RecipeMuncher

Not one to be afraid of massive amounts of ingredients – I have made this cake, after all – I must confess that I almost gave up baking the cake on the photo. Almost. Reading the recipe with a calculator on hand I shrieked at the idea of using nearly 400g of butter, 500g of sugar and – my goodness – over 700g of flour in one single cake; a recipe that would pretty much empty my entire pantry. :

One of my all time favorite songs is New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”; my reaction to Frente!’s version for the song was sort of like “Stop! Stop! You’re ruining a classic!” – as much as I hate to admit it I can be pretty conservative sometimes. If you’re going to revamp with a classic, do it right, ok? Go ask Fine Young Cannibals for advice or something.
Unlike Frente!, Flo Braker has

I’ve been meaning to make these rocky road bars forever: when I saw so many delicious ingredients combined I knew the candy would be great. And it really was (not to mention how ridiculously easy this recipe is).
I have the same feeling about “Carnage”: so many great actors directed by Polanski. It has got to be good. Too bad I’ll have to wait a while to find out.

White chocolate,

I am completely biased when it comes to lemon/lime things – and you all know that – but these gelatins are so delicious I beg you to try them!
It’s like eating solid lemonade – and if I can’t convince you of how good lemonade can be Mr. Ford is perfect for the job.

Fresh lemon gelatin
from Luscious Lemon Desserts

3 ¼ cups (780ml) water
1 cup (200g) caster (superfine) sugar
¼ cup finely

My financiers did not look exactly like RLB’s, but they made me feel really proud: layering all those plum slices was not a quick thing, let me tell you that.

I wish they looked more like flowers, therefore more beautiful, but I’ll be nice to myself this time: the three weeks from hell at work are over and I’ve survived. Do not know how, but I did. I deserve some kindness, even if it comes

For some people, retail therapy means lots of clothes, shoes, DVDs… To me, it means ingredients for my recipes.
After buying this beautiful book, I went crazy and started buying lots of different types of flour: buckwheat, barley, rye… Time went by and I haven’t baked with them as I should have. Not good, Patricia. Not good.

Buckwheat flour begging to be used + Bill Granger’s recipe +

I swear I’m not trying to get a job as an oatmeal poster girl, and I’d already decided on which oatmeal cookies were my favorite, but tell me: would you resist making a recipe with such great reputation?
These cookies are so delicious I regretted halving the recipe. Mr. Clinton’s taste in cookies is far superior to his taste in… Never mind.

President Clinton’s oatmeal cookies
from

My sister made me watch the awful “Season of the Witch” – I have to say that putting up with Nicolas Cage for 1 ½ hours is huge proof of my love for her. When the movie was over and Dominic Sena’s name appeared on the screen it all made sense to me – a bad director could not deliver a good movie.
On the other hand, I always expect great recipes from Nigella – and this bread pudding is no

I have been using my cookbooks a lot more lately and there’s one person to be “blamed” for that: my baking buddy, the lovely Susan. Putting my cookbooks to good use was one of my New Year’s resolutions and I’m glad it’s one I’ve been able to keep.

This cake has become one of my favorites: it’s already filled when you remove it from the oven and the rum smell is just wonderful; the batter

Since you are not tired of my banana recipes, here comes another one, with a special help from good friends coconut and chocolate.
Quick to put together and delicious, these muffins are perfect for the rainy day/couch/TV combo – but I can assure you they taste great on a summer day, too.
Banana, chocolate and coconut muffins
slightly adapted from here

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2

Something I’d never imagined possible has happened to me – and twice so far: I cried reading cookbooks.

Reading about Barbara Lynch’s childhood years brought tears to my eyes; I became a huge fan of hers even before trying her recipes. But it all started with John Barricelli’s beautiful book: a couple of lines about him growing up without his parents and I was crying like a baby – maybe

The lovely Sabrina is the one responsible for my preparing this dessert – she commented on one of my posts one day, asking for a lemon crème brûlée. That’s when I realized that I’d tried orange, but not lemon yet. Shame on me.
These little pots of heaven were devoured in no time (I halved the recipe below)– the addition of raspberries made them extra special.

