I am a big proponent of giving edible gifts. Homemade gifts of any kind are both personal and unexpected. They show love and thoughtfulness because they take precious time to make. Edible homemade gifts have the advantage of not cluttering up people's homes - because they will be consumed! -- and anyone, even the least crafty among us, can make ...
Honey Whole Wheat Bread with Yogurt Butter
This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Organic, King Arthur Flour, and Levoons. As always, all opinions are my own. As the darkest days of the year descend, we turn inward seeking warmth and solace and filling our bellies with the most elemental of foods: stews, braises, and, of course, bread. Is there any food more comforting, more nourishing ...
Thanksgiving Dessert: Caramel Apple Tart
I love apple pie as much as the next girl, but what really gets my heart racing is the thought of tender apple slices drizzled with warm caramel on a flaky, all-butter crust. And, because you only have to roll out one crust, this recipe is less work than your typical, double-crusted apple pie. (Although the recipe gives you enough crust for two ...
Candy Bar Skillet Cookie
Leftover Halloween candy. Never used to be a problem. Until January of this year, we lived in a house that received hundreds upon hundreds of Trick-or-Treaters every October 31. To be perfectly candid, the reason was because we live in the part of our really nice town that bordered a less affluent town. Families often came from the less prosperous ...
Deluxe Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Is there anything better than a chocolate cookie? I would argue that there is and it's a chocolate sandwich cookie stuffed with vanilla creme. Now, don't get me wrong: I love chocolate as much as anyone. Probably more than most people, in fact. But I always prefer treats that offer two flavors instead of just one. I'd rather have a cream cheese ...
Pumpkin Apple Bread with Garam Masala
October means two things to me: pumpkin and apple. Luckily, those ingredients actually go together! Like in this Pumpkin Apple Bread. You use canned pumpkin in the batter -- although have you seen those articles that say that canned pumpkin is really squash? The horror! -- and then fold in chunks of delicious, diced apple right before baking. I ...
Apple Streusel Tart
Rosh Hashanah may be over, but it is still apple season. Whether you visit an apple orchard to pick your own or stock up on heirloom varieties at a local farmers market, now is the time to enjoy the tremendous variety of cooking, baking and eating apples. Goodness knows I love a trip to the apple orchard, but when busy schedules do not allow for ...
Applesauce Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
So much of my Rosh Hashanah menu is set in stone. We have to start the meal with kreplach in chicken soup. The main course is brisket obviously. And a beautiful braided round challah is the centerpiece of the table. But what about dessert? I have never quite found the Rosh Hashanah dessert. The one I want to serve year after year. The ...
Double Ginger Molasses Cookies from Dorie Greenspan
A new cookbook from baking guru Dorie Greenspan is always cause for celebration. And when that cookbook is all about cookies? Well, all I can say is preheat the oven and soften some butter. Because it is time to bake. Every year in September, National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, housewares giant OXO supports Cookies for Kids Cancer, a ...
Shortcake with Grilled Peaches & Rosemary
I have had such a busy summer that I have barely had time to do the things I love best: shop at the farmers market, pick my own fruits and vegetables at a pick-your-own farm, and cook for friends and family. This weekend, however, we found ourselves with a blissfully unscheduled Sunday. On the spur of the moment, I invited some friends to join ...
Grinding Flour with Mockmill and a recipe for Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Today’s post is sponsored by Mockmill. All opinions expressed herein are entirely my own. Baking bread and pastries with whole grain, freshly milled flour is an emerging culinary trend. Indeed, some of the country’s best bakeries, such as Josey Baker Bread in San Francisco and Baker Miller in Chicago, only bake with flour they mill ...
Apricot and Blueberry Galette
It pains me to say it, but my husband doesn't really care for pie. It's something about the fruit-to-pastry ratio. However, I love to make pie because it's fussy and fiddly and when you get it right, it demonstrates a lot of technique. The fact that I gravitate towards more difficult recipes probably makes me unusual among cooks. A galette, ...
Strawberry Rhubarb Lattice Pie
It was pie as procrastination -- there is no doubt. Faced with a long list of overdue tasks and a full inbox, I chose instead to stop time and bake a strawberry rhubarb pie with a picture-perfect lattice top. The farmers market strawberries were on their last legs and the stalks of rhubarb were only getting stalkier. Email can wait. Produce ...
