Category: Sweet Recipes

Holiday, Recipes, Sweet Recipes

Pecan Cardamom Snowball Cookies

snowball cookies

I love making snowball cookies during the holidays! They’re also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Tea Cakes but snowballs feels more Christmas-y. Typically raw walnuts or pecans are used, but I was given the loveliest basket of assorted candied nuts from Santé Nuts and chose my favorite, candied pecans.

The toasted nuts add warmth to the cookies, and to account for the sugar coating, I adjusted the amount of powdered sugar in the dough so it wouldn’t overpower the nutty flavor. With the sweet, there’s also a little spice, in the form of cardamom. A dash of it makes these cookies very festive. Happy holidays!

Continue reading
Fall, Recipes, Sweet Recipes

Ricotta Cheesecake Bars with Fresh Figs and Honey

They say you should never grocery shop without a list but at the farmers’ market anything goes. I browse and taste until I’ve found sweet, ripe fruit that I like and figure out what to do when I get home. On a recent trip, I was drawn to a table blanketed with green and purple figs. The Kadotas (green ones) had the most beautiful pink interior and they were perfectly sweet. I knew I wanted to use them fresh vs. cooked, so they ended up being the topping for these cheesecake bars.

Continue reading
Bay Area, Chefs, Summer, Sweet Recipes

Chez Panisse Plum Galette

Chez Panisse plum galette baked


I went to Chez Panisse for my 30th birthday and it was the most wonderful experience. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend going, regardless of whether or not you have something to celebrate. They really showcase what’s in season, which is how I get inspired to bake. The kitchen is connected to the restaurant and the staff encourages you to walk through as they’re cooking. I got up several times throughout the meal to check in on what they were doing, lingering mainly by the pastry station, of course. It was fall at the time (shout-out to fellow November babies!), so the chefs were making an apple version of their signature galette.

Continue reading
Recipes, Summer, Sweet Recipes

Plum and Apricot Frangipane Tarts

Plum and Apricot Frangipane Tarts

During the peak of summer, I find myself going to the farmers’ market once, sometimes twice, a week to see what’s new. I may be a bit too excited because lately I’ve been buying so many goodies, I’m not eating and baking fast enough! I had a few apricots and plums shoved in the back of the fridge, poor things, and they would have made a great after-work snack, but instead, I used them in tarts.

Continue reading
Scroll to top