Once again I experimented with black sesame in baked goods, both the powder and paste. Early last week while on a very short “vacation” in Snoqualmie to see the Snoqualmie Falls while the weather was great and the Falls were pleasantly (to me) booming as the lake water and depleting snow melt cascaded over the … More New! Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Softies, V1
I saw a recipe for Pumpkin Brownies last autumn and planned to make them as part of my Christmas baking, but I fell, sustained two broken feet, could not stand for lengthy periods, which meant no Christmas baking. The original recipe* isn’t mine and I adapted it to my own prefences, specifically, the use of … More Pumpkin and Fudge Brownies
In the last post, I wrote about my first foray into the use of black sesame powder and black sesame tahini. There was the delicious Black Sesame birthday cake for one of my Chinese lady friend’s birthday celebrated at our occasional afternoon of Mahjongg. The reviews have come in from their family members regarding slices … More New! Black Sesame Butter Cookie in 3 Forms
For one of my Chinese lady friends who had a birthday on March 11th which we celebrated during our Mahjongg get-together, I made a new type of cake featuring black sesame powder which had been gifted to me awhile ago. I will do a post on that cake in a few days. Meanwhile, it’s Eid … More Eid Mubarak with New Black Sesame Butter Cookie x3
In mid-January, I made a new, improved version (to my taste, that is) of Hummingbird Cake* for the birthday of my friend Chun Ming, with whom I play Mahjongg occasionally. Previously I made the classic version with canned, crushed pineapple and roasted pecans last year but with Ermine frosting. This year I bought fresh pineapple, … More New! New Cookie! Hummingbird Jones
It’s just after midnight here in Seattle and time to wish my Chinese friends happiness in the Lunar New Year. We celebrated with an excellent catered dinner of beef fried noodles, savory green beans, assorted platters of authentic Chinese cuisine and … my yearly contribution of some sort of almond cookie. I plated them on … More Lunar New Year 2026: Year of The Fire Horse
These are Gratitude Cookies. I have an appointment for a bit of physical therapy today so I made this new cookie for staff at the hospital. Snickerdoodles are a favorite for a lot of people, so naturally Hershey’s has made Kisses with bits of that cookie in them, and I’ve made my brand of Snicks … More Thanks, Hershey’s Kisses, for Snick Snicks
New and exciting! Caramel Apple Pie Jones, the newest cookie in my Jones’ line. So, I was right. My Apple Pie Salted Caramel Chip Cookie (below) is now happier than ever, having joined my exclusive Joneses with piped Penuche and Dark Chocolate Jonesing. Just when I think that I’ve exhausted the flavors and textures of … More New Cookie! Caramel Apple Pie Jones
Remember Quarantine Bread, the simple and basic “No-knead” bread? Ingredients are stirred up in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap and a towel and thus started in its first rise the night before it’s flipped onto a floured mat in the morning, gently kneaded a few times to shape it, popped into a parchment-lined Dutch … More Whole Wheat Quarantine Bread, Sugarless Raspberry Jelly for a Birthday
Not one, but two Dutch Apple Cakes with a thinnish coat of Brown Sugar Buttermilk Frosting. It’s free apple season, lots of apples from local trees, and that means use them or lose them. Last week it was apple oatmeal crisp and today these cakes. I had a bee in my bonnet about maybe buttermilk … More Dutch Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Buttermilk Frosting with Recipe
While today, the 14th of September, is my birthday, I baked this delicious Banana Cake with Toasted Walnuts and Ermine frosting to celebrate the birthdays of two other women as well as myself, all of us within a few days of the other. We’re also all participants in Music Night and I like to celebrate … More Happy Birthday to Yumiko, Lisa and Me
This afternoon is the final matinee in Seattle for the burlesque parody which has been playing to full houses at the theatre now owned by Seattle University and formerly known as the Cornish Playhouse. The Empire Strips Back is a play on words and not associated with the Star Wars films. It features some amazing … More Goodies for cast and front of house on last Seattle day for The Empire Strips Back
After the passing of my mother and the ensuing rental of the family home ended a few weeks ago, the house and acreage is to be sold. I created a new blog about it on another site, but the site owner floods posts with ads so I’ve decided to post it here and hope that … More Our Family Home in Rural Poulsbo Has Sold
