Hint of Vanilla

Sometimes, you just want a doughnut. And not just any doughnut. If you're going to eat fried dough, you might as well go big or go home.

Use a dough with a ton of butter - brioche.

And don't just make a regular pastry cream - add brown butter.

And the pecans - more brown butter. Butter everywhere.

When I say go big or go home, I mean it.

Posted by : Hint of Vanilla
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Passion Fruit Millefeuille

Fruit | Pastry

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Passion fruit tends to be one of those ingredients that makes the amateur baker think, "Oh, well, I'd never be able to find passion fruit anywhere so forget that recipe." Unless you live in the southern hemispheres, where actual real passion fruits are found (insanely jealous of you southern folk), passion fruits are not something you tend to see in a local market. The first time I tried a passion fruit was in pastry school, actually, just last year. It's a pity because passion fruit is a wonderful flavour - bright, tangy, sweet, tropical, and just a tiny bit floral.

So you should be very excited when I tell you that getting your hands on good quality passion fruit purée is not as difficult as you might think!!!

Posted by : Hint of Vanilla
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Blood Orange Tarts with Caramel Meringue

Fruit | Tarts

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I hope everyone had a pretty solid holiday and new year! I hope you managed to fit in some "me" time into all that family time. Despite only having a couple of extra days off work, I squeezed in a good amount of family time and an equally good amount of "me" time. But the break is over and I'm back!

Posted by : Hint of Vanilla
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The Best of 2014

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I know I should've made this "Best of 2014" list before 2014 actually ended, but I don't think anyone is going to mind.

Not every single recipe that a blogger puts up is going to be the best thing they've ever made. That's just how it is. Hopefully everything they put up is good and tasty, but there's always those extra special recipes that just send it out of the park. It's hard to distinguish which is which based solely on photos. I mean, I can tell you that "this thing is the best ever, oh man, wow!" but you don't really know for sure.

The past year, I've made some really good things. I can proudly say that every recipe I have put up in 2014 is one that I'm proud of. But these are the tastiest of the bunch, hands down.

I present, the Best of Hint of Vanilla 2014!

Posted by : Hint of Vanilla
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