My Most In Demand Recipe: Peach Torte

Gotta tell you, when one of my bosses first gave me this recipe I thought it looked tasty but had no idea it would get so many compliments. You can make this with many different fruits, I just had 13lbs of peaches lying around from fruit picking so I have been specializing in peach torte. Enjoy!

Source: New York Times (care of one of my bosses and slightly adapted)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup flour

2-3 large peaches

cinammon sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Cream together butter and sugar using a hand or standing mixer

3) Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well

4) Add baking powder and flour and mix well

5) Spread in either 8,9 or 10 inch springform pan using a spatula (I just use a 9 inch cake pan as I don't have springform - no room in the kitchen yet!)

6) Slice peaches into 8ths and cover the dough (you can use smaller pieces of peach to fill in holes between the peach wedges-be generous with the fruit as it shrinks in cooking and the cake rises up around the fruit)

7) Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (how much depends on how sweet your fruit choice is and how sweet you like your desserts - I was fairly generous and probably used around 3-5 tablespoons depending on how ripe the peaches were)

8) Bake until knife placed in the center comes out clean - generally from 45-55 minutes

Cool, slice and enjoy!

Valentine's Dinner: Salmon Pesto Pasta and Mango Shortbread Bars

(I will warn you now my picture skills need some work!)

We are not a couple big on crowds, so dinners at home on holidays is our style and we always try something new. I asked for ideas on a cooking board I frequent and found this salmon recipe with very positive reviews. Everyone was right - this pasta is delicious with a perfect combination of flavors. The dessert is not new to us, but is one of the hubby's favorites and he has been asking me to make it for months so I thought Valentines Day was a good time.

One of the most fun parts of the night was I decided to bring out our "fancy china" for the first time. I decided since we are not really in the era of our lives for hosting holidays and fancy dinner parties, I should stop waiting and use the china for just the two of us!

Dinner: Salmon Pesto Pasta

Source: The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Ingredients
1 lb salmon
1 lb pasta (we used thin lunguini but anything would work)

2/3 cup heavy cream (recipe used evaporated milk to add healthiness, we went all out with heavy cream)
1/2 cup pesto (can be made from scratch as the original recipe says, personally I just used out of a jar!)

1 Lemon

Salt

Pepper

Grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1) Start water boiling for pasta with a small amount of salt and olive oil in the water. Cook pasta al dente, drain and return to the same pot. (do steps 2 and 3 while the pasta is cooking)

2) Season salmon with salt, pepper and lemon zest then rub with olive oil (place on baking sheet lined with aluminium). Turn on broiler put salmon on middle rack for 10-15 minute until cooked through and flakes away from the skin with a fork. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Remove from oven and break apart with a fork (skin should stay behind on the pan)

3) Heat cream on low heat until just simmering. Add a small amount of salt and pepper for flavor.

4) Pour the cream over the pasta and mix. Stir in the pesto next and top with the salmon. Serve with grated parmesan cheese for topping.

I served this with steamed broccoli and a salad of romaine, apples and walnuts with a rasberry vinagrette (care of Paul Newman).

Dessert: Mango Shortbread Bars
Source: All Recipes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter
1/2 cup white sugar
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

4 cups sliced mango
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Sprinkle of ground nutmeg

Directions
1) Cream together butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Add flour and mix (the mixture will be crumbly).

2) Press 2/3 mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 glass pan.

3) Combine mango and the last 4 ingredients. Place in the pan.

4) Place remaining mixure over the mangos and press lightly.

5) Bake in 350 degree oven for 1hr until golden brown. Allow to cool, cut and serve.

Perfect served with tea!

Almond Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies - A New One for the Rotation

My go-to cookies have always been chocolate chip cookies (the good old Nestle recipe) but I felt like experimenting and stumbled on this cookie recipe on Good Things Catered and decided to give it a try. This cookie has most definately made it onto my favorites list and will join my cookie baking rotation. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!

Almond Rasberry Thumbprint Cookies
Source: Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. softened butter
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. almonds, coarsely ground
1 c. raspberry preserves (I have used strawberry preserves and raspberry jam - both worked great)

Place butter and sugar in mixer - beat on high. Beat in the eggs then add vanilla and mix. Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the flour. Once mixed, add the almonds and mix. The mixture will be coarse.

Preheat oven to 385 degrees. Roll 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Use your thumb to create an indent in the center of the ball (it helps to wet your thumb so the cookies don't stick to you). Place the cookie sheet with cookies in the fridge for 10 minutes. Fill indentations with jam/preserves of your choice. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edge turn slightly brown. (It has taken mine between 8 to 14 minute - just keep an eye on them). Let the cookies cool before serving.