Baking for Saturday Music Night has now become a habit and yesterday was no exception. I had a can of sweetened condensed milk which needed using so I searched my recipes until Aunt Nettie’s Lemon Squares caught my eye. I hadn’t made them in years, usually going with the more common egg-and-lemon topping over a … More Aunt Nettie’s Lemon Squares with Oatmeal Crust
The last time that I visited my sister, one of her friends popped by, looked at me and said, “Did you bring cookies for Laurie?” Indeed, I had brought cookies and other things, as usual, and I knew that Annette would likely be the recipient of one or two cookies or something else I’d baked. … More New! My Lemon Shortbread Cookies
One of my mahjongg ladies gave me a small pumpkin from her garden awhile back. I roasted, pureed and froze it to bake things like this: Pumpkin Spice Bread with Semisweet Chocolate Chips and Cinnamon Red Hots. As always with my fruit breads, I use half whole wheat and half all-purpose flours. It’s easy, no … More Pumpkin Spice Bread with Choc Chips, Cinnamon Red Hots w/My Recipe
Hummingbird cake is composed with bananas, crushed pineapple in its juice, roasted pecans and, typically, cream cheese frosting. Because the cake itself is quite sweet, I decided to make the butter version of classic Ermine frosting, meaning without shortening. The frosting is lighter in sugar content and fluffier than cream cheese frosting. (Leftover ermine frosting … More Hummingbird Cake with Ermine Frosting
Most Americans who make pineapple upside-down cake use Maraschino cherries (if they use cherries to decorate this type of cake) in the middle of canned pineapple rings (or tidbits or crushed pineapple) over the butter and brown sugar in the bottom of the cake pan. For example, see this post* of a birthday cake I … More Pineapple & Amarena Cherry Upside-down Cake
Take the recipe on the package of Nestle’s Butterscotch chips, cut the cinnamon in half, reserve 1/2 cup of the butterscotch chips for another use, add 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Caramel Sea Salt baking chips and 1/2 cup Sugar Babies, make dough balls the size of small walnuts and pat them down to about 1/4″ … More Double Caramel Oatmeal Scotchies
Over the past few weeks I’ve experimented with cookies made with walnuts and semisweet chocolate. Two versions were for a friend who’s a diabetic, so I used brown sugar substitute erythritol by Swerve and whole wheat flour which gives less glycemic load than all-purpose flour. The first of those used some almond flour with the … More Finding the Ultimate while experimenting with Chocolate Chip Cookies
As I wrote in an Instagram post: It’s said that the eagle flies solo, except for his mate. I’m happy to say that my Joneses have new offspring and will fly alone as Toasted Coconut Caramel Jones. They have toasted, grated coconut, Trader Joe’s Sea Salt Caramel Baking Chips, a brown sugar cream cheese and coconut … More New! Toasted Coconut Caramel Jones
The resident lady who hobby is our flower gardens has a birthday today. She likes lemon cake so I made a 3-layer lemon cake, fresh lemon curd and lemon cream cheese frosting. I couldn’t help myself, though. I had to decorate with Washington cherries from Rainier Fruit. And guess what’s out hopping around the lawn? … More Happy Birthday to Our Gardener
My Honey Rose Caramels (which didn’t capture the rose flavor because honey won the battle for first place) and the Lemon Butter Cookies went on a trip to a ranch and a special birthday girl who trains rescue dogs, is a beekeeper and a very busy mother and wife. I even found a tin appropriate … More Honey Rose Caramels and Go-along Cookies
I like to make something every year for the end of Ramadan, the occasion on which Muslims and those of us who understand it say “Eid Mubarak” which means Happy Eid. This year the manager where I live is neither Muslim nor Arab but I don’t let that get in the way of making something … More Eid Mubarak! and Chinese Sesame Tahini Cookies
Gifted with a small piece of ginger last week, having a recent purchase of crystalized ginger and an upcoming Mahjongg afternoon with my Chinese ladies, my mind went to a muffin that I had in mind for awhile. I planned to package them beautifully, add a sparkly purple Easter ribbon and a ginger chew. And … More Triple Ginger Muffins
In a previous post, I told the “discovery” story of how I’d found and used Trader Joe’s Caramel Sea Salt Baking Chips in several of my own and one family recipe.* Last week I made cookies for my sister and niece (who had a birthday), and froze some dough to make a dozen for my … More Caramel Sea Salt Chip and Walnut Cookies