Lemon raspberry crème brûlée

You may think that I’m on a passion fruit kick, but what really happened is that I got carried away, bought a load of passion fruit and therefore had to use them all.
These truffles are soft, delicious, and the zing of the passion fruit perfectly balances the sweetness of the white chocolate. You can follow Candace’s recipe and dip the truffles in melted chocolate, but I wasn’t bold enough

It’s been a tough week – I know that hating our job is not a healthy or positive feeling, but that’s how I feel; my patience has been tested so many times in the past 5 days I feel like a hero.
What comforts me is that in a couple of hours I’ll be home, on my couch, with a cookbook on my lap, choosing something to bake tomorrow – I guess I’ll use this amazing book again.

Fig galettes

I’m baking with Susan again – and I almost had to call for help to stop eating this cake.
I kept lying to myself saying that “this is practically only egg whites” after eating each slice of cake, then Susan wrote me the same thing in an email. You see, it’s not only my fault.
I made some passion fruit curd to serve the cake with, but now I have an eye on Suz’s version with raspberry

My first ice cream sandwiches – I could not believe how moreish these are.
Even thought I thought the cookies overpowered the sorbet flavor a little – I would go for vanilla cookies with this sorbet next time – these sandwiches were pretty good.
Speaking of moreish, I’m hoping Natalie Portman gets the Oscar this year: not only because her performance on “Black Swan” is absolutely

I’m not one of those people who think that one has to love everything about their country just because they were born there – no, definitely not my style. There are lots and lots of things about Brazil I’m not fond of, lots of things that need to change.

That said, I have to be honest with you: Nigella’s Venetian carrot cake is good, but our Brazilian carrot cake wins by a landslide.

Sometimes when I’m going through my cookbooks I say things out loud: things like “I am so making this”, or “I’ll make this next weekend”, and so on; just so you know it, the hubby doesn’t find it weird.
A couple of weeks ago I was “talking” to my books again when I said I was going to make a banana cake. “Another one?” Joao asked. I smiled back at him and said nothing, but thought “hey, don

I’ve “met” great people since starting this blog back in 2006, and there are a few that became part of my days, despite the fact that in some cases we’re half a planet apart.
I know that she lives miles and miles away from here, but I would certainly love having the lovely Susan as my neighbor: I absolutely adore her (even though we haven’t met personally), I crave the yummy food she makes

Joao and I celebrated our sixth anniversary last Saturday with a magnificent dinner – great food, some wine… Just beautiful. But all that indulgence called for a simple lunch on the following day – and this recipe instantly popped in to my mind: it’s so good – and quick – I’ve made it three times already.

Linguine with peas and lemon
from Holiday

1½ tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons (28g

When I was a teenager I had this big dream of going to Australia to learn English; unfortunately, $$ was an issue then and I had to study the language here.

My love for Australia hasn’t changed – Joao and I plan to go there for vacation someday; while that doesn’t happen, I go on listening to Aussie bands and cooking recipes from Aussie mags and fabulous foodies.
White chocolate mousse

When I was a teenager I had this big dream of going to Australia to learn English; unfortunately, $$ was an issue then and I had to study the language here.

My love for Australia hasn’t changed – Joao and I plan to go there for vacation someday; while that doesn’t happen, I go on listening to Aussie bands and cooking recipes from Aussie mags and fabulous foodies.
White chocolate mousse

I once told you that I can be pretty lazy from time to time; therefore, today’s recipe is dedicated to the lazy – and lovely – people reading me right now.
It’s a tart, indeed, but there is no chilling of the pastry nor blind baking involved; you won’t need to wait for the crust to cool down to fill it and you can even serve this tart warm; in fact, it tastes delicious this way, and I tried

One can tell there’s something wrong with this blog when the last lemon recipe was posted 2 months ago.
Nothing better to make things right than this beautiful, tender, fragrant and delicious cake, courtesy of the equally beautiful – and I bet fragrant, too – Ameixinha.
Cranberry lemon cake

Cake:
2/3 cup (150g) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups (300g) caster (superfine) sugar
3