November 30, 2010
Basic Granola Formula
Granola is my safety blanket snack. I keep a big jar of it on the counter at all times, and if I run out and don't have the time or the ingredients to bake a new batch within the next few days, I don't feel quite myself.
There are very many granola recipes out there, and over the years I've tried a number of them -- you can check the raw buckwheat granola I wrote about last summer -- but when it comes to oven-baked granola, I find that what on...
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August 31, 2010
Raw Buckwheat Granola
Two years ago, I met a young British woman named Poppy -- that alone made my day -- who introduced herself as a raw chocolatier.
I had a taste of her heart-shaped raw chocolates, assembled from raw Arriba cacao and a bunch of raw superfoods, and liked them so much I devoted one of my ELLE à table columns to them.
And when we met one day for her to demonstrate her chocolate-making prowess, she gave me a bag of her raw buckwheat granola, which ...
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April 28, 2008
On Hotel Breakfasts, and How Not to Have Them
Much has been written about plane food and its associated plights; I don't think enough ink has been devoted to the matter of hotel breakfasts. And as I get ready to embark on my book tour, the subject is very much on my mind.
Breakfast is, to me, the most intimate meal of the day, the one that you eat barefoot and in your pajamas, the one that eases the transition from your helpless, sleeping self to the person you are in the daytime and to t...
"On Hotel Breakfasts, and How Not to Have Them" continues »
May 15, 2006
Macadamia Maple Granola
When I was little, I had long and exclusive relationships with my breakfast menus. For years on end a particular food item was all I would have in the morning, until suddenly and without warning, a new monomania came to replace it.
The earliest phase I remember involved pain de mie (white sandwich bread) and Nutella. Two slices of bread would be toasted until lightly golden (if it got too brown I had to find someone who would eat it, and start...
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March 6, 2006
Almond Croissants
[Croissants aux Amandes]
A couple of weeks ago, as I was writing about brunches and the possibility of leftover croissants, I gave a passing mention to croissants aux amandes. Such a teaser could not go unnoticed: I received a few requests for instructions, and promised I'd share them as soon as I had a picture to illustrate the recipe.
You will find croissants aux amandes in most traditional French bakeries. Originally devised as a way to se...
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February 7, 2005
Crêpes
February 2 is La Chandeleur (Candlemas), a holiday that welcomes the first signs of spring. In France, it is traditionally celebrated by making crêpes, with a variety of superstitious little tricks to bring happiness and prosperity upon your household.
One of those tricks involves holding a coin in your left hand while you flip the crêpe pan with your right hand: if all goes smoothly and you haven't dropped the crêpe or the coin or killed any...
February 23, 2004
Buckwheat Galettes
[Galettes de sarrasin]
Tomorrow is Mardi-Gras, the last day before Lent begins. The Mardi-Gras tradition in France, amongst other things, is to gorge on crepes, supposedly to use up the eggs and butter that you won't be allowed to eat until Easter. I am not religious and so I don't observe Lent, but I will gladly take any opportunity to eat crepes. And last Friday, when my friends Marie-Laure and Laurence came over for dinner, I decided to mak...
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October 1, 2003
Chouquettes (Sugar Puffs)
2008 update. Below is a revised recipe, as it appears in Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris, my book on Paris restaurants and food shops.
2009 update. I have slightly improved upon the recipe with a couple of tricks: I now sprinkle the baking sheet with pearl sugar so the chouquettes are more evenly studded, and I brush the raw chouquettes with a sugar syrup to form a slight caramelized crust on top, and help the pearl sugar adhere.
Here i...
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