Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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April 19, 2015 By cheryl

Bakery Andante (Edinburgh): Visiting the Divine

Bakery AndanteA pilgrimage is in order each Saturday I’m in Edinburgh.

First, a stop for coffee in Morningside (and maybe a bacon roll), then a quick pop-in a few doors down to visit a teeny tiny bakery that’s just packed to the brim with buttery treats.

When I first visited Andante Bakery, I wondered what might be so special about it — sure, its pastries and breads always looked fetching, but I’ve had plenty of fabulous baked goods all over the world.

A little poking around, however, showed that this artisanal bakery set up by a former marketing guy who threw in the towel about six years ago to pursue his passion for baking has some serious cred. It’s won all sorts of commendations and was featured on the ITV show “Britain’s Best Bakery.”

Also, I found the name charming — the bakery’s site explains that andante is “a musical expression meaning ‘at a slower tempo’, which perfectly describes how we think bread should be made.”

Aside from all that though, what’s truly lovely about this place is, it’s simply a delight to visit …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Bread, Breakfast, Scotland, Tales From the Road, Travel Tagged With: Baguette, Bakery, Bakery Andante, Biscotti, Biscuits, Breadcrumbs, Britain's Best Bakery, Cookies, Covenanter's Loaf, Croissant, Edinburgh, ITV, Jon Wood, Morningside, Scotland, Sourdough

January 22, 2012 By cheryl

Green Tea Butter Cookies: Dragon Year Treats

Chinese new year, for me, has always been about my late grandmother’s pineapple tarts.

The buttery cookies topped with sweet home-made pineapple jam are so firmly connected with the holiday that all other cookies simply cease to exist whenever the lunar new year rolls around.

As much as I love them, I don’t quite have the equipment at hand to make them this year, alas. One must still celebrate, nonetheless. So, in a pinch, I whipped together a batch of buttery shortbread cookies flavored with green tea powder I’d picked up in Singapore and had never used in baking before.

The result? A delicious springtime treat that I may just have to include in my new year cookie rotation in years to come…

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Filed Under: Asian, Baking, Chinese, Cookies, Holidays, Recipes Tagged With: Chinese new year, Cookies, Green tea, Matcha, Shortbread

December 24, 2011 By cheryl

Lithuanian Poppy Seed Holiday Cookies: Santa-Worthy Treats

I have the great fortune of living near Sahadi’s, a wonderful little Middle Eastern grocery in Brooklyn that’s filled with bins of dates and nuts and shelves of treats such as pomegranate molasses, Turkish apricots and three kinds of orange blossom water.

As much of a thrill as it is to walk through Sahadi’s on any day, given that you never know what new delicious morsel you’ll discover, it’s particularly lovely in December, when the usually crammed store gets absolutely packed with a shoppers and a frenetic holiday spirit that’s uniquely New York. Excuse me, there are meals to be made — out of my way! You going to get that box of tea or what? Hurry up! (OK, perhaps I am alone in having these thoughts — everyone else may well be imbued with saintly patience since it is the holiday season, after all.)

Being there always gives me that seasonal rush that propels me to the finish line that is our Christmas dinner, however. And this year, I picked up a little extra something I’d been curious to cook with: Poppy seed paste.

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Filed Under: Baking, Cookies, Dessert, Holidays, Sweets Tagged With: Cookies, Holiday, Lithuanian, Poppy Seed

July 14, 2011 By cheryl

Cheddar-Pecan Crisps: Bubbly-Friendly Bites

Summer always brings much to celebrate — delicious pies, sandy beach picnics, sunny farmstands plump with fresh produce.

This July, we have one more thing to toast: the second anniversary of Let’s Lunch, a monthly Twitter lunchdate that began two years ago when three women from Paris, San Diego and New York gathered online over a sudden — and monstrous — shared craving for BLTs.

Since that first lunch, the group has expanded — the Let’s Lunch bunch now includes folks from Paris, Sydney (yes, Australia), St. Louis, and more. To mark the many feasts we’ve had, we decided to devote July’s lunch to nibbly bits that that go well with champagne.

What to make? I decided to pull out an old favorite …

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Filed Under: Appetizers, Baking, Cookies, Entertaining, Let's Lunch, Snacks Tagged With: Australia, Champagne, Cheddar, Cocktail, Cookies, Crisps, Let's Lunch, New York, Paris, Pecan, San Diego, St. Louis, Sydney, Wine

May 4, 2009 By cheryl

Cardamom, A Love Story


CIMG3957 

I've had cardamom on the brain recently. And I blame Padma Lakshmi.

We weren't even talking about food–we were discussing jewelry for a Wall Street Journal fashion piece, for heaven's sake. 

But then the "Top Chef" host started describing a long gold chain that she liked that's flecked with little gold nubs. "Like cardamom pods," Padma explained.

I immediately began thinking about cardamom cookies and haven't stopped since.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Baking, Cookies, Fashion, Recipes Tagged With: Bon Appetit, Cardamom, Cookies, Norwegian, Padma Lakshmi, Top Chef, Vikings, Wall Street Journal

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