Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Paris coffee-sandcookies( petits sablés de Paris au café)

Since childhood I have loved my mother’s coffee cookies. We always baked them for Christmas. These little sablés are good too and much less work than the real old coffee cookie Maman used to make. And..they come with a Parisian flavour! What could be better? Come Noël, we will revert back to Maman’s old fashioned Christmas coffee cookie.

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La recette:

petits sablés de Paris recette-001Pincée de fleur de sel:

  • Keep some sablés single, without being sandwiched together. They will be crispier and perfect for dipping into some coffee or tea.
  • Replace the ground almonds with plain flour if you so prefer.
  • Instead of the TBSP of strong coffee, add a TBSP of instant coffee powder if you have it available.
  • Replace the coffee in the icing sugar with some milk and flavour with vanilla essence for a contrast in flavours, or add cacao to taste for a mocca cookie.
  • The icing sugar can be added to a cookie simply with a knife but a piping bag makes for a neat filling.

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The dough on the pastry mat. Be sure to always work with flour under your pastry to prevent sticking.

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Using a piping bag makes for neat cookies, but still with a home made feel..and of course taste!

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Une Parisienne

la parisienne 29-10-2010 12-23-55 1502x2148My Parisian umbrella always goes with me to Paris. A little bit of a cliché it is, but I love it. It depicts a typical Parisian street scene in winter(of course). a year or so back, I had my beautiful friend pose for me with the umbrella. She is the epitome of Parisian elegance, even though she doesn’t live there anymore.

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So, with these petits sablés and une ravissante Parisienne, peeking from behind her umbrella, I hope I could give you just  a little taste of Paris for today.

..à la prochaine fois..

Ronelle

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Lemon cake… and an Easter spring is in the air.

Easter  is spring time. Or spring is Eastertime.Whichever way, that is of course for us here in the Northern Hemisphere. Down south everybody is preparing for winter with their days beautiful and lazy with fall colors entering the scene.

Because I am so busy in the garden(every minute the skies give me a chance!) I don’t get to the stove much, and when I pass the stove per chance, I am too tired to the bone to cook and bake….so….. I am re-posting this delicious little cake from a past post; Lemon cake and writing our stories. I might just make a stop with my tired bones next to the oven and put it together for us too on Sunday afternoon to enjoy with English tea! I have never come across someone who didn’t fall in love with it right after that first bite..and just look at the recipe down below.. really….this is as easy(yet delicious) as it gets!

lemon cake

Lemon cake recipe

Pincée de sel:

  • Use freshly squeezed orange juice instead of lemon juice.
  • Add some grated lemon/orange rind to the mixture.
  • Top with some icing sugar of your choice, or serve without. I prefer without, since icing sugar makes it too sweet for me.
  • Decorate with fresh edible flowers.
  • The cake is even more flavorful the next day.
  • Use for dessert: break into pieces and serve, topped with strawberries, whipped cream and a berry coulis, OR serve with warm caramelized peaches and crème frâiche.

Here at Coin Perdu, I am fervently planting and digging and dividing,  as much as my arm allows, that is. It is just wonderful to be back in the garden. The rains are still coming down very regularly, but the moment it stops, I charge outside to do a little something. A new garden is such hard work, especially in the preparation thereof, because planting in bad soil makes for even harder work the next season! It might look like nothing at the moment, BUT in a few weeks…!

..passion fruit juice for our break…

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..mon cheri preparing the potager for me..along with his very willing assistants..

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..early morning by the potager and the mist slowly lifting..while I slowly sip my coffee…oh, that first morning coffee..sooo good..mince!

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..when taking a pause the chickens are there to “pause” along – this day I had un fraisier(strawberry cake) which I shared with them(of course!) and they loved every morsel! for the rest of the time, they scuffle around my feet in the soil, just coming up for some air every now and then..!

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..still a lot to be done: the dalles(paving stones) must be laid on the terrace and partly into the lawn at the bottom, the wrought iron pergola must be constructed for the white glycine(wisteria), a stone bench under the small window. To the right I have planted kitchen herbs which I hope will grow under the walnut tree, since not many things grow under a walnut…

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..eh bah voila..there you are, mon café..!

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..my tulips are slow in the rising, but they are coming on steady..pretty soon they will be spectacular in their show off! I am so chuffed, because all my  bulbs I brought back from Amsterdam, (see post here) is pushing through, except for 3 Allium bulbs I lost to mischievous rabbits.. 

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..a lot of planting still awaits me – 60 lavenders, (lavande angustifolia, lavande intermedia, white lavenders) 20 santolinas, agapanthus, cistes,  4 olive trees, 6 Cypres de Provence,  buddleias, kniphofias, ceaonothe de Versailles,  100 Siberian irises, then a lot of Iberis, Eryngiums, ficoides…

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..In between all the pathways and staircases and dry hot corners, I stick in some thym serpolet and  succulents like the ever popular sedums, sempervivums and jovibarbas, which grow beautifully in all those sunny spots…

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* I am working on a series on tartes, tourtes, quiches et cakes, which I will combine with some table setting in white with silver, yellow with pottery, red with vintage and blue with rustic.

*So stick around..if I can just get my act togehter and organise my organising better..i will be back soon with the series on tartes, tourtes, quiches et cakes,

Joyeux Paques

et à bientôt!

Ronelle