How to Make Sourdough Bread at Home
On Valentine's Day this year, I had a special date. No, my husband did not take me out for a fancy dinner. Instead, my friend Gena and I went to a class at Bunny, the Microbakery, the latest venture from Food and Wine Best New Chef-winner Iliana Regan, to learn how to make bakery-style sourdough. It seems that Gena and I are part of a larger ...
Chocolate Orange Cake for Winter Birthdays
The birthdays keep coming around here! This week it was my husband's turn to celebrate another year. Like JR, he's not big on sweets, but I don't think it's a birthday unless someone sings and you blow out candles. So I was going to make him a cake whether he liked it or not. Of course, I'd prefer that he like it. So I set out to make a cake ...
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies for Valentine’s Day
My Valentine, I love you. I really do. And to prove it, I have made you these red velvet whoopie pies. Chocolate cakes filled with a marshmallow buttercream and decorated with Valentine's sprinkles. A perfectly contained little delight to slip into your beloved's hand with an affectionate squeeze. Is there a better way to someone's heart? If so, ...
Iced Gingersnaps
Every year at this time of year, my mother bakes dozens and dozens of Swedish gingersnaps, called pepparkakor, to give to family and friends. The recipe came from my grandmother, whose parents were Swedish, and it calls for chopped slivered almonds in the dense, spicy dough. I grew up eating these cookies by the pound as a child and they are a ...
Christmas Mince Pies
Aren't these individual mince pies adorable? I'm pretty taken with them myself. Wouldn't they look so festive at a holiday party, cookie exchange or even as the end to a jolly Christmas dinner? I couldn't just give you a recipe for sweet, spicy apple mincemeat, tell you that it makes an absolutely smashing pie filling -- yes, I'm feeling rather ...
Cookie Recipe Round-Up for National Cookie Day
Friday is National Cookie Day! And why not? It's the time of year when everyone is pulling out their favorite cookie recipes, creaming sugar and butter, chilling dough, cutting out shapes, piping icing, drizzling chocolate and filling tins. Even people who rarely bake have a favorite cookie without which their holidays would not be complete. If ...
Everything You Need to Know about Olive Oil
In August, I had the opportunity, thanks to my membership in IACP, to attend a two-day conference put on by the North American Olive Oil Association entitled "Spend Wisely on Olive Oil." I am what NAOOA calls a "primary" olive oil user, meaning I use olive oil more than any other oil. I thought I was knowledgeable about about this ancient and ...
End of Summer Peach Pie
It's hard to deny that summer is over and fall is upon us. The kids have all gone back to school. The pool is closed for another year. In some places, the warm weather lingers, but it is no longer welcome. Sweaters and boots, that's what we want now as September settles in and August is dismissed. But here in Illinois, the farmers market ...
Rosh Hashanah Recipes: Round Challah
As I mentioned earlier this week, the Jewish New Year holiday, Rosh Hashanah, is right around the corner. The holiday, which lasts two days, begins at sundown on September 13. Rosh Hashanah is a festive occasion, as most New Year celebrations tend to be. Many Jews will mark the occasion with a holiday dinner for friends and family. I explained ...
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Chocolate zucchini cake may sound weird, but it is delicious and fun way to eat your vegetables! It is so zucchini season, is it not? Whether you are a gardener overrun with the stuff or a savvy farmers' market shopper buying 6 zucchini for $4, these green squash are everywhere. In fact, I'm going to be on WGN's Midday News Lunch Break ...
Apricot Tea Cake
My family's lack of enthusiasm for apricots frustrates me. Peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries - all the other stone fruits they will eat with gusto. (Stone Fruit, by the way, is the name of my rock band.) Apricots, on the other hand, will sit in the fruit drawer until I come along and turn them into a dessert. (You might ask why, in that case, ...
Victoria Sponge with Gooseberry Compote
My corner of the Chicago area is small, but surprisingly international. So it was the other day that I found myself in a conversation with four other people at a cocktail party none of whom had been born in the United States. There were two Brits, a Canadian, a Swede and boring old me. The conversation turned to food. Okay, I steered the ...