It’s blackberry and hazelnut madeleines season! Well, it’s really just blackberry season but think about all the delicious things you can make with this delicious berry: jams, desserts, fruit salads, savoury sauces, etc. I have shared a few recipes using this wonderful fruit on the blog before such as this blackberry fruit salad or this blackberry and almond chantilly roulade.

​I cannot remember the last time I baked a whole cake. At least, I don’t think I have made one since I moved to Belfast. I definitely bake less during summer time and tend to privilege fruit salads, ice creams and sorbets for dessert. But I do like the scent of summer fruit cooking and bubbling in a crumble or clafoutis such as this cherry and dark chocolate one or this version with raspberries and white chocolate. 

​My fruit bowl on the kitchen counter has seen a serious rotation of raspberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, blueberries and strawberries over the summer. They have been mostly eaten as they are and sometimes added to a weekend smoothie with frozen bananas, almond milk or coconut water. But lately, I found myself wanting to bake a few things. It could be a combination of the weather cooling down and wanting to take advantage of all the wonderful produce before summer fruit season ends.

​It is quite warm these days and I am happily swapping mugs of mint green tea for a lot of water and when I crave it, a refreshing glass of homemade lemon, lime and mint soft drink.

Long time no see! Ok, I will try to make this little expression less frequent here on the blog but I do feel like I have a valid excuse: I moved to a new city early in May and it has been a very busy time from packing to settling in with a whole lot of paperwork in between.
So, I thought that I would first share a delicious recipe for courgette tart here before telling you all about where I moved to (if you follow my instagram account @cremedecitron, you probably already know).

​In everyday cooking, I use a lot of my own recipes or ones that I know by heart and can make without opening a book or checking out the steps on the internet. And when making recipes I have shared here over the years, my favourite thing is to see if I can improve them a bit.
For example, I have tweaked the recipe for chocolate and hazelnut brownies many times until it reached the perfect texture and taste I wanted. This was actually one of the first recipes I shared on the blog nearly seven years ago.

​Days are getting longer, blooms are starting to appear more and more on trees and I can hear a lot of birds singing from early in the morning to late at night. Spring time is finally here and it feels nice not having to put on so many layers every time I want to go outside. 
The other nice thing about the weather changing is that more and more fruit and vegetables are becoming available. The Winter options can be a bit limited but there is still some fruit I want to enjoy until it is out of season: pears.