use real butter

Recipe: crème brûlée

Whew, that was a long hiatus. While the weekend was a miserable slog, I knew things were on an upswing yesterday when I began to contemplate what recipes to try next. That and the fact that I was checking the snow forecasts for the big mountains, anxiously counting down the days to when I could clean the house (14 days after the lunar new year!), and following the news again. I am hoping this is the start of a solid good 2 weeks for me. Thanks to all for your very sweet wishes.

But there is some unfinished business from dinner last week. I never got around to posting what we had for our Valentine’s Day dessert. Crème brûlée is, in my mind, one of the most elegant, simple, and delightful ways to finish a meal. And it’s really not that hard to make! As long as you are competent enough to implement a water bath and not burn your house down with a propane torch (or you could use a broiler, but where is the fun in that?) you’re good as gold.

Recipe: doughnuts

How many of you woke up one recent morning and said, “Time to make the doughnuts”? Because if you haven’t yet, it is most certainly time to make the bleeping doughnuts! Peabody and Tartelette are hosting the Time to Make the Doughnuts event due to them by tomorrow (Feb 12). Well, to be honest, I didn’t actually sit bolt upright in bed Saturday morning and declare I was going to make doughnuts. First I looked at the ski conditions and when I realized the mountain was a ground blizzard I opted for doughnut baking :)

I’ve never made doughnuts before. Sure, I’ve fried dough, but I’m talking about making doughnuts as in going after it with the intention of producing something on par with my white trash youth memories of Dunkin Donuts runs with my best buds. Never eat doughnuts alone. Here was my dilemma: I wanted to make chocolate cake doughnut holes – essentially the munchkins from DD. My dear man is never so rude as to demand anything of me, but I know that his all time favorite doughnut is the yeast-variety, filled with chocolate creme. It is not cream or anything so sophisticated as crème, the creme is the kind of frosting that makes you blind because it’s so bloody sweet. Rather than choose between my curiosity and his favorite doughnut, I endeavored to do both. Someone please smack me if I ever try to do that again.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: dark chocolate tartelettes

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! Gong Xi Fa Tsai! Jing Nian Quai Le!

It is the year of the Rat and in case you didn’t know, it’s Peabody’s year. Last year was the year of the Pig, which was my year. Since I made it through more or less in one piece, I’m going to assume that I was working the good juju. Peabody tells me she’s sharing the good juju with me into this year. I love that girl. In turn, let’s just say good juju all around for everyone! I sincerely wish each of you everything your heart desires in the new year – health, happiness, luck, fortune – all of it and more. xxoo

I began my morning quite early because I was behind schedule on making dumplings. Well, let me explain why. I spent yesterday telemark skiing with a bunch of awesome tele babes on the mountain. I felt well enough to tele all day with my D70 in tow too.

**Jump for more butter**