Recipes

Pâte Sablée is one of a line of classic pastry crusts. You can use all flour, or as in this version, substitute ground nuts for part of the flour. The crust has a butter cookie like crunch, rather than the flakiness of its sister pasty crust Pâte Brisée.

This recipe isn’t historical, but does go back to my father’s journal of the 1930’s. In the journal it’s called a “Hokey Pokey”. I always thought that having all your favorite cookie ingredients rolled into one cookie was a good thing. So when I was manufacturing cookie mixes, I made this, with some minor adjustments and named it a “Jumble”.

This is equally good at breakfast, for lunch, afternoon with tea, or after dinner. Rich almond flavors, moist with just a hint of a crunch from the polenta, and not too sweet. Great served with lightly sweetened whipped cream that has been infused with fresh basil.

Light and delicate cake with a hint of roses. One of my favorites. Finish with a frosting of buttercream, or whipped cream, or even serve plain with a scoop of ice cream or fresh raspberries.

Rich, dense torte, full of chocolate and hazelnuts. Try filling the center with chocolate buttercream and a raspberry puree, cover the outside with Chocolate Ganache. A small slice goes a long way.