The Folding Lady's One Pan Brownies

 

If you're not already following The Folding Lady on Instagram, you need to!  Sophie Liard gained a huge following during the early days of the pandemic when she posted videos of herself folding clothes.  The videos went viral and many social media posts later she's got hundreds of thousands of followers and recently published her first book.  Call me strange, or a Virgo!, but I find it so therapeutic and satisfying to watch her expert folding.

In addition to the folding, Sophie has also posted several food recipes on her account.  In particular, this one for One Pan Brownies immediately caught my eye.  I love a recipe that is simple as can be,  made in one pan and delivers.  I embellished the recipe by adding streaks of dulce de leche to the top of the brownie batter before baking.   They tasted amazing, but next time I think I'll also add a layer of the milk caramel in the middle!

Russian Honey Cake

 

When you mention 20th Century Cafe here in San Francisco the first thing that comes to mind is Russian Honey Cake.  It's one of their signature desserts and is so visually stunning and amazingly delicious.  Layer upon layer of cake (they taste like speculoos cookies) filled with a burnt honey and caramel whipped cream.   Absolute heaven I tell you.  I had my first taste in 2016 and was always curious about how it was made.  

Alas, I was never able to find a good recipe to replicate at home so I never attempted to make one, until now!  Recently the cafe's owner, Michelle Polzine, was kind enough to finally reveal her masterpiece.   And to the New York Times no less!

Granted, the instructions to make the cake are very LONG, but don't be deterred.  Admittedly the process is time consuming but all that effort will be worth it, I promise.   I was crazy enough to make my cake in one evening after coming home from work.  Not something I would recommend for the novice baker.  Start to finish I estimate it took me about 4 hours, with a little down time in between.  Next time I'll make this on the weekend to give myself a cushion.

One bite of the cake and I was immediately taken back to 20th Century Cafe.  It seriously is an amazing copycat that you should try for yourself. 

Alfajores

I'll start off by saying these alfajores aren't the most authentic but they are quite delicious nonetheless. I had my first encounter with these cookies many years ago when I visited Buenos Aires.  One taste of the little sandwich filled with dulce de leche and I was hooked.  

My alfajores use shortbread but the true version that you'll find in Argentina uses a softer cookie made with cornstarch.  The real star though, in my opinion, is the delicious dulce de leche.  Sure, you can make your own milk jam but since I had a jar in my fridge I took the easy route.