A super-easy no-bake dessert with all the flavor of your favorite Italian pastry, cannoli, and none of the hassle! There are some restauarant dishes that, as much as I love them, I never even consider making at home. Those dishes often involve deep-frying because I just can't deal with the thought of a bubbling pot of hot oil. The mess! The ...
Strawberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
Celebrate strawberry season with these buttery, moist strawberry muffins with an irresistible vanilla crumb topping. June is strawberry season and I am buying berries by the quart! Last Saturday, at the Oak Park Farmers' Market, I bought 4 (!) quarts of berries for jam, baking, and just eating out of hand. No one in my family can resist ...
King Cake Babka
Imagine a cinnamon babka topped with sweet icing and decorated with sprinkles in classic Mardi Gras colors of green, gold and purple. It's a King Cake Babka! Are you a fan of King Cake? My daughter has a friend whose mother is from New Orleans and every February when the girls were in elementary school, this mother would bring in an ...
How to Make Focaccia Bread Art
Your focaccia bread dough is a blank canvas! Turn it into art with herb and vegetable decorations for a fun, family-friendly baking project. There have been so many pandemic food trends over this past year. Remember Dalgona coffee? Pancake cereal? (I opted for cookie cereal instead.) Sourdough? And the latest thing seems to be the TikTok ...
Perfect All-Butter Pie Dough
With Thanksgiving just a few days away, here is a refresher on how to make flaky, flavorful pie dough using butter and only butter. I expect there are some people out there who are making pie for the very first time this Thanksgiving. And that prospect may be intimidating. You can, of course, make something else for dessert. Or buy a premade ...
Cranberry Pecan Baked Oatmeal Cups
Baked oatmeal cups are a healthy, make-ahead breakfast that your family can grab and eat on the go - even if they are just going to another room. My version is studded with Cape Cod Select Premium Frozen cranberries and buttery pecans for extra nutrition and tons of flavor. Back when my kids left the house to go to school - remember those ...
Homemade Cookie Cereal
Think of this homemade version of cookie cereal as dessert and not breakfast, because this is NOT good for you - unless you count the milk. But it sure is delicious and fun to eat! I woke up the other day dreaming about Cookie Crisp - you know, that sugar cereal from childhood that your mom would never buy for you in a million years because ...
Cranberry Curd Bars with Pecan Shortbread Crust
Luscious cranberry curd sits atop a rich, buttery pecan shortbread for a marriage made in heaven. Best of all, this recipe uses Cape Cod Select Premium Frozen cranberries, so you can make it any time. No need to worry about buying perishable fruit! I have written before about my abiding love for cranberries - the original American berry that ...
Easy Whole Wheat Pita Bread
If you want to start baking bread, these easy, forgiving whole wheat pita breads are a great place to start. They are the perfect accompaniment for all your Middle Eastern and Israeli-inspired meals. Baking bread has become a national pastime of sorts during this unsettling moment of shelter-in-place and social isolation. (Provided, of ...
How to Start Baking Sourdough Bread
Jumping on the sourdough bandwagon? Let me help. With so much extra time on our hands these days and a shortage of yeast at the grocery store, many people are trying to bake sourdough, or naturally leavened, bread for the first time. Working with a sourdough starter and using it to create crusty, artisanal loaves is a worthy and soothing ...
Better-than-Starbucks Homemade Madeleines
Learn how to make madeleines - the delicate, buttery French cakes with the iconic scallop shape. So much better than the Starbucks version! A perfect shelter-in-place baking project. There's a lot of mythology surrounding madeleines. Most famously, it was a bite of these little cakes - or are they cookies? - dipped in tea that triggered a ...
New York-Style Black and White Cookies at Home
If you can't get to the bakery, make your favorite bakery treats at home, like these authentic, New York-style black-and-white cookies. These are strange times, my friends. Many, if not most, of us are sheltering at home and engaging in social distancing as the world grapples with this horrible pandemic. Like so many of you, I am essentially ...
Lemon Poppyseed Hamantaschen
A sophisticated, delicate take on traditional Purim hamantaschen: lemon poppyseed! Next week brings the Jewish festival of Purim, a carnival holiday where people are encouraged to dress in costume and make merry. Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from an evil government minister, named Haman, who plotted to destroy the ...
