SMiLes by Meg

Pop Tarts

I’ve been craving Pop Tarts since taking the ferry up to Alaska. They had them on the boat, but I couldn’t justify buying them, since we had plenty of snack food already. But it put the idea in my head, and every time I walk by them in the store I think about getting a box, before I remember I already have oatmeal at home. Finally, I decided the best way to be able to justify having Pop Tarts around would be to make them myself.

Clafoutis

Explaining what exactly Clafoutis is is a difficult thing. I’ve compromised and categorized it as both a pie and a cake, but the dessert itself is somewhere between a souffle, crepe, custard, and pancake. A little light, a little eggy, a little cakey, kind of creamy – you won’t really know what I mean until you try it for yourself. Fortunately, if you started right this second, you could have a piece in an hour.

Nutmeg Tart

Another rainy weekend, another baking adventure. Since I’m still thoroughly enjoying funemployment, I spent the weekend in Duxbury with my parents. I love being able to hop on a train and be with my family in about an hour, and nothing beats running to the beach and back, even if its pouring rain while you do it. Plus, I’m very into the series of books I’m reading right now (The Wheel of Time – no spoilers, please!), and my favorite place to read is the wood paneled room in their home, snuggled up on the recliner with a big fluffy

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

There really isn’t a whole lot better than baking a pie with fresh ingredients from a farmer’s market. You’re supporting local businesses. Everything is super ripe and perfect. You get to buy the ingredients outdoors. Even someone who doesn’t like pies or fruit-based desserts (that would be me) can appreciate how good it feels to do this. So when we were walking through the farmer’s market at Harvard and a vendor had both strawberries and rhubarb, I couldn’t just not buy them. And, as luck would have it, strawberry rhubarb is Erik’s favorite pie!

Classic Cherry Pie

This is Part 1 of 2 Thanksgiving pie posts coming at you in the next couple of weeks. Good news: they can just as easily be Christmas pies (if you don’t make the one true Christmas dessert: Chocolate Trifle), so keep these on hand as the holiday parties start piling up. Also, I’ve done a little bit of test kitchen work on these, trying out different pie crust recipes and combining some filling recipes to figure our what works well together. The results were pretty good, and have made for some tasty breakfasts in the Thanksgiving aftermath.

Peach Cobbler

It was cold outside this morning. I was out for a walk with my mom, and definitely could have used a sweater. With September only five days away, it felt like Fall was trying to make itself known. And with the first years starting school this week, I’m definitely leaning towards a Fall frame of mind. However, it is still August, and I did spend a good amount of my afternoon napping in the sun. So I also wanted to carry on my summer recipes for at least a few more weeks.

Simple Fruit Tart

I’m writing this post from my phone, sitting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where I decided not to bring my laptop and the house decided not to have super consistent internet. Overall, this is a great feature, because it means I spend much more of my time hiking and biking and reading than looking at a screen. However, when it came time to blog, it did make it a little trickier. 

Crustless Pecan Pie

Things you probably wanted before Thursday: a solid traditional dessert recipe for your Thanksgiving meal. Things I didn’t make this year: a solid traditional dessert recipe for my Thanksgiving meal.

Apple Pie

As promised last week, this week I’m diving into the apple recipes. Since last weekend, I have made two new apple things, and still have plans of turning the incredible amount of apples I have left into apple chips, a rare recipe that I repeat frequently. That means next week I’ll tell you all how to make Apple Bread.