Raspberry Cheesecake with Chocolate Crumb Crust

Finally the sun came up after two days of one of the worst storms that I remember. I think there was a Sandy copycat roaming the southern hemisphere. I hope everyone is safe after such an ordeal.

Just as I said I´m not a cupcake baker or lover, I am a cheesecake baker and absolute lover. It really is one of my favorite things to make. Can´t have enough recipes or need-to-try new flavor combinations. So when Julie of Willow Bird Baking announced the last challenge was to innovate on cheesecake, well, it was the perfect way to say goodbye.

This is my favorite cheesecake recipe, the one I always go to. The one that has people asking that I make it for their birthdays, like my mom today, or leaving unexpected comments, like a cousin who turns out has been following my blog almost from the beginning without my knowledge, and left a comment a few months ago requesting I share this recipe with you.

Vintage Mondays - Potato Gnocchi with Cherry Tomatoes

Pre-summer has officially started in the vintage kitchen. Last night the a/c was necessary to sleep and this morning I made my first foray to the terrace, covered from head to toe in sunscreen, a few magazines, my phone and a glass of ice water. Just as I stretched out my towel, strategically placed myself according to the sun´s placement and made sure everything was in place for a good hours´ sun-soaking the telephone rang inside the house, not my cell. It was my mom, of course, to give me some absolutely irrelevant morning news.

Given how hot these few days have been, and the mild winter we just left behind, I suspect the summer will be loooong and soooo hot.

So let´s focus on irrelevant random things: Have you ever come across this letter?

White Chocolate Dulce de Leche `Ghosts´ #SundaySupper

These are little ghosts. In case you thought they were druid´s hats or shapeless pines. Or nothing really, just a brown butter shortbread, filled with dulce de leche and coated with white chocolate. The little eyes, that look like nails on some of them, are tiny chocolate chips.

I might tell you now, this is as crafty as I get. Not impressive right? I know, I´m all about the recipes and flavors.

But the Sunday Supper group is celebrating Halloween, and a treat was called for. Something to add to the theme hosted by Leslie from La Cocina de Leslie. So my compromise were these ghosts, that are so incredibly delicious you won´t mind the shape or the widely spaced eyes in some of them.

Lemon Curd Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Innovate on a cupcake. That is Julie´s, from Willow Bird Baking, challenge for this week. I sat there thinking how not up my alley this was. Just any cupcake? How do I narrow it down? Then she added baking according to the season we´re on now.

I´m happy to be having a few incredible spring days. After a lot of shower and humid days, we´re having clear skies, perfect weather, the kind of days you want to last and last. Really. That´s the feeling. 

Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes

For a recipe that has the word prunes in it, this is fantastic. But then I love, love, love prunes. Especially in savory combinations with fruits and pork or chicken, spices. Exactly like this recipe for chicken tagine with sweet potatoes and prunes.

Our designated recipe from the book Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan turned out exactly as I expected. What I didn´t expect was for it to be so easy. In my mind the word tagine is synonymous with slow cooking, spices, sweet, exotic. The kind of food I always thought could only be produced with the right equipment, like a tagine, da-a, or in a restaurant because they have those great fires or pots or whatever.

So, while I never had an actual tagine, so then why am I comparing you might be thinking, it´s because it turned out the way I thought a tagine should taste.

Limoncello Glazed Citrus Poppy Seed Cake

Today I´m guest posting over at Noshing with the Nolands. I met Tara through Sunday Supper and bonded over wonderful recipes and even better photographs. Her signature blog color is red, fiery red, so you can sense the passion behind it immediately.

I choose this recipe because, as I tell in her blog, if I had to choose only one plain cake recipe for the rest of my life it would be this one. And the limoncello glaze speaks for itself. And the fact that I´m mad about liqueur glazes made this in-the-end-not-so-plain cake the perfect recipe to share wiht a new audience.

Head over to Tara´s blog, check out the citrus cake recipe and then keep on browsing many amazing recipes. Besides ideas for Halloween like a Spider Sac or Embalming Fluid, don´t miss her breakfast section, it´s my favorite.

Go on, have fun!

Vintage Mondays - Rice Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing

Any way I look back at these last few weeks, they will be a turning point in my life.

