Tangerine Shortbread
In a pinch for a last-minute hostess gift or holiday bake sale offering? These zesty shortbread cookies come together in less than 40 minutes and have just four ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, and the Oasis Gardens tangerines from this week’s local box. Don’t let the simple ingredients fool you; these Christmas cookies taste fancier than the recipe lets on. They have the golden color and tender texture of traditional shortbread cookies, but the tangerine zest in the dough gives the finished cookies a fresh flavor. You can use the zest of any citrus fruits you have on hand,...
Read MoreChallah Pear Pudding with Salted Caramel Sauce
I first read about Confituras’ Salty Caramel Pear Butter in one of my favorite Austin food blogs, Local Savour. I knew right away that I wanted to use it to make Christmas cookies, and last Wednesday I bought a jar of pear butter from Stephanie herself just for that purpose. Well. Sort of. I never actually made it to the cookies because as soon as I sampled a little of the pear butter, I ended up eating half the jar. I still needed to make something for dessert that night, so I came up with this challah pear pudding with salty caramel sauce. For the recipe I used cinnamon...
Read MoreAustin Beer Week: Bootlegger Cupcakes
I was a little skeptical when I first considered cooking with Indy’s Bootlegger Brown Ale because, truthfully, its deep caramel flavors in are too heavy for me to drink. I DO love Independence Brewing Co.’s use of local art on their labels, however, so I really wanted to feature this brew, with the label design created by Austin muralists Blue Genie Art Industries. These cupcakes pair dark beer and dark cocoa, creating a rich moist cake without a heavy beer flavor. In fact, the caramel in the Bootlegger Ale enhances the chocolate. Yum! For the cake I used Dave...
Read MoreCanary Melon Ice Cream
Last week we got a Canary Melon in our local box. Honestly I had never heard of Canary Melon before, and I was sort of hoping we’d get arugula instead so I could just avoid it altogether. Canary Melon sounds terrible, like a fruit made out of birds or a big sweet egg. Luckily my first instincts about the Canary Melon were way off base. In actuality this little, slightly lumpy melon is like a cross between a canteloupe and a honeydew melon. It has canary yellow skin and bright white, firm flesh. As soon as I tasted the canary melon I knew I wanted to make something cold with it...
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