Warm Brie with Peaches & Thyme

A first!  A cooking session.   A good friend wanted to learn how to cook more veggie dishes for his wife.  How fun was this?  We cooked in the afternoon, his wife and our other friends joined us for dinner.

This was the appetizer...

1 Brie cheese, I like the ones in rounds
2 Peaches, cut in slices
1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 Tsp of fresh thyme, plus more for garnish
1 Tbsp of honey, we used a peach flavored
2 Tbsp of balsamic, we used blueberry
1 Tbsp of really good, grassy olive oil

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place brie on cookie sheet or foil and bake for about 10 min until soft.
3. While brie is baking, place 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a sautee plan over medium heat, ad thyme.  Let pan heat up and thyme flavor the oil.  
4. Add peaches and sautee until caramelized and with some nice brown spots, set pan aside.
5. Take brie out of oven and place on a large plate.
6. Place the honey over the top of warm brie.
7. Arrange peaches around and over the brie
8. Drizzle the balsamic evenly over the peaches and brie.
9. Drizzle olive oil over to finish.
10. Serve immediately.

I had originally planned to use figs or pears but when I was at the grocery store, the aroma of peaches in the produce department was undeniable. Feel free to substitute different produce for the fruit component of this dish.  You can even add some toasted nuts like walnuts or pecan.

Lemon Tarts

I've been making the same lemon tart for years, mini ones, large ones, and all kinds but lately, I've been trying different recipes and toppings... and for some reason just not much success as before.

The one above is beautiful but it was too overloaded.  It was brought to a dinner at my friend Kris house for a loverly Italian dinner she prepared.  I was sad my dessert didn't quite meet it.

I also made one with brown sugar and figs for my lemon lover friends Mike and Bia, and even they said they preferred old one with blueberries.

I'll have to work on it a bit and will wait to post recipe until perfected.

Fig & Brown Sugar Coffee Cake - Gluten Free

Oh man, this is my favorite flavors this time of the year! Figs!  Brown Sugar! It's so warm and cozy to eat with coffee or tea in the cold fall Seattle weather.  Look at that loveliness!

This is right out of the oven, pre-glaze...

I made this with the Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour.  Can't tell the difference from the regular flour.  Really!

For the cake:
1 C Brown Sugar (packed)
1.5 C Gluten Free Flour
2 tsp  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2 Eggs
1 C Sour Cream
1 C of Figs quartered

-Preheat oven to 350

-Butter or spray a 9" cake pan

-Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda in large bowl.

-In a smaller bowl, whip eggs and sour cream.

-Fold in the egg mixture to the dry flour mixture until well combined

-Bake for about 35-40 min. Test with a tooth pick in the center until it comes out clean.  Let cake cool completely.

-Pour the mixture into a cake pan and spread out evenly.
-Place the figs evenly balanced over the cake mixture.

For the glaze:
1/4 C Brown Sugar (packed)
1 1/2 C of Powder Sugar
1/2 tsp of Cinnamon
1/2 tsp of Cardamon
2  tbsp of Honey
2  tbsp of warm water
-Combine all ingredients until well mixed, let it set for 30 min until all sugars are dissolved.
-Drizzle on to warm cake and serve.