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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Macarons for Mother's Day


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

In honor of Mother's Day Sweet Pea Bakery will be offering several 
pink items this week including raspberry champagne macarons,
pink lemonade macarons, pistachio rose cookies and pink 
lemonade cookies.

 RASPBERRY CHAMPAGNE MACARONS


PINK LEMONADE MACARON

Hope to see you at Rutiz Farms on Friday between 1 pm and 6 pm or
Saturday at the AG Farmer's Market between 12:00 and 2:30 pm.
Have a great weekend!



Monday, April 30, 2012

Lemon Meringue Tarts

Who doesn't love lemon? Growing up I have always had access to fresh lemons due to our Meyer lemon tree in our backyard, and then the Meyer lemon tree in our orchard at our new house. Needless to say, I developed a love of these yellow citrus. For Easter, my mother and I made some bite sized (or two bite sized) tartlettes featuring my beloved tangy fruit.

It features a crisp and crumbly pecan crust with Eureka lemon curd, topped with a Swiss meringue which was piped to look like roses. We finished it off with a torch to give it some lovely golden color.


A few of you might be asking what are the differences between lemons I mentioned.

Meyer lemons are not true lemons. They are a cross between a Eureka and an orange or a mandarin or a tangerine (depending upon which source you read). The result is that they are sweeter, and not as acidic as true lemons. They also take on a golden color, almost an orange, which visually separates them from their fellow yellow citrus.

Eureka lemons are the type of lemon typically found in the supermarket. They are one of the true lemons, and they are very acidic. The rind is a very bright yellow.

Both varieties are good for baking and cooking, but you'll have to use your taste buds to do some adjusting for sugar and salt.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Meringue Mushrooms!

I know! I know! It isn't winter anymore, but somehow with all the rain we've been having recently in this wet spring, it feels appropriate to be making these Coffee Meringue Mushrooms. They're so cute! I'm coming up with ideas for my Mad Hatter's Tea Party which I'm holding soon.





It is funny how real these mushrooms turn out! They are coffee flavored, and include a little bit of chocolate for gluing the stem and cap together. These melt in your mouth morsels will delight the senses.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Wednesday Experiments

Hi all!

Sorry I've not posted in a bit. I've been working on some new recipes, and doing a lot of research for cute ideas!

Coconut is a popular flavor at this time of year. Especially for Easter gatherings. In honor of this ingredient I am trying out a new biscotti; it has coconut and sliced almonds. So far the recipe I've found is yielding biscotti which are not quite as high as my usual biscotti tend to be. But they smell AMAZING! The second tray is in the oven for its second baking right now. I would like to drizzle dark chocolate over them, but I'm wondering if people would prefer milk chocolate more?

Yesterday was another experimental day. If you've ever heard of the flower called "Snowball," you'll know that it is like a small compact hydrangea which is pure white. My mother has a hearty obsession, you might say, about these particular flowers. On Monday is was informed that it is now Snowball season. The conversation stemming from this resulted in a brainstorm of what a baked good would be like if it were to be named a Snowball.

Yesterday, we put one of our ideas together. It is an angel food cake with luscious lemon curd center, topped with cream cheese and toasted coconut. I think it looks good, but it still needs some ratifications before epitomizing the ethereal Snowball.

Wish me luck!!! and I will be posting pictures soon!

(P.S. Further reading on my list of "To Try" would read: 4 recipes of Vegan brownies (some gluten free, some not), Vegan croissants, using a different flour for my croissants and seeing if that would result in a lighter "Costco" version as my mother would like, lemon meringue cakepops, strawberry and goat cheese scones, Rose Thyme and Raspberry Scones, Fruit Turnovers and .... Who knows what else?)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Menu for Friday March 23rd

So it looks like tomorrow is going to be the last bit of nice weather for a few days here in Arroyo Grande. Well...I hope my menu reflects what you are looking for with this rainy springtime feeling.

Cake
Raspberry-Champagne
Cameo Hostess Cupcakes
Carrot Bundts*

Breakfast Items
Chocolate Croissants
Castle Croissants (Chocolate and PB)
Prosciutto-Gruyere Croissants

Morning Buns
Millionaire's Granola

Boysenberry Scones
Raspberry Scones

Biscotti
Blueberry with white chocolate
Autumnal Maple

Cookies
Chocobloc
Monster
Triple Play

Bleeding Hearts
Ranger
Chocolate Chip

Snickerdoodle
Lavender Shortbread
Vegan Almond Sunflower

Macarons
Pistachio
Vanilla Coffee
Chocolate
Chocolate Lavender
Raspberry Champagne

Brownie
Caramel Stuffed Brownie


I hope to see you all tomorrow at Rutiz Farm!!!


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Caramel Stuffed Brownies


Fudgey chocolate shells sandwiching a rich caramel center which is studded with pecans. Layered over the top are more pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

This can be served at room temperature, or, if you prefer things a little bit more chewy, try it by cutting these into bite sized pieces, and popping them in the freezer for about 20 minutes. These bites are decadently delightful.

The ingredients are as follows:
Semi sweet chocolate chips, eggs, sugar, butter, flour, salt, cream, honey, vanilla, and pecans.

This item makes a regular appearance on my menu.

Boysenberry Scone

It is SPRING! Which means that it is time for scones...at least in my opinion. Yesterday I had the pleasure to be creative and come up with a new recipe; the result of which appears below.

And here they are for their closeup



And they even looked scrumptious before baking them off!

Uff da! Baby these are one of my new favorite items!


This scone is Boysenberry, Lavender and Earl Grey. It is very springtimey. I will be having these treats available this Friday at Rutiz Family Farm.