Desserts

Chocolate-Chip Peppermint Cookies

February 5, 2016 by Charles 1 Comment

Candy canes are only so useful after the holidays have come and gone. What does one do with hundreds of mini candy canes, individually wrapped, sitting above one’s refrigerator?

Fortunately, the New Yorker has a number of suggestions. You could, for example, crush them up and use them to salt, er rather, mint your your driveway in advance of wintry weather. You could use them to pull clumps of hair out of your drain or drag struggling marionettes off stage. These are but a few of the New Yorker’s (somewhat) humorous suggestions.

Or, you could crush them up and make these cookies. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to make these in the past. Too often …

Pumpkin Layer Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

November 4, 2015 by Charles Leave a Comment

Oh birthdays!

As a kid, birthdays are amazing spectacles, full of friends, cake, presents, noise-makers, silly hats, and confetti. Fire trucks, magicians, and even costumed superheroes may make an appearance. All in the spirit of celebration.

And then, at least for some, birthdays lose their luster. They cease to be either fun or exciting, but simply mark the inevitable drum beat of time and aging.

I am not there and hope never to be — hiding from my birthday, pretending it has not yet come or gone. Bring on the birthdays! And bring on the cake and presents! …

Tres Leches Cake with Berries

August 15, 2015 by Charles 1 Comment

In my last post, I bemoaned the fact that I had not been trying out enough recipes from the Barefoot Contessa (a.k.a. Ina Garten). Well, sure enough, I am back in form, with a second Barefoot Contessa in less than a month’s time.

I had always wanted to make a tres leches cake, having always been eager to order the dessert at the Mexican restaurants we might frequent. I loved how moist and sweet the cake was.

And as luck would have it,…

Magically Moist Almond Cake

May 15, 2015 by Charles Leave a Comment

It’s funny. Of all the cookbooks, blogs, and cooking shows, sometimes the best recipe is on the box, staring right at you.

In my last post, I vowed to use my cookbooks more often. Well, here I am, extolling the recipe on the Bob’s Red Mill package. In fairness, though, as recipe-testing goes, a company’s own recipe must undergo a fairly thorough testing procedure.

A cookbook may have dozens, if not hundreds, of recipes. Product packaging will have one or two recipes in which to tout …

Cranberry-Chocolate Biscotti

March 1, 2015 by Charles 1 Comment

One of the problems of having a food blog is – quite obviously – making sure that you have food to photograph. This problem is particularly acute when making dinner or when otherwise cooking at night. Photography at night is a no-win situation. There is no natural light, leaving only the harsh glow of the incandescents. When it comes to dinner, there is the option of photographing on long exposures while the meal grows cold, or simply hoping for presentable leftovers. When it comes to other recipes, the challenge is saving enough for a future daytime photograph.

And that’s the rub here. I made these chocolate-cranberry biscotti …