Welcoming 2010 — L’année 2010

almond rose teacakes

Vanilla-flavored almond and quinoa rose teacakes

The day started in the kitchen with aromas of finely sliced apples sautéed in butter and brown sugar; warm oatmeal and toasted almonds; and quinoa waffles dusted with a cloud of confectioner’s sugar. There were pots of green and Roibos teas on the table, and Taken by Trees was playing on our stereo. Lulu was sitting in her high chair at the head of the table with one of us on either side, looking happy–who wouldn’t, really, after sleeping for a solid twelve hours? Breakfast to start the new year.

It looked promising.

I am not sure whether I’ve yet realized the good things that 2009 gave us. The most overwhelming one being a healthy happy daughter that is bringing an incomparable joy, allowing us to look at details of life that we wouldn’t see otherwise, were she not here. Of course, it’s been crazy and messy and challenging at times; in the early months of 2009, we missed sleep. Some days, I even cried when I felt too exhausted–especially missing to have our families living nearby. There were moments when we felt excited and slap happy. One friend once said when he spoke about this early time when a baby enters a couple’s life that “it’s as if you are divorced from reality.”

Oh yes!

I know we are extremely lucky, though. We’ve come out of the first year of Lulu’s life feeling stronger and happier.

Closer.

In 2009, one of my biggest challenges, too, was to balance raising our baby and writing my cookbook. Despite days that always seemed too short, naps that were too scarce, I don’t know how I managed but I’ve never lost my appetite to cook. I’ve never stopped to want to cook. I don’t think there was a single day passing without something being made in the kitchen. Without my hands touching and preparing food. Whether it being a hard boiled egg, a grilled sandwich — P. who is mastering the art beautifully taught me how — or a more time-involved meal with Osso Buco and Milanese risotto. Always baking a cake. Or having friends coming over for dinner. Despite the house looking untidy. And baskets of laundry waiting in the corner of the bedroom.

Life’s been full. Rewarding. Without any doubt, 2009 has been the most intense and fulfilling year of my life. Turning forty has felt enriching. I feel blessed to be able to continue to feed my passion to create foods that I believe in–that we love.

Like these rose-shaped teacakes.

I made them yesterday after we returned from an early walk to the park, to enjoy the freshly fallen snow. They made the house smell delicious and sweet. Homey. They were moist with a subtle taste of almond, quinoa and vanilla combined, enhanced with delicate Fleur de sel. We ate them while sitting on the wooden floor to build tall Lego towers with Lulu–who joyfully and swiftly knocked them down as soon as they were up–, hoping to continue the journey we’ve now started.

Better and fuller.

Healthy and happy.

A toast to all of you for a wonderful New Year ahead, with delicious foods!

I never want to forget that life is beautiful.

Bonne année!

Vanilla flavored-almond and quinoa rose teacakes

(For 7 to 8 cakes (The rose-shaped muffin mold can be found here)

You need:

  • 6 tablespoons soft unsalted butter + more for molds
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup almond meal
  • 1/3 cup quinoa flour
  • 1/3 cup white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup blond cane sugar
  • 1/3 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon Fleur de sel
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Confectioner’s sugar, to serve

Steps:

  • Preheat your oven at 350 F.
  • Butter your molds generously.
  • In a bowl, mix the flours, baking powder and Fleur de sel; set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs, one after the other, waiting until the first one is well incorporated before adding the second.
  • Stir in the yogurt and vanilla.
  • Add the dry ingredients and mix until homogeneous.
  • Fill the molds 3/4 full and bake the teacakes for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the blade of a sharp knife inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out dry. Let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, leaving them to completely cool on a rack.
  • To serve, dust with confectioner’s sugar.
Le coin français
Petits gâteaux aux amandes et quinoa, parfumés à la vanille

(Pour 7 à 8 gâteaux (Le moule à muffins en forme de roses peut être acheté ici)

Ingrédients :

  • 80 g de beurre mou non salé + pour les moules
  • 2 oeufs
  • 40 g de poudre d’amandes
  • 40 g de farine quinoa
  • 60 g de farine de riz blanche
  • 100 g de sucre de cane blond.
  • 90 g de yaourt velouté nature
  • 1 càc de poudre à lever
  • 1/4 càc de Fleur de sel
  • 1 càc d’extrait de vanille pur
  • Sucre glace, pour servir

Etapes :

