FloorCookies

When our bi-weekly fruit box full of pluots (a cross between a plum and apricot) arrived in the end of August, it was a perfect time to make a fruit dessert without too much trouble.

Quinoa is one of those whole grains with high protein content that cooks very quickly.  It’s actually a seed and has a nutty taste; its origins are in South America.  To make a tasty quinoa salad is just a matter of 25-30 minutes.  There are endless variations to this salad depending on what you like or what is available in your refrigerator.

These delicious little cookies are very easy to make, and they can be decorated for any occasion.  As Christmas cookies, a piece of walnut, a candy, or dried fruit could be pressed in the middle of them before baking.

From the moment I discovered Nigel Slater’s cookbooks, his TV-show on BBC, and his recipes in The Guardian, I was hooked.  I like his writing a lot.  I like his style of talking about food, but most importantly, the simplicity of his recipes.  I started creating and re-creating what I read, and what I watched online.

My friend Tricia is a vegetarian.  I had the good fortune to nourish her at our dining table a few times throughout the years, which has inspired me to focus more on vegetables and incorporate them into our diet more frequently.

Chocolate chip cookies were definitely not part of the classic Hungarian pastry repertoire I grew up with.  My first exposure to this wonderful American delight happened in 1994.

In the last two months at work, two of my colleagues surprised me with two different issues of this year’s SAVEUR magazine.  Kathy thought I would enjoy the article on Hungarian cooking in the October 2013 issue – yes, I did very much – and Peter, while giving me a bunch of architectural and gardening magazines, maybe threw into the mix the January/February issue just for variety.

The Hungarian word pite is not easy to translate into English. My dictionary says: pite – fruit-flan, pie, tart, and for almás pite – apple tart/turnover. Other sources call it apple cake. The name doesn’t really matter – the two flaky buttery crusts, bottom and top, filled with cinnamon flavored apples make one of the classic Hungarian pastry staples.

When you have pears at home that ripen fast and you want to use them in a dessert, you start searching for a recipe that is easy and simple, and promises something amazingly tasty. That is exactly what happened the other night.

My family always had a large walnut tree. That meant picking fresh walnuts in the fall and drying them in boxes for lots of baking throughout the year. In these days, here in Seattle, we don’t have a tree, so I buy the walnuts, usually shelled. I love them and bake often with them.

The sweet smell of fruit and butter lingers in the air long after this cake has been removed from the oven. Many times over the years I baked it when I wanted something easy and delicious. This cake is a perfect companion to tea. Thanks to my sister for the recipe. In my old-fashioned, hand-written Hungarian recipe book, it’s the first entry. Only six lines – ingredients and instructions together.