Persimmon Pie with Pecan Streusel
Instead of (or in addition to) pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, serve something unexpected: persimmon pie with a sweet pecan streusel topping. I created this recipe and blog post as an entry in the Florida Crystals® Pure Joy Recipe Challenge. Be sure to follow Florida Crystals® on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. It's almost Thanksgiving ...
Easy Air Fryer Skillet Cookie
Bake a warm, gooey skillet cookie in your air fryer in less than thirty minutes. Top with ice cream and caramel sauce to create the easiest cookie sundae ever! Do you have as much leftover Halloween candy as we do? It was cold and, yes, snowy in Chicago on Halloween, which definitely caused some trick-or-treaters to stay home. As a result, I ...
Vegan Eton Mess with Tropical Fruit
A classic British boarding school dessert updated to be 100% vegan with aquafaba meringues, luscious whipped coconut cream and sweet tropical fruit. My daughter, Zuzu, has never tried a meringue. As I have mentioned before, she is allergic to eggs. While she can tolerate eggs when they are mixed into a batter and baked, such as in a cake or ...
Savory Cheddar Herb Scones
For a savory breakfast treat or to accompany a hearty soup at dinner, it is hard to beat these flaky, buttery cheddar herb scones! I've been a little obsessed with baking scones lately. I suspect that the origin of my obsession is the closing of a favorite neighborhood cafe that made the best scones I have ever tasted. Huge, flaky and ...
Spelt Sour Cherry Pie for Mark
A classic sour cherry pie recipe updated with nutty, whole grain spelt flour. My extended family suffered a terrible tragedy recently when my cousin-in-law, Mark, passed away suddenly at the age of 60. I had known Mark for over thirty-five years. He was, without a doubt, one of the kindest, most thoughtful men I have ever met and he was ...
Apple and Honey Cupcakes for Rosh Hashanah
A family-friendly dessert idea for Rosh Hashanah: apple cupcakes with honey cream cheese frosting and shards of honeycomb candy. Remember when I said I was over cake for Rosh Hashanah and I was going to make a pie this year? Lies. All lies. As soon as I finished making that amazing Fig and Honey Custard Pie that blew up on Instagram - thanks ...
Award-Winning Apple Blackberry Pie
This is the perfect time of year to make my apple-blackberry pie. I won second place in a pie bake-off with this recipe, so you know it's good! This fall I tried something new: I entered a pie-baking contest. The contest was at my local farmers' market and was designed to showcase the bounty of the market. Pies were judged on looks, taste ...
Great British Baking Show Cornish Pasties
This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC. All opinions are my own. Enjoy this recipe for Cornish pasties made with Certified Angus Beef®. I am so excited that "The Great British Baking Show" is returning to Netflix on August 30. I've mentioned before that ...
Cheddar and Onion Stuffed Challah Bread
Thanks to Cabot Cheese for sponsoring this Shavuot post. All opinions stated herein are entirely my own. Enjoy this recipe for stuffed challah made with Cabot Cheddar and caramelized onions. In my last post for cheddar walnut rugelach, I explained that eating dairy foods is one of the most beloved traditions for the upcoming holiday of ...
Cheddar & Walnut Rugelach for Shavuot
Thanks to Cabot Cheese for sponsoring this Shavuot post. All opinions stated herein are entirely my own. Enjoy this recipe for savory rugelach made with Cabot Cheddar and chopped walnuts. Coming fifty days after Passover, Shavuot - which means “weeks” in Hebrew - commemorates the day God gave the Torah to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. ...
How to Freeze and Use Cherries
July is peak cherry season! If your family loves cherries as much as mine does, why not freeze some of these beauties while they are in season and enjoy your favorite fruit all year long? If you enjoy eating or baking with sweet cherries, you know that these diminutve stone fruits are at their peak in July and August. While you can ...
Raspberry Rose Semolina Cake
Shavuot is known as the Festival of Roses: celebrate this joyous occasion and the coming of summer with this stunning Raspberry Rose Semolina Cake. Coming fifty days after Passover, Shavuot, which means “weeks” in Hebrew, commemorates the day God gave the Torah, including the Ten Commandments, to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. This ...