That’s how I remember Cost Plus: all wicker, and ferns, imported textiles, macrame, brass tchotchkes, and the smell of incense. I loved that place.
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I visited 2 markets, called another, looked online at Cost Plus World Market. That is a lot of effort for one item. Spent time and gas.
I used to buy Lyle’s at my regular grocery store, and it was always in a glass jar. The tins are beautiful but I have enough of them and prefer the jar. Alas, it only seems to come in tins now. Ottawa, Canada
I’ll write up the cake itself later, but just stopping by to share my stupidity last night.
Was making a ricotta cake without eggs to make a Rasmalai Cake for a dinner party tonight. I must have been a bit thrown by the conversion to eggless, because halfway through the bake I realized I FORGOT THE OIL.
So an hour later, I made it all over again 
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Well, that sucks. The worst was, had I added that or not?!
Good you get over it so quickly.
Mistakes like this keep us humble!
Been there. I stick the mistake-cakes (along with the hopelessly-stuck-to-the-pan cakes) in the freezer, and find even the funky textured ones make good bread pudding.
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Funky (in a good way) is an apt description. A lot of affordable accessories (baskets, rugs, bamboo blinds, etc.) made their way home with me when I first moved out on my own. They had a large selection of great, inexpensive wrapping paper at holiday time, and in the mid ‘80s, I bought the most amazing shirt dress there, of purple and blue cotton plaid, shot through with very fine metallic thread so the whole thing had a sheen. It’s not the same store since the sleeked-up corporate takeover, but it is my source for De Ruijter chocolate sprinkles, and they currently have a sweet deal on a USA Pan muffin tin.
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We’re making our annual holiday trip to World Market next week. It’s always fun and costs us money.
Can’t wait!
Tara O’brady’s Chocolate chip cookies are particularly good when made with Reese Pretzel pieces! https://www.taraobrady.com/recipes-in-full/2019/5/1/tara-obradys-basic-great-chocolate-chip-cookies
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Those Stollen Bars sound delicious.
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They were a hit at Friendsgiving! I will definitely be making them again for Christmas.
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The pretzel bites were easy and really good, and will get made again. The beer cheese is not worth a repeat for us.
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Chocolate financiers take 2: success!
This time I actually warmed the rested batter over a double boiler setup in order to melt the butter and whisk the batter well.
I had planned to bake these the same day after a short rest since that would keep the butter from solidifying and separating, but couldn’t and the batter got two days in the fridge. I stirred and noticed that it looked grainy the way things like broken buttercream do, so I knew I had to warm it.
These are really delicious, though I’m still tempted to make a similar recipe that also contains melted chocolate in addition to cocoa powder and no cornstarch.
Both times I added espresso powder and salt to these and would never make without these additions, as the espresso really boosts the chocolate flavor, and salt is non-negotiable.
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The snow is falling so now is the time to start baking my lazy sourdough again. This isn’t overly pretty but it’s basically hands off and tasty, so that fits our requirements here. I just plop the 2nd time risen dough into the hot cast iron pot by the parchment, no shaping.
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Take 3: perfect!
Someone asked for 15 of these and this time I was a lot more careful. My last batch were made with the locally made almond flour. I realized 1 lb of almond flour is cheaper than the almonds I can buy here and grind myself. Since it was almond flour, I used it directly only to realize it’s pretty poorly ground. So for this batch I ground the almond flour with the flour so I had a nice, fine texture. I also was very deliberate emulsifying the butter into the batter as Rose calls for. This batter looked perfectly smooth after a rest in the fridge.
Since I have some leftover chocolate sauce I put a squeeze into dimples that form along the bottom. My mom felt that at the equivalent of 74¢ they are expensive because they’re small. I’m like they’re loaded with butter and ground almonds make up the bulk of the dry ingredients.
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Chocolate coupes from Claire Saffitz new book Whats for Dessert. You cook a chocolate pudding which has to be refrigerated for at least4 hrs. I refrigerated for 6. Whip up some cream. Crush chocolate wafers. In glass layer chocolate, sprinkle wafers, layer whip cream, sprinkle wafers. Repeat. Result is a nice light dessert with a crunch from the wafers which isnt too sweet. She .
makes this on you tube
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I just saw this video yesterday!
How is her new book?
Goodness that looks like a ton of work. Even a lattice with fat strips is trying for me; I can’t imagine doing those narrow strips.
If you do it regularly, do you get a “hands know what to do” sort of thing going so that it starts becoming faster? I guess what I really want to know is, how long does it take one with some skill at this to accomplish such a lattice?
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