Holidays

Herb and Apple Stuffing

February 18, 2016 by Charles 1 Comment

I wouldn’t consider myself a stuffing man. It’s not something I usually think to have or make with a meal. And I am definitely not bold enough to try putting the stuffing in any raw bird. That’s just not something I am willing to try.

But this past Thanksgiving (yes, this recipe is looong overdue) I was willing to try a stuffing recipe. And I am glad that I did. This recipe turned out great. It was absolutely delicious and the leftover stuffing was the first of the Thanksgiving leftovers to bite the dust.

We had actually tried to make cute stuffing muffins from this recipe, packing the mixed stuffing into buttered muffin tins. The stuffing cooked fine, but it did not hold together in a muffin shape. Instead, it quickly came apart the minute we removed it from the tins. In the end, it was probably for the best. I liked…

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 Roulade with Ginger Buttercream

October 13, 2012 by Charles 3 Comments

The idea of making a roulade seemed, at first glance, somewhat intimidating. There was the rolling, then unrolling, and finally, the re-rolling. The instructions seemed intricate and the cake seemed delicate. Visions of a cake suddenly collapsing and crumbling under its own weight flashed before me, wiping away my mixing and baking efforts in a moment.

But then I stopped, and remembered that this was not the first time that I faced what seemed to be an insurmountable cooking hurdle. There had, after all, been many intimidating cooking projects before this one. I had made flan, caramelizing sugar. I had made oat bread, coaxing the yeast. I had made spanakopita, …

Apple Sauce

February 14, 2011 by Charles Leave a Comment

When I think of apple sauce, I can’t help but thinking back to those plastic cups, sold in packs of six, filled with what looks to be nothing more than puréed apples. Apple mush. Bland, flavorless, apple mush.

This recipe is not a …

Cinnamon Message Meringues

May 24, 2010 by Charles 3 Comments

This past weekend, Caitlin graduated from law school. But she didn’t just graduate; she graduated with style, earning a number of academic honors and awards.

But a few days before the graduation, I found myself sitting around with a lot of extra egg whites (you’ll see why in a few days). Rather than toss perfectly good egg whites, I decided to make meringues. And rather than make the simple spiral meringues, I decided to spice them up a bit — literally and figuratively!

After a healthy dash of cinnamon, and a few twirls from my piping bag, …