Strolling into the month of May, we welcome warmer weather, we start planting flowers, and we celebrate one of our favorite events of the year: The Kentucky Derby. At what other event can you find lavish, large-brimmed hats, pastel tone jackets, and focus only on horse racing? While you sit back to watch the races, prepare yourself (and your friends) this Pomegranate Mint Julep. It elevates your usual derby drink with a rosemary simple syrup and fresh pomegranate juice. Talk about a tangy and satisfying way to cheer on your favorite horse (we’ll be rooting on Renegade!).
How Did the Mint Julep Become a Part of the Kentucky Derby?
The association between the mint julep and the Kentucky Derby really extends to southern traditions. The mix of bourbon, sugar, water, and fresh mint dates back to the 1800’s and its popularity rose mainly in the south. As bourbon became associated with the home state of the Kentucky Derby, the mint julep took the spotlight as both refreshing and elegant. The derby officially began serving the cocktail in signature souvenir glasses in 1937 and the rest is history. Now the Kentucky Derby serves around 125,000 mint juleps each year.
Juicy and green with black seeds and a fuzzy skin, kiwi is one of the most identifiable fruits out by sight. Its tangy flavor is quite an identifier, too! Widely available year-round in grocery stores, you can use kiwis anytime but they’re especially refreshing in the spring and summer. In order to use this small fruit to the best of its ability, we’re incorporating kiwi’s bright and tropical nature into some of our favorite dessert recipes like tarts, cakes, and even pavlova. Each recipe is perfect for those sunny, warm days and wows at your next family picnic.
The filling here is a smooth, silky mix of kiwi, lime, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk that goes directly into a homemade tart crust. Plus it uses both lime juice and zest to round out the depth and brightness of this recipe.
This Black Sesame Kiwi Cheesecake elevates your basic cheesecake into an unforgettable recipe. The toasty flavor of black sesame seeds in the homemade graham cracker crust is a great counterpart to the tangy sweetness of kiwi.
Between two layers of cake sits a swirl of strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream with a spoonful of homemade kiwi jam in the center. Plus, if you’re really a fan of the kiwi jam you can always add more to the top of the cake or even preserve a jar for a breakfast accompaniment.
This cream pie starts with a buttery homemade crust using apple cider vinegar for flakiness. Then, we fill with a coconut and kiwi filling that’s creamy like a custard. For a little extra coconut, we’re also covering the top with a homemade coconut whipped cream.
Warm, melty white chocolate chips lend a sweetness to the addition of earthy, umami matcha powder as well as tart dried candied kiwi. The textures here work well together to make a perfectly chewy cookie that reminds us of childhood.
Since pavlova is so simple to make and doesn’t carry much of a flavor on its own, we’re dressing it up with a homemade kiwi jam that’s succulent and tangy. Plus, each pavlova gets its own topping of orange zest whipped cream that adds that extra punch of flavor.
One of our favorite parts about a tart is how you can fill every space with a delicious blend of fresh fruit. For this tart’s filling we’re turning to our green friends kiwi and lime to take the tanginess up to level 10. It’s a smooth, silky mix of kiwi, lime, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk that goes directly into a homemade tart crust. And don’t worry, we promise this crust recipe stays simple, making you wonder why you haven’t been making your crust from scratch this whole time.
What’s the Difference in Flavor Between Lime Juice and Lime Zest?
This particular Kiwi Lime Tart recipe uses both lime juice and zest in the filling which may sound counterintuitive but absolutely has its purpose. The juice from a lime is going to be slightly sweet but mostly acidic for that sharp bite of flavor. On the other hand, zest is more for fragrance and rounding out the taste. The zest is more intense than juice in its smell but it’s also more complex with a slight bitterness and overall citrus aroma. To put it simply, zest is zesty. These two work together to pick up where the other lacks giving you a depth that one ingredient on its own cannot.
The creamy allure of cheesecake is enough to get us into our kitchen and ready to bake up something delicious. This Black Sesame Kiwi Cheesecake elevates your basic cheesecake into an unforgettable recipe. The toasty flavor of black sesame seeds is a great counterpart to the tangy sweetness of kiwi. In order to build this cheesecake up from the bottom we’re starting with a homemade graham cracker crust that uses sesame paste within the recipe. Then, you’ll create the delicate cheesecake center that’s includes little adjustments to make it the best it can be. Finally, a kiwi gelée layers on top that’s shockingly beautiful and adds a different texture to the cheesecake experience.
