Bread of the Month: Loafing with streusel and scones

Sometimes I wonder why it takes me so long to get to things. Like recipes. Like a Cinnamon Scone Bread recipe, in particular, which I first saw back in 2014 on the Food52 website, and at that moment declared, “Oooo, I gotta make that!” Just how long could one deny oneself layers of scones sandwiched . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Loafing with streusel and scones

Baked Sunday Mornings: ‘Drowning’ in a coffee dessert

I can’t remember which cooking maven (it was either Ina or Nigella) I first saw make affogato. But I never forgot this dessert — as simple as they come — where piping hot coffee or freshly brewed espresso is poured over a creamy mound of freezing cold ice cream. The version I saw used vanilla . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: ‘Drowning’ in a coffee dessert

Pleasing the plum palate

Is it possible I’ve been hypnotized by a fruit? If so, it is the plum that has seduced me, once again. Fortunately — or not, really — the season is woefully short, but during it, I find myself drawn, again and again, to the stunning array of plums, pluots and plum/cherry hybrids, gleaming like jewels . . . → Read More: Pleasing the plum palate

Harvesting late-summer creativity with ratatouille

If you’ve never seen the movie “Ratatouille,” you should. And if you’ve never made the vegetable dish that, in part, inspired the film’s name, you should go there, too. Both exemplify the best of what I love about art, cooking and creativity and the hope inspired in one’s passions.

Both are “simple”:

Released in 2007 . . . → Read More: Harvesting late-summer creativity with ratatouille

Baked Sunday Mornings: Sizing up a Monster Cookie

Many memories were stirred up as I mixed and baked a batch of Monster Cookies for the Baked Sunday Mornings online baking group this week. The recipe (you’ll find it here: http://bakedsundaymornings.com/2018/08/31/in-the-oven-monster-cookies/), from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking,” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito (2008), is an old-fashioned drop cookie, described as “One part oatmeal . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Sizing up a Monster Cookie