I´ve been working a lot, wrapping up a business and moving on to other things. I realized it´s as hard and exhausting to open up a place as it is to sell and close it. My days of being a Cafe owner are over, for now at least. I´m very happy with my decision. There´s an almost romantic idea about entering the food business, especially a cafe/pastry shop, that more times than not is far from the real thing. But I don´t want to dwell on that part. I´m moving on, with another layer of experience and a whole lot of things to look forward to. 

I spent three years in it and now it´s time to focus on my textile business that I never stopped doing simultaneously with the cafe, and some freelance food gigs that I´m very excited about. And I will keep on telling everyone this blog is a job too so I can dedicate a lot of time to it without sounding food obsessed. Which I am and happy about it, but really, if you´re reading this you`re the only ones who understand what I mean.

Even now that I have more time, I wonder how on earth are people able to put these `street installations´ together. Unless they get paid of course.

Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Pie #SundaySupper #BakeforaCure

This is one of the best tarts involving chocolate and nuts I ever made. And it´s not my opinion only. There are many friends that are forever asking me to make them `the one with a crunch and chocolate´ again, not interested in the details like the hazelnuts or the kind of chocolate. I don´t think they even know it involves them. But I do, and I know many will find this combination different and the flavor superior.

Snickerdoodle Peanut Butter Bites

This is my first time baking and tasting snickerdoodles. Whoever came up with that name? It´s funny yet the dough of these cookies is interesting since it has oil and it creates a beyond-tender cookie.

Last week I joined Julie of Willow Bird for a weekly baking challenge that has me innovating on a recipe. I made the most amazing chorizo and mozzarella braid which was very, very well received by everyone stopping by. Today I made snickerdoodle bites filled with peanut butter and drizzled with chocolate.

Viennese Almond Triangles

I will take advantage of my sleepless early, early mornings which seem to be the regular wake-up time this week. I sincerely hope they don´t last much longer and that at any moment, without notice, I´ll wake up after sleeping ten hours. Wouldn´t that be a nice change? I think so.

The thing about an upside-down inner clock, and not a good one, is that I have no rythm and don´t really take advantage of it. Since I´m not being very productive at early daybreak, I will keep this post short. So on to the actual bars.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Chocolate Shavings - a guest post at Cookistry

What can I tell you about this ice cream that the title or picture don´t already? This is smooth, creamy, with a bit of a crunch from the chocolate bits and a pretty intense dulce de leche flavor.

This is the closest I come to my ideal ddl ice cream, which has to have, exclusively,  a deep flavor similar to the milky jam I love. Not like eating it directly from the jar, but close.

So head over to Donna´s blog, Cookistry, where I´m guest posting again, and check the recipe. It´s so ridiculously easy you wouldn´t believe. 

And, while you´re there, browse the rest of that wonderful blog. 

Bagels

I´m no first time baker when it comes to bagels, but I hadn´t made them in years. I was a little rusty. But it is today´s chosen recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, by contributing baker Lauren Groveman, and I liked to be able to try another recipe. Our host is Heather of Heather Byte´s where you can find the whole recipe.

There was a time when I used to make sourdough bagels all the time. Once you have an active sourdough it´s not a big deal. But the flavor is outstanding. I kinda want that bagel. Which is the closest to a NY bagel I ever made at home.

Vintage Mondays - Peanut Butter Cookies

I know I said I don´t eat homemade cookies, and it appalled many of you. I know, I know, to make such a statement when most of my readers are from the US is a blogging suicide or something. 
I do like them, let´s set that record straight. I mean, what´s not to love about cookies. But I don´t eat them really. They can be sitting on my counter for days untouched. Why? I don´t know. Maybe it´s because I know the amount of butter and sugar that go into them, and my unconscious mind does the math and it doesn´t add up. I think it´s because I don´t bake to eat, I cook to eat, as in salty food, real food. I bake for the pleasure, fun and interest in using a certain ingredient. 
But, having said all that, why is this post about cookies then? I baked them just for you. So we can be friends again in spite of my non-cookie-eating habits. I even added some wonderful chocolate covered peanuts on top, the kind I used to get at the movies when I was a kid .

Cinnamon Rice Pudding #SundaySupper

As I took the first spoonful of this pudding I was immediately transported to my childhood when this dessert was a regular staple.

Today´s theme around our Sunday Supper table is comfort food. A subject that can only evoke good memories. Yes, this day can only get better as you will be able to read about the different comfort foods that this group put together. We have a special guest, stellar writer Lee Woodruff, who happens to love comfort food. But then, who doesn´t?

