• Chocolate tart with Biscoff crust
    Baking

    Chocolate Tart with Biscoff Crust

    Decadent chocolate ganache fills a press-in crust with deep caramel flavor, making this tart a delicious alternative to a box of chocolates for your loves, yourself, and everyone else you will be treating on Valentine’s Day. While this tart can be made any time of year, we find ourselves in midwinter, when citrus practically demands to be included in sweets.  The richness of the ganache pairs perfectly with candied blood orange and mandarin slices, plus a few pieces of pizzelles, though the choice of topping is completely up to you. The combination of chocolate, caramel notes, and citrus I find absolutely irresistible. Making ganache involves pouring hot cream over plenty…

  • Roasted carrot soup
    Food

    Roasted Carrot Soup

    When carrots are roasted, their natural flavor intensifies and carries a savory soup in a way I love even more than butternut squash.  Try this recipe if you enjoy roasted vegetables, hearty soups, or are looking for a plant-based dish for lunch or dinner.  Traditional or vegan grilled cheese croutons or sandwiches served on the side make this the coziest meal. Even though the heat stayed with us well into September, there were breaks when cool days called me to make a pot of soup, dream of crispness in the air, and even think a bit ahead to the Thanksgiving holiday.  Fortunately carrots develop more sweetness as we head toward…

  • Hot chocolate with heart marshmallow
    Drinks,  Food,  Living

    Cozy Winter

    Whether winter brings to mind the peace of a snowy woodland or pine branches brought inside as festive decoration, this is the season of coziness. A walk through the woods is an opportunity to bundle up with chunky mittens and knits. There may be no better time to wear a fluffy pom-pom. Inside there is coziness to be found in a cup of rich hot chocolate and, for a while, the garlands and ornaments that surround us. I’ve always loved winter for the way it calls us to be a little more still, more warm, perhaps even more thoughtful about things we might take for granted in other seasons. Heading…