  • Préchauffez le four à 180 C.
  • Beurrez généreusement vos moules en forme de rose.
  • Dans une jatte, mélangez les farines, la poudre à lever et la Fleur de sel; mettez de côté.
  • Dans le bol de votre mixeur à pied, travaillez le beuure en pommade avec le sucre. Ajoutez les oeufs, un après l’autre, en attendant que le premier soit bien incorporé avant d’ajouter le second.
  • Ajoutez le yaourt et la vanille.
  • Incorporez les ingrédients secs et mélangez jusqu’à ce que la pâte soit homogène.
  • Remplissez les moules au 3/4 et cuisez les gâteaux pendant 20 à 25 minutes, ou jusqu’à ce que la pointe d’un couteau inséré au milieu en ressorte sèche. Laissez reposer hors du four pendant 10 minutes avant de démouler. Laissez complètement refroidir sur grille.
  • Au moment de servir, saupoudrez de sucre glace.
Posted in Cakes, Dessert, Gluten Free, Life and Us

81 comments

  1. I could definitely see life through your vanilla flavored teacakes!

    Bonne Annee ma belle Bea! A toi, Lulu et P. Que 2010 t’apporte encore plus de bonheur. Oui, c’est possible.

    Bises.

  2. Your post is exquisite. You have a wonderful outlook on life and I would love to be in your kitchen eating those beautiful tea cakes. I’m also grateful for the recipe because I have 3 bags of quinoa flour and no idea how to use it! Happy New Year to you and yours!

  3. A very Happy New Year, to you, Bea! You are such an inspiration… From the Heart, to the Kitchen and out into the wide World!

    I wish you and yours much joy in the new year!

    Bonne Annee!

  4. Having kids disassembles your personality. it’s up to you to put yourself back together. Not everything makes it back in, but the best parts are there, by necessity and choice. Between the baby and the book you are probably a whole new, improved, version of you.
    Happy New Year.

  5. Bonne Année Béa! I too cried from exhaustion when I knew no one here and spent a lot of time taking care of my little K by myself, but then that time passes doesn’t it, and you come out of what my friend calls “bunker mentality”. You’ve managed it all avec tellement de grâce, it’s been lovely to take breaks with you, P. and Lulu this year and I can’t wait for your book to come out!
    J’espère qu’on pourra se rencontrer un jour avec nos petites filles, en te souhaitant plein de bonheur et de santé pour la nouvelle année.

  6. happy New year, and what a year you have had. I love looking at you blog, I think your photos are excellent, and your recipes are brilliant…not that I do much baking.

  7. From now on you will be my role model for balancing work and a newborn. It’s amazing you did it all and all so beautifully and gracefully. The photos remind me of a winter wonderland and the cakes look absolutely delicious.

    I am once again 100%GF and just baked some citrus pudding cakes this morning with quinoa flour. Will have to try these tea cakes some time. Happy 2010!

  8. your blog is one of the most beautiful i have ever seen.
    thank you for sharing of yourself.

  9. I agree with Tartelette, I love the mood of your cakes. Everything is beautiful and full of life here!

    Très bonne année 2010 et tout le bonheur du monde, encore et encore!

  10. Hi Béa!
    This is the first time that I leave a comment on your magic website, but I’ve been following you for a lot of time…
    I love your way of looking to life. You are such a great and lovely inspiration!
    I wish you a happy new year and all the best!
    Carolina

  11. How eloquently put! I believe everything you said to be true in my own circumstance in 2009…so many challenges (not with a newborn, though, but with a pre-teen and a teenager all on my own)…in the end, though, all was beautiful concerning my children and me. Your posts are so beautiful, always. It is very clear to see how much passion you have for the life you live! Happy New Year!

  12. oh mais c’est trop joli!
    je vais de ce pas essayer de traduire la recette et ton post aussi 😉
    merci pour ce beau site et ces magnifiques photos!

  13. Oh, how to reconcile all these food temptations with one’s resolve to eat less this year? Regardless, even if they forbade me to eat at all, I would still be back to your blog every day.
    Beautiful pictures. Do you use any studio lighting? Your shots are always bathed in light, but I can see the cloudy skies in your park scenes, any tricks you could share?
    Love your blog.

  14. Bonne Année Béa, as always I look forward to more of your most delicious, gorgeous stories in 2010 and reliving my own fairies firsts through hearing of Lulu’s. And indeed your book…oh YES I look forward to seeing that too!

  15. Happy New Year Béa! I wish you a year filled with health, love, happiness and great food. As I wish to cook more often in 2010, I look forward for your wonderful recipes.

