Apple Cherry Strudel

Zoë François 46 Comments
Apple cherry strudel recipe | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

Before I made this apple cherry strudel, I hadn’t made a strudel in years, not since I worked in a restaurant and had lots of space and hands to help. In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever stretched strudel dough solo. When I was in culinary school we made one as a class that stretched out about 5 feet long and was nearly transparent. Never half measures at the CIA. There were at least 6 of us gingerly pulling and stretching and our instructor, Stacy Radin, was coaching us through the whole process. I think we all napped after that class!

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Coffee Ice Cream with Rosemary Shortbread

Zoë François 35 Comments
Coffee ice cream with rosemary shortbread recipe | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I’m a dedicated coffee drinker. I was very loyal to illy for a time, while Costco carried it, but now my heart belongs to LavAzza. Many of you recommended it to me, but honestly I never tried it until I went to my friend’s bakery. At the Salty Tart Michelle creates pastries that inspired Andrew Zimmern to say it is the “best bakery in the World!” The coffee she serves is LavAzza. The coffee is excellent, worthy of her treats and good enough to make me switch from illy!

So when I wanted to make coffee ice cream I used Lavazza beans and a recipe from David Lebovitz, which I found in a recent copy of Fine Cooking magazine. The coffee flavor is so deep and intense that it almost has a bittersweet chocolate taste to it. If you’ve ever had Vietnamese ice coffee, this ice cream is reminiscent. That rich flavor just begged for something bright, so I paired the coffee ice cream with rosemary shortbread. A new addiction is born!

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How I Became an Organic Backyard “Urban Farmer!”

Zoë François 33 Comments

I should have been born with a green thumb! My grandmother is a natural in her flower garden and she passed the skill to my father. He has had gardens, really spectacular ones, for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of my father are of him in the gardens he set up for the commune we lived on in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We lived off of that garden. Dozens of people lived off of that garden. He went on to start the first co-op in that part of Vermont and eventually worked at both Organic Gardening and EatingWell magazines. It was his calling. Apparently the gardening gene skipped a generation. I inherited a deep appreciation for the food he was growing, but absolutely no abilities to create my own backyard garden.

This summer all of that is changing! My friend Barb told me about a program that would pair me and my tiny urban yard with a farmer, who would help me set up an organic backyard garden. I called the folks at the Backyard Harvest Program and asked them to come see if my rather pathetic yard was worthy of their project. Krista and Stefan came to the house and assured me that they could transform my space into an organic garden, full of over 30 varieties of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. The one thing my yard does have is sun, which is the one essential element.  They also promised to teach me and my boys every step of the process. Read More

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Malt Buttercream

Zoë François 62 Comments
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Malt Buttercream and Chocolate Shavings

Henri Turned 10 this month and the celebrating has been at a feverish pitch for weeks. It is a big year when your little baby hits double digits and becomes a tweenager. On his actual birthday we celebrated with our family. He wanted to rent the movie Grease (one of his babysitters was recently in the play at the high school), have sushi and eat chocolate cake! It sounded like a fantastic idea to me. After 20+ years I’d forgotten about some of the racy content in the movie, which they edited out of the high school play, Oooops! Luckily we were watching at home and could fast forward through the more “educational” scenes!

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Rhubarb Fool

Zoë François 31 Comments

It is officially spring when I walk outside my door and there are stalks of rhubarb standing tall in my garden. To date, rhubarb and strawberries are the only edible things I’ve managed to grow. Every year the rabbits and squirrels wait until the strawberries are perfectly formed and just about to turn red, then they systematically eat them all. So, in the end, all I am left with is my huge patch of rhubarb. It may be why I love it so much, because I feel a sense of accomplishment.

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