bell & basket

cooking. baking. home.

Salted Tahini Cookies

These cookies are my go to. My ride or die. The OG nut butter cookie. They have four ingredients, are gluten free and have the BEST texture ever. When I say texture, I’m referring to the four distinct layers that crunch beneath your teeth, sending your taste buds into a tizzy.

Layer 1 is the outermost crunch.

Layer 2 is the immediate chew after the initial crunch.

Layer 3 is the deeper gooeyness that sticks to the back of your teeth in the BEST way possible.

Layer 4 is the crunch and punch of saltiness from the flaked sea salt on top.

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Definitely Not Vegan Coconut Ice Cream with Candied Pistachios

Before making this ice cream I had been scouring the internet for a coconut ice cream recipe made with coconut milk instead of regular milk (but still with cream). And all I could find were vegan ice cream recipes!

Can I vent about that oxymoron for a moment? Ice cream has the word “cream” in it. Cream comes from cows. Dairy is not vegan. And it’s not that I’m against vegan recipes. I just think if we’re going to call it ice cream, it should be made with cream. Although I may feel otherwise once summer rolls around…

So to get to this lovely recipe, I substituted full fat coconut milk for what is usually whole milk. I only added one cup of cream so that the coconut milk flavor could shine through and I added organic coconut extract for good measure.

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Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

It’s still winter. And the only reason I’m not sad about it is because citrus season continues! Up until now you’ve heard about my unconditional love for lemons and limes, but blood oranges aren’t far behind.

What I love about this cake is that it’s simple but not boring. Like many of Jessica Koslow’s recipes from Everything I want to Eat: Sqirl and the New California Cooking, this cake is not overly complicated but there is something Sqirl-ly about it. Each recipe has around two or three more steps than the simplest version–and the two or three extra steps are usually something the home cook or baker might not think of. It’s pretty genius. And making this cake is totally worth it.

I do have a few notes on this recipe. The first time I made the cake, it turned out dry. I think it was because my eggs were cold. Make sure your eggs are room temperature, even if that means cracking them into a bowl and letting them warm up on top of the pre-heating oven.

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