citrus Archives | Page 17 of 18

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of macaroon recipes that float around the interwebs every Easter/Passover. I suppose this makes them a sort of quintessential spring recipe, both infinitely customizable and infinitely easy to make. All of the recipes out there are pretty much made up of sugar, egg whites, and coconut. This is fine for the average person, but I like to think that you come here for the not-so-average take on things.

As I have developed my baking style over the past couple of years, I’ve tried to practically sever any ties with animal products in my baked goods (with the exception of honey). This means that I’m not going to whip up a batch of macaroons using egg whites anymore. That would be too easy. Instead, I’ve combined some unconventional ingredients to give you what, in my opinion, is a superior macaroon. Since I couldn’t leave well enough alone and just give you some vegan and grain free macaroons, I decided to form them into cups and fill them with a blueberry basil compote. I think if you bring these to an Easter, Passover, or spring get-together, you just may be the hero of the meal.You’ll notice that the cups use coconut butter, not coconut oil. Though it can be bought in stores, you can also make it at home if you have a food processor. Simply place unsweetened dried coconut flakes into your food processor and process about 5 to 8 minutes until the butter forms, making sure to scrape down the sides as you go. About 2 and 2/3 cups dried coconut will produce roughly 1 cup of coconut butter.

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Do you ever notice how a change in the wind tends to cause other changes as well? With the first cold winds of fall and winter comes the stockpiling of firewood and wool socks, along with the welcoming of grey days and snow. When the winds start to warm and switch directions in the spring, we prepare for sunny days and warmth on our skin. I guess you could say I’ve been feeling a change around here lately, too. One that has left me thinking a lot about what I want this space to be and where I want it to go.

When I first started this blog, my focus was to share healthier and more wholesome baked goods, as well as other desserts and sweets. As time has passed, I’ve been feeling a bit restricted in terms of what I should share on here. I find myself worrying that I may not have shared enough baked goods or sweets to go along with the overall theme of the blog. This has been a particular problem lately because I’ve been doing a lot of testing and baking for the farmer’s market. If I’m surrounded by piles of baked goods, the last thing I want to do is add another one to the mix. I think the blog has reached a point where it needs to evolve and change to fit where I am at this point in time. It needs to be something I feel passionate about instead of being a chore. So, with that said, I feel the time has come to share a wider variety of foods with you and I hope that it won’t negatively affect the way you see this blog. When the farmer’s market starts back up, I hope to share more with you about seasonal produce and the importance of trying to buy local. As everything evolves over time, so has this space. I’ll still share baked goods and sweets of course, but there will be more things on the savory end of the spectrum making appearances, starting with this lemon cilantro crema.

I actually made this crema to go along with one of my meals last week, but I wanted to share it by itself as it is pretty versatile. You can eat it with some sweet potato chips as a snack or side, or spread it on a sandwich. If you thin it out a bit, it makes a great sauce for enchiladas, tacos, or pasta. If you are not a fan of cilantro, you can swap in your favorite herb and still get awesome results. I’ll be sharing later in the week how I used this crema in one of my dinners so be sure to check back 🙂

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Lemony Macaroon Cups with Blueberry Basil Compote

A Change in the Wind & A Lemon Cilantro Crema