Let's start the month with something sweet. With such a thing as these delicious clementine and tonka madeleines perhaps?

Every winter, our fruit bowl is filled with tangy and sweet clementines. They are so easy to peel and eat anytime of day, and feel a bit like a little burst of sunshine on grey and rainy days. 
We usually eat them as they are but every once in a while, I like to think of a recipe that would be great with this citrus flavour, such as this clementine yogurt cake I made a good while back.

I have been making a lot of madeleines lately and I thought that since people sometimes add lemon to the recipe, why not give it a try with some clementine flavour.
I only added the zest and juice of half a clementine in this recipe and also grated a third of a tonka bean to add to the batter (I know tonka beans cannot be found everywhere so just skip this part if you don't have any). The flavour combination is delicate and not overwhelming. And the result is a perfectly delicious madeleine, ideal as a little cake to have with tea or coffee after a meal.

I am finishing the month of January (still in lockdown, always in lockdown) by sharing a delicious recipe for cannellini bean dip with crispy shallot. Something really easy to put together at the last minute and to enjoy with a variety of small dishes.

Every Friday night, I really enjoy gathering a few delicious things to pick from rather than one single dish. There is usually some warmed up pieces of crusty bread, potato crisps (or tortilla chips), mini vegetarian savoury pastries or a fish paté, a small bowl of buttery nocellara olives, a selection of cheeses, crudités (a variety of raw vegetables) and a dip of some sort, which could be hummus, tomato salsa or tzatziki depending on what we are having.
Since I like trying different flavours and not always eating the same things over and over, I decided to add to the list another type of dip.

I love the creaminess of cannellini beans. Give me some warmed up with a few herbs and served over a buttered piece of toasted bread and I will be very happy.
It turns out that when it is blended with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and a bit of fleur de sel, it also makes a pretty delicious dip. Top it with a few crispy shallot slices, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of chopped parsley and you have a perfect dish to serve for aperitif or a dinner party.

This dip also works really well as a cold sauce to serve with roasted vegetables. We had it with honey and yuzu roasted red cabbage wedges and it was a great combination. It would also be lovely spread on warm bread on its own or with toppings of your choice.

Raise your hand if, when you reviewed your 2020 goals list, you also had to laugh at it more than anything else!
I remember setting those goals and writing my annual blog post about it. Full of hope that with 2019 not having been so great, what could possibly go wrong in 2020! Ha! Double ha!
And as I finished setting my goals for 2021 last month, the news came in that Northern Ireland was entering a much stricter lockdown until at least early February if not more (as I type this, the lockdown has been  reinforced for the past week already). Ah well!

I guess the point of goals, to me, is that they do not consist of only things that have to be done by the end of the year. They are a mix of short, medium and long term projects. There is no point adding extra pressure in your life with strict resolutions when things are not exactly going the way you were hoping for.
And if 2020 has taught me anything, it is to sometimes take things as they are. There are things that you can easily get done whatever the circumstances and some that are completely out of your control and this is when I feel it is important to let go of the pressure on yourself.

So, did I tick any goals boxes last year? Only a small handful, yes. It's ok.

I did reach my reading goals again this year. I have to admit there was a time when I did not think it would happen because when the first lockdown occurred, I found myself unable to focus much on what I was reading at the time. It felt like every chapter lasted forever when in reality, the book itself was not that big and was also not boring at all. After a few weeks feeling that way and I admit, feeling overwhelmed by the news and endlessly scrolling through social media, I reminded myself what reading does to me: it's an escape and it has a great impact on my mental health. After that, I was back into my routine of turning off wifi from my phone at 9pm and grabbing a book before bedtime. 

At the start of 2020, I made a list of recipes that I wanted to try from cookbooks. It turns out I did make a whole lot of new-to-me recipes because I have never cooked so much in a single year (when we looked back at 2020, we realised we had only ordered takeaway meals 5 times since early March).
Among them, a lot of recipes were from Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbook Simple and some were things I wanted to learn how to make from scratch like bagels and gyoza (I have made gyoza before but with store-bought wrappers). Even my husband gave it a shot with things like cinnamon rolls and homemade marzipan cherry chocolates among others. 
I also continued sharing some of my own recipes here on the blog, from chocolate chip and sea salt cookies to pear and smoked scamorza pizza.

