Apricot Pot de Creme Recipe

When Lulu and I attended my older sister's wedding in 2007 in Paris, I recall the most delicious store-bought dairy dessert I discovered at my very dear friend Nathalie’s house. We had a lovely dinner and finished the meal with Bonne Maman brand miniature jars of petits pots de crème. But unlike the ones I usually prepare, these pots de crème had a much heavier, thicker, smooth and creamy texture. Unfortunately, this product has been discontinued; Lulu and I searched for it during our most recent trip to France without success.

This is my attempt to recreate that lovely French dessert. The dessert is made with a lot of white chocolate, a fair amount of heavy cream, butter and eggs. I flavored it with apricots from our garden and amaretto to enhance the apricot flavor.

I served the dessert with a fresh fruit salad and a small scoop of rum raisin ice cream for a little temperature and texture contrast.

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookie Recipe

We're a large family and we often have surprised guests. I'm always prepared for this possibility and have uncooked cookie dough or individual dessert cups ready in the freezer. Today was no exception. I used already-rolled almond cookie dough that I simply popped in the oven for 10 minutes, rotated the tray, pressed them to create a cavity and continue baking them for exactly 8 more minutes. Then, I filled the formed thumbprint cookies with hot vanilla raspberry preserves.

I served the cookies with masala chai and a tray of fresh raspberries and freshly cut pineapples. Voilà‎: tea time is served!

Mocha Thumbprint Cookie Recipe

Baby Aria is very similar to my husband Lulu when it comes to her favorite foods. She loves vegetables and she adores sweets. Today I experimented with a batch of cookies I usually make when we have guests over for tea: thumbprint cookies. They're so pretty, especially with the crackle effect on the shortbread cookie dough and the whimsical design in the center indentation that almost resembles a crazy eye.

I flavored the cookie dough with cocoa powder and mocha paste. I filled them with vanilla chips and a drizzle of bittersweet chocolate, which came out just as great. Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to sharing recipes next week in anticipation of Cinco de Mayo!

Almond Tea Cake Recipe

I don't make these sweet treats too often, because in my opinion (being from France where pastries are subtly sweetened), they're a tad too sweet. But they're perfect with a hot of cup of tea and I know my husband Lulu loves them. The concept of these cookies is to create an absolute overload of almonds. The cookie dough is made of chopped almonds, marzipan (honey and almond meal), almond extract, powdered sugar and a strong, floral honey.

I got the girls involved in rolling the cookies into balls and coating them in powdered sugar prior to baking. And once the cookies were baked, the girls dunked them one more time in powdered sugar to resemble snowballs. 

Coconut Madeleine Recipe

Maybe it's just me but I love having guests over for tea. It's fun because you can serve an assortment of savory and sweet treats to go along with it. And, of course, I love trotting out my different tea sets!

My go-to, fool-proof tea cake recipe is a French classic: the madeleine. The authentic, buttery, plain version is divine, but today I felt like adding something exotic and flavored the batter with coconut. The coconut version doesn't puff up as much as traditional madeleines normally do, but they are a touch crispier and pair wonderfully with a hot cup of tea.