I know I’m late in the game and I have a gazillion excuses. Banana Bread became the recipe of the lockdown. It seemed everyone had some overripe bananas that needed to be used up, which isn’t all that uncommon even in the best of times. While I’ve had my own Banana Bread recipe on the blog for a while, but with many people had trouble…
I could probably name about a dozen people who could be called baking legends. One of them is Claudia Fleming, who was the pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, and whose book, The Last Course, became a cookbook classic. Claudia was known for desserts that managed to balance seasonal fruits, as well as chocolate, spices, herbs, grains, and even vegetables, not by using fancy techniques, but…
I was browsing some older cookbooks recently. There are so many really great new cookbooks that come out every season that it’s easy to forget some of the beloved ones waiting patiently on our shelves, for us to return to them. Before electronics came on the scene, I used to curl up every night under the cover with an actual book or two, before dozing…
In terms of favorite ice cream flavors, it’s likely that Fig Leaf Ice Cream isn’t at the top of your list. But once you taste it, you’ll probably add it. It’s tricky to provide an exact description of the flavor, which is coconutty, and references figs, but is its own flavor in and of itself. Living in a city, I don’t have a fig tree,…
When I originally came up with this ice cream, the year was 2009, which seems like a long, long time ago, in so many ways. Absinthe had been banned in France since 1914, blamed for a host of societal ills, even being accused of causing people to go crazy (which has since been debunked; most blame additives added to cheap absinthe, which caused brain damage),…
When I was a kid and we went trick-or-treating for Halloween, we’re run around the neighborhood, collecting candy from various houses, filling our bags with candy bars, sour bites, an occasional apple (ugh!, for a kid…), and assorted other goodies. Once home, we’d spill our loot onto the floor and commence with some serious trading. The ne plus ultra of candies to get were coconut-chocolate…
Eggnog wasn’t something that I had a lot of nostalgia for. Sure, I’ve spent my life around eggs and milk, and cream, but when I drink, I tend to go for the harder stuff. But I’ve been trying to change that, branching out to other beverages. No one in my family made eggnog, but as an adult, I’ve been more than happy to churn up…
There isn’t quite a word for “pie” in French. Tourte describes a double-crusted, enclosed pastry of some sort, but isn’t quite the same as pies in the States are. Like dishes from other nationalities and cultures, pie represents a tradition to Americans. Pies are a dessert we look forward to baking when fruit and berries come into season, and they are an essential part of our holidays, like Thanksgiving…
Once again, I found myself with an overload of fruit. Sure, I like pears and apples, which show up at the market on the cusp of autumn. But I want summer to last as long as possible. So when I see good nectarines, peaches, and plums lingering at the market, I pack my market basket to the brim, carefully making sure the delicate fruits aren’t going to get…
Join me on my Spring 2026 book tour for my latest book, The Great Book of Chocolate
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