Marie-Helene's apple cake

It's been nearly a year since I made this cake for my father's birthday and I'll admit part of the reason why I haven't written about it until now is because I'm disappointed in the photo. But this cake was so simply delicious I'd be remiss in my duty to my blog readers if I skipped it entirely.

I made this cake around the time Dorie Greenspan's "Around the French Table" came out, a book that has not once disappointed me. A book you must purchase if you haven't already. I've written about Dorie Greenspan several times already and there's good reason for that.

Dorie Greenspan's Tiger tea cakes

Hello readers, it's been a while. Longer than I realized, in fact, and part of the reason for that is that I'm on a serious diet.

After several months of illness, and being stuck at the same weight for more than a year, I decided to do something to lose the rest of my baby weight.

Poilane's Punitions or Punishment Cookies

Punitions means "punishments" in English. I'm in a sour mood today, it's raining and it's grey. And I had the day off from work but sure enough my son woke up sick and lethargic. Now that he's asleep, I decided it's time to blog about my experience making these small buttery French cookies a few weeks ago.

This recipe comes to us via Dorie Greenspan's book "Paris Sweets." Which I've referenced time and time again. It's adapted from the classic recipe from the world-renowned Parisian bakery Poilane.

Dorie Greenspan's coffee eclairs

I never really liked eclairs until recently, when I discovered coffee eclairs (aka eclairs au cafe) at my local tea shop. They were a revelation. Until then, I always equated eclairs with those whipped cream-filled spongy concoctions you can find slowly drying out behind your nearest donut shop counter. You know the type. You take a bite and get a mouthful of too-sweet cream and cake. I gag slightly just thinking about it and I have a serious sweet tooth.

But the real thing, authentic Parisian eclairs, are airy eclairs filled with the lightest of light custard or pastry cream. With eclairs au cafe, both the glaze and pastry cream is accentuated by the inclusion of espresso, introducing just the right amount of sharpness to mellow out the high sugar content.

Cookbook Review: Around My French Table

I'm going to cut to the chase here. Dorie Greenspan's "Around My French Table" is my favourite new cookbook. In fact, with just a couple of months to go until the end of the year, I am going to be so bold as to say this is potentially the best cookbook of 2010.

I first came across Greenspan's blog when I read one of her charming posts on Paris. Voila, I thought to myself, a kindred spirit. A foodie who loved Paris enough to live there for many years. Of course, I have never lived in Paris but I try to visit every few years and dream about a time in the future when I can retire there for part of the year.

Dorie Greenspan's Nutella Tartine

Where a North American after-school snack might be a glass of milk and cookies, the French goûter is often a pain au chocolat. Sometimes, Dorie Greenspan says in her new cookbook "Around My French Table" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) it might even be an open-faced chocolate sandwich.

This may seem ridiculous to Canadians, and Americans, but it's not unusual in Europe where Nutella is as popular as peanut butter is here. Even in the Netherlands, my good friend Elsbeth served me chocolate shavings on toast for breakfast when I stayed with her in Utrecht. This recipe is French pastry chef Pierre Hermé's interpretation of the after-school treat (you may know him as the master of macarons).