Eggnog ice cream

Is there a better way to start something than starting it with ice cream? I thought so. ;)

My Christmas series has begun and I hope you enjoy the ideas for your holidays; David Lebovitz says that this ice cream goes wonderful with holiday desserts – and I believe him – but you must know that it goes well with just a sprinkling of freshly ground nutmeg, too.

Just make sure you read the

Butterscotch pots

You almost got another panna cotta here today. :)

I think of panna cotta every time I need to use up heavy cream before it goes bad – what changed my mind this time, you might ask? The poor lonely egg yolks left from the buttercream on my MIL’s birthday cake. :D

These pots are delicious but also very, very rich – small cups are the way to go here.

Butterscotch pots
from Sticky, Chewy, Messy,

Piña Colada cake

This is the cake I made for my MIL’s birthday; I’d already set up my mind to bake a chocolate cake, but when I called her to ask which flavor she wanted she told me I was being kind enough to bake her the cake, so she would not choose the flavor – I should do that, instead; just what I needed to try a different cake from my favorite layer cake book. :D

I could not find canned pineapple in

Vanilla rice pudding with Port syrup

One of the things I love about watching now movies I saw for the first time on my teen days is seeing known, acclaimed actors at the beginning of their careers. I watched “Witness” last week again, after so many years, and saw Viggo Mortensen as one of the Amish guys (those of you who have been reading me for a while know I’m a huge fan – he is part of my acting Olympus, along with Mr. Fiennes

Orange crème brûlée

I tried to write a nice post for today’s recipe but all I can think of is that my coconut ice cream photo came in second in April's DMBLGIT! :)

I’ve taken part in several DMBLGIT editions, but had never won anything – it is so good to be there. And to see my lovely friend Meeta there, too, with her gorgeous brioche- yum!

A special thank you to Julia for hosting the event so beautifully, and

Coconut ice cream

I wasn’t going to post another coconut recipe so soon, but this a revolutionary ice cream: I’ve made it several times already by my husband’s request – the same husband who’ll only eat either chocolate or stracciatella ice cream. That’s quite something – almost a solar eclipse. :)

The recipe comes from here, but I first saw it on Valentina’s blog.



Coconut ice cream
from Australian Gourmet

Rum and raisin muffins

I told you a while ago that my relationship with raisins had began to change – and I think there’s no turning back. Maybe that has got to do with the fact that they are drenched in booze... :)

These muffins turned out really tender and the rum flavor wasn’t overpowering; they are not too sweet, so add a bit more sugar if you feel like it.

First the cookies, now the muffins – next, ice cream.

Spiced sable rounds with eggnog glaze

Today’s cookies are a proof that there’s still kindness in the world – people who will do something nice for someone else even though they live on the other side of the planet.I bookmarked one recipe last January already thinking of making it for the holidays. But when I reached for it on my del.icio.us a couple of weeks ago the link no longer worked... Google showed me someone on Flickr who had

Rum and raisin pillows

There are movies I want to watch again right after they end – they’re so good I feel like staying in the movie theater, waiting for the next session, and the other after that.
It doesn’t happen much, but I felt that way last Saturday and would’ve probably bought another ticket for “500 Days of Summer” hadn’t my sister been with me. :)

I’m gonna be honest with you: I don’t like raisins. But

Midnight chocolate brownies

A few days ago someone gave me a hard ear pull, similar to the ones grandma Frida used to give me when I as a kid – my mom hated when she did that. :DMy friend Lola, the biggest chocoholic I have even known, is the one mad at me: she wants chocolate recipes and chocolate recipes only! :DLola, my dear, this post is especially for you – I hope you like it!I’d love to hear my other readers’ opinions

Little couscous cakes

I sometimes get the weirdest looks for saying this, but it’s true: I love the cold. To me, cold days are perfect for staying in, baking, watching TV under the covers... So good!

My mom was from Santa Catarina – in the South of Brazil - and I spent many vacations there as a little girl. My favorite time of the year there was in the middle of the winter, in July – my aunts used to prepare

Cherry ice cream with white chocolate

I know some of you will roll your eyes in despair because I replaced the dark chocolate in this recipe with white chocolate, but let me at least say that it worked really well! The ice cream itself is not overly sweet, so don’t worry about going into a sugar coma.Think of this as a nice change – unlike replacing one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singers of all time with this guy.Cherry ice cream

Banana almond cake

I can’t believe I finally made this cake! The recipe had been in my kitchen forever. I was about to rename it “Fight Club cake”- I have tried to watch that movie hundreds of times but never got around to do it. I’ve rented it over and over again, but for a number of reasons I always had to take it back before getting to the end. I’ve tried watching it on cable, too, with no success. And the funny

Alfajores

I’m kind of tired of war movies – don’t get me wrong, there are wonderful ones out there, I just think that maybe I have seen too many in a short period of time. But tell me, how will I be able to resist such a beautiful poster?In the same way, you must be tired of seeing so many cookies around here. Bear with me, please – it’s just one more thing I cannot resist. :)The alfajores were a present

Sake panna cotta

My dear and sweet friend Clarice is hosting a special event to celebrate 100 years of Japanese Immigration in Brazil. She is a Brazilian of Japanese ascendancy and has been living in Japan for almost 2 decades now.



The event is about cooking or baking with Japanese ingredients. I thought about so many different recipes, but ended up choosing this one – all I did was use sake instead of