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chicken kebabs (easy and flexible)

May 18, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline Leave a Comment

chicken kebabs on a blue gingham tablecloth

This is the most flexible recipe for chicken kebabs you’ll ever find. Make it your own with whatever you’ve got on hand:

  • Use breasts or thighs
  • Use a grill or oven (or even a fire pit!)
  • Let it marinate or skip right to cooking with 0 wait time
  • Use any spices
  • Make it dairy free

In this post, I’m going to walk through each of these customizations, or you can jump to the recipe.

chicken kebabs on a blue gingham tablecloth

How to keep your chicken kebabs juicy (no matter the cut or cooking method)

This recipe for chicken kebabs is super forgiving, and that’s because of the important first step: salting the chicken. Salting it right at the beginning is the key to juicy chicken, whether you’re using breast meat, thigh meat, and whether you’ve got a super hot gas grill or a pretty ho-hum oven broiler. You can even roast them over an open fire.

This salting step is technically called “dry brining,” but it’s as simple as giving your chicken a moment to absorb some salt. With dry brining, even if you go a little bit above the ideal doneness temperature, or even if you don’t have a thermometer in the first place—there’s a lot more wiggle room.

Why you don’t need to let chicken kebabs marinate overnight

Let’s talk about one of the most overrated cooking techniques out there: marinating meat overnight.

Here’s the thing: soaking meat in a zippy marinade? It’s mostly just a surface-level improvement (literally!). Flavors in marinades don’t actually make it past the outer layer of meat. So while your chicken might smell incredible in the bowl, once it hits the grill, most of that marinade drips right off. Whatever’s left behind in the bowl? Lost forever.

That’s why I prefer a different approach. Rather than letting your kebabs sit around in a marinade that may never make it past the surface, go with a punchy, clingy coating—something that sticks around and builds flavor as it cooks.

It’s faster, tasty, and (best of all) it skips the overnight wait.

One caveat: Salt does make a difference, because it can actually chance the texture of the meat. But when your chicken pieces are small (like the ones in this recipe), they don’t need a whole night to get the benefits. Salt early in the cooking process, and you’ll get tender, juicy results without all the waiting around.

All that said, if you want to prep your kebabs the night before, go for it. There’s no harm in letting them rest in the fridge overnight. It just doesn’t need to take that long.

Other ingredient substitutions

You can use pretty much any warm spice blend you have on hand, and you don’t need to use yogurt. If you’re fully omitting the yogurt, you’ll need to scale back on the lemon to make sure the spices don’t get washed away. Add just enough lemon to make a thick paste with the spices.

Step-by-step chicken kebab instructions

Cut the chicken into 1 1/2 inch [4 cm] cubes and place in a medium mixing bowl.

Sprinkle the chicken evenly with 1 1/4 tsp [7 g] salt.*** Let it sit for 5 minutes before proceeding. Salting it first will help it stay juicy. If you plan to cook them right away, preheat your oven’s broiler to its highest setting or your grill to medium-high (brush your grill grates with a thin layer of oil first).

Top the chicken with the yogurt, paprika, spice blend, garlic, and lemon zest and juice. Mix together until coated evenly.

Skewer the chicken, alternating each piece of chicken with a piece of onion. If you’re making them ahead, cover and refrigerate overnight and preheat your broiler or grill the next day. If you’re making them now, proceed.

For grilling: Place on the grill, cover, and cook for about 10-15 minutes for breasts (15-18 minutes for thighs), flipping once halfway through. They’re ready to flip once the first side is caramelized and a little charred. If they caramelize too quickly, turn the heat down.

For broiling: Place on a aluminum foil-lined aluminum sheet pan. Place under your oven’s broiler and cook for about 10-17 minutes for breasts (15-20 minutes for thighs), flipping once halfway through. If they caramelize too quickly, turn the heat down.

The chicken is done once it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F [74°C] for breasts, 185°F [85°C] for thighs.

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chicken kebabs (easy and flexible)

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Ingredients

  • 2.5 lb [1.1 kg] boneless chicken breasts, thighs, or tenderloins
  • Salt
  • 1/3 cup [80g] Greek yogurt*
  • 2 Tbsp [12g] sweet paprika
  • 2 tsp [4g] baharat, garam masala, or other spice blend**
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder or 2 crushed garlic cloves
  • The zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 red onion, diced very coarsely (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cut the chicken into 1 1/2 inch [4 cm] cubes and place in a medium mixing bowl. Coat the chicken evenly with 1 1/4 tsp [7 g] salt.*** Let it sit for 5 minutes before proceeding. Salting it first will help it stay juicy.
  2. If you plan to cook them right away, preheat your oven’s broiler to its highest setting or your grill to medium-high (brush your grill grates with a thin layer of oil first).
  3. Top the chicken with the yogurt, paprika, spice blend, garlic, and lemon zest and juice. Mix together until coated evenly.
  4. Skewer the chicken, alternating each piece of chicken with a piece of onion.
  5. If you’re making them ahead, cover and refrigerate overnight and preheat your broiler or grill the next day. If you’re making them now, proceed.
  6. For grilling: Place on the grill, cover, and cook for about 10-15 minutes for breasts (15-18 minutes for thighs), flipping once halfway through. They’re ready to flip once the first side is caramelized and a little charred. If they caramelize too quickly, turn the heat down.
    For broiling: Place on a aluminum foil-lined aluminum sheet pan. Place under your oven’s broiler and cook for about 10-17 minutes for breasts (15-20 minutes for thighs), flipping once halfway through. If they caramelize too quickly, turn the heat down.
  7. The chicken is done once it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F [74°C] for breasts, 185°F [85°C] for thighs.

Notes

* Omit the yogurt if you want to make this dairy free (and add just enough lemon juice to make a paste with the spices that will cling to the chicken without washing off—you may need more or less than is listed in the recipe), or substitute a plain, unsweetened dairy free yogurt.

** You can use any savory spice blend. If you don’t have a spice blend on hand, you can use a combination of cumin, black pepper, and a tiny bit of cardamom or cinnamon.

*** If you need to cut back on salt for health or personal preference, feel free to. Salt helps chicken stay juicy, so you will need to be more careful not to overcook it if you use less.

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Filed Under: dairy free, dinner, every recipe, gluten free, lunch, main courses, weeknight Tagged With: baharat, chicken, garlic, grilling, lemon, middle eastern, yogurt

strawberry rhubarb compote

May 14, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline Leave a Comment

strawberry rhubarb compote in a jar with a spoon photographed from overhead

Strawberries and rhubarb are late spring’s dream team. Each is lovely on its own, but together? Magic. This strawberry rhubarb compote lands somewhere between a chunky preserve and a tangy, low-sugar jam. It’s bright, bold, and a delicious way to add a splash of strawberry-rhubarb flavor to just about anything.

