Savory Fig Pastries
For ten days I was debating what to make for my upcoming pop-up (see flyer). It’s happening in one of my favorite coffee shops in Austin. They don’t have a kitchen there, so I have to prepare the food at…
Dairy-Free Mango Clafoutis with Oat Milk (Easy French Dessert)
We are visiting Austin at the moment, staying in an Airbnb in Cherrywood, a beautiful neighborhood in the northeast. The food scene here genuinely impresses me. Though we eat at home most of the time and eat out twice a…
Tangy Banana Bread Topped with Strawberries
This is not my usual dairy-free banana bread. This is my crowd-pleaser. It’s the one I make for certain family members who aren’t very enthusiastic about cakes made with olive oil, spelt and coconut sugar. They like their cakes buttery…
Blueberry Yogurt Cake
Last week I had to prepare lunch for my son’s robotics team. I could’ve bought pizza, Chinese food, turkey wraps, burgers, tacos, or made pasta like the other parents, but being me, I couldn’t. So I made hummus, potato and…
Bread Making Class at LAVC (Summer 2024)
I’m excited to announce my upcoming bread baking class next month at Los Angeles Valley College. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss! In this hands-on class, you’ll learn the valuable…
Skillet Cornbread with Nectarine
When the Newmans offer you to stay in their country home on the Lake of Glenville, you don’t think about it and hesitate. You postpone your flight back home, and you stay three more days North Carolina. Even if you’ve…
Moroccan Anise Cookies
Every single time I make a batch of these irresistible heroin-biscuits, I swear it’ll be the last time. And I’d probably keep that promise if someone didn’t always beg me to make them. Or if a sudden burst of inspiration…
Cashew Cheesecake with Strawberry
The other day, I made this cake but told my husband not to mention anything about it to his mother, cousin, and that cousin’s friend. I wanted to see if they would realize that it’s not a real cheesecake. I…
One-Pot Meals Cooking Class
Next month I will be teaching again at LA Valley College how to prepare unfussy, one-pot meals. If you live in Los Angeles or know someone who lives here who would be interested in taking my class, please forward this…
Druze Pita with Labneh & Za’atar
For those of you who don’t know or who have never been to Israel, not everything Israeli is Jewish and not everything Jewish is Israeli. Einstein was Jewish but not Israeli, and Druze laffa is not Jewish but very Israeli—as…
Bread Baking Class at LAVC (Fall 2023)
With everything happening in my country, I completely forgot to post about my upcoming bread baking class at Los Angeles Valley College. If you live in Los Angeles or know anyone who lives in LA, please join us or forward…
Spanish Sesame Cookies
These Spanish cookies (tortas de aceite y anís) are the delicate sisters of my grandmother’s anise cookies. They taste very similar, but the Iberian cookies are flaky and dissolve in the mouth. Whereas the Moroccan anise cookies are more rustic…
Easy Upside-Down Cabbage Bread
It’s been a while since I posted anything. As some of you know, from my Instagram stories, we moved, again. This time not too far though. To a close-by neighborhood that has a better public high school. I hope we…
Basic & Easy Gluten-Free Bread
Whenever the neurotic mom passes by a bakery that sells good sourdough bread, like Gjusta in Venice Beach, she buys one or two boules for her family. She can eat gluten, though it might give her headaches. Sometimes she takes…
Easy Sesame & Sunflower Brittle
Before the pandemic, I used to make this brittle weekly for my boys’ lunch bags. It’s a treat that checks all the boxes: gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, and free from refined sugar, yet deliciously crunchy. I had the pleasure of filming…
Easy to Make Turkish Flatbreads
Kids should learn in elementary school how to make basic bread. All humans should know how to make this human creation. Including lawyers and doctors. The process of mixing flour, yeast (or sourdough starter), salt, and water into a dough,…
Best Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread
This is the second best thing after wheat sourdough. Most of the gluten-free sourdough recipes I found online are shit — too long and too complicated to understand. The best recipe I found so far and adapted is from the…
Simple Almond Lemon Cake
Eema (me): “Alex, this is delicious, are you sure you don’t want to be a pastry chef when you grow up?”Alex: “What is a pastry chef?”Eema: “A pastry chef is someone who makes cakes and cookies for a living.”Alex: “What…
Simple Homemade Wheat Bread
There was a single period in my life when I completely lost interest in cooking and baking. It was right after my youngest sister, Inbar, passed away at age 27. When she died, my love of baking left with her.…