What is Gelée?
We know gelée looks pretty close to jello but they are two completely different things. The key signifier of a gelée is a lightly-set texture that’s softer than jello and usually uses fruit for flavoring. Plus, it’s usually used within dessert and pastry recipes. A gelée comes from thickening a liquid with gelatin or in our case, the plant-based alternative agar agar. After your layer sets, it’ll end up with a glossy finish that looks almost like a colorful glaze.
Sometimes you don’t want to make an entire cake… It’s a special occasion for a small crowd, a gift for someone you love, or even just a sweet treat for snacking on at home. Either way, a personal-size mini cake is the answer to your baking needs. This recipe for Vanilla Cakes with Kiwi Jam makes 12 mini cakes with their own stunning decor and toppings. Between two layers of cake sits a swirl of strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream with a spoonful of homemade kiwi jam in the center. Plus, if you’re really a fan of the kiwi jam you can always add more to the top of the cake or even preserve a jar for a breakfast accompaniment. But don’t worry if you’re still hankering for a full-size cake, our recipe for Vanilla Cakes with Kiwi Jam can also make two larger cakes instead.
What is Swiss Meringue Buttercream?
In the United States we’re a bit more used to thinking of the American version of buttercream that’s utterly sweet and thick. But, Swiss Meringue Buttercream is more refined, and lighter with a texture that can stand on its own but still melt once in your mouth. The difference is that Swiss Meringue Buttercream gently heats egg whites and sugar together and whips them into a meringue before beating in butter. There’s also no powdered sugar involved so you don’t get the grittiness that can come with American buttercream.
Today’s the perfect day to treat yourself with your own individual cake.
Ingredients
Scale
For the cake:
130g cake flour
140g granulated sugar
200g eggs, room temperature
20g milk
40g oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the kiwi jam:
6 total kiwis, peeled and chopped
1.5 cups sugar
A pinch kosher salt
For the strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream:
1 cup sugar
1 cup strawberry preserves
6 egg whites, room temperature
1 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
¼ tsp salt
1 drop red food coloring (optional)
Instructions
For the cake:
In a mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar.
Beat with a whisk.
Sift flour and and into the mixture.
Once incorporated, add in the oil, milk, and vanilla.
Mix well.
Pour into a greased half sheet tray.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Wait until cooled and cut with 3-inch round cookie cutter rings.
For the kiwi jam:
In a sauce pan, stir in all ingredients.
Cook over medium heat until bubbly and thick.
Let cool before using.
For the strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream:
Create a double boiler system. In a small saucepan add 2-inches of water and bring it to a simmer. Add a mixing bowl on top to gently heat the ingredients in the bowl.
In your boiler bowl, add egg whites, strawberry preserves, and sugar.
Place on boiler system and whisk until sugar is divided.
Remove the bowl from heat and add to your stand mixer.
Using a whip attachment, whip until a meringue forms.
While still whipping, add food coloring, vanilla, salt, and butter.
Mix on high. It will look separated but keep going!
Once it comes together, scrape the bowl.
Add a paddle attachment and mix until smooth.
To assemble:
Starting with the 3-inch round cakes, lay them out with one as a bottom and one as the top.
Add buttercream to a piping bag with a round/medium tip.
With this recipe, we’re giving you the choice to make either one whole Kiwi Jam Pavlova or 10, 3-inch pavlovas perfect for a party. Since pavlova is so simple to make and doesn’t carry much of a flavor on its own, we’re dressing it up with a homemade Kiwi Jam that’s succulent and tangy. Plus, each pavlova gets its own topping of orange zest whipped cream that adds that extra punch of flavor and brightens the profile of the recipe as a whole. Let your mouth explore the different tastes and textures here as you bite into a crunchy base, jammy center, and fluffy whipped cream on top. Now all you’re missing is a glass of wine and great company.
What is a Pavlova?
