Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Kelly of  Passion Kneaded  is hosting and she wrote: "Bake up some bread with something fun inside! Will it be a pattern? A filling?" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. I was both intrigued and intimidated by the possibility for this event. Mostly intimidated because Kelly shared a link to this bread artist's Instagram:  Konel Bread . Yeah, I almost gave up then and there. But I soldiered on and came  up with a bread that made me smile. First, here's the line-up of the #BreadBakers surpris...

  This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Quail & Olive . Complimentary product was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own.   The last time I stopped in at  The Quail & Olive * , I picked up a bottle of their  Butter Flavor Olive Oil  because I was interested in trying the oil in some holiday baking. I don't know about you, but as soon as Halloween is over, my brain goes into overdrive on what kind of holiday cookies to bake.  Before I get to the recipe, I want to share a little bit about this oil because it's delicious and saves a step of having to melt butter for baking cookies. This oil is vegetarian and dairy-free, but it smells just like melted butter! So, I swapped it in for melted butter in my mocha crinkles. Actually I swapped it in for any recipe that called for melted butter in the cookie recipe this weekend, so you'll be seeing several more cookie r...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Book Club Cookbook . I received complimentary product for the purpose of review and recipe development, but all opinions are honest and they are my own.  This page may contain affiliate links. photo courtesy Kevin Brookhouser Last weekend Jake and his merry band of friends headed off to the desert and I was in charge of two meals. Okay, really he was assigned the two meals; however, we all know my Love doesn't cook. The same week that they were planning, I received a package from my contact at  The Book Club Cookbook  with the spice blends that I had selected from their collection of  Book Blends, TV Blends, and Song Blends . And I set out to use them in the desserts I was sending to the desert. You can read more about the other creation I made with the Of Spice and Men blend: Forbidden Fruit Thumbprints . And read a bit more about Cocoa-Mo, the Black Onyx Cocoa Powder . Oh, and in addit...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Book Club Cookbook . I received complimentary product for the purpose of review and recipe development, but all opinions are honest and they are my own.  This page may contain affiliate links. I recently heard from my contact at The Book Club Cookbook , asking if I would be interested in trying our a couple of their new spice blends. Ummm...yes! Did you really have to ask?!?  I am always up for some culinary adventure; and when it ties reading to cooking...well, let's just say I will make time in my calendar for that no matter what.  So, I perused the choices - of their Book Blends, TV Blends, and Song Blends - decided on Cocoa-Mo, a Black Onyx Cocoa Powder and Of Spice and Men, Indonesian Korintje Cinnamon. I selected these based on spices I needed for upcoming recipes, but I love the play on words for all of the blends, especially The Sage of Innocence, Dried and Prejudice, and Of Cumin Bondage....

Sue from Palatable Pastime is hosting the Baking Bloggers as we explore brownies and bar cookies. She writes, "Let's get these lunch box favorites together just in time for back-to-school. Any type of baked brownie or cookie bar or dessert bar will do (even if just the crust is baked, as in bars topped with curd or something like cheesecake bars)." I decided to make a salted olive oil brownie and finally opened up the salt blends that a friend had given me for my birthday back in May. The one I picked for this - I'll admit - I picked for the name. I mean look at it: "Magic Unicorn - use with anything. It's magic." Turns out it's a hand-made, hand-mixed salt consisting of pure ocean salt with smoked paprika, rosemary and garlic. And if you don't think garlic belongs in sweets, think again. We've made Garlic Ice Cream that was so unique and tasty; black garlic is easier to envision in sweets - such as in this Black Garlic Chocolat...

I guess I'm not the only one who has a to-cook list during our vacations. The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf insisted that we bake cookies tonight. He wanted to make double chocolate chip cookies with mint extract and asked me to take him to the grocery store. Okay. I'm just grateful that there's a Safeway just across the street from our timeshare. Ingredients 1/2 C butter 2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided 3/4 C organic granulated sugar 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder 1 C flour 1/2 t salt 1 t baking powder 1 t pure mint extract 1 large egg 1/2 C pecan pieces Procedure Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 1 C chocolate chips and butter into a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until everything is melted and smooth. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the egg and fold it in with a spatula. Pour in the melted chocolate-butter mixtur...

The Precise Kitchen Elf had a cookie exchange at school today. When we were talking about what to bring, he announced: "They need to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free, Mom." From the couch, D barely looked up from his book. "Gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free cookies?!? Why bother?" he quipped. "Just bring fruit!" Well, we had to bother because R wanted to accommodate his friends' allergies. Yes, multiple friends with multiple sensitivities. Together we looked through cookbooks and we decided to adapt chocolate crinkles into something that fit his parameters. The verdict: "It's not bad...considering it's gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free." They tasted fine, but the texture would use a little work. Still, I think the kids will be happy. And - most importantly - R was really happy to be bringing something that his friends could enjoy. I'm glad I bothered! Ingredients 1-1/2 C lightly packed org...

This weekend we had a birthday party dinner - under the redwoods - for my husband. He's finally 40! Because we were camping, I decided that I wasn't going to lug a birthday cake to the woods. I have done that. It's not as easy as you would think. But the boys both insisted that Daddy needed something to hold his candles. Really?!? I decided to bake some candle-holding brownies. And I wanted to use the coconut flour I received from Morning Pep .* A friend asked, after seeing this photo: how many people does it take to light all of Jake's candles?! A lot, apparently. And there weren't even forty candles. There were only 36 in the box. Whoops. Ingredients makes two 8" round pans 2/3 C coconut oil 1 C cocoa powder 12 eggs 1 C coconut sugar 1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk) pinch of salt splash of pure vanilla extract 1 C coconut flour (I used  Morning Pep ) 1/2 C chocolate chips (I used  Pacari Chocolate * ) Pr...