Sweet tooth

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is arranging platers with sweets and cookies… Nuts and dried fruits… My father made this wooden carved tray, by the way. He is a retired carpenter. We were only 4 people for the holidays this year so the assortment was not huge. Some of the…

Turrón de chocolate recipe

Here’s an easy Spanish holiday recipe: you only need chocolate (250 g), chocolate rice puffs (30 g), vanilla (a tablespoon) and butter (35 g). Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave (450w, 30 second intervals). My chocolate is Nestle’s milk chocolate. Add the vanilla and mix them together: Add 30 g rice puffs (mine…

Herb bouquets

Gift guide: gift idea for the host, garden addict, plant person, or foodie in your life. We’ve got a set of hand painted watercolor bouquets with medicinal and culinary herbs. Available at: Society6 (medicinal herbs print, culinary herbs print) Noir Gallery (medicinal herbs, culinary herbs) Minted (coming soon)

Feliz Día de Todos los Santos

This year I went rogue with my desserts… Today you are supossed to have huesos de santo or panellets or buñuelos; but I really felt like baking a cake. This image below was taken in Barcelona and shows a fall showcase in a bakery. As I said I wanted a cake. It’s a simple yellow…

Magdalenas (spanish muffins) recipe (five ways)

Meet our hero today: magdalena. A magdalena is a cupcake, without frosting. Or a muffin if you prefer. But it is not made with butter, but oil. The classical shape of a magdalena is a mountain, which is called “copete”. We will be making five different versions with our magdalena recipe: classic magdalenas, magdalena in…

Watercolor illustration: vanilla

A new floral illustration that’s part of my botanical collection: vanilla orchid. Green, yellow and muted green. The vanilla illustration is available as printable file in blursbyai.shop.com or as lots of products in my society6 and redbubble stores. Suggestions: this one works as kitchen print as vanilla is often used in baking, sweets and drinks…

Guess who will be making…

Cat-shaped cookies really soon! You guessed it: me. Last month I made snowflake almond cookies with white chocolate decorations and I found it relaxing and fun! So last week I made moon and oval chocolate-brushed cookies 🙂   The recipe was adapted from a bake from scratch magazine (the holiday cookies special issue). Oh boy…

Illustrated recipe: spanish gazpacho

I’ve just added to my society6 shop the illustrated recipe of our gazpacho. Gazpacho is a cold soup that is very typical in Spain, specially in the south, where summers are very hot. It’s a smooth mix of tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, onion and bread, seasoned with olive oil, salt and vinegar. It’s refreshing and reminds me…

Illustrated recipe: spanish tortilla de patata

I’ve just added to my society6 shop the illustrated recipe of our tortilla. If you have spanish relatives or if you’ve ever visited Spain I am sure you tasted our Tortilla at least once. It’s a omelette made with very basic ingredients (potatoes, eggs, salt and olive oil) that tastes delicious and it is served…

Orejas de carnaval recipe, spanish carnival fried traditional pastries

Orejas de carnaval? What’s that? Their name means literally “carnival ears” and they are fried pastries that are made and eaten during carnival. Those thin layers of pastry are coated in cinnamon and sugar and they are very crunchy. My mom and I make a huge batch of them each year and then we deliver them to…