For as long as I’ve been writing about food, I’ve had a dessert idea jotted down; one that combines a trio of my favorite things, and yet, I just got to it this past week. This might say something about my tendencies towards procrastination, or my love of making unrealistically long lists — if only you could see my collection of epic-length Google docs — but the real reason this cherry-almond chocolate bark only now came to fruition is simpler and less personality-trait-related: namely, I hate tempering chocolate.
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edible gifts
Spicy Candied Pecans
While on a recent trip to Boston, I paid a long-overdue visit to Flour Bakery, a spot I’ve wanted to check out for what feels like forever. Not surprisingly, Flour’s famed sticky buns were a winner; the tangy, almost-sourdough-like brioche base balanced out the ridiculously-gooey deep-dark-brown glaze that anchors the pecans to the buns. Seriously, don’t skip these. My other favorite was a bit less expected, an impulse purchase snatched up while waiting hungrily in line: a bag of spicy candied pecans, dubbed addictive by their packaging.
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Curry Cashews
As someone who eats a lot of beans, grains, lentils, and nuts, the bulk aisle is (not surprisingly) one of my favorite sections of the supermarket. Assuming your market’s bulk section has a good, healthy amount of turnover, it can be one of the best, least wasteful ways to stock up on everything from steel cut oats to red lentils, and, if you’re lucky enough to live near an excellent co-op like San Francisco’s Rainbow Grocery, loose-leaf tea, spices, alternative flours, and even kimchi.
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Iced Sugar Cookie Hearts
Nowadays, most of what comes out of my kitchen are savory everyday things like bean soups and kale salads, but baking was what first piqued my interest in the culinary world. I still enjoy it — there’s something so magical about transforming butter, flour, and sugar into a treat so much greater than the sum of their parts — but it’s more of an occasional, whimsical thing. (One cannot live on sweets alone.) Cut-out sugar cookies, like these hearts, are a long-time love of mine, one of the first things I remember baking.
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