Banana Crème Caramel

It’s been a minute since I posted a dessert. I don’t tend to bake all that much in January. Too burnt out from the holiday baking season, I suppose. But now that it’s February, my least favorite month of the year, I am in need of something sweet. It’s cold, it still gets dark before 5:30pm, and regardless of what the groundhogs had to say on the subject we still have a heck of a lot of winter left to go. So yeah, I feel like we could all use a sweet little lift. And today’s Banana Crème Caramel is just the dessert to do it. So let’s get started.
Earl Grey Caramel Tart

Okay, so this tart was supposed to appear on the blog before Christmas but I got a little too into the merrymaking of it all. But I figure December as a whole is baking season and now that all the gifts have been purchased, and the elaborate tables have been set we actually have the time to, well, take our time in the kitchen and bake for fun. And I can tell you this Earl Grey Caramel Tart is very fun to make. It’s obviously more fun to eat but what dessert isn’t?
Chocolate and Cheese Dessert Board

This is the second dish in this year’s nostalgia-themed holiday menu. And yes, we’re skipping right to dessert. It doesn’t appear to make sense, I realize that. But I figured this was the best place to put this Chocolate and Cheese Dessert Board because this is one of two dessert options. Yes, you have another dessert coming to you and I promise it will be more appropriately placed chronologically speaking. And when it comes to dessert and sugary things in general it pays to spread them out. Plus, this is a board and the Jalapeño Cold Pack appeared on a board, so they sort of make sense as a duo. Sort of. It doesn’t matter. What matters is this Chocolate and Cheese Dessert Board delivers elegant salty-sweet bliss. So let’s talk about it!
Caramel Apple Linzer Cookies

If you frequent this site, you might have noticed I don’t post cookies often. Sure, as a tastebud-possessing individual, I like a good cookie. What’s not to like about hand-held delights made primarily of butter and sugar? But I don’t tend to have a lot of cookie-related ideas. They seem to be my culinary blindspot. It might be because I don’t find them particularly beautiful. And I am a visual learner and schemer. Now, before you direct me to the plethora of perfectly gorgeous sugar and gingerbread cookies on the Internet, I know they exist. My other Achilles heel is royal icing. So yeah, I can’t even approach cookies from a design standpoint. But every now and then the baking gods come through and bless me with a good cookie idea I can actually pull off. And these Caramel Apple Linzer Cookies are a fine example of such an idea.