Islands in the sky, food & travel

Are you revving up for cookie baking for the holidays? I wanted to share this recipe because the cookies are simply sooooo good ! These alfajor cookies go as far back as the 8th century in the Middle East, "alaju" in arabic means stuffed or filled.  Initially they were stuffed with dates or fruit preserves. When the Moors occupied Spain, they brought this recipe with them and soon the Spaniards created their own version, covered with almonds or powdered sugar, called an alfajor.  When the Spaniards came to South America in the 16th century, they brought the recipes of their traditional foods and the alfajor evolved once again with stuffings such as dulce de lecce and marmalade. Most recently you can find chocolate or vegan versions. Here's the recipe for about a dozen alfajores and about another dozen of shortbread:  115 g of softened butter 70 g of confectioners sugar 2 egg yolks 150 g flour (or gluten-free blend) 130 g of cornstarch 1 tablespoon of water (optional : 1 t

About crèmes brulées... they're the bomb, yes.  But my challenge has always been to find the non-dairy or lactose-free version.  When I've made the coconut cream version, so good yes, but there is an underlying coconut taste.  So I tried a soy cream and soymilk version this time, and yes, it also had an underlying soy taste, but the silkiness of the custard was pretty darn close to the classic version. Here's the recipe :  5 egg yolks 25 cl soy milk 25 cl soy cream 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon agar agar 1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract + 50 g sugar to sprinkle on top once cooked In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer milk and cream with the contents of a vanilla bean (or extract) and sugar.  Take a half a cup of this warmed mixture and dissolve agar agar in it, then return this mixture to the saucepan, whisking until well blended (2 minutes).  Remove from heat. Warm oven to 120° C (250° F). Prepare a water bath by boiling water and filling a deep pan about 1/2 inch

This is one of my favorite French pastries to make for special occasions, usually with a praline cream, but I've baked a version here with salted caramel cream and raspberries, because I love how the tanginess of the berries contrasts with the macaron (or dacquoise) layer. Not gonna lie, it does take a few steps in order for it to be a "succès", lol, but if you like to make your life easier like yours truly, I make it over a period of 2 days or more. First I make the caramel and put it in jars, then I make the caramel cream, refrigerate. The next day, I whip up the cream and bake the dacquoise. I subsituted the original praline cream with a salted butter cream and prefer this which gives a light tasty caramel cream, that is strong enough to hold up the cake layer, with the help of the raspberries. This pastry goes back to the 1960's, created by the French pastry chef Gaston Le Nôtre, originally with a hazelnut butercream and hazelnut or almond powder dacquoise.  But r