  16. Life can be so sweet it’s almost unbearable….we had a similar year with the arrival of our own little one….thank you for writing about it in such beautiful words 🙂

  17. I am about to turn 50, and it is a milestone that brings mixed feelings – yin and yang of sorts.

    Amazingly enough, this afternoon I glanced at my rose cake pan, and told myself: you need to bake something in them! I cannot quite believe you posted JUST what I longed to see

    so, maybe I shouldn’t be afraid of turning 50 after all… good things might be waiting at the corner – like a rose-shaped cake! 🙂

  18. Dear Bea, bon annèe. I love all your recipes and pictures, and the way you look to your life.
    Only a little note…osso buco and not osso bucco.
    Bye

  19. Happy new year and congratulations on managing to juggle work and baby so nicely!

    I know how difficult it is: I have 16 month old twins and we live far from both our families (VERY far, in different countries, actually). I can easily relate to the crying of exhaustion. However, even if really tough and challenging, it has always been wonderful and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

    Unlike you, though, I didn’t really have time to enter the kitchen for the first year of their lives (except for cooking for the, does that count?), so I have been reading your lovely blog and making mental notes with your recipes in the hope that I would be able to try them one day. Now that the babies are becoming more independent I will definitely go back to baking!
    Thank you for giving me yummy recipes to look forward to, beautiful pictures to look at, and lovely stories to read at 3:00 am when breastfeeding!

    Bonne et heureuse année 2010!

    Marcela

  20. A Happy new year to you and your family! I enjoy looking at the beautiful photo’s of the delicious treats you make!

    groetjes uit Holland,

    Madelief

  21. May your year 2010 be as wonderful as 2009! But hopefully more relaxing 😉 Lovely winter pictures.

  22. bonne annèe à vous trois!
    (le coin français pleure un peu pour ces magnifiques roses pas “traduites”! Le problème ce sont les quantités des ingredients et la temp. du four!)

  23. Bonne année Béa avec tous mes meilleurs voeux. Et que cette nouvelle année soit encore plus belle et plus riche en Bonheurs …
    et pour nous le plaisir de te voir partager tes réalisations, merci

  24. Bonne année Béa! I am always looking for gluten-free treats and these look beautiful. Where do you find the rose molds? I wish you even more joy in 2010, even though “more” doesn’t seem possible (it will be, though, with such a lovely family.) Cheers!

  25. Bonne annee Bea! Tous mes voeux de bonheur, sante et reussite pour cette nouvelle annee!
    Merci pour tes jolies photos et pour l’inspiration!

  26. Bonne Année Béa. Tout le meilleur pour toi et ta petite famille. 2010 va être une très bonne année. Je le sens. Alors réjouis-toi. Le meilleur s’envie. On attend la sortie de ton livre. Est-ce pour bientôt?

    Small question about the recipe. You used a special rose mould I guess. Where can I find a similar one? Or can I use a small cupcake mould.

  27. Thank you thank you to all of YOU for your best wishes and lovely words! The book is still in the making 😉 Should be out early 2011. Also, le coin français, je ne l’oublie pas, j’ai juste du retard 😉 And yes, the mold can be purchased here.

    Marcela, wonderful with twins. You’re right, wouldn’t want to change anything. Many congratulations for the amazing challenge!

    Hilda, j’espère aussi qu’on pourra un jour se rencontrer avec nos filles !

    SallyBR, happy 50! It will be wonderful. I love this coincidence! Good energy.

  28. Vous avez eu une année 2009 fantastique alors je vous souhaite la même chose pour 2010 et même mieux encore ! Tes petits “tea cakes” ont l’air terriblement moelleux, je pense que je vais les tester dans des moules similaires en forme d’hibiscus :o) Bonne année !!!

  29. Excellente Année Béa! Pleine de joies, de bonheur et de nouvelles inspirations 🙂 Qu’elle soit inoubliable 🙂

    Bises!

  30. Looks marvelous and I’m quite glad you had a great 2009 and may 2010 bring you lots of great things also. Keep up the great blogging!

  31. Happy New Year! Looking forward to your cookbook and another year’s worth of delicious and nourishing recipes 🙂

  32. Béa…reading your blog makes me love cooking even more than I do now. I mostly view it at work and what a great way to break up the day! I’ve often had many co-workers comment on the photos and shared the site with them as well.

    I count myself fortunate to have found this site and thru it, get to know you!….what a beautiful person you are.

    Here’s to continued success in 2010!
    Marsha

  33. Tres heureuse annee to the three of you! Now that Lulu is one, she’ll be able to enjoy more of your great recipes and help you in the kitchen. She’ll be your little sous-chef and you will all enjoy the experiences, even if it means picking up the lentils from the floor! Enjoy because they grow very fast!

  34. life is, indeed, beautiful. bonne année to you, p., and your lulu! your rose teacakes could not be more perfect for the new year.

  35. Happy, happy New Year, dear Bea – all the best to you and your tres jolie family. Bless you for sharing your life, food, recipes and thoughts with us. Yes, life can indeed be beautiful, if we but take the time to really look. Cheers!

  36. Meilleurs voeux pour cette nouvelle année.
    Qu’elle t’apporte bonheur, joie et santé.
    A bientôt. Co

  37. happy new year – glad your 2009 was so lovely and hope 2010 will be another good one for you – love your photos and reading about you and lulu and drooling over your recipes

  38. I wish I am smelling those scents in your kitchen instead. 🙂
    Those homey, warm feeling inside.
    Happy New Year to you, and here’s to another 40 to come?

  39. Happy New Year to you, Lulu and P.
    Thank you very much for a wanderful recipe, picture and ….
    I learn very much from you about food, food fotography and life.
    The life is BEAutiful like BEA.
    Best wishes
    Svetlana

  40. Bonne année Béa! Régale-nous encore et encore avec tes photos, tes recettes. J’ai toujours du plaisir à te rendre visite.

  41. Tres bonne annee 2010 chere bea, qu’elle soit aussi belle (si c’est possible) que la precedente. Bisous de bonne annee.

  42. happy new year!! i must say- these caught my eye so quickly- so beautiful!
    i look forward to trying them… i’m going to attempt to use coconut yogurt so i’m hoping they come out as lovely as yours!
    thank you for this wonderful recipe as well as all of them!

  43. Hi Bea,
    Do you think this recipe will work with brown rice flour? And a regular mini-muffin mold?
    Thanks,
    Ronny

  44. Que 2010 soit aussi douce ici que 2009 le fût, c’est toujours un bonheur de venir ici, il y a une espèce de sérénité qui règne.

  45. I’ve been following your blog for a long time, but it is my first time leaving a comment. I felt compelled to do so. I couldn’t just pass this pretty little things. I will definately try out this recipe. Belated happy new year. Thanks for all the lovely things you created for the pleasure of visiters as well as yourself. I wish you the best luck with your work and loving family.

  46. Bonne annee Bea! J’adore votre blog. Je vous souhaite a vous et a toute votre famille beacoup de bonheur et de santee pour 2010. j’attends patiemment la sortie de votre livre.
    En esperant de vous rencontrer un jour!

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  48. How I love spending lunch at work with a reheated something from last night dinner and a cup of my favourite tea Rooibos and reading your blog. (Today it is dahl with lots of ginger!) I’ve been reading it now for two years. Is it possible? Has it been that long?

    I felt that i had to comment today since you menton also drinking Rooibos! Rooibos tea is the tea my mother raised me on. It is native to South Africa where I come from and in my homelanguage Afrikaans Rooi means Red and Bos means Bush. So it is tea from red bushes. So poetic.

    Hope your year is wonderful and beautiful. And thank you for all the inspiration.
    Aletta
    Cape Town

  49. Thank you everyone!

    Laura, the cookbook will be out in the Spring 2011.

  50. I smile…..as a mum with 3 kids, a fulltime job, a husband and a food blog! I say to myself and other thats the only thing that suffers is my sleep……

    I understand how you can still cook through it all, inspite of and regardless…. How blessed we are to create meals, from simple ingredients.

    Have a blessed 2010…

  51. j’adore cuisiner et je profite de mon installation en Australie pour cuisine, et oui loin de ma petite France ! Votre blog est fantastique. Vous etes creatif et imaginatif. Les photos sont parfaites. Je suis impresionnee!!!! 🙂 Quel talent !!!

  52. I know it must be impossible impossible impossible for you to get through all your comments all the time, but I have always quietly read your blog without a word. I lived in France a couple years ago attending Le Cordon Bleu, and your blog really helped me get through it. Can I just note that what you do is so inspiring, the photos, the food, etc is fantastic Your blog is more than a blog, it really is a work of art. keep up what you are doing ♥

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  54. You words flow like honey: beautifully rich, decadent and nostalgic. I love this post..by far, my favorite. I can’t wait until your cookbook is publishes..amazing, Bea!

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