Eat The Love - Recipes, Photographs and Stories about Desserts, Baked Goods and Food in general, with a healthy dose of humor and happiness for the food obsessed

Olive, Tomato, and Onion Hand Pies [Sponsored Post]

These savory and satisfying hand pies are packed with California grown green olives, tomatoes, roasted onions, fresh thyme and feta cheese.

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Olive, tomato and onion hand pies on a plate, surrounded by tomatoes and a bowl of more olives.

This post was sponsored by California Grown. I was compensated for this post and for developing the recipe. However, all opinions below are completely my own.

Summertime is here and I’m obsessed with all the Summer produce! I’m buying up pretty much everything from the bright and juicy berries to the luscious Summer stonefruit. But every time Summer comes around, the one thing I’m super excited about are tomatoes! The flavors of summertime tomatoes can’t be beat, and they are incredibly versatile in the kitchen. I use them as a topping for my tomato focaccia, my Summer zucchini pasta, as well as in my easy baked ziti dish. These tomatoes are paired with California green ripe olives another super versatile ingredient that I love and use all the time, like in my twice cooked eggplant and olive dish, my double olive sausage pizza and my Moroccan spiced roast chicken. In additional I added in roasted onions, feta and fresh thyme for the filling, to make a savory hand pie that is super satisfying as a snack or light lunch.

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Rainbow Chocolate Chip Cookies [Sponsored Post]

These fabulous and fun rainbow chocolate chip cookies are a showstopper and look difficult to make, but they are easier than you think!

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Rainbow chocolate chip cookies on a plate, with more cookies behind it.

This post is brought to you by Bob’s Red Mill for gay pride month. I was compensated for this post and developing this recipe. However, all opinions are my own.

There’s something magical about rainbows, whether it’s a naturally occurring atmospheric phenomenon, the rainbow pride t-shirts worn in the month of June, or rainbows in edible baked goods. And though I wrote a whole book on marbled, swirled and layered desserts, I didn’t include a single rainbow dessert in there. I have rectified this glaring omission by presenting to you this rainbow chocolate chip cookie! And though it looks difficult to make, if you can make my bakery-style chocolate chip cookie or my mint chocolate chip cookie and you know how to slice a pie, you can make these cookies without a problem!

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This tart and sweet strawberry rhubarb pie recipe makes use of one of the best Spring produce, rhubarb and strawberries!

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A slice of strawberry rhubarb pie cut out and sitting on a plate with the remaining pie in a pie pan next to it.

My love of the combination of strawberry rhubarb is clearly evident if you have read my blog at all. I’ve shared recipes for my strawberry rhubarb galette, my strawberry rhubarb buckle cake, and my strawberry rhubarb syrup. And though I have a recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie in my cookbook Marbled, Swirled, and Layered (which has a lovely pistachio crumb topping) I’ve never share a recipe for a strawberry rhubarb pie here on the blog! Here’s my go-to classic strawberry rhubarb pie with a woven double crust top.

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Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken aka 鹽酥雞, Yansu Ji or Salted Crispy Chicken

This Taiwanese popcorn chicken recipe is a flavorful fried chicken marinated in garlic, ginger, 5-spice and white pepper before being deep fried.

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A plate with Taiwanese popcorn chicken on it.

If you’ve never had Taiwanese popcorn chicken, known as Yansu Ji (literally translated to salted crispy chicken), it’s a super flavorful fried chicken. Unlike American fried chicken where the flavoring mostly comes from the coating, or Korean fried chicken where the flavoring comes from the sauce, Taiwanese fried chicken starts with a umami rich soy sauce base marinade that permeates the meat of the chicken. In that way, it’s similar to Japanese Karaage, though the Taiwanese version is not served with any sort of dipping sauce, but instead sprinkled with salt, white pepper and a touch of five-spice as well as garnished with fried Thai basil leaves.

It’s a typical street food (and trust me when I tell you the Taiwanese love their street food) eaten by everyone in Taiwan. One bite of it and I immediately thought to myself, this is what Taiwan taste like.

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Semla (Swedish Cardamom Almond Buns)

These traditional Swedish cardamom almond buns, called Semlor (Semla is the singular), are slightly sweet and an absolute delight to eat.

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Semla, a Swedish cardamom almond bun on a cutting board with a dusting of powdered sugar being sprinkled on it.

The weather has been cool and chilly here in San Francisco, though a little bit of gray sky and rain is nothing compared to the madness that other folks seem to be around the country with their snow storms and subzero temperature drops. All of it makes me want to snuggle down deep in my thick comfy sweater and embrace the Scandinavian hygge sensibilities. This probably explains why I’ve been baking things like my Swedish Blueberry Cake and Swedish Cardamom Buns (and also making and eating my Swedish Meatball Stroganoff which is totally comfort food).

But with Shrove Tuesday happening a bit ago (affectionately known as Fat Tuesday), I turned to make Swedish Semlor. The Semla (the singular word for Semlor) is an enriched cardamom scented brioche-style bun that is split open filled with almond paste and whipped cream. It’s a traditional Swedish treat eaten between Shrove Tuesday through to Easter in Sweden (and other Scandinavian countries) but they’re so much beloved, that they appear around Christmas time and are sold all the way through Eastertime. My friend Amy introduced them to me at a local Scandinavian restaurant here in San Francisco and I’ve been obsessed with them ever since. Turns out making them at home isn’t too hard!

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Salted Caramel Pot de Creme (with video)

Salted caramel pot de creme is a rich and decadent custard dessert. They’re the perfect easy, make-ahead dessert to impress anyone!

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Jars of salted caramel pots de creme on a cutting board with a small dish of flaky sea salt next to them.

Pot de creme is one of those overlooked desserts. They sound super fancy, impress most everyone, and taste rich and decadent. But best of all, they’re an easy make-ahead dessert, as they need time to chill in the fridge to firm up. This means you have plenty of time to plan out dinner or the rest of the evening and not have to worry about dessert! And though I’ve made mocha pots de creme and chocolate pots de creme, for all those folks who don’t like chocolate (strange but they exist!) here’s a recipe for my husband’s favorite non-chocolate desert, caramel pot de creme!

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