I had lunch recently at Gjelina ( http://www.gjelina.com ) on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA. I suppose it falls under the category of “trendy”, but I love the combination of good food and great people-watching, so I always look forward to having a bite there.…
This is the perfect indulgence for the cheesecake AND chocolate lover. I used to buy them at Rosie’s Bakery in Boston and adapted this recipe from “Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred Baking Book.”
This is one of my favorite tarts - very lemony, with a rich creamy filling. Paul Bocuse’s “Simple French Recipes for the Home Chef” calls for crème fraiche, but I find the heavy cream works just as well. This is the perfect finish to a great dinner.
This is one of my favorite French tarts. Most of it can be made ahead, so it’s great when you’re having guests, because it can be baked several hours before serving. This is a classic recipe that can be found in numerous cookbooks. In Julia Child’s Masterin…
These delicious and nutritious muffins are from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Cookbook - http://bit.ly/8E06Dc . It’s a great resource, and one of the cookbooks that I actually use quite often. Even though they are loaded with ingredients like shredded…
These little doughnuts are best eaten on the same day, in fact, they are best when still warm. You don’t need any special fryer equipment, a simple 4 quart saucepan will work, and they’re so easy to make. I like to use a mini ice cream scoop for form the do…
Every part of the Clementine -- peel, pith, and flesh -- plays a role in this moist almond cake. Each slice has a sophisticated slightly bittersweet marmalade-like flavor, since boiling the Clementines beforehand mellows any bitterness from the skin and pit…
The trick to great rugelach is making a flaky buttery rich pastry dough. If the dough gathers into a cohesive mass around the blade in the food processor work bowl, you have over-processed it. Make sure to stop processing at the point where the mixture is s…
The streusel topping is especially good on these muffins. I often double the recipe and save some in the freezer to use later on Blueberry or Banana Muffins.
The best of two favorite cookies, baked into a brownie. This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart’s Christmas Cookbook. Featured as a "holiday treat" on the popular food blog One for the Table www.oneforthetable.com
These muffins are a great alternative to pumpkin. You can use cinnamon and nutmeg in place of the spices, but I think allspice and cloves give them a unique flavor. I usually make extra sweet potato for dinner and then make these muffins the next morning.
These muffins are based on the famous southern Hummingbird Cake – made with banana, pineapples, and coconut. Food historians generally cite Mrs. L.H. Wiggin's recipe published in the February 1978 issue of Southern Living magazine as the first printed refer…
I’ve been making this cheesecake at Thanksgiving for years and it’s always a crowd pleaser. The Whipped cream topping is particularly good with the pumpkin spices; the addition of sour cream gives it a crème fraiche quality.
These brownies were popular when I was growing up and I saw them being made recently on an episode of Cook’s Country and thought I would give them a try. They were a BIG hit! Toasting the pecans is crucial to the brownie flavor. Using the aluminum foil lini…
This is a quick dessert that’s perfect for two people. Use your favorite apples, I like to use a combo of Granny Smith with Cortland, Macoun, Empire, Macs, or Rome
This is a delicious moist, dark, spicy pumpkin bread. It’s perfect on its own, or you can make “sandwiches” with cream cheese and thinly sliced apples. The cornmeal gives the bread a great texture.
This is a very easy dessert and is made even easier with ready to use Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry. Use a cast iron skillet to ensure that butter and sugar caramelize.
These individual soufflés are handy for dinner parties because they can be made ahead and kept in the freezer and baked when needed. Cook’s Illustrated suggests a Mocha alternative by adding one tablespoon of instant coffee powder dissolved in one tablespoo…
I use pumpkin all year long, but it’s especially nice during the autumn months. These muffins are lightly sweetened with brown sugar, and stay very moist. Pumpkin works particularly well with whole wheat and creates a very tender muffin. This recipe also wo…
Snickerdoodles are a New England favorite, but the exact origin of the cookie seems to be a mystery. The Joy of Cooking claims that Snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which mea…