Since it’s tricky to find rhubarb out of season, I like to make a little extra compote to freeze for later in the year. You can also make this recipe with frozen rhubarb and frozen strawberries. Whether you’re in peak season or months away, I hope this brings a little late-spring to your table.

victoria sponge cake being layered, rugelach before rolling up, and a whipped cream fool

Ways to use up that jar of strawberry rhubarb compote

Once you make a jar, the possibilities are endless. Here are just a few of my favorites:

  • Folded into strawberry rhubarb fool
  • Sandwiched in a Victoria sponge cake
  • In a recipe for rugelach in place of the jam (especially one with chocolate)
  • On top of chocolate mousse
  • On strawberry shortcakes, in addition to fresh sliced strawberries
  • Spread a thin layer on a cheesecake and top with sliced strawberries
  • Top a bowl of oatmeal
  • Fill a batch of choux buns with this compote and whipped cream
  • Spread on cream scones
  • Make a cheese board with Camembert or Brie, this compote, pecans, and a crusty, seedy whole-grain bread
  • Make a PB&J with strawberry rhubarb compote in place of the jam
  • Make a lemon poppy seed dressing, and use this jam instead of the honey or sweetener
  • Swirl into plain yogurt
  • Spoon over or swirl into ice cream
strawberry rhubarb compote in a jar with a spoon photographed from overhead
strawberry rhubarb fools photographed from overhead
strawberry rhubarb victoria sponge cake with powdered sugar being dusted on top
strawberry rhubarb rugelach on a baking sheet photographed from above

Step-by-step instructions

(or check out the video at the end of the recipe below)

Place the water in a 10 in [25 cm] skillet.

Then add the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat without stirring.

Once it comes to a simmer, lower the heat to medium-low and give it a stir.

Let it gently simmer, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (do not intentionally mash up the pieces when you stir or it will take longer to reduce).

You’ll need to stir it more often during the last 10 minutes.

It’s done once the whole thing has reduced by about half, and if you drag a spoon across the bottom it does not fill back in.

Chill before serving.

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strawberry rhubarb compote

strawberry rhubarb compote in a jar with a spoon photographed from overhead
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  • Yield: 1½ cups [400 g]

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp water
  • 2 cups [320 g] sliced strawberries
  • 2 cups [300 g] sliced rhubarb
  • ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp [75 g] sugar
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Place the water in a 10 in [25 cm] skillet, then add the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat without stirring.
  2. Once it comes to a simmer, lower the heat to medium-low and give it a stir. Let it gently simmer, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (do not intentionally mash up the pieces when you stir or it will take longer to reduce). You’ll need to stir it more often during the last 10 minutes.
  3. It’s done once the whole thing has reduced by about half, and if you drag a spoon across the bottom it does not fill back in. Chill before serving.

Notes

A note on scaling: If you halve this recipe, it will take more like 20 minutes to cook down completely in a 10 in [25 cm] skillet. To double it, it’s best to use two separate pans, or it will take about 90 minutes to reduce. If you do decide to double it in one pot, only add 1 Tbsp of water (do not double the water), and use a taller, wider stockpot, because it will splatter more than a smaller batch.

Storage: When properly reduced to a paste, strawberry rhubarb compote keeps for up to 1 week in the refrigerator (discard if it starts to separate, gets moldy, or smells off), or for at least 3 months in the freezer with no loss of quality. Freeze in small containers, so that you can use a little at a time.

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Psst… by the way, I love this recipe so much, I ended up including it in my cookbook, Piecemeal.

If you like this compote as much as I do, you might like my book! It’s full of mix-and-match recipes and inspiration for fun and easy meals.

Filed Under: dairy free, every recipe, gluten free, sauces, sweets, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: rhubarb, spring, strawberry, summer

Victoria sponge cake

April 27, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline Leave a Comment

victoria sponge cake with powdered sugar on top (viewed from the side)

Of the 500+ recipes I have ever written, this Victoria sponge cake (AKA Victoria sandwich cake) is the one I am proudest of—and I don’t say that lightly.

The crumb is extremely tender, almost like a buttermilk biscuit or very delicate scone. It’s fluffy and springy—buttery, yet light. And when I bake it for friends and family, no one can resist a second slice.

If you’re going to master just one cake recipe, I humbly present this one. And even if you already have a few dozen cake recipes under your belt, you’re in for a treat.

Jump to the recipe to get to baking, or read on for a bit about why this one has earned a special place in my kitchen. Here’s why I love it, and what we’re gonna cover in this post:

  • You can get creative with the filling! (Fun!)
  • It uses a special technique called reverse-creaming, which is way easier than it sounds.
  • That method is easiest to explain visually, so I made a quick video and step-by-step instructions.
victoria sponge cake being layered, rugelach before rolling up, and a whipped cream fool
victoria sponge cake being dusted by powdered sugar

How to get creative with the filling

Victoria sponge cake is also known as Victoria sandwich cake, because it’s traditionally filled with strawberry jam and whipped cream. But there are so many ways you can get creative with it.

Filling ingredient possibilities:

  • Add fresh strawberries or skip the fresh fruit entirely.
  • Opt for a store-bought jam, preserves, or even a homemade compote.
  • Whip the cream to medium-firm peaks and dollop it, or go a skosh further to stiff peaks and then pipe it with a fluted tip.
  • Go wild and use a totally different jam flavor/sprinkle on another kind of fresh berry
  • You can even opt for a lemon or passion fruit curd instead of the jam.

What order to layer the ingredients:

You must layer your cake strategically, depending on the ingredients you choose. Here is the key:

Start with the firmest spread, end with the softest spread, and put the fresh berries in the middle (if you are using them).

So if you’re using a super set jam that’s right from a store-bought jar, you will likely need to start with that and end with the whipped cream. If you’re using a soft homemade compote, you should start with the whipped cream and end with the compote. Likewise with any kind of curd, which will be much softer than whipped cream. If you’re not using fresh berries, that’s cool. But if you are using fresh berries, just make sure they go in between the two spreads.

And be prepared for a bit of the filling to pop out of the side, especially if your fillings are particularly soft—that’s just part of the charm!

Why is this Victoria sponge cake special? Reverse-creaming!

What is reverse-creaming?

Rose Levy Beranbaum invented this method. It might sound fancy, but it’s actually even easier than the usual method. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together first, you cream the butter and sugar along with the flour and other dry ingredients. Then you add the wet ingredients.

Why does reverse-creaming work?

Cake’s natural enemy is gluten. Too much gluten activation will make a cake turn out dry, chewy, and dense instead of moist, fluffy, and light.

In a typical cake recipe, you can avoid this by not over-mixing your batter. Mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients separately, and then bring them together with as few passes as possible.

But for an even more tender crumb, we reverse-cream. By working the butter and flour together, all those flour bits get coated in fat, which creates a water-resistant seal. Since the flour has been waterproofed, it can’t quickly absorb all the moisture from the eggs and milk. And since gluten needs moisture to form, this waterproofed batter can’t form gluten as easily.

(Allergy note: This does not mean this is a gluten-free cake or even a low-gluten cake. It’s just aesthetically not glutinous. It still contains gluten.)

I love this recipe so much, I even made this wonky little painting of it!

