Fig experiment, take 3: success!

At last, a conclusion: I like the taste of dried figs, but not the texture. The solution? Chopped dried figs!

Combine a little chopped figs, a few chopped apricots (for my husband, who decided after experiment #1 that he disliked figs...), some lemon zest, honey, and goat cheese, and you have the most amazing fig muffins to ever grace your Saturday morning breakfast table.

At this point, some of you are thinking "gee! that sounds too healthy for me," "goat cheese in muffins??" or "still not sure about those figs, Rebekah..."

Well, the muffins certainly are healthy. I found them in last month's edition of Eating Well. Goat cheese, honey, and figs did seem like an odd combination--but odd enough to be intriguing. The goat cheese has a cream cheese-like consistency, but a delicious tang. And trust me on those chopped figs--just chop them finely. I promise you won't lose any of the health benefit.

Raspberry and Fig Cake

A few weeks ago, I bought some dried figs for a recipe I wanted to try. 

I should probably have learned by now that if a recipe only calls for four figs, you can probably leave them out. But, of course, I haven't-- so I have been searching for new fig recipes lately.

Last week I stumbled upon a recipe for a "Raspberry-and-Fig Cake" in this month's Food&Wine. The recipe called for fresh figs, but I used dried and soaked ones, since I had them.  I am not so sure I am a fan of figs in my cake --- but man, those raspberries and the hint of lime were good!

So, I give you:

Raspberry and Fig Cake

or just, Raspberry Lime Cake

Valentine's Dessert, Part 2

Since I am still pretty enamored with the fact that I finally have my own kitchen, I opted to cook for Valentine's Day, rather than have my husband take me out for dinner. Which, considering the plethora of good restaurants in our town, is no easy decision!

Our menu:
Steamed Mussels
Truffle-Butter Pasta
Broiled Asparagus
Mexican Chocolate Pots de Creme

I think we made a good choice.

Cinnamon rolls

It's Friday night breakfast for dinner again, and you want cinnamon rolls. You need cinnamon rolls. Seriously, these are about a million times better than every other cinnamon roll I've ever had, except maybe Cinnabon.

First, mix up a little sweet roll dough. Don't worry, all that butter and sugar is canceled out by the flour, I'm pretty sure. After it's risen, roll it out into a nice rectangle.

Then smear it with a little more melted butter and some brown sugar and cinnamon. All that butter and sugar and cinnamon is canceled out by... umm.... all your hard work rolling out the dough!


Roll it up loosely, but don't pinch the seam - you want to allow some room for them to expand.

Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 8 large or 12 small cinnamon rolls. Place them in a greased 9x13" pan, cover and let them rise for about 30 minutes.

Valentine's Dessert, Part 1

I remember the first time I had red velvet cake. I was at a neighbor's house. I was probably ten or twelve, old enough at least to know what happened when you added red food coloring to something. I had seen a lot of the pink sugar cookie dough and pink frosted cupcakes, but I had never seen a red cake before. When I asked my neighbor how she made this delightfully red concoction, she pointed to the three empty bottles of red food coloring on her counter.

I, I am proud to say, only used one and a half bottles of red food coloring in my red velvet cake. Or maybe I only made half as much cake...

In either case, these were the perfect Valentine's Day treat for our ladies' movie night this past weekend. What better way to relax and watch a movie than with a glass of wine in one hand, and a cute little cupcake in the other?