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Dancing Tomatoes

local. seasonal. sustainable.

Dessert / Cookies / Sweets

pastries, French, croissants, pain au chocolat

There’s More to the French Boulangerie than Croissants and Pains au Chocolat It’s All About Bakers and War The croissant was invented by Viennese bakers who saved Vienna from an attack by the Ottomans… Jump to video and list Croissants and Pains au Chocolat Everyone who comes to Paris heads to a bakery for a …

Pastries of the French Boulangerie Read More »

buckwheat flour, gateau breton

Perusing the Boulangeries I was perusing offerings at boulangeries, as I always do when I travel, and I came across an organic gateau Breton, made entirely with buckwheat flour. Now, I know my gâteau Breton. Usually made with white flour (and butter, eggs, and sugar) , it was my favorite cake to make as an …

Gâteau-Breton Read More »

buckwhet, egg, clarified butter

TRY THESE DELICIOUS BRETON RECIPES!

FLOUR EGGS BUTTER SUGAR

Go to Recipe Go to Video BRINGING IN THE LIGHT Le Chandeleur – the day of the Feast of Light  – may be over, but the light is lasting longer and longer every day.  And that is worth a few crêpes as celebration.  After all, we’ve lived through the shortest days, the darkest months.  So …

Crêpes Read More »

shortbread

Go to Recipe Go to Video The French Are Involved in Everything As often happens with an amazing invention, culinary or otherwise, the French are hovering close by. This appears to be the case with one of the best cookies ever invented, shortbread.   Here is the legend: The French who were at court with …

The French and Shortbread – A Fabulous Recipe Read More »

eggplant, herbs, olive oil, garlic

We focused on eggplant for this first video of the week because they are still so beautiful AND I made a discovery.  Find the long, snaky purple eggplant often referred to as Chinese or Japanese or Asian eggplant (Solanum melangena) and follow the video to make this amazing appetizer.  You’ll be amazed. Go to Recipe …

French Holidays and Weird Season Read More »

cheesecake, Philadelphia cream cheese, vanilla, butter, sugar, flour, cookies

When my son was born, I had just moved to Maine and was mourning my home in Brooklyn.  When Joe came into the world, my literary agent called from New York to congratulate me. “What can I send you?” she asked, the soul of sweetness and generosity.  While I might have answered “A chef,” because …

Cheesecake cookies for bastille day Read More »

apricots, apricot cupcakes, cream cheese frosting

You can take the cook out of America, but no, you cannot take America out of the cook, I think each time I make a cake like this one.  It is SO American!  Not at all French!!  Not that I don’t love all those creamy, swirly, crispy, yummy French confections like Napoleons, and Paris Brest, …

Apricot Cupcakes Read More »

buttery sand cookies

I admit to being a Normandy chauviniste which means that when something is delicious in Normandy, it is the most delicious in the world. The Best Sablé in Normandy While doing research in Normandy, I discovered the very best, most tender sablés in a patisserie in a small town called Caumont l’Eventé.  It was by …

The Very Best And Butteriest Cookie Read More »

rhubarb, cold rhubarb and strawberry soup, lemon verbena

Go to Recipe Go to Video Most every culture has its retinue of cold soups to chase away the heat of summer, from the beloved gazpacho of Spain and Mexico, to vegetable-rich Russian Okrochka with its garnish of hard cooked eggs, to the famed Vichyssoise of New York. Who Wants Hot When it is Hot? …

Cold Strawberry, Rhubarb, Lemon Verbena Soup Read More »

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