Step-by-step instructions

greasing 2 pans

Preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Butter and line two 9 in [23 cm] cake pans with parchment.

adding butter to stand mixer

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed to combine.

the texture of the butter/flour mixture: it looks like sand

Add the butter and beat together until it looks like fine sand, 1½ to 2 minutes (start on low speed, then increase to medium).

cracking an egg over the flour/butter mixture

With the mixer running* on medium speed, add 1 egg every 5 seconds or so.

slowly streaming milk into the stand mixer while it runs

Drizzle in the milk. Be careful not to overmix—do not leave the mixer running while you’re not adding anything.

scraping the bottom of the stand mixer bowl to fully mix

Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure it’s fully incorporated.

pouring batter into prepared pans

Pour into the prepared pans. Spread evenly. Bake for about 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

adding icing sugar to whipping cream in a bowl

Place the powdered sugar and heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk. Mix on medium for about 2½ minutes.

showing medium-firm peaks (they droop, but don't fall down)

As soon as it reaches medium-stiff peaks, stop whipping. Store in the fridge until you need it.

spreading jam over one half of the cake

To assemble the cake, place one completely cooled layer on a plate or cake stand.

spreading whipped cream over the jam

Top with jam and whipped cream (see the recipe below for more info on what order to place your layers).

topping the filling layer with another cake layer

Top with the other cooled layer. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

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Victoria sponge cake

victoria sponge cake being dusted by powdered sugar
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Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 1½ cups [195 g] all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup [200 g] granulated sugar
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 8 Tbsp [115 g] unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ cup [120 g] milk, at room temperature

For the whipped cream:

  • 3½ Tbsp [25 g] powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
  • ½ cup [115 g] heavy whipping cream, cold

To assemble:

  • Heaped ⅓ cup [140 g] strawberry preserves, jam, or low-moisture homemade compote
  • Optional: sliced strawberries

Instructions

  1. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Butter and line two 9 in [23 cm] cake pans with parchment rounds.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed just to combine. Add the butter and beat together until it looks like fine sand, 1½ to 2 minutes (start on low speed, then increase the speed to medium).
  3. With the mixer running* on medium speed, add 1 egg every 5 seconds or so, then drizzle in the milk. Be careful not to overmix—do not leave the mixer running while you’re not adding anything. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure it’s fully incorporated.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it equally into 2 thin layers. Spread the batter evenly.
  5. Bake for about 17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake layers on a wire rack.
  6. To make the whipped cream, place the powdered sugar and heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium speed for about 2½ minutes. As soon as it reaches medium-stiff peaks, stop whipping. Store in the fridge until you need it.
  7. To assemble the cake, place one completely cooled cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Top with the preserves* or jam and spread out to the edges. Dollop the whipped cream evenly across the surface and spread out to the edges. Top with the other cooled cake layer.
  8. Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately, or refrigerate for a couple hours. Leftover slices should be stored in the fridge, and will keep for 1 to 2 days, but it’s best served soon after assembling.

Notes

* Have your eggs ready to go in a liquid measuring cup, or add them with the mixer stopped if you’re cracking them directly into the bowl (so you don’t accidentally mix shell in).

** Layering order: If you’re using strawberries, they should always go in the middle. For the spreadable layers, you should end with whichever layer is softest and start with whichever layer is firmest. So if your whipped cream is firmer than your compote, start with the whipped cream. If you’re using a very set jam straight from the jar, start with the jam and then layer on the whipped cream.

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Filed Under: every recipe, sweets, vegetarian Tagged With: berries, cakes, strawberry, whipped cream

passion fruit cake

April 20, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline 2 Comments

passion fruit cake

This passion fruit cake layers bold flavors with a simple, vibrant swirl technique. But that swirl is not just there for show!

Here’s the thing: passion fruit is basically delicious tropical water. Add it straight to cake batter and you risk a soggy, dense, flavorless situation. But turn it into a curd, and everything changes. The flavor concentrates, the texture custardizes, and suddenly you’ve got an ingredient that actually wants to be in a cake.

Fold that passion fruit curd into the batter, spoon some more across the top, and swirl it into golden ribbons. Then throw it in the oven, and wind up with a cake that’s tart, sweet, squidgy, and big on passion fruit flavor.

Jump to the recipe to get started, or read on for some tips + step-by-step photos.

passion fruit curd cake
passion fruit curd cake

Tips for passion fruit cake success

General tips for cake success

These tips will up your baking game in many, many recipes, so keep these in mind whenever you are baking:

  • Don’t over-mix the batter: This goes for any batter where you want a tender crumb. Once the liquid goes in, you want to mix it well, but not too well. If you overmix the batter, it will become gluey and the resulting cake will be tough and dry. Same goes for cookies, scones, pie crust, etc. We’re not making bread here!
  • Toothpick a cake section, not a curd section: This is a good tip for any cake with gooey mix-ins: when you’re inserting a toothpick, don’t insert it into a curd blob, or you won’t get a very accurate result. Same goes for a cake with chocolate chunks, pieces of fruit, etc.

Tips for making the best passion fruit cake ever

  • Use my recipe for passion fruit curd! It’s super easy, doesn’t use a double-boiler, has 0 straining, and I made a video in case you don’t have a thermometer and prefer to eyeball the texture instead. I highly recommend it for this recipe.
  • Don’t accidentally add all the curd at once. I mean, it’s not like I would ever do something so ridiculous… 😳 lolll. But just in case, I have listed the passion fruit curd twice, once for the batter and once for the swirls. When shopping for ingredients, make sure you buy enough for the full amount (1⅓ cups or 350 grams).
  • Follow the swirling instructions, and don’t over-swirl it. Over-swirling can seriously affect the texture of this cake, and not in a good way. You don’t want to accidentally stir the passion fruit topping into the cake batter. So when you swirl, go through each blob just once or twice. And if you’re unsure, err on the side of less swirling. Even if you do a good job, it will look completely over-swirled (the curd disappears into the batter almost immediately after swirling!). But don’t worry—as long as you’ve underdone the swirling, the curd and cake will differentiate as they bake.

Step-by-step photos

Here are some step-by-step photos, or check out the video at the bottom of the recipe card.

greasing a cake pan

Preheat the oven to 375°F [190°C], oil a 9 in [23 cm] cake pan, and line the bottom with a parchment round.

adding passion fruit curd to a bowl

Place the sugar, olive oil, eggs, and ⅔ cup [175 g] of the passion fruit curd in a mixing bowl. Stir together until completely homogenous.

sifting the dry ingredients

Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined (do not overmix).

smoothing the batter out

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth it out.

evenly spacing about 12 blobs of passion fruit curd over the surface of the cake

Top evenly with spoonfuls of the remaining ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd. You should end up with about 12 spoonfuls spaced evenly.

swirling the passion fruit curd

Drag the back of your spoon through the cake in figure-eights so that you catch each blob once or twice (don’t overswirl)

baking the passion fruit curd

Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (avoiding the passion fruit) comes out clean.

tracing a knife around the edge of the cake pan

Let it sit for about 3 minutes in the pan, then trace around the edge with a knife.

removing the parchment round

Invert the cake onto a parchment-covered plate, peel off the parchment from the bottom, and invert again onto a wire rack.

flipping again and removing the extra parchment

Peel the parchment off the top and let the cake cool before slicing.

I also wanted to give a quick shout out to Lucy Cufflin’s lemon curd cake, which majorly inspired this one with its charmingly wonky swirls of lemon curd in a sea of butter cake. This recipe marries olive oil and passion fruit instead, with its own lopsided charm. I highly recommend both!

