Currently Baking {Coconut-Buttermilk Pound Cake}

June 19, 2013 By missrenaissance in Baking, Dessert, Food, Recipes Tags: Baking, Coconut, Coconut-Buttermilk Pound Cake, Dessert, Pound Cake 1 Comment

Summa, Summa, Summatime…coconut somehow screams Summer to me! It’s not only one of my favorite ingredients to use/eat in baked goods, it also makes me long for hot days spent on a tropical beach somewhere. Toasted coconut used in a deliciously rich Pound Cake is basically perfect to me!! This recipe is easy & fool-proof. The cake comes out moist & fluffy (thanks to the addition of buttermilk) with exactly the right amount of sweet-coconutty richness. NOM! I could personally devour this entire loaf in about 2 days!

Bake it, have a slice (or two) with your morning coffee/tea and dare to tell me you’re not instantly smitten. Find the recipe here.

Currently Baking {Rhubarb Buckle}

June 11, 2013 By missrenaissance in Baking, Dessert, Recipes Tags: Baking, Buckle, Crumble, Dessert, Rhubarb, Rhubarb Coffee Cake 3 Comments

Rhubarb Season is in full swing…and it usually leads me to bake (& consume) large amounts of Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie! But not so fast. This year, I decided to switch up my routine a bit. I searched around for a yummy recipe using fresh Rhubarb – and Martha Stweart came to the rescue, as she so often does.

This “Buckle” – which is an old-fashioned term similar to a coffee cake or a crumble – is light, tart & sweet at the same time, and the crunchy streusel topping gives it a nice texture. I decided at the last minute to add some fresh Apricots to the Rhubarb mixture, but I’m certain that the Rhubarb alone would have been just as delicious!!

This Buckle is a perfect bring-along for casual dinners or as dessert for a picnic, and if you want to fancy it up a little, serve it a la mode with some vanilla ice cream! Find the recipe here.

{All images by Miss Renaissance.}

Currently Baking {French Macarons}

March 21, 2013 By missrenaissance in Baking, Food, Recipes Tags: Baking, Easter Baking, Easter Recipes, French Macaron, Macarons, Sweets 15 Comments

The French Macaron…such a delicious but fickle beast! They’re beautiful, highly addicting, but also hard to perfect at home. In my experience, depending on the weather (i.e. random levels of humidity), the quality of ingredients used, the type of food coloring added, and even depending on my mood that day, macarons can either turn out beautifully or fail miserably. I remember learning how to make these little suckers back in my pastry school days, and even seasoned French Chefs still mess these up every now and then.

This being said, I love a challenge, so I decided to try my luck at some gilded & pastel-colored macarons at home – Easter is almost upon us after all! I made several batches in different colors, and some turned out better than others, but overall I’m happy with the outcome – they look fun, glittery (everything is better with glitter), and they taste amazing!

I like using Martha Stewart’s tried & true recipe – find it right here. If you want to get a little crazy, you can find the gold dust & edible glitter here & here.

I dare you to make a colorful batch of macarons this weekend…and let me know how they turn out!!

{All images by Missrenaissance.}

Currently Baking {Homemade Samoas}

March 5, 2013 By missrenaissance in Baking, Dessert, Food, Recipes Tags: Baking, Cookies, Girl Scout Cookies, Girlscouts, Homemade Samoas, Recipes, Samoas 13 Comments

Something beautiful is happening right now. It’s Girl Scout Cookie Season (feel free to imagine me screaming this part!)!! Every year, for about 7 weeks between January and March, we can all get our fill of carb & sugar-loading deliciousness in the form of a box (or 12) of Thin Mints, Tagalongs, or my personal favorites – Samoas. I’ve been known to literally stalk the local Girl Scout Troops just so that I don’t miss their sales & end up without cookies for the Season.

But then Spring rolls around and the hoarded boxes of cookies slowly run out….what then!!?? I can’t believe it took me this long to come up with a solution – just make your own favorite Girl Scout Cookie recipe once you run out of the real deal. Don’t get me wrong, I am 100% for supporting your local Troops & buying as many boxes as you can stuff in your pantry/fridge/freezer…but for the rest of the year, making your own is the perfect cure for that cookie withdrawal we all know so well.

These absolutely taste like the real thing – amazingly crunchy, chewy, caramelly-coconutty awesome! Wish me luck at not gaining 40 pounds over the next year due to this recipe.

{All Photos by Miss Renaissance.}

Currently Baking {Olive Clafoutis}

February 21, 2013 By missrenaissance in Baking, Dessert, Food Tags: Baking, Clafoutis, Dessert, Miss Renaissance, Olive Clafoutis, Olives 1 Comment

When my good friends over at Said She Said He challenged me to make something delicious using Olives a few weeks back, I was immediately excited! Olives aren’t usually on my list of ingredients to bake with, but the idea of using them in a sweet recipe was intriguing.

During my research, I came across this unusual recipe and knew I had to give it a shot. What comes to mind when you think of Clafoutis? Cherries, perhaps? Or maybe stone fruit, like peaches or apricots? Traditionally, Clafoutis is a French dessert baked with whole black cherries – pits and all. Using a traditionally savory ingredient, such as Olives, in a normally sweet pastry sounded slightly absurd, but I thought it had the potential to be delicious.

Turns out it’s just that – delish! The poaching process takes a lot of the briney/salty elements from the Olives and replaces it with a slight sweetness that’s really interesting. Seriously, try it for yourself, your mind might just get blown a little!

P.S.: I decided to bake individual mini Clafoutis, but this recipe can also be baked in a bigger dish & served family style – what a perfect option for a weekend brunch, dontcha think?!

{All Photos by Miss Renaissance.}

Category Archives: Baking

Currently Baking {Coconut-Buttermilk Pound Cake}

Currently Baking {Rhubarb Buckle}

Currently Baking {French Macarons}

Currently Baking {Homemade Samoas}

Currently Baking {Olive Clafoutis}

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