Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Bites

Some of the most seductive things in life take only two bites: one to start, and a second that leaves you wanting more. Luckily, this recipe for Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Bites makes enough to 'start again' as many times as you like. These highly addictive doughnuts are also made for sharing: I knocked on my neighbour R.'s door with a plateful of them, which prompted him to text his wife boastingly about what she was missing out on. She made him text her photos of the doughnuts periodically to ensure there were still some there when she came home!

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes with Fennel Tea Frosting

Cupcakes - those tempting little cakes that send  icing to slowly cascade down their tops in a way that begs fingers to scoop and be licked, tongues to circle around and gather the excess along the corrugated terrain of the wrapper. The paper is seductively peeled back to reveal a moist cake, in this case flavoured with Meyer lemon and slightly perfumed with fennel tea - an excellent match. Meyer lemons are a new ingredient to me, and I was thrilled to discover bags of them in stock both at my local grocery store and the neighbourhood green-grocers. Meyer lemons are sweet, like an orange, with less of that acidic tartness other lemons have. Inspired by a few tea-infused desserts I've read about lately, I wanted to marry my favourite herbal brew with the sweet indulgence of a citrus cupcake. 

Steeped Citrus & an Olive Oil Cake

Citrus is its own exclamation mark, boldly making its presence known punctuating countertops, fruit baskets and baked goods alike with its brilliant colour and fresh flavour. My February certainly got brighter when I spent the afternoon carefully supreming navel oranges, blood oranges, and tangerines to accompany a lemon olive oil cake that filled my kitchen boudoir with a sweet and happy scent. The recipe is one I found in a cookbook I'm rather fond of: Anna & Michael Olson Cook at Home. It sounded rather odd to me at first...olive oil??...in a cake?! Perhaps this was because I was reminded of an earlier mini-chef version of Sonja who didn't know that olive oil was more savoury and flavourful than other oils and used it unconsciously in a sweet dessert and as an unconscious acting exercise for those lucky few who tried it and were kind (or cruel, depending on how you see it) enough to tell me it was 'delicious.' But this cake certainly is.