Talida Bakes

Happy Mardi Gras! In honor of Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, I made beignets straight from the box! Even though it’s from a box, I assure you this is completely legit stuff since I brought it back from New Orleans just last month.

On my recent visit to New Orleans, I sampled some great eats, including my own tasting of beignets from Cafe Du Monde and Cafe Beignet. Maybe it was the time of day of the visit that made the difference, but Cafe Beignet’s beignets were immensely better than those of Cafe du Monde. That made it easy for me to choose whose mix I would bring back to make at home.

Beignets aren’t hard to make nor even time-consuming, so I wonder why there aren’t more beignet offerings up here in the north. Now I can make them whenever I get the craving, and whenever my stash of beignet mix runs out (probably not too long from now), I’ll follow up with a beignet recipe made from scratch.

[continue reading for beignet recipe]

I often wonder how my blogger friends do it. Juggle all the responsibilities they have in life with managing a successful blog posting beautiful and creative material frequently as well as keep up socially with friends/culture/news. And working out? Sigh. I’ve tried to do it all, but I know I can’t. I don’t think man or woman was created to do it all, but that doesn’t stop us from trying.

So what have I been up to lately? I’m going through a transition at work due to an exciting acquisition, I’ve been cooking and baking using old recipes, and I finally finished roughly 10 months of deaconate training. Yes, this Sunday I will be installed as a member of my church’s Deaconate Team. It’s crazy because I initially didn’t want to accept the nomination. I didn’t want the title because I enjoyed serving as I had already been doing. But I was challenged by the elders and deacons to consider the accountability and responsibility that comes with the title not as a burden but as a means to grow in my faith. Blimey. Couldn’t argue with that. So I said yes to the training, and now, 10 months later, I do feel God calling me to this position. I learned so much through the training process, and I’m sure I’ll learn even more by serving alongside a great group of people. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

This persimmon mochi fits in with the thought I started with. It never amazes me when bloggers consistently produce new baking or cooking material. I post a variation on another recipe, and I feel so unoriginal. But in the end, it’s still part of my journey in experimenting with recipes and applying tweaks here and there. I added in a cup of persimmon puree to my butter mochi recipe, and here’s what came out. I couldn’t make up my mind about adding in spices until after it was already in the oven, so I dusted the mochi with cinnamon and powdered sugar for added flavor. Fortunately, the mochi recipe turned out well, and I’m happy to share it with you now.

[continue for Persimmon Mochi recipe]

I’ve been enamored with this cookie since 2005. 2005 was the year I started religiously reading blogs, the same year I started exploring new recipes to hone my baking skills. This recipe has been at the top of that list for over six years, and it’s puzzling why I never chose to make it until recently. It really is the perfect cookie for me. Tea flavor? Check. Buttery shortbread? Check. Only thing it was missing was some floral component. But I could always adapt the recipe to incorporate some flowery goodness. Check.

After nearly seven years of waiting to make this cookie, it’s amazing how it didn’t disappoint. I may have learned how not to hype it up like I tend to do with movies, only to be underwhelmed, like a certain recent Mission: Impossible movie. Sigh. And this may be a shock to hear me say, but I think I like this cookie better than any of my matcha cookies! It must be the layer of flavors that moved me, kind of like a pinot noir.

Now that I’ve finally tackled this cookie recipe, I can move on to the many others on the list, which could take me another seven years. What about y’all? What recipes have you been wanting to try, but haven’t yet?

[continue reading Candied Violet & Earl Grey Tea Cookies]

We always make such a big deal about Thanksgiving leftovers, but what about Christmas leftovers? Every Christmas dinner I’ve ever been to has ended with plenty of leftovers, but I don’t see nearly as many recipes or posts dedicated to Christmas leftovers like we usually do with Thanksgiving leftovers. Perhaps ham is easier to re-purpose than turkey is?

[continue reading Panettone Bread Pudding]

This past New Year’s Eve was a quiet dinner at home spent with my husband’s family to celebrate the life we shared in 2011. We live many miles apart from both sets of our parents, so it’s always a treat to have them visit. We invited my sister-in-law, her husband and their dog over to join us in this celebratory feast. To thank our family for their love and countless prayers for our lives, we wanted to indulge them with a meal featuring a variety of Champagne and caviar. The stars of the dinner were hackleback caviar, paddlefish caviar, tobiko and homemade mango-passionfruit caviar. These caviars were paired with bottles of Blanquette de Limoux, Cava, Asti, and Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider.

[continue reading Foodbuzz 24x24: Ringing in the New Year with Champagne and Caviar]