Think of pavlova as a sort of meringue that becomes the star of the show. It’s crunchy on the outside but a bit more marshmallow-like on the inside unlike a meringue cookie that’s crunchy all throughout. Since it’s made of just egg whites, sugar, and powdered sugar it’s great with tart fruit that cut through that sweetness that could otherwise be overwhelming. This dessert even gets its name after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.
With a shallow sauce pan, bring 2-3 inches of water to a boil and then turn to a simmer.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add your egg whites and sugar.
Whisk over sauce pan until you can’t feel any sugar granules.
With the whisk attachment, whip on medium high until peaks start to form.
Mix on high until meringue comes to stiff peaks and its glossy.
Remove from mixer and sift powdered sugar into the meringue in 3 stages.
Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold powdered sugar into meringue, do not over-mix.
Using a piping bag and preferred piping tip, fill bag with meringue.
Using a half sheet tray lined with parchment paper start piping your meringue. Pipe into 3-inch disc and make sure the pavlova has a bottom base and side walls.
Place in oven and bake for one hour. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN!
Once the hour is up, turn off the oven and let continue to cook for 30-40 minutes You want the outside to be crispy and crunchy and the inside to be soft and pillowy.
Let cool and fill with kiwi jam, orange zested whip and any other berries.
Take an escape to the tropics without the expensive price tag. Kiwi–Coconut Cream Pie is our tropical twist on a classic cream pie. It starts with a buttery homemade crust. We even use apple cider vinegar in the crust recipe for flakiness. Then, we fill the hole with a coconut and kiwi filling that’s creamy like a custard. For a little extra coconut to come through, we’re also covering the top with a coconut whipped cream. Plus you could always add a sprinkle of toasted shredded coconut on top if you have any leftover from the filling. Off to Fiji we go!
How Can I Cut Clean Slices When Serving the Kiwi-Coconut Cream Pie?
Cream pies come with a bit of a challenge when it comes to serving from a whole pie. To make sure each guest gets a picture-perfect slice of Kiwi-Coconut Cream Pie, you’ll want to make sure this recipe chills overnight. This lets the pie set better and when you serve it cold it makes sure the filling doesn’t come spilling off the sides. You can even chill the pie in the freezer for 10 minutes before serving for a firmer texture. Another tip is to press straight down with a thin and sharp knife rather than using a sawing motion. Just don’t forget to wipe your knife in between cuts to keep things clean.
We’re going all out to bring you a cookie that’s elegant enough for a special celebration but so delicious you might end up making them one weeknight just because. These Kiwi Matcha White Chocolate Cookies are a millennial daydream. The warm, melty white chocolate chips lend a sweetness to the addition of earthy, umami matcha powder and tart dried candied kiwi. The textures here work well together to make a chewy cookie that reminds us of our childhood. Be warned though, this dough does need to be made a day ahead before baking to give it time to chill and create the round shape you love.
What Matcha Powder Should I Buy for These Cookies?
While you may run to the store for ceremonial matcha when you’re making a latte at home you won’t want to use it in this Kiwi Matcha White Chocolate Cookies recipe. Ceremonial grade is for drinking on its own, making it lighter and more delicate than culinary match. This means it’s usually too subtle to shine in baked goods. Culinary matcha on the other hand is specifically for baking and cooking. It carries a stronger, slightly more bitter flavor that can cut through sweet ingredients like white chocolate and dried fruit.
I suppose you need something to distinguish this Mummy from all the others — the Universal Monsters original, the Brendan Fraser blockbuster, the Tom Cruise disaster. Why the solution was to put the name of a relatively unknown director above the title, I have no idea.
The Mummy? More Like Lee Cronin’s The Exorcist … or Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead, Again
Lee Cronin is slightly known for the well-received (if relatively little-seen) 2023 sequel Evil Dead Rise, an intense and graphic revitalization of the infamous horror series. He has followed that up with a film that’s more intense, more graphic and much less enjoyable — and, to avoid false expectations, one that bears depressingly little connection to either the classic black-and-white Boris Karloff vehicle or the successful early-2000s series.
It does, however, bear a passing resemblance to The Exorcist, particularly in the age and depravity of its unlikely villain.
