Zesty & Spicy

If you like food, we'll get along *^_^*

Homemade Basil Sugar

by 6 Comments

Basil_Sugar01

OOhh my basil plants are happy with me this year. I think I have found THE perfect spot on the balcony to place them because they have been giving me fresh basil for the past few months like CRAZY! For the people who are following me on twitter, you know what I’m talking about. I was tweeting my harvests almost daily for a while and kept taking your suggestions on what I could do with all that amazing basil. One of my sweet followers had the great idea of suggesting me to do basil salt. I LOVED the concept but I wanted to do different. Often I like to use basil as a fun desert flavor ( don’t do a weird face, wait till you taste my strawberry/basil pie) so I thought, if we can make basil salt, we can for sure make basil sugar!

Using the same process as we would to create basil salt and like I’ve done for my “pesto” powder, I created this recipe for a fresh and flavorful basil sugar that you will be able to use in all sort of delicious ideas; cookies, tarts, pies, cakes, yogurt or just on top of fresh fruits… this aromatic sugar wont disappoint. Try it out, SERIOUSLY!

…

Read More »

Aromatic Sugar for Roasting – Pink Pepper, Cardamom & Mace

by 3 Comments

Aromatic_Sugar_PinkPepper_Cardamom_Mace_01

Have you ever thought about roasting fruits?  Funny idea maybe, or maybe not….

For my taste, one of the best ways to showcase veggies is to roast them.  I love roasted sweet potatoes, roasted fennel, carrots and pretty much every veggies I found, I tried to roast it.  It just makes every flavors come out perfectly and it’s like having a small piece of heaven in my mouth.

…then I thought…

Why not trying to roast fruits to make a fun topping for yogurt, maybe oatmeal, cakes or even as a side dish beside a traditional breakfast!?  Would that be possible or even tasty?  In fact IT IS!  and it’s damn delicious!  Almost everything could be roasted as long as its slightly firm and you have to try to see if you like.  My first try was with a supreme of oranges but for you, the sky is the limit!  These days I dream of roasting green apples, peaches, pineapples, strawberries and more…  Be sure that I’ll keep you posted on my experimentation via this blog and my facebook page (for the social media addicts who’s following me) but try it out on your own and let me know how it turned out.

Today I’m presenting you this sugar blend as “roasting sugar” but again, it could easily be used for any other type of  purposes like on top of a freshly cut grapefruit, to add an extra kick of flavor to your oatmeal and more…  Either way I hope you’ll enjoy it  as much as I do :)…

Read More »

Mini Pumpkin & Spices Cupcakes

by 2 Comments

Can I really post too many pumpkin recipes? I don’t think so.  After passing over all the homemade pumpkin puree and a couple of cans of pumpkin puree, I still have a bit left in my fridge and a ton of fun ideas of what I could do with it.  Two weeks ago, somebody asked me on twitter if I had a good recipe for some easy and fast pumpkin cupcakes so here it is!  I brought these little bites to a party I went to on Saturday and they were a hit!  Hope you like them to 🙂

…

Read More »

Pumpkin Fudge

by 6 Comments

Ahhh fudge…  it’s something sooo tasty but you don’t want to make it too often because you will gain an extreme amount of weight…  You can do like me and make a nice batch and give it all away to others will gain the weight hehe #evill 😛

If you never made fudge before (it was my first experience) the only details you need to remember is that it NEED to get to the right temperature during the boiling process and it takes more than a few hours to be the right texture.  When I first tried to make it, after 5-6 hours looking at it (no kidding), it still had a very gooey texture more like a spread and I thought that I ruined it but only the next day that I realized that it was actually perfect.  I just had to be more patient.. Witch I’m not really… I have to work on that lol

I hope you will enjoy this tasty fall sugar treat with your loved ones 🙂  I love pumpkin season 🙂

…

Read More »

Two Tones Swirl Earl Grey “Biscuits”

by 8 Comments

I’ve been debating the fact of calling them cookies or biscuits but after researching online, I think the final texture of these are closer the traditional biscuit compare to the cookies just because they are very soft and moist on the inside with a crunchy outside…  Not too sweet, just the way I like it and perfect to go with a good tea or a glass of milk.

Since my Anastasia Bread, I really started enjoy cooking with delicious teas and I think I will keep going with my experimentations.  Hope you will like these biscuits.

…

Read More »

Anastasia Bread…

by 5 Comments

My boyfriend bought me this book where some professional cook from Quebec are cooking great meals and deserts with the famous Kusmi teas. I am for myself a HUGE fan of all sort of tea (drinking tea is my almost my only way to drink water in a day) in general and I find the Kusmi tea incredible so I absolutely wanted to created my own Kusmi recipe 🙂 I hope you enjoy this quick and easy bread!

…

Read More »