Overnight Healthy Rye and Spelt Loaf

I would love to make you believe that I spent days elaborating a new recipe for a healthy and delicious bread. That I experienced, tried and tested various formulas until one day, exhausted but elated, I triumphed…Alas, the truth about how this bread came to be is that a few weeks ago, as I was setting up…

Cocoa Swirled Meringues (Meringhe variegate)

I often find myself planning recipes that only require the use of yolks so that I can have some egg whites to play with. As I type this I will concede that this may sound odd to many, but I cannot renounce who I am, a food nerd, really! How many times have you separated…

Walnut, Dark Chocolate and Honey Flourless Cake

Some unions seem to make perfect seasonal sense. Think spring and a bowl of freshly picked, oozy strawberries to dip in cream, comes summer and hardly anything will come as close as the perfect marriage of stone fruit and almonds. Autumn is heralded by an abundance of figs best served along with pistachios and ripe…

Valentine’s Day Treat: Coconut and Dark Chocolate Macaroons

Have you been looking for a last minute Valentine’s Day treat recipe? Have you forgotten about today or have you been in denial about it, only to wake up this morning feeling a slight sense of guilt because you didn’t get your better half any tokens of your appreciation? You are not alone! Welcome to…

Hazelnut Amaretti (Amaretti alle Nocciole)

Just when I thought I couldn’t make Amaretti because I was out of almond meal (and in no way inclined to take a trip to the supermarket with child and toddler in tow) I found a half-packet of hazelnut meal hidden in the cupboard. The idea struck me immediately, but what if it wouldn’t work? Good news,…

Espresso-spiked Almond and Cocoa spread

You may call this “homemade Nutella for grownups”. This morning I found myself battling against the will of a stubborn 5 year-old, convincingly arguing his point as why he shouldn’t go to school today (or any day, really). I tried to kindly, yet firmly persuade him that “school is fun”, but who am I kidding?…

Italian Spiced X’Mas Slice, with figs, cranberries and roasted hazelnut

I had a pretty disastrous couple of days in the kitchen. First, I charcoaled the left-over potato bake, then I dropped-and shattered-the just-bought, very extravagant jar of designer-worthy vanilla paste. On the same day, as I was unstacking the dishwasher, I managed to snap the stem off two-two!– champagne flutes. And so it was only…

Panforte, an Italian Christmas Treat

Panforte is as traditional Italian as it can get. Legend has it, and some historical accounts may prove this too, that crusaders themselves used to carry, on the way to their quest, slabs of what was described as a durable confection made with honey and sugar syrup, spices, nuts and dried fruits: Panforte, that is….

Torta Gianduia (Hazelnut and Dark Chocolate flourless cake)

Rain, rain and more rain! Sydney has been wet and cold for days now. As happens every winter, everybody is talking about the ‘wettest and coldest winter of the last 50 years’… Nevermind that, I know just what will turn this cold, wet long week-end into a warm, indulging, chocolate cuddle: A Piemontese chocolate and hazelnut Torta. Piemonte is a region in the…