Chorizo and Mozzarella Danish Braid

Sometimes a moment of doing nothing, idly opening a blog, reading about a challenge, going over and checking it out on another blog is just that. Another moment. But there comes a time when that same chain of events leads to an innovated recipe that blows your hat off. This is that recipe. And it left me hatless and with a crooked bow.

The challenge was to innovate on a danish braid recipe, as explained by Julie of Willow Bird Baking. This is a cream cheese dough, laminated and then braided with a savory filling that just happened unannounced, like it does when you have the idea in your mind to do something salty and cheesy, and then pick up a spanish pork chorizo in the supermarket because it will go well with the mozzarella and parmesan, and then add some cherry tomatoes to the chorizo that is slowly cooking and rendering a bit of fat because you thought it needed something fresh. All this while the dough that has been folded in three a total of three times, similar to puff pastry, is having it´s final rest in the fridge before it becomes braided and baked to a golden color.

I could´ve eaten the chorizo and tomatoes for dinner right then and there, and leave the braid to it´s own resources. But there was no stopping the image in my mind of a warm slice of this danish, cheese oozing out with bits of red and green from the chives.

Crispy Crackly Apple Almond Tart

This is one of those tarts that win every time. It´s crispy, crackly, nutty and barely sweet. Just what I like in a fruit dessert.

Today´s recipe for our French Fridays with Dorie group, is an apple frangipane tart made with filo dough. It can be found in Dorie Greenspan´s book Around my French Table.

I´m using the word frangipane (almond cream) a bit loosely here, because the traditional one doesn´t have cream and uses powdered sugar. Or at least all the ones I´ve made from french books. That said, this recipe will become my go-to almond cream favorite from now on. It´s richer and creamier than the other ones. It comes together in a nano second, especially if you, like me, have almond meal. If you have to ground the almonds it will take a bit more. I have forever made it in the food processor, though this recipe has you mixing in different bowls and by hand. I just dumped everything in and blitzed until a cream was formed. That was before I read the instructions correctly, something I have a tendency of doing.

Ginger Chocolate Prune Cake - 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

It´s a fact that anything candied and dried makes an appearance when Christmas gets close. Though we´re starting a bit early with these holiday posts, this cake is really good year round. Like most so-called holiday treats, they are perfect for many other occasions. 

This is the third Thursday of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, the group Brenda put together, where we bring you a wonderful idea for a sweet something every week. So far I made some incredibly toasty, melt-in-your-mouth almond butter balls and what I´ve come to think as the most addictive brown butter shortbread I ever had.

Walnut Bread #TwelveLoaves

I was woken up by the loudest thunder this morning. Barely morning, it was 5.30 and it was a Saturday, so the day should´ve started a few hours later if I had any saying. But no, wide awake there was little to do other than roam the internet and piles of cookbooks. I made an effort to delay my first cup of coffee; if I started drinking at that hour who knows what mood I would be in by nine, jittery for sure.

Rainy days that from the beginning have a characteristic it-will-rain-all-day feeling to them, that make my resolve to go to the market early and buy some newly arrived asparagus and blueberries to make a few pies a hard task to follow, that make it hard to have a sunny disposition are not my idea of how to start the weekend. And a long one since Monday is a holiday (Columbus Day). On days like today the feeling is more winter-y, when baking bread and cakes is the only idea that keeps popping in my mind, even if by inertia. 

Vintage Mondays - Chocolate Walnut Sheet Cake

This blog is called Vintage Kitchen for the obvious reason: I love vintage cookbooks and recipes. Those written on cards drive me nuts, in a good way, especially when they have a side note.

Or cookbooks printed decades ago that have incredible recipes, some that are still as valid and good today as they were at that time. I like thinking what it would´ve been to come up with them, since gadgets and shortcuts were usually not available. Not to mention most of the ingredients we take for granted today. Sometimes not even electricity was common. Yet people managed to eat wonderful things. And relying on their own imagination. No blogs, no magazines, no nothing.

Since I started blogging, a bit over 7 months ago, I joined a bunch of groups. Some I cook with, some I bake with, others are about a theme or an ingredient, and so on. I needed to organize myself and make a file to list the recipes and deadlines. You see, I´m not a list person. I don´t do lists and when I do, I don´t remember to follow them. 

Orange Ricotta Pancakes #SundaySupper

For someone who hadn´t made pancakes in, I don´t know, say twenty years, I´m kind of catching up with it this week. First pumpkin chocolate and now the most wonderful orange ricotta pancakes.