A neighbor grew up with a version of this cinnamon and walnut bread with Red Hots, but a piece she gave me to taste was very dry and I decided to have a go using my own base recipe for quick breads. I added a whole 5.5 ounce package of Red Hots, which was too … More Two Cinnamon Walnut Breads: One with Red Hots, One Without
I went into my local Trader Joe’s last week on the hunt for some more of their yummy Sea Salt Caramel Chips but, as with other favored products you’ll find on their shelves, the item is either discontinued or seasonal and those chips are seasonal. That’s a serious marketing problem, in my opinion, because caramel … More New! 2-Chip Snicks with Trader Joe’s Peppermint Flavored Chips and Semisweet Chocolate Chips
Each year I search “National Pie Day” and then calendar it because why not? Seeing it there yesterday, I had a think about what type of pie I might make today with ingredients on hand and decided on a quick breakfast quiche. If I might divert for a moment: when my daughter Maria was a … More Breakfast Egg Pie for National Pie Day
As I wrote on my Instagram: My friend Dom’s birthday was on the 4th. I missed it but said I’d make him a cake for the next time I see him. What kind would he like? Chocolate. What kind of frosting? Chocolate. So tonight I made his Belated cake and a Spare because I’ll see … More When you miss a friend’s birthday, make a Belated Cake
I was gifted with a can of pumpkin to make pumpkin bread. First I soaked raisins overnight in fresh orange juice to nicely plump them. Then I tried to grate crystalized ginger but it made a gooey mess and clump so let’s hear it for the French knife and chop, chop. The recipe is typical … More Pumpkin Crystalized Ginger & Orange Raisin Bread
Two weeks ago there was a cookie exchange at church. I brought Molasses Kisses and gluten-free Amaretti Chews to donate rather than exchange since I didn’t need to bring other people’s cookies back here. Why? Because I had plans to bake a few kinds of cookies and make a couple types of fudge, a “light” … More There’s a new Jones from juliyya’s kitchen for Christmas: Eggnog Jones!
I’m pretty sure Trader Joe’s didn’t think of these: when they put out their Caramel Sea Salt Baking Chips, now joined in my Toasted Coconut Bars with Sugar Babies for a Christmas cookie. Mmm, mmm. Toast the coconut until the aroma fills the kitchen. Make the brown sugar, butter and flour base with a few … More Mmm, mmm. Toasted Coconut Caramel Bars
Recently one of my Chinese Mahjongg ladies gave me a Chinese cookie with sesame seeds in it and I was reminded that I’d had an idea for a butter cookie with things I associate with Lebanese sweets. Another one of the ladies here (who is a world-class gardener) provided me with rose petals mid-June to … More New! Flavors of Lebanon Butter Cookie
I had a couple bananas which needed to be used, the usual choices didn’t appeal and I’d had a dream, one of those “I’m in a bakery in Parkland” dreams. There’s no such bakery but I’ve gone there in a dream many times, seen something and the next day I’d either written it down during … More New! Pineapple Upside-down Banana Cake
Today is my sister Laurie’s birthday, but Maria and I celebrated with her aunt yesterday and I brought along the Jubilee Jumbles she’d requested rather than cake when I’d asked for her preference. It’s all about the frosting. I asked her if she wanted the browned butter frosting which the original recipe uses or perhaps … More Penuche on A Classic Cookie For A Birthday
Our Mahjongg “mother” Lisa turned 86 on the 16th of September while I was in Salt Lake City celebrating my birthday with my daughter, Maria. So, we’re having a belated birthday party for Lisa today with Lemon Cream Cake I made this morning. I made the lemon curd last night since it firms as it … More Lemon Cream Cake for A Birthday
Having just returned from a wondrous and joy-filled 75th birthday trip to Salt Lake City sponsored by my daughter, life in Bitter Lake returns and so does Thursday afternoon Chinese mahjongg with my lady friends. While there will be a little birthday party next week for the “mother” of our local mahjongg, I decided for … More Cranberry-Strawberry Upside-Down Cake with My Recipe
I had to go to my local Trader Joe’s again today to pick up one of their dark Belgian chocolate Pound Plus bars because somebody had bought every one of them in stock when I went in store yesterday and there was another box due last night. (There was still plenty of the other four … More Update 12/2024 Product Review: Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Cremes
Ms Chef in Seattle 