Princes Krofne /Choux à la Crème/Cream Puffs With Raspberry Filling And About Serbia

       Princes Krofne /Choux à la Crème/Cream Puffs are all names for the single wonderful  pastry dessert that so many of us love. My relationship with it brings me, of course, back to childhood. My mom used to make them for us often, because we loved them so much! She has couple of different recipe versions for them too: with white cream or classic yellow (custard) cream. I remember my brother and me didn't agree with this one either (like with many other food related matters): he liked custard cream and I always liked white cream because it was lighter. And so we would never get bored of Princes Krofne because my mom would alternate between the two versions. Here is the photo, along with her beautiful cursive writing, of the recipe:

    

Grandmom Dula's "Grilijas Torta"

This recipe is a way overdue! But better late than never! This cake (Torta) is special to me for so many reasons. First, I should say that I am not a sweet-tooth person at all(I know, I even don't like
ice - cream  that much) and especially not a cake lover. However this is different! This cake is loaded with MY FAVORITE nut - WALNUT therefore all the love. There is close to zero flour here so it is almost a gluten free cake if that is what is important to you. It uses grounded walnut-sugar caramel (Grilijas) hence the name GRILIJAS TORTA instead of flour. But above all this is the cake that me and my brother grew up with! Birthday comes my mom would bake this cake for us. Wedding or any celebrations comes chances were my mom would be making this cake. This literally became a tradition in our house, as I am doing the same with my two girls. They love it, I love it, even my husband who does not eat cakes eats this one. It is a little tricky to make and while, so far I was not able to make it like my mom, I got pretty good at it over the time. This being my mom's recipe all the measures are metric.

Candied grapefruit peel dipped in dark chocolate

Citrus is in season here in California. Farmers markets are bejeweled with endless varieties, from blood oranges to Buddha's hand. Apart from my favorite cara cara navel oranges (they have pink flesh that is sweet and juicy like the navel, but less acidic) to aromatic meyer lemons which have always been the staple in my kitchen during winter and an integral part in unlimited number of delicious dishes, juices, desserts, and salads, this year grapefruits have started to show-up on my breakfast plate more often as I've set out to explore this mighty fruit! That is how I've discovered their heavenly match with dark chocolate...

Lemon and blackcurrant stripe cake

It was equally hard to wait for the new cookbook "Sweet" by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh to arrive, as it was to pick which dessert to make first!

Home made daifuku mochi

There has been a craze for mochi ice cream lately, I'm sure you've noticed the self serve bars in Whole Foods. Black sesame and mango are my favorites.