A television journalist (Jack Reynor) and his family temporarily find themselves in Cairo; he’s angling for a New York job that would bring them back stateside. Tragically, their oldest daughter (played first by Emily Mitchell, then by Natalie Grace after a jump forward) disappears, seemingly kidnapped by a neighbor; the Egyptian authorities don’t put much effort into the search, and the family returns to America in emotional tatters.
Eight years later, the girl is found alive… inside a giant sarcophagus recovered from a plane crash. Despite her dreadful condition and near-catatonic affect, they send her home. Conditions in the house deteriorate rapidly.
Unwrap with Care
I make no secret of my devotion to the horror genre, and there’s little that rattles me in most scary movies. Yet I found myself looking away from Lee Cronin’s The Mummy; it’s punishingly violent and genuinely disturbing.
(If any studio PR types are looking for a phrase to pull from this debut, I assure you: “genuinely disturbing” is the closest thing to a compliment you’ll find in this review.)
The tone and action are so unrelentingly bleak, however, that it’s tough to figure out who would enjoy Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. There is a certain breed of horror fan for whom the brutality is the point — the sort who lap up grotesquerie as if downing a scaldingly spicy brand of hot sauce. For those, I suppose there’s enough artful construction here to satisfy. Cronin isn’t without visual abilities; he invents odd angles to highlight unusual situations and makes fine use of deep focus to create intimidating moments.
For the average viewer, however, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is best avoided. With none of the cathartic thrills or inventive settings that serve to make horror fun, it’s a deeply unpleasant experience.
The name isn’t the only thing that distinguishes Cronin’s film from its predecessors. Good mummy pictures are spooky adventures, not exercises in unrelenting terror; in this one, Cronin missed the point.
Live From New York, It’s a Lorne Michaels Documentary
Those curious about the longevity and idiosyncrasies of Saturday Night Live received precious little clarity in the middling mediocre 2024 feature Saturday Night, a highly fictionalized account of the show’s birth. There’s plenty to glean, however, from Lorne, a documentary biography of the show’s creator, Lorne Michaels. A viewing of the film — which is peppered with appearances from nearly every living SNL alum of note — demonstrates how the show’s quirks derive directly from its influential producer. And, unbelievably, director Morgan Neville (who also made the Fred Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) inches toward unearthing the character of the famously enigmatic Michaels. For fans of the show, it’s essential — and even the merely curious will be more than engaged.
But, There Are More Home Releases, Too
The fortunes of writer/director Peter Farrelly have fallen since 2018, when his Green Bookwon Best Picture (an unquestionable blot on the record of that lofty award). He returns to his broad-comedy roots with Balls Up, a World Cup-themed caper starring Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser. Most early reviews have not been kind.
Cocoa powder + dark chocolate = crave-able cookies. Best Daze sugar, infused with THC, makes THC Double Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies both crave-able and mellow. A sprinkle of Best Daze salt on top before baking adds a savory note and a touch more THC. Feel free to use chopped pecans or walnuts instead of macadamia nuts. Also feel free to stop by a Best Daze location (or your local dispensary) to ask about how many THC-infused cookies you might consider as the perfect snack.
1 tspBest Daze salt + additional to top the cookies (or THC-infused salt of your choice)
½ lb (two sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cupBest Daze sugar (or THC-infused sugar of your choice)
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 oz 60% bittersweet chocolate
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder. Add the Best Daze salt and whisk together.
In a separate large bowl or using a stand mixer, cream together the butter, Best Daze sugar, and brown sugar. Add the eggs and beat to combine.
Fold in the flour mixture then stir in the chocolate and nuts.
Form the dough into balls that weigh just under one ounce – about 48-50 in total.
Line large baking pans with either silpat or parchment paper and place the dough balls, allowing space between for them to expand. Gently press the balls to flatten the tops and dust with a light sprinkle of Best Daze salt.
Place in the pre-heated over and bake for about 10-11 minutes, turning the pan once halfway through baking.
Remove from the oven – the cookies should still look slightly soft. Allow them to cool for two minutes on the pan then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
Recipe by Julia Platt Leonard Styling by Anna Franklin Photography by Dave Bryce
