Cookie of the month: Slicing a coconut cookie

This year I got the jump on holiday cookie baking in November. This wasn’t just me working early for cookie’s sake. I had a deadline in mid-November for a column I was writing on slice-and-bake cookies for Kansas Country Living, so by late October/early November, I was making cookie doughs and freezing them . . . → Read More: Cookie of the month: Slicing a coconut cookie

Scone of the Month: Toasting coconut, raspberries, white chocolate

Three tastes had been on my mind when I made scones in July — coconut, raspberries and white chocolate. These had, in fact, been on my radar since wintertime,  when contemplating scone flavors. This trio of tart berry, soft sweet chocolate and nutty shreds of coconut seemed idyllic together in a scone.

I . . . → Read More: Scone of the Month: Toasting coconut, raspberries, white chocolate

Scone of the Month: Cooling it with citrus

Certain ingredients create certain sensations, like those whose tastes create the illusion of cool, despite not actually being a lower temperature. Powdered (confectioner’s) sugar is one…a fine dusting of this soft sweetness automatically tempers any sort of sweet — even one as strongly warm-flavored as coffee or chocolate or cinnamon —  and on . . . → Read More: Scone of the Month: Cooling it with citrus

Bread of the Month: Pureéing mango for quick bread

Idon’t have a lot of experience with mangos, outside of the occasional fresh spear or using frozen chunks (very handy and yummy) for smoothies. Mango is unique in flavor — it is subtle in both taste and texture, iseeming to fuse together peaches, pineapple, melon and citrus. It’s delicious, but not overpowering, a mellow . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Pureéing mango for quick bread

Finding my fun in ‘Dolly’s Doughnut’

“If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true, and that is unacceptable.” — Carrie Fisher

Sometimes, after a crap-ass year, you just need to have some fun.

That is not a terribly positive beginning (was it the term “crap-ass”?), and I apologize. But I speak the truth in my feeling. Despite this being . . . → Read More: Finding my fun in ‘Dolly’s Doughnut’

Bread of the Month: Basking in a morning glory muffin

My mom’s got a thing against muffins. She won’t make them. She won’t eat them. This stems from a traumatic period in her childhood, where her obligations as a member of 4-H pushed her to the brink after years of being chained to an oven, churning out muffin after muffin.

It’s not the taste . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Basking in a morning glory muffin

Feeding the creative muse

“To feed your Muse, then, you should always have been hungry about life since you were a child.” — Ray Bradbury, “Zen in the Art of Wrting: Essays on Creativity”

Ray Bradbury told me why I am here.

He told everyone, but only some of us were listening. I feel lucky that on that . . . → Read More: Feeding the creative muse

Capturing the spirit of a Kansas pie queen

If Norma Grubb’s spirit could have been in my kitchen this past Thanksgiving morning (and if her spirit could be anywhere, likely last on her list would be my mad kitchen), she would have been laughing her you-know-what off. I began the day in serious distress, as it was raining, and the pie I intended . . . → Read More: Capturing the spirit of a Kansas pie queen