When I first read this week´s theme for Sunday Supper, which is All Things Orange, hosted by the creative Pam of The Meltaways, I literally thought we had to use oranges, as in the fruit. I´m slow like that sometimes. So I settled for this pancakes and then, as I read the already posted titles, I realized we were supposed to use the color orange! But I´m sticking with my first choice, and I love it.

I don´t care much for celebrations, the horror I know, but please don´t write me off the food blogosphere. It is slowly changing, since your company makes celebrating so much fun, not to mention giving me an excuse to bake, bake and bake. I tell friends and family that having a food blog is like a job, so they would leave me alone and not be appalled at the amount of food I cook every week, for no aparent reason. That is after I explain what a food blog is, which is not a five word explanation here, as in `I have a food blog´. But that´s another story.

Homemade Wheat Thin Crackers + Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Yesterday´s sandwich gave way to this easy and reddish hummus. Just add some roasted red peppers to the processor while making regular hummus. I can end my post right here I guess.

But then, I wouldn´t be able to tell you how great it is with some homemade wheat thins.

I don´t know if I ever mentioned that I lived near Palo Alto, CA for two years when I was a teenager. Went to school and everything. Learned to understand english without translating it to spanish first, as I did during the first months there. I certainly didn´t want to, but my comprehension took a while to develop; that is until english just took over and I even dreamt in that language.

But, newly arrived, it was a pain trying to listen to the radio or go to a movie. Not to mention taking notes in class about a biology documental, which ended up being mostly in spanish, the note-taking that is, leading to Mr. Thompson, my biology teacher, calmly explaining to me that the class was in english and how was it that I spoke it so well but didn´t take notes in english. `It´s just the way my brain works´, I tried to explain to him. `By the time my imaginary translation is done, the documental is on a different subject and I can´t keep up with it´. 
The joys of living abroad and learning to be fluent in another language. 
Though when you are a teenager there´s nothing joyous about it. I can imagine many of you nodding regarding those two last sentences.

Hummus + An Open Sandwich

Do you live in a country where chickpeas were always welcome? I don´t. Except for a few regional dishes, chickpeas, along with other beans, were not eaten in broad daylight. Pretty much like garlic, which is widely loved but many don´t like to eat it during the day when they have to get back to work or something. The same with beans. But trends catch up, the world is globalized, information is everywhere and hummus is loved by many now.

We´re talking about chickpeas and garlic combined. Maybe it´s trendy? I think it´s the yummy flavor that won. A bit smoky, garlicky and so good with pita bread or in a sandwich.

Brown Butter Shortbread Crisps #12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Don´t be fooled by the rustic appearance of these cookies. Or come to think of it, it´ll be better if you are fooled and expect nothing. You´re in for a surprise. The buttery crunch of shortbread is unmistakable, and the nutty flavor of brown sugar mixed with vanilla will make it impossible for you to resist them.

Rum Glazed Pumpkin Bundt Cake #BundtaMonth

As we get into October, things are turning many shades of orange and that includes our bundt cake group. Last month it was zucchini, which resulted in a very tasty zucchini raisin cake with cinnamon streusel. This month is, of course, pumpkin. 

So a pumpkin bundt cake with rum glaze is what I baked for Bundt A Month, the group created by the Baker and the Duchess.

Blackened Steak Salad - a guest post at Cookistry

This is my kind of salad, with a bit of everything and never to be mistaken for a side dish.

I like to eat salads that are a bit more than a bunch of greens.

I´m guest posting over at Cookistry. This is a heartfelt guest post, as Donna is going through some challenging times. I met her through Sunday Supper and her wit and experience were immediately felt. It´s wonderful to see so many of her friends come to her side. My thoughts are with both of you Donna.

Go over, say hi to Donna and enjoy all the wonderful things you will find in her blog, from recipes to gadget reviews to personal stories.

Pumpkin Chocolate Pancakes #ChocolateParty

I remember the times when pancakes were, well, just pancakes. You wen´t to a coffee shop or diner, ordered pancakes and got pancakes. Maybe buttermilk or even unspecified in it´s kind, they were unmistakable. And my most longed-for and anticipated breakfast. I didn´t eat them regularly since they are not common in this country, but they were a staple whenever we travelled to the US. One of the first things to do was eat pancakes with maple syrup.