Coconut, lime and macadamia cake - a surprising cake

I bought a bag of limes especially to make this cake – the idea of mixing them with coconut and macadamias sounded really good. Like many Saturdays, I removed the butter from the fridge very early in the morning so it would become soft for my baking section. Then, reading the recipe and placing all the ingredients on the sink I stopped, read it again and then again – there’s no butter in the

Iced cinnamon snail rolls and when less is more

I hadn’t made cinnamon rolls in ages and this recipe, from Bill Granger’s "Sydney Food", seemed easy and quick to put together. It was – I watched TV all afternoon and yet finished baking the rolls before dinnertime.
I tried to restrain myself and not eat one of the rolls right out of the oven, but ended up giving up the fight after 5 minutes: the warm, tender rolls, deeply perfumed with

Cinnamon crunch muesli and an important question for the readers

I have finished reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", therefore finishing the Millennium Trilogy – the books are fantastic and it’s a pity that Lisbeth Salander’s adventures have come to an end. My idea now is to go for one of the classics, maybe "Moby Dick", but I’m not sure yet. That is why I ask you for suggestions: would you help me out choosing the next book I’m reading? I’m all

Ginger cookies with lemon icing and acquired tastes in life

Certain things we learn to love really early in life, while others are an acquired taste. I remember going crazy for Scorsese right after watching “Goodfellas” (the first of his movies I ever watched), but not until I was a young woman I fully appreciated the beauty of “The Godfather”. Go figure.

Not a ginger fan until my late twenties, I can eat a bag of crystallized ginger in no time

Gooey chocolate cake with raspberries and something positive about getting old

Getting older is not a walk in the park – gray hair, anyone? – but there is definitely a positive side to it. I’ve become a more patient person, and let me tell you, patience was never one of my virtues.

After baking and unmolding this delicious cake – oh, it was really delicious and I’m no chocoholic – the result almost made me cry: the poor thing looked ugly as hell on the plate. A glance

Mini raspberry cheesecakes and trusting your instincts

Something I’ve been trying to do more often is to trust my instincts, but sometimes I fail miserably at doing so – and deeply regret it afterwards.

Take this recipe, for instance: the mini cheesecakes looked adorable on the book, but after reading the recipe I wasn’t so keen on the idea of making the batter using an electric mixer – it would add too much air to the mixture, so a food processor

Mini buckwheat pancakes

For some people, retail therapy means lots of clothes, shoes, DVDs... To me, it means ingredients for my recipes. :)

After buying this beautiful book, I went crazy and started buying lots of different types of flour: buckwheat, barley, rye... Time went by and I haven’t baked with them as I should have. Not good, Patricia. Not good.

Buckwheat flour begging to be used + Bill Granger’s recipe +

Linguine with peas and lemon - and our 6th anniversary

Joao and I celebrated our sixth anniversary last Saturday with a magnificent dinner – great food, some wine... Just beautiful. But all that indulgence called for a simple lunch on the following day – and this recipe instantly popped in to my mind: it’s so good – and quick – I’ve made it three times already.

Linguine with peas and lemon
from Holiday

1½ tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons (28g

White chocolate mousse with passion fruit

When I was a teenager I had this big dream of going to Australia to learn English; unfortunately, $$ was an issue then and I had to study the language here.

My love for Australia hasn’t changed – Joao and I plan to go there for vacation someday; while that doesn’t happen, I go on listening to Aussie bands and cooking recipes from Aussie mags and fabulous foodies. :)

White chocolate mousse

Bill’s cherry tart

I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas series!

I thought that this delicious tart would be perfect as my last post before Christmas: it’s pretty much a clafoutis with a crust – I am a crust kind of girl – and the recipe comes from one of my all time favorite cooks.

Happy Holidays!



Bill’s cherry tart
from Holiday

Pastry:
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (127g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup

Almond and jam bars

You probably won’t believe me, but the universe conspired for me to make this recipe. :D

I was watching one of Bill’s shows – aren’t his daughters the cutest things ever? – and he made these bars. On the following morning, I found the exact amounts of almonds and jam in my fridge; I considered it a sign – you know how much I’m fond of signs – and started baking the bars right away. :D

Almond

Yogurt panna cotta with caramelized tangerine slices

A while ago I told you how much I was enjoying Twitter, but something changed some days ago – I haven’t felt that way anymore. It is probably my fault – I should follow other people, people I might have more in common with. :S

I think I need something sweet – I’ll go have another panna cotta. :D



Yogurt panna cotta with caramelized tangerine slices
from here and from Australian Gourmet

Apple and passion fruit crumble

Are you tired of my apple recipes yet? :)I know I’ve been using apples like crazy lately, and must confess that I still intend to make a couple of recipes with them before the end of their season. Let me tell you one delicious thing I found out the other day: I never knew apples and passion fruit were so good together. Luckily, Bill did. :)Apple and passion fruit crumble6 Granny Smith apples,

Cherry friands

I am so disappointed: I used to watch Bill Granger’s videos on You Tube but they are all gone now. :(
At least that reminded me of how little I’d been using his books – this recipe comes from Simply Bill


I thought of my blogger friend Tatiane while baking these friands: like me, she’s mad for ice cream and is always searching for new ways to use her stash of egg whites – Tati, I hope you

Crunchy-top pear muffins

I have received several comments and emails regarding the better than brownie cookies I posted a while ago - the recipe worked out fine for some of you but not so much for others... I’m sorry to hear that and have updated the post with info on the chocolate I used and on cooling the chocolate + butter mixture for 5 minutes prior to adding the other ingredients - I hope it helps!

If you’ve had

Banana butterscotch pudding

I’m here today on a very special mission: I must convince you, my dear readers, to make this dessert next time you see a very ripe, freckled banana hanging around.

Banana bread is delicious, and so are banana cakes and cookies, but hear me when I say you’ll be an extremely happier person once you’ve tasted this pudding. Did I mention there’s caramel sauce involved? Oh, yes, there is. Plenty of

Bill’s coconut bread

It’s 32ºC (90ºF) now here in Sao Paulo and many people wish they were at the beach. But not me – I don’t like going to the beach.....Now that you have finished throwing rotten tomatoes at me, I’ll go on. :DI don’t like the salt, the sand, the heat... I do go to the beach, though – Joao loves it. And people do the craziest things for love, don’t they?Luckily, I have found 2 or 3 beach haters like

Orange blossom water semifreddo with almonds, honey and strawberries

I was a tad emotional this weekend. I cried when I heard that Paul Newman had passed away, then I cried again watching “Juno”. I did laugh out loud in some parts, too, that’s true. Isn’t Michael Cera just the most adorable thing ever?Cooking and baking made me feel so much better. And so did this semifreddo. Especially because I kept thinking of Joao mimicking Bill while we were watching his show

Spaghetti with garlic and spinach and how I love You Tube

Love it. Just love it.There are loads of interesting things there - music videos (something our stupid MTV hardly ever plays), interviews (I saw a really old one with Duran Duran the other day, so much fun) and food TV shows. I can watch the ones I missed before upgrading my cable TV and also the ones that are not aired here in Brazil. Like bill’s food.Even though my heart belongs to Gordon

Bill’s choc banana bread

I had ripe bananas in my freezer and needed to use them – so I printed Ivonne’s fantastic recipe, fixed it on my freezer door then started preparing and measuring the ingredients to bake.There was a problem, though - the bananas were much too soft and I couldn’t dice them – I ended up mashing them.Checking the Internet I found this Bill Granger's recipe on Nigella’s website.The bread is delicious