Mowielicious

My Guest Post On Life's A Feast: Frankfurter Kranz Gattines

On Thursday, Jamie from Life's A Feast was my guest and posted her beautiful Caramel Pears & Chocolate Pastry Cream Mille-Feuilles.

Today, I'm guest posting on her blog - I whipped up some Frankfurter Kranz Gattines and she really liked them - yay! To see my full post with more pictures and the recipe, please click HERE. To read some of Jamie's stunning writing, please visit Life's A Feast. Enjoy!

Guest Post: Jamie's Caramelized Pears & Chocolate Pastry Cream Mille-Feuilles

This week's post is very special to me - a guest post by Jamie from Life's A Feast. I've been a fan of Jamie's blog for some time now and I get more and more excited with each of her new posts. It's not just her easy to follow recipes, her homestyle comfort cooking, her über-fabulous retro images, but above all, it's her writing - that's what really does it for me. You've probably already read some of Jamie's work right here on Mowielicious and didn't know it: the main body for the two Food Blogger Connect posts were written by her, see HERE and HERE. There's something about Jamie's writing that works like magic for me, like I recently said on twitter:  Jamie's writing makes us dream, makes us laugh and makes us fly. You can check out Jamie's blog HERE and see for yourself, but before that, please join me in giving Jamie a very warm welcome... I hope you love her as much as I do.

Caramelized Pears & Chocolate Pastry Cream Mille-Feuilles - A Guest Post.

Photography and words by Jamie from Life's A Feast.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep a bower quiet for us, and a sleep full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing…

- John Keats

A thing of beauty has always had a profound effect on me. The rich beauty of a Van Eyck, the brooding beauty of a Rothko make my knees weak and send shivers up my spine. The magnificent splendor of the Cathedral in Sienna, the majesty of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater leave me breathless. I bury my face in a bouquet of flowers, breathing in the heady scent of beauty. A handmade quilt made with loving hands, a milliner’s confection of straw and feathers and plump silk flowers, the perfect picture of feminine beauty. And when it comes to food, place before me a chef’s creation, carefully, thoughtfully plated, tender slices of meat or fruit, a drizzle of a fragrant sauce, delicate tiny vegetables or light-as-air mousse, the red of red raspberries and currents or deep pumpkin orange, spun sugar like angel’s hair or swirls of chocolate, and my eyes fill with tears. I breath deeply to capture the aroma, every essence, every spice, I turn my eyes back to the beauty before me, I am overcome with emotion and I am reluctant to destroy the magic.

Mowie’s blog has this effect on me. The stunning simplicity of his blog, the lushness of his photography, rich, deep colors against stark white, sensual and mysterious, the beauty of his culinary creations and I am in awe, once again breathless, speechless. His talent bursts from the whiteness of the page, his sincerity and honesty spill across the screen. It is truly a thing of beauty.

Belgian Speculoos Tiramisu Verrines

This post is long overdue! I'd been meaning to make these ever since I got back from my trip to Belgium, but the wedding *just* may have got in the way.

As I mentioned in a few older posts, I'd heard so much about how creative the Belgians are with their speculoos biscuits. The two main things they use them in are tiramisu (instead of normal sponge fingers) and cheesecake (for the base). So, I tried a few of each on the trip, and to me they tasted absolutely divine - best tiramisu ever. But I was told by Heather, the friend I was visiting, that it all actually wasn't up to scratch in the restaurants we ate them at, and that she had the perfect recipe. And I must confess, it is positively sinful.

Now I know not everyone has access to speculoos biscuits (I'll be putting up a secret family recipe closer to Christmas!), but I find almond thins work quite well as a substitute. Also, not being one to stick to recipes, I've changed Heather's recipe around slightly, not only the ingredients but the presentation. This tiramisu is actually meant to be served in a large rectangular pyrex dish, with layers of whole biscuits, the way tiramisu usually is served. But due to my slight obsession with everything verrines at the moment, I thought they might look nice in glasses.

Continue for recipe and more pictures: