It has been a whirlwind 8 weeks since baby boy was born! He's healthy, strong, full of smiles and super cute but I still feel like I'm in survival mode! I am admittedly finding it more difficult than I thought I would to get my new content on here (hence, this is my first post in 8 weeks!), but we're still moving forward!

Lavender is an ingredient that used to intimidate me because it sounds so fancy in a recipe.  I'm here to tell you that it is very simple, accessible and it totally elevates a dish and gives it a little something different. I was first introduced to lavender lemonade at one of my favorite New England restaurants, Pickity Place.  This restaurant is incredible with seasonal, rotating menus on a monthly basis and they grown all of their own herbs on site.  Their lavender lemonade is like drinking a spa day.  I picked up a container of their culinary lavender in the gift shop and since then I've made lavender brownies​, vegan lemon lavender sugar cookies and today I've got a simple bread for you that is a perfect dessert, tea time treat or would be incredible to serve at a bridal or baby shower.

Lavender can be potent and a little bit goes a long way in a recipe.  I've used 2 tablespoons of culinary lavender in this bread recipe as the lemon is also quite a strong flavor and can over power; however, you can easily dial the lavender up or down a notch by increasing or decreasing the amount you add to the sugar.  In this recipe, you will create a lavender sugar by processing the lavender with the sugar in a food processor or high powered blender.  It takes only seconds and then you mix it into the recipe as you would regular sugar.

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

For the bread
-2 TBS culinary lavender
-3/4 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup olive oil
-zest of 1 lemon
-juice of 1/2 lemon
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups flour
-2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 cup whole milk

For the glaze
-1/3 cup powdered sugar
-juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions
Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Add the lavender and sugar to a food processor or high powered blender.  Process/blend until the lavender breaks down in the sugar (you will still see flecks of lavender but both the sugar and lavender will be more fine in consistency.  This typically takes less than 30 seconds).

Zest and juice the lemon.  Reserve 1/2 the lemon juice for the glaze.  In the large bowl for a stand or hand mixer, combine the eggs and lavender sugar.  Cream together until combined.  Add in the olive oil, vanilla extract and lemon juice/zest.  Mix together until fully incorporated.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt.  use a fork to stir the dry ingredients together on top of the wet ingredients before mixing.  Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until a thick batter forms.  While slowly mixing, pour in the milk and mix until combined and batter thins out a little bit.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes before inverting and transferring the bread to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Prepare the glaze while the bread cools by combining the powdered sugar and the reserved lemon juice.  Whisk together until it forms into a smooth glaze.  Once the bread has cooled, top with the glaze, slice and enjoy!

One of the things that I've enjoyed about this quarantine period is that I've been forced to get creative with pantry meals, snacks and desserts.  My usual recipe development has more come from a place of "this is what I want to make and this is what I need so let's go to the store and get those things."  The current situation is very different.  We are only making grocery trips when we need to and my husband has been doing all of the grocery shopping so that I stay out of the stores while expecting (although this week I found a local market that is doing curb side pick up and I'm going to go for a drive later today- times are definitely different when getting out into the car feels like an outing). 

This brownie recipe was developed with all things in my pantry and I have been using up a bottle of Tahini more lately when I noticed that it's pretty creamy....and I had a small amount of chocolate chips left and I wondered if I could melt the two together for a brownie ganache.  It turns out that I can and that it's really good.  The brownies are pretty sweet with both white and brown sugar and the tahini ganache sort of balances it out with a nutty flavor.  I wondered if my kids would back away from it once they tried them but nope.  They each stole an extra brownie when I wasn't looking.

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

For the brownie (makes approximately 1 dozen)
-1/2 cup butter at room temperature
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-3/4 cup flour
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1 tsp espressor powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp baking powder

For the Ganache
-1/2 cup tahini
-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, use a stand or hand mixer to cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).  Add in the eggs one at a time and mix together.  Add in the vanilla and mix together.  Add all of the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients and mix them together with a fork before turning back on the mixer to incorporate them with the wet ingredients.  The batter will be thick...almost frosting like.

Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon or rubber spatula to spread and smooth the batter evenly throughout the pan.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.  This baking time leaves them fudgy and a small amount of batter coming out on a toothpick when inserted.  Allow to cool completely in the pan.

Once cooled, prepare the ganache by adding the tahini to a small pot on medium heat.  Allow to warm up and then add in the chocolate chips.  Stir continuously until the chocolate melts into the tahini and completely blends together.  Pour over the brownies and spread evenly with a spoon or spatula.  Place the ganache topped brownies in the fridge to chill and set for about an hour.

Lift the parchment paper up and out of the pan, slice into 12 squares and enjoy!

Do you ever just need a chocolate cake? I don't think it's just me, but it maybe it is.  I can't help but remember the Sex and the City episode with Miranda and the chocolate cake.  This might date me as my early twenties involved some time binge watching that show when binge watching involved the "be kind and rewind" notice on the VHS tape before returning it to Blockbuster.  And will my kids ever know the horror of getting to a Blockbuster only to find out that the one movie or season of a show that you want to watch is already rented by someone else? This might be the equivalent of my parents being required to walk to school in horrible weather, up hill...both ways.

This recipe has you covered In the event you find yourself wanting a chocolate cake and you a) don't want to drive to a bakery or go through the joyful hassle of making an entire cake and b) you don't want an entire chocolate cake waiting around in the kitchen just looking at you.  Thanks to Bobs Red Mill, their coconut sugar and tapioca flour make this grain free and refined sugar free as well.

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

For the Cake
-1 egg
-2 TBS vanilla almond milk
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-3 TBS tapioca flour
-1/8 tsp salt (just a tiny bit)
-1 TBS coconut sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 TBS unsweetened baking cocoa

For the glaze
-1 tsp peanut butter
-1 tsp paleo powdered sugar (I use and keep some of this recipe from Joy Food Sunshine in my cupboard but you can substitute your sweetener of choice here...it's only 1 tsp)
-1 tsp vanilla almond milk
-1 tsp chocolate chips for sprinkling on top

Directions
Spray the inside of a microwave safe mug with non-stick cooking spray.  Crack the egg into the mug and beat with a fork.  Add the vanilla almond milk and vanilla extract.  Use the fork to mix together well.  Then add the dry ingredients of the tapioca flour, unsweetened baking cocoa, salt and baking powder.  Mix together very well with the fork until a smooth batter forms.  Place in the microwave and cook on high for 2 1/2 minutes.  The mug cake will rise a good bit in the mug.  Once finished cooking, remove from microwave and allow to sit for 2-3 minutes.

Mix the glaze together while the mug cake sits and rests.  Drizzle the glaze over the top of the mug cake, sprinkle with chocolate chips and done! Other options are to top with whipped cream or ice cream! Enjoy!