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passion fruit cake

passion fruit cake with swirls of passion fruit curd baked in
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  • Prep Time: 10 minutes*
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 8 slices

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup [150 g] sugar
  • ½ cup [105 g] extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan
  • 3 large eggs
  • ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd (for the batter)
  • 1⅓ cups [175 g] all-purpose flour
  • 1¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Another ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd (for the swirls)**

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F [190°C]. Oil a 9 in [23 cm] cake pan and line the bottom with a parchment round.
  2. Place the sugar, olive oil, eggs, and ⅔ cup [175 g] of the passion fruit curd in a mixing bowl. Stir together until completely homogenous.
  3. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined (do not overmix).
  4. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, smooth it out, and then top it evenly with spoonfuls of the remaining ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd. You should end up with about 12 spoonfuls spaced across the surface. Drag the back of your spoon through the cake in figure-eights so that you catch each blob once or twice. You should end up with thin swirls across the surface (don’t overswirl, or it will affect the texture of the cake).
  5. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (avoiding the passion fruit) comes out clean. Let it sit for about 3 minutes in the pan, then trace around the edge with a knife, invert the cake onto a parchment-covered plate, peel off the parchment from the bottom, and invert again onto a wire rack. Peel the parchment off the top and let the cake cool before slicing.

Notes

* I wrote this recipe for people who have made my passion fruit curd recipe and want to use it up, but if you haven’t made the passion fruit curd yet, add 15 mins or so to the prep time.

** I wrote it this way to make sure you don’t accidentally add it all at once while quickly glancing at the ingredients list! But for easy shopping/cooking, that’s a total of 1⅓ cups [350 g] of passion fruit curd. If you make my passion fruit curd recipe, that’s enough for this cake + extra for serving at the table (or freezing).

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Filed Under: every recipe, sweets, vegetarian Tagged With: cakes, fall, passionfruit, summer

easiest passion fruit curd

April 19, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline Leave a Comment

frozen passion fruit chocolate bars photographed from overhead (unsliced)

This passion fruit curd recipe is the easiest because:

  • You don’t have to strain it.
  • You don’t have to use a double-boiler.
  • You don’t have to add ingredients in several different stages.
  • It uses whole eggs instead of just yolks.
  • There’s a video! So you don’t have to use a thermometer and can just eyeball it.

One of the keys to making this recipe easy is your food processor! (But don’t worry, there’s a hack if you don’t own one)

I know: no double-boiler! Sounds risky. But I’ve made this recipe dozens of times, and it always results in a glossy, set-yet-spreadable passion fruit curd. I love it so much, I even put it in my book!

If you’re ready to start whisking, jump to the recipe + video. Otherwise, read on to see why it works.

passion fruit curd in a stainless steel pot
passion fruit curd in a jar on an aluminum baking tray of scones
passion fruit cake with swirls of passion fruit curd baked in
frozen passion fruit chocolate bars photographed from overhead (unsliced)

Food processor = the key to easy, delicious passion fruit curd

Why is your food processor the key? Well…

1. It breaks up the fibrous pulp (so, no lumps!)

I learned this trick from Erin at Cloudy Kitchen. She explains that passion fruit pulp has a lot of fibrous stuff clinging to the seeds. But by blending it in a food processor, your curd will turn out silky smooth, never lumpy with little bits of passion fruit goo floating around.

2. The food processor doesn’t pulverize the seeds (so you won’t have to strain it!)

If you were to use a high-power blender for this, the seeds would start to break down, and you might need to strain it afterwards. A food processor, on the other hand, breaks down the membranous pulpy stuff without breaking up the seeds. They stay completely intact and add a peppery crunch. No one will mistake this curd for lemon—the seeds make it unmistakably passion fruit.

3. It emulsifies the sugar and eggs with the passion fruit (so, no double-boiler!)

In a traditional recipe for curd, you would need to add the sugar and eggs/yolks together first, then whisk them until they are completely smooth. This standard technique makes the eggs less likely to break or scramble once heated. But when you’re using the food processor, you can skip this step. Or rather, let the food processor do the work for you.

After creating such a serious emulsion, your passion fruit curd is much less likely to break. So you can get away with skipping the double boiler! Just make sure you don’t let it skip past the target temperature. If you don’t have a thermometer, keep an eye on the time and heat, and make sure you watch the video below to know what to look for.

4. You don’t have to separate the eggs!

Although… the food processor doesn’t get credit for this one. It’s just that I designed this recipe so that it uses whole eggs instead of yolks. And that’s because I can’t stand separating eggs. I mean, the actual separating is not such a hassle, but I despise having to find a use for all those whites afterwards.

If you don’t have a thermometer, no worries!

If you don’t have a thermometer, you’ll just need to pay close attention to the signs. It’s going to take a slightly different amount of time for everyone, depending on your stove, etc. But the time guidelines in the recipe will keep you on the right general track.

But more than timings, you should pay attention to what the curd looks like, because that is the best indicator of whether it is done. The video above will help the most, but here are some screen shots and descriptions of what it looks like at various stages of doneness:

passion fruit curd at room temperature—the texture of orange juice with pulp

At room temperature, passion fruit curd is the consistency of orange juice with added pulp. It’s watery, a bit dull in color, and usually has a layer of foam on the top. At this point, you can safely keep the heat at medium-low (a bit more on the medium side) while whisking constantly.

passion fruit curd at 60°C (slightly thickened, but still very runny)

At 140°F [60°C], passion fruit curd begins to give off some wisps of steam. Look carefully and you’ll notice them. It also starts to thicken slightly, and becomes a bit brighter in color. The foam is still there, but there’s less of it. At this point, begin to reduce the heat gradually while still whisking constantly.

Passion fruit curd at 75°C—fully thickened—the whisk leaves a trail in the curd for a moment

At 167°F [75°C], passion fruit curd significantly thickens and becomes even brighter. There is no longer foam on the surface, and it is a bit steamier than it was at 140°F [60°C]. Do not let it go much past this point because it will start to curdle at 180°F [82°C]. Don’t stop whisking!

Ways to use it

  • Scone topping: spread on your favorite scones (especially with clotted cream on the side).
  • Passion fruit olive oil cake (you can find my recipe here or check out Piecemeal)
  • Layer cake filling: Make a buttercream border, and then fill with passion fruit, so it doesn’t ooze out the sides when you add on the next layer. Curd works best for cake designs that don’t need a ton of structural integrity.
  • Passion fruit fool: Whip cream to medium-peaks, then swirl in some curd. For the best appearance, add a couple blobs and then give it a couple swirls.
  • Yogurt parfait: Top a bowl of yogurt with passion fruit curd.
  • Over-the-top strawberry shortcakes: Add a bit to some strawberry shortcakes for an upgrade.
  • You can also use this passion fruit curd in place of lemon curd in just about any recipe. It will almost always work great, but sometimes it might not substitute perfectly. But have fun experimenting! Lemon passion fruit bars, lemon curd passion fruit cookies, even a loaf cake that calls for a curd in the original recipe. The sky’s the limit!
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easiest passion fruit curd

frozen passion fruit chocolate bars photographed from overhead (unsliced)
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  • Author: Kathryn Pauline
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 2 1/3 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 cup [235g] passion fruit pulp
  • 4 large eggs
  • ¾ cup [150g] sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 4 Tbsp [55g] cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Instructions

  1. Place the passion fruit pulp, eggs, sugar, and salt in a food processor* fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse several times, stopping once it’s completely combined.
  2. Place the mixture in a small saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until it thickens significantly. Gradually lower the heat and be careful not to let it overheat. It will start to thicken at around 140°F [60°C], and will fully thicken at around 167°F [75°C], which takes 10 to 15 minutes at medium-low. Don’t go over 180°F [82°C].**
  3. Once the curd reaches the target temperature and consistency, remove from the heat and immediately add the butter, whisking constantly until it disappears completely.
  4. Passion fruit curd will keep in the fridge for about 7 days, but it’s best stored in the freezer for at least 3 months.

