Earlier this year I was sent some of the new chocolates from Valrhona to play around with. While I made quick work of the rest of them, one stood out in particular: Xocopili, smooth balls of chocolate flavored with a myriad of spices, including a heavy dose of cumin. Frédéric Bau, a professor and head chocolatier at the fantastic Ecole de Grand Chocolat Valrhona, developed…
I had big plans for this cake. I bought these gorgeous apricots, packed them up to take out to the country last weekend to make a cake. I planned to pick some rose geranium leaves to flavor the batter, and I was going to bake it and serve it proudly forth. Except someone decided to use my perfectly-ripe apricots to make some jam, and the…
An American pal said to me the other day, “The French like carrot cake. You just can’t tell them what’s in it first.” Indeed, I remember making an all-American dinner for some friends and when I’d mentioned “carrot” cake coming afterward, the look on their faces was like, “WTF?” One mouthful, and of course, they loved it. But then again, you could slather cream cheese…
If I had to name my top three desserts, in that too-brief list would be Black & White Cookies. I can’t visit New York without having at least one per day, although it’s getting tougher and tougher to find a decent one there. On my last trip I found a lot of shrink-wrapped cookies, but there’s nothing like biting into a jumbo-sized fluffy disk of…
This is the post I never thought I’d write. I never wanted to tackle madeleines. I thought they were something that…darn it…you just needed to eat when you’re in France. Like hamburgers and bagels, I didn’t think everything translated cross-culturally. If you wanted a madeleine, darn it, you came to France to have one. I mean, did you ever have a bagel in Banff? Do…
Served with a cool, tangy scoop of Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, from The Perfect Scoop This is one of my favorite types of ways to serve chocolate in a cake: strong, bittersweet, and creamy-smooth with a soft, luscious melt-in-your-mouth texture that’s so tender it practically evaporates seconds after you take a bite. But the intense chocolate flavors lingers on and on and on. Bliss.
You will love those Friendship Bars. Packed with dried fruits and nuts, and low in fat, they’re great for an energy boost at home or on the go. I like to bring them on trips with me but they’re also good around the Christmas holiday since the flavors resemble fruitcake, but are much more welcome! Adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich Feel free to…
The word ‘consulting’ always sounds like a dream job when you’re working in a restaurant kitchen, slaving over a hot stove as a line or prep cook. As a consultant, it sounds like you sweep into a kitchen whenever you feel like it, and bake something up with the staff. But it’s rather challenging work. Restaurants call in consultants when the kitchen is in dire…
Did you know that when a chocolate cake recipe says to “Grease a cake pan and dust it with flour”, you can substitute unsweetened cocoa powder for the flour? Here’s a favorite chocolate cake recipe tip: Simply butter the cake pan then spoon in a heaping spoonful of cocoa powder, then shake the pan to distribute the cocoa over the bottom and sides of the…
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