I’m not a dessert cook, so when I make sweets they need to be relatively quick and easy. It is nice to end a meal with a simple dessert or to produce something delicious to serve with a cup of coffee when friends drop by. Sweet treats make great gifts too. Here are some of my favourite easy sweet recipes.
PolvorónesAndalusian Shortbread Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Spanish cooking class! These Spanish shortbreads hail from the southern region of Andalusia and are particularly popular at Christmas time. The name comes from the Spanish word polvo, meaning powder or dust, referring to their crumbly texture – the dough is the crumbliest I’ve ever worked […]
Date Scones Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Australian cooking class inspired by Matt Moran! Date scones are an Aussie classic, perfect as a sweet treat any time. Mine are inspired by Matt Moran’s date scone recipe in Australian Food, which is in turn inspired by the scones his Nan Valda used to make. […]
Pumpkin Scones Like pumpkin scones? You’ll love my online Australian cooking class inspired by Matt Moran! Pumpkin scones are perhaps the most Australian scone of all, made famous by the late Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen, wife of a Queensland Premier. Use leftover roast pumpkin if you have some (you’ll need about 1 cup mashed), in which […]
Spungata (Ligurian Apricot Tart) Join one of my food & wine tours to Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties! This delicious fruit tart, called spungata in Liguria and spongata in neighbouring Emilia-Romagna, is similar to what other Italian regions call a crostata. In Liguria, a spungata is often given as a gift when visiting […]
Pinolate (Ligurian Pine Nut Cookies) Join one of my food & wine tours to Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties! Pinolate are simple Ligurian pine nut cookies with a wonderfully chewy soft centre, a crisp outer and delicious nutty flavour. Also called pignoli or amaretti con pignoli, they’re traditionally made with a mix of […]
Benne Wafers (Sesame Cookies) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online cooking class featuring the food of America’s Deep South! Benne (pronounced benny) is the heirloom ancestor to modern day sesame seeds. Morgan McGlone, who worked with renowned Southern chef Sean Brock at Husk in Charleston (South Carolina), tells me that even raw they have […]
Beignets(New Orleans Doughnuts) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online cooking class featuring the food of America’s Deep South! Beignets (pronounced bay-nyay) are close cousins to French boules de Berlin and were brought to New Orleans by the Acadians, French settlers exiled from Canada who relocated to Louisiana in the late 1700s. Beignets are traditionally […]
Sticky Rice with Mango Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Thai cooking class inspired by David Thompson! I find any dish with sticky rice addictively comforting, especially a dessert. So I adore khao niao mamuang, Thai sticky rice with mango, one of Thailand’s most popular desserts. Glutinous rice (also called sticky rice) is the […]
Fresh Fruit with Spicy Thai Salt Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Thai cooking class inspired by David Thompson! I was reminded of this classic Thai dish at Sydney restaurant Viand, where Annita Potter served a simple pre-dessert of pomelo segments alongside a little mound of ground salt, sugar, chilli and kaffir lime. I’ve […]
Portuguese Rice Pudding Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Portuguese cooking class! Rice pudding is one of the most typical Portuguese desserts. It always makes an appearance at celebrations, from birthdays to weddings, and is usually decorated with a relevant motif sprinkled on top in cinnamon; initials or numbers are popular for birthdays, while […]