Rhubarb Swirled Cheesecake
and a few pinkish things
new on bbs
Rhubarb Cheesecake
Creamy dreamy vanilla cheesecake sweetened with cinnamon and swirled with a bright, tart rhubarb coulis on a bed of graham cracker crust.
Upside Down Rhubarb Cake
Caramelized fresh rhubarb topping; the juices drizzle down into a moist and fluffy butter cake flavored with cinnamon.
Double Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberries are slow roasted to remove excess liquid and to intensify the flavor, then mixed into a creamy cheesecake with more roasted berry puree swirled on top.
Strawberry Bread
Think banana bread, but: strawberries! I made it again this week (it’s an older recipe) but with a reverse cream (beat the flour into the butter & sugar) so the crumb was tighter, we loved it just as much.
From the May Archives
2024: Strawberry Galette with Lemon Curd (the pairing of sharp curd with sweet strawberries is so good here)
2023: Vanilla Brown Butter Cupcakes & Double Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
2022: Chocolate Cheesecake with Oreo Hazelnut Crust (this one’s high on the decadent scale)
2021: Marbled Sour Cream Pound Cake (this one has gotten mixed reviews; partially due to the pound cake rising expectation that I’ve talked about previously and, tbh I’m not sure what the deal is but I might pull it eventually)
2020: Unicorn Cheesecake (basically a no bake cheesecake with lisa frank colors and glitter hehe)
a baker’s review
“These turned out so delicious. I found they spread the best when I shaped them kind of tall like your video and also baked them from frozen. I did the exposed fluff with a single square of milk chocolate on the top and they were so pretty. Also, I doubled the batch of the graham dough and used the lime curd from your lime curd cookies to make a key lime cookie. You really are the queen of curds! Love all your recipes!” Gwen on S’mores Cookies [I’m salivating thinking about this base with my lime curd!!]
weekly reads
“While the proliferation of community cookbooks has partially helped stymy the homogenisation of Indian cuisine in print, their influence remains limited in scale – especially when compared to recipe exchanges over the phone. Both India and Pakistan experience high rates of domestic and international migration: India has the largest global diaspora in the world, while Pakistan ranks seventh. The long-standing trend of individuals, across classes, leaving their home to seek work both in and out of the country means that the traditional methods of learning to cook – observing, listening and tasting in your family kitchen – become less accessible, so many frequently turn to the phone and, increasingly, voice notes. Soon, WhatsApp may end up becoming the largest repository of vernacular South Asian culinary knowledge in existence.” ‘Then, of course, you add turmeric and chilli powder’; How WhatsApp voice notes revolutionised recipe transmission in South Asia, Vittles.
“Though many displaced Syrians have yet to decide where to live the rest of their lives and which communities to serve, their flavors are in Turkey to stay, continuing a long tradition of culinary influence. The oldest-known recipes for hummus, now integral to cuisines across the region, first appeared in the 13th-century cookbook Winning the Beloved’s Heart With Delectable Dishes and Perfumes, attributed to an Aleppo historian Ibn al-Adim; until recently hummus remained relatively rare in Istanbul, but now it appears all over, not only at Syrian spots but Turkish kebab restaurants too, [Yusuf] Dahab says.” After Syria’s Civil War, Refugee Chefs Must Decide Where to Make Their Home, Eater.
“What do soy sauce, miso and fish sauce have in common? They are all fermented condiments, deeply savoury in flavour and add a kick of umami to anything they touch. And if you love a sprinkle of sea salt on a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies or a lick of salted caramel sauce on your ice cream then I am pretty certain you would equally enjoy desserts made with soy sauce, miso or fish sauce.” Baking with savoury condiments - the how to, Real Simple Food.
a baker’s (quick) note
It’s been a long and busy week of recipe testing, filming, and editing (I’m almost done with my august recipes and have finally tested that pistachio layer cake for the last time, the one I’ve been talking about for months!). I didn’t get much of a chance to sit down and write and well, when I did have an open hour, I opted to go for a long power walk; the weather has been lovely in VA lately, the honeysuckle bushes are fragrantly in their prime time and all the white butterflies are out and about and I find the walks tend to calm my anxious mind.
Now it’s friday afternoon, and while I thought I’d sit and write a note about how to bake cookies (mostly bc I saw this), I have too little time to write you a properly researched one so it’ll wait.
I am headed out to pick up my girls from school, take one to her art class and the other out for yemeni coffee (well, she gets the hot cocoa and I get the mint & clove tea, as we do) and we’ve a long weekend ahead. I’m going to try to get them to go strawberry picking again (if you’re interested, use this to find a you pick farm near you) but if it’s a hard no, then a trip to the farmers market to secure me some juicy red berries will do ;-)
sam