Notes

* If you don’t have a food processor, you can whisk by hand, but you’ll need to whisk the eggs and sugar together first until completely smooth, otherwise you’ll end up with flecks of egg white in the finished product. You should also whisk your passion fruit pulp separately to break up the fibrous bits. Do not use a blender or you might pulverize the seeds. A food processor will just loosen the pulp while leaving the seeds whole.

** If you don’t have a thermometer, watch the video so you know what to look out for in terms of texture and viscosity.

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Psst… by the way, I love this recipe so much, I ended up including it in my cookbook, Piecemeal.

If you like this recipe as much as I do, you might like my book! It’s full of mix-and-match recipes and inspiration for fun and easy meals.

The cookbook also has recipes for scones, passion fruit cake, and frozen milk chocolate passion fruit bars. And all three recipes use this one as their base!

Filed Under: every recipe, gluten free, sweets, vegetarian Tagged With: fall, passionfruit, summer

roasted tomato sauce (no dishes)

April 12, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline Leave a Comment

roasted tomato sauce

Things I love about this roasted tomato sauce recipe:

1) No clean-up! There’s no food processor or blender of any kind. You won’t even need to wash the pan. I mean, you will end up with 1 fork and 1 paring knife to wash. But this recipe won’t contribute to the dinner dishes pile-up.

2) You can use any tomato to make it. I’ve got instructions for any size/shape of tomato.

3) There’s no chopping or ingredient prep work. I’ve kept it super simple. The recipe uses garlic powder (although you can also use fresh if that’s what you have). You can also use dried basil, or tear some fresh basil right over the serving dish. And simply slice the tomatoes in half before roasting.

4) It’s really easy. Not much more to say about it than that!

Jump to the recipe if you’re ready to cook, or read on for some useful tips and ideas.

Ways to serve roasted tomato sauce

Here are some ideas!

  • Over pasta + meatballs (use ground chicken, turkey, or vegan meat substitute if you’d like)
  • In a cheesy meatball bake (I have a recipe in Piecemeal, but it’s not rocket science!)
  • As a sandwich spread (especially anything with mozzarella, or in place of the tomato in a BLT)
  • Spread over an everything bagel that’s already topped with cream cheese
  • In a grain bowl
  • …with anything you’d use a regular tomato sauce for!

Why does this recipe work?

There are a few things that make this recipe special, and here is why these features work so well:

Cut-side-up, un-hulled

Placing the tomato halves cut-side-up means that they will turn into little bowls as they roast. Since you didn’t hull them, their juices will stay in those tomato-bowls (while running off just a little bit). And as those juices sit there, their moisture will cook off. This gives them the perfect texture and a super concentrated tomato flavor.

Fork instead of blender

While a blender works great for a smoother tomato sauce, a fork actually works best for this recipe. With these beautifully caramelized tomatoes, there are going to be some perfectly-charred bits, as well as some overly-charred bits. As you mash everything with the back of a fork, you’ll start to notice some overly-charred skins that won’t break down. That’s when you just lift them out with your fork and discard them. This leaves behind the perfect amount of char, for a roasted tomato flavor without too much toasty flavor.

It would actually be a really bad idea to just throw this in a blender and let it go, because you’d wind up blending too much char into the mix. With a fork, you can control how much charred skin you let in and how much you discard.

And besides, this roasting technique yields the perfect texture for mashing. You really don’t need a blender to end up with something pretty darn smooth, with just a bit of texture.

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roasted tomato sauce (no dishes)

roasted tomato sauce
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  • Author: Kathryn Pauline
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: (see recipe)
  • Total Time: (see recipe)
  • Yield: 1 1/4 cup tomato sauce

Ingredients

  • 2 lb [905g] tomatoes*
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • garlic powder (or fresh garlic**)
  • salt
  • basil (fresh or dried—both optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Line a sheet pan with foil and then parchment.
  2. Carefully pull any vines or stems off your tomatoes, but do not hull them. Slice the tomatoes in half across their equators. Place the tomatoes so they are all cut-side up on the sheet pan.
  3. Drizzle with olive oil and evenly sprinkle with the garlic powder and salt (to taste). Move them so they are evenly spaced out, still cut-side-up.
  4. Roast for about 1 to 2 1/2 hours (longer for larger tomatoes, shorter for smaller ones). If your oven has a tight seal, open the door a few times while they cook to let the steam escape. The key is not how long they roast, but how they look: they will shrink down significantly, and they should be syrupy, not dry, and caramelized in spots around their edges.
  5. Once they’re done, use a fork to lift away any burnt bits of tomato goo that have caramelized around them. Discard. If you were not able to remove some bits of stem, remove them now.
  6. Mash them right in the pan using the back of a fork. If you notice any burnt skins that are not breaking up, simply lift them out and discard them.
  7. Tear fresh basil and use it to garnish the dish you’re serving this tomato sauce with, or stir dried basil into the sauce (add basil to taste).

Notes

*You can use any kind of tomato for this. The recipe gives a wide range of times (shorter for small tomatoes, longer for large ones). If you want to double the recipe, use 2 sheet pans.

** If using fresh garlic, crush with a garlic press, and top each tomato with a little bit (to taste). Slightly rub the garlic into the tomato to make sure it’s not just sitting on top (or it will burn)

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Filed Under: dairy free, dinner, every recipe, gluten free, sauces, vegan, vegetarian, weeknight Tagged With: basil, garlic, tomato

protein oatmeal (no protein powder)

April 5, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline 4 Comments

This protein oatmeal is made with 3 basic ingredients you probably have in your kitchen right now: oats, eggs, and milk (or vegan alternatives). No protein powder, no blender, no specialty items necessary.

I’ve added protein to my go-to oatmeal recipe in the following two ways:

  1. I use more milk as the liquid (less water)
  2. I whisk in eggs at the end

The result? Oatmeal that’s smooth, custardy, and far tastier than anything spiked with protein powder. It’s easy, it’s cozy, and you probably already have everything you need to make it.

Jump to the recipe if you’re on board. Or read on if you want to know a little more about why this is my go-to technique for upgrading my morning oats.

Why I don’t like using protein powder in my protein oatmeal

I’m not here to stop you from putting protein powder in your oatmeal. If you like it, go forth and sprinkle that vanilla-flavored whey to your heart’s content. But in my kitchen? We are Team Egg for sure.

Why? Because protein powder is like that early-bird friend who is kind of a mess if they have to stay up after 9PM. Protein powder shines in cold applications—smoothies, overnight oats, “nice cream.” But the moment you pass a certain temperature, it turns a little sulky. It gets tired. It wants to go home. The texture gets stodgy, the flavor gets weird, and your cozy bowl of oats starts to taste like chalk.

Now, I am not the protein powder police. You can heat it and stir it into your stovetop oats. But just because you can does not mean you should.

That’s why I save my protein powder for cold applications, where it thrives. Like, in overnight oats, it’s basically the hero that saves you from squelchy sludge and delivers pudding-level creaminess.

But for warm oatmeal? I’d rather use something that can handle the heat—like eggs!

Why eggs work great in protein oatmeal

Eggs are phenomenal in protein oatmeal for a few reasons:

1. You probably have them!

Need I say more? Sure, you could whip out a block of silken tofu or do something avant-garde with protein powder foam. But eggs? They’re always there for you. Even after you’ve been traveling for a week and return to a poorly-stocked kitchen. And even with eggs being more expensive than they once were, they’re still a relatively affordable option compared to many alternatives.

2. They turn your oats into a custard.

I mean… custard for breakfast? Absolutely delicious. If you like flan, crème anglaise, egg tarts—basically, anything eggy and sweet—you’re going to like eggs in your oatmeal. No, it’s not exactly flan itself. But it has the same custard-like quality in both flavor and texture, especially if you top it with something sweet. My favorite is cold strawberry compote.

3. They play well with both sweet and savory.

The nice thing about eggs (instead of, like, vanilla soy isolate) is that they taste truly neutral. Eggy oatmeal is great topped with maple syrup and berries, sure. But it’s just as delicious topped with buttery corn, scallions, and bits of crispy bacon. It could really go either way!

4. They’re traditional

This isn’t a Tiktok food hack or blender experiment. It’s got roots. I live in Hong Kong, where you’ll find cha chaan tengs all over the city. Cha chaan tengs serve down-to-earth Hong Kong style breakfast items like milk tea, egg sandwiches, pineapple buns with butter, and my favorite: super creamy oatmeal. Sometimes you’ll even find an option to have oatmeal with egg whites added (蛋花麥皮*). This recipe looks a lot like the ones I’ve enjoyed here—cozy, custardy, and deeply comforting.

And even more than any sort of health reason, that’s what really inspired this recipe. Eggs (whether whole or whites) in porridge are just plain delicious. You should give it a try if you haven’t already!

*Shout out to my friend Harry for helping give the right context for oatmeal in Hong Kong!

A note on liquid:oat ratios (I promise I have not lost my mind)

When you see the recipe below, you’re going to think I have lost my mind because of the ratios of liquid to oats. But here’s a very important oatmeal PSA: We’re all not adding enough liquid to our oats!

I have a whole post about it where I share my classic oatmeal recipe. But don’t take it from me—49 reviewers have given it 4.9/5⭐️ (as of 5 April 2025). Commenters have said things like:

  • “Thank you so much for making it possible to love oatmeal again 💕”
  • “Simply the best oatmeal I’ve ever had in my life I kid you not… 1000/10 I don’t even leave reviews but I had to yet yall know”
  • “You’ve changed the game. Ever since I got pregnant with my son in 2019, I haven’t been able to stomach oatmeal (because of the texture and gloopiness), but THIS, this right here changed me. I’ve had this every morning for the past week.”
  • “At 61 I’ve finally made a delicious bowl of oatmeal. Normally I’d have thrown out more than half, today I wished I made more. Thanks for sharing, the key is twice the amount of liquid. So excited, can’t wait till tomorrow.”

So if you want your oatmeal to be creamy instead of “gluggy” (as one commenter calls the standard fare), you’re going to want to stick to the recipe below. And if you want to know more or you’re not quite convinced, feel free to check out the original post for a whole explanation.

Vegan alternatives

You can absolutely use vegan alternatives in this recipe. Feel free to use soy milk (or another vegan milk of choice). If you’re trying to increase the protein content, choose a vegan milk that’s high in protein. For the eggs, I do not recommend substituting homemade flax eggs. Instead, use a store-bought vegan egg substitute that’s been designed to be used 1-for-1 with conventional eggs (or find another oatmeal recipe that deliberately incorporates flax. I’ve heard good things about this one!).

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protein oatmeal (no protein powder)

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5 from 2 reviews

Note: the ratios in this recipe are not a mistake, although it will seem like a lot of liquid. Read here for more.

  • Author: Kathryn Pauline
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup [75g] old fashioned oats (gluten free ones, if necessary)
  • 2 cups [480g] milk*
  • 1 cup [235g] water
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 whole eggs**, whisked (to be added later)
  • Toppings***

Instructions

  1. Bring the oats, milk, water, and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan**** over medium heat, stirring every minute or so.
  2. Once it comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium or medium-low and continue to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the liquid thickens and the oatmeal softens. It will start out watery, and at a certain point it will noticeably thicken (e.g., the bubbles will get bigger), while still remaining very pourable and creamy. Leave it uncovered the whole time, and be careful not to let it bubble over. When a skin forms, just stir it back into the oatmeal.
  3. Once the oatmeal thickens, slowly stream the eggs in while whisking constantly. Continue whisking until it starts to bubble again, and then immediately remove from heat.*****
  4. Pour into bowls and add your favorite toppings at the table (here, pictured with macerated strawberries).

Notes

* You can substitute a milk alternative. I like soy milk here.

** You can substitute 3 egg whites or 2 egg whites + 1 whole egg or substitute 1/4 cup + 3 Tbsp [100g] vegan egg substitute (e.g., “Just Egg,” not homemade flax eggs, but a store-bought substitute that you can use 1-for-1).

*** Go either sweet or savory. You can just do a simple sprinkling of brown sugar or a drizzle of maple syrup. I love macerated strawberries or strawberry compote. Cinnamon apples are also lovely. Add any chopped nuts or spices you’d like. And if you go savory, you could always add a poached egg on top with sautéed scallions and/or garlic. I also really love buttery corn on top of oatmeal. The sky’s the limit!

****  If you’re using a wide pan instead of a small saucepan, you may need to add a bit more water as it cooks (more water will evaporate from a wide pan).

***** Streakiness is a matter of personal preference. If you want some streaks and strands of eggs, pour it in a spiral like you’re making egg-drop soup, then very gently stir it slowly. To prevent streakiness, stream it in very slowly while whisking constantly.

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Filed Under: breakfast, dairy free, every recipe, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: oats, porridge, strawberry

berry scones

April 4, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline 2 Comments

blackberry scones topped with magenta icing and fresh blueberries

These berry scones are fabulous with blackberries (as pictured), but you can also use raspberries or blueberries. Really, any small-ish berry your heart desires! The magenta royal icing gets its vibrant color from just a handful of berries, and the scones themselves have a dreamy texture and flavor, all thanks to one not-so-secret ingredient.

Read on or jump to the recipe if you wanna get right to baking.

blackberry scones on a sheet pan in the oven
blackberry scones on a sheet pan

Beautiful, magenta royal icing (with no food coloring!)

These scones are perfectly flavored and textured, but my favorite thing about this recipe is the vibrant berry icing. It gets its magenta color and moisture from just a small handful of berries. You can absolutely add a few drops of lemon juice to give it a little acidity, but if you want to really punch up the berry flavor while adding acidity, I recommend using this instead:

sumac! (but you can omit it if you don’t have any 😉)

Adding lemon juice works just fine, but sumac is a real hero ingredient here. So if you have some on hand, I recommend using it. Sumac is most often used in savory dishes, but it works equally well with sweet things. Its flavor is acidic with notes of berry, and it heightens the flavor of berries in the same way rhubarb works so well with strawberries. They’re a match made in heaven!

blackberry scones topped with magenta icing and fresh blueberries
blackberry scones topped with magenta icing and fresh blueberries

The secret to perfect scones

You might see “cream cheese” in the recipe list and think “wait, is this like a cheese danish situation?” But I can assure you, these are not cheesy in any way whatsoever. You don’t actually taste the cream cheese, as you would with a cheesy pastry. Instead, the cream cheese acts almost like a cultured butter, giving the dough a really fabulous texture and adding plenty of dairy fat in the process. The resulting flavor is somewhere between a perfect buttermilk biscuit and a classic scone. And since trying it this way, I will never make scones another way again.

blackberry scones topped with magenta icing and fresh blueberries
blackberry scones topped with magenta icing and fresh blueberries

Incorporating the berries into your berry scones

These berry scones are easy to throw together, but there is a trick to incorporating the berries without squishing them. Follow the recipe closely and they’ll turn out just fine. But just remember not to start compressing the dough before sprinkling on the berries. And careful not to let the food processor overwork the dough to begin with.

Dump the loose crumbs onto the counter, sprinkle on the berries, bring the dough together while making sure the berries are evenly distributed, and then start to compress once they’re all in place inside the shaggy mound of dough. It’s really hard to squish them once they’ve got even pressure from the dough that’s surrounding them, and even if you do manage to slightly squish one or two of them, it’s not a big deal once they’re already situated in the dough. And don’t worry if a few of them peek through the top or sides—as you can see from the photos, they’ll turn out really pretty either way.

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berry scones

blackberry scones topped with magenta icing and fresh blueberries
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  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 8 scones

Ingredients

for the berry icing:

  • 1 slightly heaped 1/4 cup [35g] berries*
  • 1 cup [125g] icing sugar
  • 1/4 tsp lemon juice or 2 tsp [6g] sumac

for the berry cream cheese scones:

  • 2 cups [260g] all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup [50g sugar] + more for sprinkling
  • 1 tablespoon [12g] baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon [6g] salt
  • 3 tablespoons [55g] cold unsalted butter
  • ½ of an 8oz brick [115g] cold cream cheese
  • 2 large eggs [100g]
  • 1¼ to 1½ cups [165g] berries
  • Egg wash: 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water
  • Decoration: berry icing (above), extra sumac (optional), and extra berries

Instructions

  1. For the icing**: Place the berries, icing sugar, and sumac or lemon juice in a food processor. Blend until completely smooth, then move to a small bowl and set aside for an hour or two until you’re ready to use. It should be very thick and should slowly run off of a spoon.
  2. Don’t wash the food processor! Give it a quick wipe or rinse to use again for the scones. No need to wash it fully, but just get rid of any big icing blobs or thick streaks, and dry it out if you rinsed it.***
  3. For the scones: Preheat the oven to 400°F [205°C].
  4. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor. Pulse 2 or 3 times to blend. Cut the butter and cream cheese into approximately 1 tablespoon blobs as you add them to the food processor. Pulse about 10 times until only small lumps remain. Add the eggs and pulse about 6 more times, just until the eggs blend in and the dough starts forming little clumps.
  5. Dump the clumpy crumbs out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Don’t compress the dough yet and spread it out into a loosely even layer. Sprinkle on the berries evenly. Very gently shape the dough into a loose mound, taking care to keep the berries evenly distributed in the dough as you work, and being careful not to squish them. Some of the berries will peek out and some will be hidden inside the dough.
  6. Once the dough looks like a shaggy mound, start to gently compress it into an approximately 7 inch [18cm] diameter circle (the berries will squish slightly, but once they’re in the mound of dough, it’s less likely you’re going to totally smash one, because the pressure on them is now very even).
  7. Cut the circle into 8 wedges, and space the wedges out evenly. Brush each wedge generously with egg wash, and sprinkle with a little extra sugar.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Let them cool either on the sheet pan or a cooling rack, and then drizzle with icing. Decorate with extra berries and a little more sumac (optional) before the icing hardens.

Notes

* Blackberries, blueberries, and/or raspberries all work well in this recipe.

** If you’re not weighing your ingredients precisely, no worries—hold back a couple berries and add them gradually until the icing reaches your desired consistency. It’s better to start out slightly too thick and to have to thin it out with additional berries. If it turns out too thin, blend in a tablespoon more of powdered sugar at a time until it’s very thick but still pourable.

*** If you make this recipe scones-first/icing-second, then you should wash the food processor fully in between because of the raw egg and flour.

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I originally posted this recipe in 2021, but updated it and reposted it in 2025.

Filed Under: breakfast, every recipe, sweets Tagged With: berries, blackberry, cream cheese, icing, scones, sumac, summer

baba ganoush

April 4, 2025 by Kathryn Pauline 6 Comments

baba ganoush on a meze tray


Baba ganoush is easy to make, but even easier to mess up. This post shows you how to fix the most common mistakes with one simple method: double-roasting. It’s super easy and delivers rich, smoky flavor every time. Skip to the recipe if you’re convinced, or read on if you want to understand why this recipe works so well.

Baba ganoush seems straightforward enough! It’s just roasted eggplant, right? Smash it up, swirl in some tahini, and boom—you’ve got a dip.

Except, not quite. It is easy to make baba ganoush with a few simple tricks. But there are so many things that could go wrong. The biggest problem? Moisture. Eggplants are basically little water balloons. If you don’t deal with all that water, you’ll end up with a sad, soggy sludge.

Every good baba ganoush recipe deals with this problem one way or another. Some drain it after roasting. Some salt it before roasting. Some poke a million little holes in each eggplant. But most of these methods make one or two compromises:

Either:

A. They drain the flavor right along with the water, or
B. They don’t do enough to remove moisture effectively.

But fortunately there is a better way! And this way also happens to be easy and delicious.

Why double roasting makes the best baba ganoush

Let me introduce you to the magic of double-roasting. I know, it sounds like a hassle. Two rounds of roasting? Who has the time?

But stay with me—because double roasting is not only the easiest method (more on that in a sec), it’s also the most reliable way to remove excess moisture, dial up the flavor, and get a perfectly creamy texture.

Here’s how it works:

  1. You roast the eggplant over an open flame until the skins get all wrinkly and burnt.
  2. Then you peel those burnt skins away and split the eggplants open.
  3. Next, you lay them cut-side-up on a sheet pan, and pop them in the oven for a second roast.

The second round does two very important things: It cooks off even more moisture and it adds an extra layer of roasty, smoky depth that takes the flavor from good to “how did you make this?!”

why double roasting is also the easiest method

1. It actually saves on dishes:

It seems like it would involve a lot of cleanup, but if you play your cards right, it barely makes a mess.

  1. Line your sheet pan with foil, so you don’t have to wash it.
  2. Skip the food processor! Double-roasted eggplant gets so buttery-soft, you can just mash it with a fork. I sometimes go the food processor route, but you truly don’t need it. You can even tear the parsley instead of chopping it if you’re really feeling the laziness.
  3. You fire-roast the eggplant directly on an open flame—no skillet, no tray, no nothing. You can do this on a gas stove or grill, and as long as you don’t let the eggplant get to the point of dripping everywhere, cleanup is easy.

By my count, that results in a pairing knife, garlic press, plate, and mixing bowl! Plus a serving bowl if you’re feeling fancy. This is a much better dish situation than recipes that call for a strainer, salad spinner, or a bunch of kitchen towels.

2. It takes the guess-work out of fire-roasting

Fire-roasting sounds intimidating if you’ve never done it. How do you know when the eggplant is “done”? Is it cooked all the way through? With double-roasting, you don’t need to look for signs from the eggplant gods.

With double-roasting, you don’t need the eggplant to be cooked through in round one. You’re just trying to get a solid char and start the softening process.

Think of it like roasting marshmallows as an unsupervised eleven-year-old. You’re not aiming for golden-brown perfection. You’re lighting that thing on fire. Blacken the outside, peel it off, and toss the eggplants into the oven to finish roasting.

Other baba ganoush tips for extra flavor

1. Peel, don’t scoop

When it comes time to remove the charred eggplant skins, try to peel rather than scoop whenever possible. Here’s why:

Scooping tends to dig out just the soft, watery interior, leaving behind the golden brown layer you just worked hard to create. It’s just under that charred skin, and it’s where the magic lives. It’s smoky, concentrated, and full of depth. When you scoop, you’re often tossing out the most flavorful bits without realizing it.

Instead, start by peeling off any skin that comes off easily with your hands. If there are any stubborn patches that won’t budge, then you can scoop. And if a little skin clings here and there, that’s totally fine.

See the above photo for an idea of what you’re missing out on if you choose to scoop.

2. Use fresh garlic, but with restraint

Raw garlic adds a punch, but it can also hijack the whole dip if you’re not careful. 2 cloves might not sound like a lot, but it gives it plenty of garlicky flavor. And remember—you can always add more later.

3. Lemon and tahini proportions

If you want to cut back on either the lemon or tahini for some reason, make sure you cut back slightly on both (or add a little extra of both). They need to be in balance for the dish to have the right texture and flavor. If you cut back on the tahini without cutting back on the lemon juice, the dish will be watery and tart (even though you’re not actually adding any extra lemon). And if you cut back on the lemon juice without cutting back on the tahini, it will set up and taste very stodgy. There are plenty of great recipes for baba ganoush that don’t include tahini, but they use a lot less lemon that this recipe. Lemon and tahini balance each other out.

A note on eggplants varieties for baba ganoush:

I developed this recipe using Italian eggplants. They’re smaller than those giant American eggplants and much easier to work with. But if you have a couple American eggplants on hand, you can use them to make this recipe (as long as they are not grotesquely large). I have done so once or twice, and it worked well.

Fire-roast your eggplant first (American eggplants will take a bit longer than Italian eggplants), but when you go to split it open, think of it more like opening up a scroll rather than splitting it in half. You want as much of the inside of the eggplant to be exposed as possible. Spread it open on the sheet pan. It might look ugly, but as long as it’s in a spread-out layer, it should work great.

You can also try other varieties, but keep in mind that not all eggplants will have the right texture. But if you’re not afraid of an experiment, I say go for it! I just can’t guarantee it will turn out well. With Italian eggplants, on the other hand, it’s hard to go wrong!

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baba ganoush

baba ganoush on a meze tray
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  • Yield: about 2 to 3 cups

Ingredients

To double roast the eggplant:

  • 3 pounds baby Italian eggplants*
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided into 1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 tablespoons

To make the dip:

  • 1 or 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup minced parsley
  • 3 tablespoons tahini
  • Salt
  • Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Instructions

  1. Fire-roast the eggplant:
    • For indoor grilling: set a gas stove to high heat. Open a window and turn on the exhaust. Place an eggplant directly on the grate. Let it blacken and become wrinkly on one side, then rotate it until it’s wrinkly all over (about 8 minutes total). Repeat with the rest.
    • For outdoor grilling: Set your grill to high heat with the lid closed for a few minutes. Place your eggplants on the grates and close the lid. Rotate them as they blacken on one side, and repeat until wrinkly and blackened all over (10 to 20 minutes for smaller ones, longer for larger ones). Transfer to a large plate.
  2. Strip the charred eggplant skins as soon as they come off the grill (be careful and use gloves, or wait for them to cool). The skins should come off in big strips, leaving behind golden brown flesh underneath. Hold the eggplants by the stems and use the side of a paring knife and your thumb to get the strips started. Place the stripped eggplants in a large bowl, leaving the skins behind on the plate to discard.
  3. Broil the eggplant: Preheat the oven to 450°F [230°C]. Line 1 or 2 rimmed sheet pans with parchment or foil.
  4. Spit the eggplants in half lengthwise and cut off the stems. If any are too soft to slice, spread them open a bit with your fingers, so the inside is exposed.
  5. Place the eggplants cut-side up on the sheet pan(s), leaving any liquid behind in the bowl. Don’t crowd the pan, and use both pans if necessary. Drizzle each with about 1 Tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with ½ to ¾ tsp salt. 
  6. Roast for about 50 minutes. They’re done once they’ve shrunk down, turned golden brown, and the juices have cooked off. Let cool on the sheet pan.
  7. Make the dip: Place the garlic in a food processor** fitted with the blade attachment. Process until the garlic is minced. Add the eggplant, lemon juice, parsley, tahini, and salt to taste, and pulse a few times, just until it’s creamy but not completely smooth.
  8. Spread onto a plate or bowl, top with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, a little more parsley, and a pinch of extra salt.

Notes

* This is about 7 small Italian eggplants, but you can substitute an equal weight of big eggplants. See the note about different varieties above the recipe for more info on how the roasting changes.

** If you’d like to you can skip the food processor and just mash everything with a fork. Finely tear the parsley leaves with your hands before adding them if you don’t want to bother with a cutting board. Use a garlic press for the garlic before adding it.

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Psst… by the way, I love this recipe so much, I ended up including it in my cookbook, Piecemeal.

If you like this baba ganoush as much as I do, you might like my book! It’s full of mix-and-match recipes and inspiration for fun and easy meals.

The double-roasted eggplant is used in 3 different recipes: this baba ganoush, deep dish pizza, and a ricotta frittata.

I originally posted this recipe to my blog in 2017, but I updated it and re-posted it in 2025.

 

Filed Under: appetizers, dairy free, dinner, every recipe, gluten free, lunch, meze, side dishes, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: eggplant, fall, herbs, lemon, middle eastern, parsley, summer, tahini

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Welcome! I’m Kathryn Pauline, recipe developer and photographer here at Cardamom and Tea, where I hope you’ll find something delicious to make.

My second cookbook, Piecemeal, is available wherever cookbooks are sold! (And so is my first book, A Dish for All Seasons)

And don’t miss my recipe archives, where you’ll find hundreds of well-organized favorites.

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