Culinary Adventures with Camilla

For the August-September selection of  Cook the Books , Debra from  Eliot's Eats  invited the group to read  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland  by Lewis Carroll. Read  her invitation  and join the fun, if you wish, because you still have more than a month before the deadline. I knew that I had read the book in college for one of my literature classes, but when I read Debra's invitation and she mentioned the Salvador Dalí illustrations for the book, I was excited about re-reading it.  I had seen some of those prints at a museum in San Francisco. And, though we have the largest Dalí collection on the West Coast at a museum here, I've only been once and I don't remember if they have any of those. But I do remember really liking them. My favorite is "The Mad Tea Party"... from amazon.com I excitedly dug into the book, but within two dozen pages, my enthusiasm had waned. Maybe my patience with nonsense is thinning as I get older. I found this a mind-bog...

This month, Sue of  Palatable Pastime  told the Baking Bloggers that for March we are dusting off our madeleine pans...and we learned that Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm didn't have one (but she bought one for this event) and Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories has five pans! Well, I am somewhere in the middle there. I have a pan and I have used it. But I don't use it often enough. So I am grateful to have some new recipes to try. This is what the #BakingBloggers are sharing... Acorn Madeleines with Cinnamon Sugar from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice Chocolate & Orange Madeleines from Making Miracles Chocolate Madeleines from A Day in the Life on the Farm Eggless Rose Madeleine s from Magical Ingredients Green Chile Cornbread Madeleines from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Key Lime Madeleines from Palatable Pastime Lemon Madeleines from Sneha's Recipe Pistachio Madeleines from Ka...

December always means Christmas cookies. Lots and lots of Christmas cookies. I was excited to see that Ellen at  Family Around the Table  was organizing a week-long event surrounding cookies. She has also created a giveway from one of our event sponsors. More on that soon! For now, I hope you enjoy the recipes my fellow bloggers have shared to celebrate the cookie season. Get baking! Tuesday's Cookie Tray Almond Joy No Bake Cookies by Jonesin’ For Taste Chocolate Almond Biscotti by Kate’s Recipe Box Cranberry Eggnog Biscotti by The Redhead Baker Cranberry Orange Cookies by Faith, Hope, Luck and Love Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice Cream Cheese Cookie Cups by Making the Most of Naptime Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies by Family Around the Table Double Dipped Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies by A Day in the Life on the Farm Eggnog Cookies by The Freshman Cook Foolproof Holiday Cookies by Karen’s Kitchen Stories Gingerbread Crinkle Cookie...

Here we are at day five of one of my favorite blogging weeks of the year: Brunch Week. I can't believe the week is almost over! Each year, Terri of  Love and Confections  coordinates this multi-blogger, multi-day celebration of all things brunch. This year Christie from  A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures  is co-hosting.  I almost didn't post today. Very unlike myself, I procrastinated on a planned post and wasn't ready. When I got home this evening, ready to quickly bake a tray of lavender madeleines, all I could do was stare in dismay at my sad, little lavender bush. The drought has certainly taken its toll. There were no blossoms on my usually prolific plant. Even the leaves were tinged with brown. Ugh. Then I remembered a friend saying that you can cook with culinary grade essential oils. And I just happened to have some culinary grade lavender essential oil that was delivered to my doorstep today. You can tell it's culinary grade, versus therapeutic grad...

Hi and welcome to day 3 of #PumpkinWeek hosted by Terri of   Love and Confections . We are celebrating our love of the season with a whole week of pumpkin goodies, leading up to National Pumpkin Day. 17 Food Bloggers have come together to share over 65 recipes with you. In addition to homemade pumpkin puree, pie, and cookies, we are also sharing savory pumpkin dishes like hummus, chili and pumpkin corn chowder. Come back every day for #PumpkinWeek recipes. You can also find these great recipes and more on  Love and Confections' #PumpkinWeek Pinterest Board ! On this, the third day, of #PumpkinWeek I decided to whip up a pumpkinized (yes, I'm coining that phrase this week) version of a madeleine. I had never had a madeleine, much less baked one, before I did a cookbook review for   Quirk Books  of  Madeleines: Elegant French Tea Cakes to Bake and Share  by Barbara Feldman Morse. Click to read those thoughts: here . But now that they are soli...

Thankfully I looked at my calendar before I went to Whole Foods yesterday afternoon; I was reminded that I was scheduled to bring goodies to the parent coffee at school today. So, I decided to whip up some madeleines. Typically I prefer to chop my own nuts, but I picked up some ground almonds as a baking short-cut. After I reviewed  Madeleines: Elegant French Tea Cakes to Bake and Share  by Barbara Feldman Morse, for  Quirk Books  , they have become my latest baking obsession. You can read my review: here . So, for the parent coffee, I made these Honey-Almond Madeleines (on the left) and Matcha-Maple Madeleines  (on the right). The review: these are fantastic! Ingredients 3/4 C organic butter plus some for greasing pan 1 C organic granulated sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1 t pure vanilla extract 1 T honey 1 C flour (I used a bread flour) 1/2 C almond meal or flour 1/4 t baking powder Procedure Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease...

I have had a copy of this cookbook from  Quirk Books  - Madeleines: Elegant French Tea Cakes to Bake and Share by Barbara Feldman Morse* - on my pile of 'to-review' for several weeks. I think I was avoiding it because I have never actually eaten a madeleine (did I just admit that aloud?!), I needed to get a madeleine pan, and madeleines looked so complicated. Well, I finally got my hands on a madeleine pan and I had run out of other cooking projects. So, it was time. Morse has divided her recipes into seven chapters with six different categories of madeleines from 'Not Just Plain Vanilla' and 'Indulgent' to 'Savory.' Yes, savory. I'll share one of those recipes another time. But, for this review, I am going to share an indulgent madeleine, her Hazelnut and Frangelico Madeleines. I was more than a little tickled to discover that these cakes are not just elegant, they are easier than they look. With Morse's helpful hints and detailed ...