Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Pie

I have been craving a rhubarb pie since March, and I finally took the time to make one yesterday.  Surprisingly, there was not a lot of rhubarb to be found at our grocery store...are we already past rhubarb season by mid-April?  Maybe everyone else, like me, had the urge to make some tangy dessert with rhubarb.  Well, in the end, I'm just glad I was able to grab some, mix it up with some strawberries, sugar, the juice of a 1/2 and the zest of a full lemon, some tapioca pearls, and a crumble topping to come up with what you see below.  Happy Spring! (-:

Treacle Tart with Acai Sauce

Happy National Pie Day, peeps!  I made a lovely little tart--a cousin to the pie, but all part of the same family.

Below is a picture of this British treat.  I teemed it up with a bit of Brazil by using some Bazaar Acai Sauce that I got in my "Try the World" box at Christmas.  I didn't have the tradition "golden syrup" but rather used light corn syrup instead.  You can get the former from Amazon or King Arthur Flour.  Cheerio!

And although I didn't use their recipe, here's a link to a treacle tart recipe from Saveur magazine.

Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

From Dorie Greenspan's cookbook, "Baking:  From My Home to Yours," here's a delicious example of her Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies.

A few of my co-workers had colds this past week, and in order to circumvent those germs lodging into my system, I made a huge pot of chicken soup with turmeric, ginger, chicken bone broth, etc. After being on this liquid preventative cure for brunch, lunch, and dinner, I was starving for a carb. Ha!

It was snowing and blowing outside, and I thought, molasses cookies sound perfect about now.  After an in-depth cleaning of my kitchen cabinets last weekend, I knew I had molasses in the house so it was a go.

I have Dorie's cookbook (I even met and talked to her at a book signing!), but rather than write it out here, I wanted to link to her website.  Unfortunately, because the recipe is old, it doesn't appear that it's included on the site.  Instead, here's a link to epicurious.com which does.  Enjoy the warming, winter spices of these delicious cookies!

Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

Molten Ginger Curd Brownies

The recipe called for 3 eggs, and I had 2 extra-large ones.  I went to use applesauce for the third, but instead spotted some ginger curd.  I thought that was gelatinous like an egg, and surely 2 x-large eggs made up 2 1/2 large eggs, correct?  Anyway, I added a generous 1 1/2 T. of ginger curd, creating a new recipe.  It had just a slight amount of zing to make them interesting.  I'm glad I was short an egg!

Happy New Year 2016 Chunky Minestrone

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here's a little chunky minestrone to warm you up on this cold January 1st.  I actually made it yesterday afternoon, because as is true of most things with tomatoes, it tastes even better the next day.  I didn't make Hoppin' John as I usually do on the 1/1, but here's a piece of my artwork from last year that will show you how to do it!  Make your own luck for the new year. (-:

Chunky Minestrone with Parmegiano Reggiano

Get Lucky with Hoppin' John

Pies, Cheesecake, and French Onion Soup Recap (Oh, My)

In one fell swoop, here's a last recap of all the pies (and other food-related items) I shared on Instagram (@jujulabean).  I'll give a little peek, and promise to do better in 2016...that's a resolution I'm going to keep!

I made 9 pies in one night (the peach sour cream was still in the oven) for a local cafe bake in August.

Cherry Almond

Triple Berry Crunch with Grand Marnier

Banana Cream Pie with Bittersweet Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger

Banana Cream Pie with Toasted Coconut 

(the camera made the coconut look a little orange here)

 Is 5 lbs. of apples too much?  The beginning...

The end...Double Apple Pie with Cornmeal Crust and Bourbon Caramel Sauce

Vanilla Bean Upside-Down Peach Cobbler with Cream

Salted Caramel Toffee Pumpkin Cheesecake

One view of my kitchen

Balancing Dessert (artwork by me)

Outside in the summer with my Bialetti Breakfast with La Mère Poulard Palets

French Onion Soup recipe courtesy of Sweet Paul Magazine.

Jumbo Chocolate Almond Muffin

Cranberry Walnut Clementine Cake

Yesterday I felt myself wanting a piece of happiness so I baked this Cranberry Walnut Clementine Cake.  It's still the holiday season so I actually had fresh cranberries in my refrigerator...and fresh clementines (!) which the recipe didn't call for, but the rind and juice of which I added.  Can you imagine that heavenly scent?  I almost think each morning I should squirt clementine juice and wonderfully bitter zest through the air!  O.k., so I'm getting carried away, I know.

I'm not sure why I don't post more of my baking...this I shall change, sweet foodie followers, for it brings me back to my youth when I would bake constantly in our large kitchen and dream of working at Chocolatier Magazine and being a pastry chef!

Now, I have a tiny kitchen, but I still love to bake.  It's art that edible, no?   Ironically, if I post a piece of artwork or a culinary creation, the latter seems to always garner more interest.  Not sure what that says about my art! ha!  Anyway, I'm just doing both for myself, I suppose, and am hoping you like to look at it, too. (-:

Cranberry Walnut Clementine Cake with Blueberry Acai Tea