Holiday Treats

This year I made three different desserts to share with family. To check out any of these recipes go to my recipe blog... http://foodinspirations.blogspot.com/.

APPLE COFFEE CAKE

This cake is nice for breakfast or dessert. It has a layer of cooked cinnamon apples in the middle of the cake. Rich says it is better a day or two after it is made because the apple juices seeped into the cake and made it more moist.

APRICOT TART

I found the recipe for this apricot tart after a long search. A couple years ago I asked Rich what he missed about food in Italy and he told me about the delicious apricot tarts they had over there. I searched and searched until I came across the right recipe and now it is a family favorite (my mom and Rich love it).

Real TAPIOCA PUDDING (not instant)

After watching an episode of "Good Eats" with Alton Brown I decided to make this tapioca pudding. My grandma used to make instant tapioca pudding and it disappeared quickly. I thought it would be neat to make real old fashioned pudding using the tapioca pearls. It was easy to make, but was not as well received as my grandma's instant pudding. The tapioca pearls looked like caviar (fish eggs) and my family said it had an interesting texture. Rich enjoyed it. He said it had a good flavor because I used vanilla beans and he actually liked the fish egg/eyeball texture. I thought I would have to get rid of it, but to my surprise Rich ate it all.