One major goal that E. and I reached last year is we bought a house. The sale was finalised right before the first lockdown of 2020. It resulted in many delays in terms of essential work and renovation, and we also had to wait until early July to move in, but we have a little place of our own in Belfast now. We're home! 

Some goals were not on my 2020 goals list. They are the ones I made up as the year passed by. In some parts, because I had to rethink some of my bigger projects and in some others, because I had to set smaller goals to keep my mental health in check.


2021 might well be a duplicate of 2020. Even knowing this, I have set a list of goals, just as I do every year.
I cannot be certain about what will be achieved or not. The idea, I guess, is to not be too hard on myself when things do not go to plan. 
I hope you, too, do not put some extra pressure on yourself when things are not what you were hoping for. We cannot control what will happen in 2021 but we can look at ways to look after ourselves and each other. One step at a time.

​Things may not be perfect but they can be good enough. Here is hoping for a good enough 2021!

As my third Christmas recipe and last blog post for this year, here is something delicious to make for the holidays or wrap into edible gifts: apricot and pistachio tonka bean biscotti.

One of my favourite things to offer people for the holidays is a box or hamper of edible gifts. And if I can make it myself and add a personal touch, it is even better.
Biscotti are such a perfect addition for this type of present. You can personalise them by using a variety of nuts and dried fruit. And they can last up to a month in an airtight container.
Just like I did, you could make a batch and put a few in a box, then wrap it in a beautiful piece of fabric using the furoshiki method (Japanese gift wrapping).

These biscotti are easy to make and packed with wonderful flavours. Apricot and pistachio go really well together. I also added some grated tonka bean because I love its delicate taste in cakes and biscuits. I know this might not be easy to find everywhere so feel free to skip it or replace it with seeds from a vanilla bean instead.
Enjoy them with tea or coffee over the holidays or wrap a few to give as presents. You could even add a few of those mendiants in the package.

On that note, I am going to wrap up the blog posts on Crème de Citron for this year and wish you all the most wonderful things for the holidays!

P.S.: Wear a mask!

Other Christmas recipes this year: 

I could not finish the year without another adaptation of my chocolate chip cookies, this time a holiday version with a recipe for gingerbread chocolate chunk cookies.

Just like the original ones, these cookies are chewy in the centre and crispy on the edges. But the addition of gingerbread spices, and especially the fragrant freshly ground star anise, give them a wonderful Christmas flavour.
While they were baking, the smell of the spices and chocolate traveled throughout the house and I wish I could have encapsulated it into a candle. It was hard not to eat those cookies straight out of the oven but two reasons why you should wait a little: the cookies do need to rest on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes as the residual heat helps to finish the cooking process, and you definitely do not want to burn your mouth on the molten chocolate chunks.

​If you love both gingerbread biscuits and chocolate chip cookies, this is a perfect recipe to make for the holidays this year.

Other Christmas recipes this year:

For the holidays this year, I have decided to share not just one but three delicious recipes for little things you can make for yourself or gift to people, starting with these easy-to-make apricot and hazelnut blond chocolate mendiants.

They are such a simple and versatile thing you can eat with coffee and tea at Christmas time. All you need is chocolate (dark, milk, white, blond, ruby) and a selection of nuts, dried fruit, seeds and/or fun things like popping candy. 
The chocolate gets melted then shaped into little discs, quickly sprinkled with the assortment of nuts, dried fuit etc. that you choose, and then you only have to wait an hour or so for it to set and be ready to enjoy.

For this version, I chose blond chocolate because of its delicate caramelised taste. Hazelnut and apricot have been flavours I really enjoyed this year so I decided it should be combined into a Christmas sweet treat.

​You can of course enjoy it all by yourself but if you are looking for a simple edible gift this Christmas, mendiants are a great idea.

Other Christmas recipes this year: