The Mixing Bowl: Blueberry and Dark Chocolate Buns by Mountain Bakery

One of the best things about having a website, is that it gives you the opportunity to interact with all different types of people, from all over the world, that you would have otherwise never know. For me, Rose Kemmy is one of those people. A couple of years ago, Rose sent me a very kind email about how much she enjoyed and was inspired by this site. It was such a sweet note and I never forgot it! Then, just last week, I heard from her again, and guess what Rose has been doing over the past two years?? She's opened her very own home-run, micro bakery! Based in Norwich, England, Mountain Bakery is all about homemade baking, using only high quality ingredients and free range eggs. How cool is that?

Chipotle, parmesan and rock salt biscuits

Raspberry & vanilla butterfly cupcakes

Sourdough bread

Poppy and sesame seed buns

So, as you might expect, this is an extra special Mixing Bowl post. Not only because we're celebrating Rose's new bakery, but because this is the very first Mixing Bowl video!!! Hooray!!! I'm been longing for someone to do a video for years now and I couldn't be more thrilled with the one that Rose has produced! Not only is the video super cute, but the recipe, for Blueberry and Dark Chocolate Buns, is a great winter treat! Perfect for lazy Sunday mornings when it's just too cold to leave the house! I can just imagine myself snuggled up in a comfy chair with a cup of tea, a good book, and one of these buns. Heaven! Thanks, Rose! (The recipe video featured in this post was produced in collaboration with MakeMeMakeMe and Spindle Productions.)

For more info on Mountain Bakery, visit their website, right here. You can find the complete recipe for Blueberry and Dark Chocolate Buns after the jump.

The Mixing Bowl: Crème brûlée by Marina Ekroos

This is the first ever “proud mama” style post that I ever written here on dessert girl. It concerns the hugely talented photographer Marina Ekroos and her new cookbook, Silmänruokaa (Visual Recipes). You may remember that a couple of years ago Marina contributed a Mixing Bowl recipe for chocolate macarons that was one of our most popular posts! Well, as it turns out, making those macarons really inspired and encouraged Marina to do more recipes and continue working on her concept of single shot recipes. For those of you who are not familiar with Marina’s work, her photographs capture the development of a recipe (ingredients, process, finished product) in a single frame, so that you get a complete recipe in one image. How cool is that? She now has an entire cookbook filled with gorgeous photos, including the macaron recipe that she created for dg, and I couldn’t be prouder! It was such a treat for me to see a dessert girl recipe in a real live book and I’m so happy to hear that Marina’s experience here was a good one. The finished product is really lovely and even though the recipes are in Finnish, I would still recommend checking it out. The photographs alone make it a great coffee table book.

To help celebrate this momentous occasion, Marina is back, sharing with us her delicious recipe for crème brûlée (see image at the top of this post), which is also featured in her book. I'm so excited that someone is finally tackling crème brûlée for this site! There is something so fun about a dessert that you have to crack open. Who doesn’t love the feeling of whacking the hard, caramelized top of a crème brûlée with a spoon? It’s such a satisfying feeling, almost as if you are excavating a cave wall, on a search for buried treasure. It’s also a great dessert for this time of year. Quite wintery and wonderful! And the perfect way to impress your friends this holiday season.

You can find the complete crème brûlée recipe after the jump. For purchasing info on the cookbook, along with information on how to buy limited edition prints from the book, click here. Thanks, Marina! ~Erin

The Mixing Bowl: Peach & Basil Shave Ice in Frozen Peach Bowls by Lisa Mishima

I am so, so, so excited to present this week’s Mixing Bowl recipe by graphic designer Lisa Mishima. Lisa recently sent me a link to her food and design website, Look. Listen. Smell. Eat., and I went completely bonkers over it. It combines everything I love about food and art. It’s creative, fun, and awe inspiring, but at the same time, filled with so many “doable” recipes that it doesn’t come across as the least bit intimidating. For example, check out these two recipes from Lisa’s site. The first is a S’mores fondue, featuring edible graham cracker forks! The second is part of a series of Pie a la Mode ice cream cones that sound and look amazing! In addition to the site, Lisa also runs a collective named Thought For Food, which makes edible art installations and conducts interactive dinner parties, all of which look like a heck of a lot of fun.

Business Card

Spun Honey art installation

Given Lisa’s already well-established food and art aesthetic, it was not surprising that her Mixing Bowl recipe would be a creative one. I was so thrilled when she sent over this recipe for Peach and Basil Shave Ice in Frozen Peach Bowls. It’s such a lovely and interesting twist on a peach dessert, and with peach season in full swing, it couldn’t be more perfectly timed. If you’d like to impress your friends and family with a different sort of peach recipe this weekend, I’d definitely give this one a try!

Click here to check out Lisa's food and art website, Look. Listen. Smell. Eat. You can also check out more of her design work, right here. Thank you, Lisa, for the lovely recipe! ~Erin

The Mixing Bowl: Tarte Tatin by Judy Kaufmann

Barcelona-based illustrator Judy Kaufmann is sharing a recipe today for a truly beautiful dessert, the Tarte Tatin, which is essentially an apple pie baked upside down! Judy sent along several images of the baking process and it really is a wonder to behold. And the finished product looks absolutely delicious! All I’d need to do is add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and I’d be in heaven!

 I was first introduced to Judy Kaufmann’s work via her colorful portrait of Frieda Kahlo. The image is so whimsical and fresh that it’s practically begging to be put on a wall! Her use of bright colors and her quirky spin on the ordinary makes her simple illustrations really stand out. My favorite pieces come from her Circus series (love these!) and from the Famous Print Collection, which includes the Kahlo print. You can check out the full range of prints, and shop online, right here. You can also check out more of her work, and additional product info, via her website.

You can find the complete Tarte Tartin recipe, plus more images after the jump. Thanks, Judy! ~Erin

The Mixing Bowl: Blue Hawaiian Ice Cream by Lili Chin

Lili Chin is a woman after my own heart. Her website, We All Scream, combines three of my favorite things---illustrations, ice cream, and unique flavor combinations---to create an illustrated recipe site that equally appeals to both my stomach and my eyes! Seriously, with ice creams flavors like Ginger Caramel, Strawberry Bourbon, Mexican Corn, and Sunflower Seed, how could I resist! There’s even an ice cream recipe for dogs! I was in dessert/design heaven. And it doesn’t stop there. In addition to these wonderful recipes, Lili creates individual labels for her ice creams that feature her designs. How cute is that?? When I first laid eyes on her site, I instantly knew that I had to ask her to contribute a recipe to The Mixing Bowl and when she sent over this recipe for Blue Hawaiian ice cream, I couldn’t wait to share it will all of you. I’m a huge fan of tropical flavors (tropical lifesavers were always my favorite pack) and I can’t take my eyes of the ice cream’s lovely blue hue. Who doesn’t love blue-colored food??

Malaysian-born Lili Chin is an artist and animator based in Los Angeles. She is the co-founder of FWAK! Animation, which produced its first feature-length animated film in 2006, Los Campeones de la Lucha Libre (The Champions of Wrestling). She was also the co-creator, producer and designer on Mucha Lucha, a Warner Bros' hit animated series which ran for 52 episodes on Kids WB and Cartoon Network. When not animating, Lili draws the cutest dog portraits over at Doggie Drawings. I love the retro kitsch look of her dog portraits and, as an animal lover, the idea of a getting a personalized pet painting really appeals to me! If you don’t own a dog, have no fear, she draws other animals as well. In addition, as the proud dog owner of a rescued Boston Terrier named Boogie, Lili donates a percentage of her Doggie Drawing sales to Boston Terrier/Animal rescue (woo hoo!).

To check out Lili's ice cream site, We All Scream, click here. If you’re a fan of this site, I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I do. You can see more of Lili’s work via her Flickr page and on her Doggie Drawings site. Thanks, Lili!

To see a larger version of the recipe, simply click on the image at the top of this post. You can also view additional images from Lili after the jump.

The Mixing Bowl: Lamingtons (aka Passionfruit Curd Cakes) by Polli

You may remember Tess and Maja, the lovely ladies behind the jewelry company Polli, from their previous Mixing Bowl contribution---the gorgeous to look at and wonderful to eat “I Scream Sandwiches.” I was so impressed with their last recipe that when they offered to whip up another delicious treat for Dessert Girl readers, I couldn’t wait to see what they came up with next! I was, of course, thrilled when they sent over this recipe for an Australian lamington by Polli team member Hannah. I’m a big fan of regional desserts, and this one looks sooo yummy. Plus, this lamington has got a bit of a twist to it (traditionally the cakes are square and covered in chocolate), which makes it that much more fun! With all that passion fruit and lemon curd, it really is the perfect summertime treat, although I guess it’s winter in Australia, so I suppose that makes it a perfect winter treat as well! Really, it works all year round! So be sure to try it out this weekend, no matter what part of the world you’re living in. :-)

From Polli: Imagine sponge cake with lemon curd filling coated in passionfruit jelly and rolled in coconut. The jelly is made with fresh passionfruit and agar powder not gelatin so it is vegetarian friendly and not overpowered by sugar. Delicious! Such moist little cakes.

I’m not the type of gal that goes ga-ga for jewelry. I don’t believe in jewelry for the sake of jewelry. I’m not into bling, but I am into Polli. I can’t get enough of their cool, architectural designs. Since we last heard from them, they’ve introduced some pretty awesome wooden necklaces and a jewelry collection designed by fellow Mixing Bowl contributor, artist Emma van Leest. Plus, they’re dedicated to maintaining a low carbon footprint by doing things like using recycled materials, walking and cycling to work, and using energy efficient lighting. They've even been officially named a low-carbon company by the Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI). How cool is that?

To check out more from Polli and to shop online, click here. You can find the complete recipe for the lamingtons and more photos after the jump. Thanks to Tess, Maja, Hannah, and the entire Polli team for another great recipe!

The Mixing Bowl: Apple Crumble by Sol Linero

I have an addiction...to Pinterest. I joined about a year ago and my obsession with pinning is still going strong. I'm not much of a social networking fan. I never really got into Facebook or Twitter or any of the other sites that people seem to love so much, but, boy, Pinterest has got me, and it's got me good! So, you may be wondering what all this Pinterest talk has to do with today's Mixing Bowl contributor Sol Linero. Well, I'll tell ya. I first discovered Sol's work on, you guessed it, Pinterest! To be more precise, I kept pinning fabulous illustrations by unknown artists, only to discover that they were all created by Sol Linero! After this happened about half a dozen times, I knew that I had to contact her. I simply could not get enough of her charming designs! After graciously agreeing to contribute a recipe to the Mixing Bowl, Sol sent me this wonderful illustrated recipe for her Aunt's Apple Crumble, a recipe choice that made me sooo happy because Apple Crumble just so happens to be one of my favorite desserts! Apple Crumble, Sol Linero, and Pinterest. What is better than that??

Sol Linero is a graphic designer/illustrator who hails from Buenos Aires. She has worked with Discovery, MTV Latin America, Nickelodeon, and MTV, among others. You can see more of her work on her web site, right here. Thanks, Sol! (To see a larger version of the Apple Crumble recipe, simply click on the image at the top of this post.)