool for about 5 to 6 minutes. Shower them with flaky sea salt and enjoy!

Layered Tres Leches Cake

A pillowy vanilla flecked sponge cake soaked in a sweet rum and vanilla infused milk concoction and covered in billowy soft sweetened vanilla cream.

Layered Tres Leches Cake  

• Recipe adapted from: The Pioneer Women

• Serving: Makes a 2 layer 9 inch cake. (serves 8 to 12 people)

Ingredients:

Vanilla Sponge Cake

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour

• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 5 whole eggs, separated

• 1 cup sugar, divided

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• ⅓ cup milk

Milk Concotion

• 1 can evaporated milk, shaken well 12 ounces

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 14 ounces

• ¼ cup heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon rum

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Whipped Cream Frosting

• 1 ¾ cup heavy cream

• 4-6 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Pinch of salt

• Drop of rum

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line and grease two 9 inch round baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.

3. Sift 1 cup of flour, 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt together until combined.

4. Separate eggs into two different bowls and set aside. Ensure that there is no yellow in your egg whites, any bit of yellow will make it difficult to whip the whites into stiff peaks.

5. In the bowl with yellows add ¾ cup of sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. No sugar grit should be felt on the bottom of the bowl.

6. Stir in ⅓ cup of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla into the yellow mixture until combined, set aside.

7. In the bowl with the whites, beat gradually until it becomes foamy and add a ¼ cup of sugar and keep beating until whites reach stiff peaks. Continuously scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.

8. Incorporate dry ingredients into yellow mixture and stir until gently combined.

9. Gently fold the whipped white mixture into the yellow mixture until incorporated.

10. Once oven is preheated, divide batter equally between two pans and place in oven for 7 minutes. Place one pan on the top rack and the other pan on the bottom. Once 7 minutes are up, rotate pans and bake for another 7 minutes or bake until until a toothpick comes out clean. Cake should bake up pretty fast and will be a golden brown on top.

11. While the cake bakes, in a clean bowl, combine whole condensed milk, whole evaporated milk can, ¼ cup of heavy cream, 1 teaspoon of rum and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

12. As soon as the cakes are done, pull the cakes out of the pan and remove the parchment. Use your rubber spatula to help ease cakes out of pan without breaking.

13. Place cakes on two different plates and pierce each cake with a fork multiple times all over the cake, this will allow the cake to soak up more of the milk mixture.

14. Pour the milk mixture evenly between each cake to fully saturate them all over. Make sure to get sides and edges. (If you have extra milk liquid, save it for later when you serve it’s delicious)

15. Once soaked, leave cake aside and move on to create your whipped cream.

16. Whip 1 ¾ cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch of salt, and add a drop of rum which is optional. Sift in about 4 to 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar, add more to taste, and beat on medium low speed until thick and fluffy. Make sure to scrape sides of bowl frequently.

17. Gently slide of one layer of cake on your serving plate and spread a little bit of whipped cream, be gentle while spreading as the cake is very delicate once soaked, and then gently slide the second layer of the cake. Make sure cakes are aligned straight and frost the rest of the cake with remaining frosting.

18. Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours and serve.

Serving Suggestions:

• Decorate your frosted cake with some fresh berries such as blackberries or blueberries and fresh mint leaves for a refreshing summer look.

Pictured Above:

Jefferson Ceramic Plate