Recipes

I hope you enjoy baking and eating these desserts and I would love to hear about your kitchen adventures. Please bear with me as I work on the website. Some of the recipes were developed for the site, while others were taken from various books I have written over the years or other projects that I have worked on.

Lemon Curd Mousse Cake

I think this might have been the first time I used purchased shortbread cookies to make a crust (as opposed to graham crackers or chocolate or ginger cookie crumbs) and I love the way they work. To make the shortbread cookie crumbs for the crust, seal the cookies in a heavy plastic bag and use […]

Cheesecake Tart with Tropical Fruits

This tart came about because I love the idea of cheesecake, but often after just one or two bites, I’m done. Here a thin layer of cheesecake is nestled in a crisp crust and the amount of rich, creamy cheesecake is just right. You can top it with anything you like, but this fruit mélange […]

White Chocolate Tiramisu Trifle with Spiced Pears

Kristine Kidd was the food editor at Bon Appetit in 2007 and early in the year she called me and asked me to make a “showstopping white Christmas dessert”. The idea was to evoke “white Christmas”. One of the many reasons I love writing for the magazine is that the assignments often push me in […]

Bittersweet Molten Chocolate Cakes with Coffee Ice Cream

Molten cakes, lava cakes, warm truffle cakes, these go by many names and no one seems to be tiring of them.

S’Mores Ice Cream Pie with Warm Milk Chocolate Sauce

Chocolate, graham crackers and toasted marshmallows are an inspired combination and this dessert can be made year-round.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Tropical Fruit

I developed this recipe for a “Trends” article. Both panna cotta and tropical fruits were finding their way around restaurant menus at the time, so blending them together made perfect sense. The panna cotta itself has a very slight tang from the buttermilk, which makes it very refreshing, and the illusion of being not so […]

Sugarplums

I love this recipe. It is so easy and yet, by varying the outer decoration, it can look like you made several different candies. Type: Hand formed Habitat: United States/Portugal Holiday: Christmas Description: These are small candies made from a melange of dried fruit and nuts. They are great to make with kids, in which […]

Italian Meringue Buttercream

This is an ultra-smooth, not too sweet buttercream and is my frosting of choice – not only because of its exceptionally silky texture and subtle flavor but because it can varied endlessly. You can add chocolate, liqueurs, pureed fruits, juices or even coffee. A stand mixer is best for this recipe as the meringue will […]

All Butter Pie Crust

After years of making pie crust in a variety of ways – by hand, mixer and food processor, using all butter and blends of butter and shortening, even playing around with liquids – for my all-purpose pie crust I have come to prefer an all-butter crust made in the food processor with ice water. The […]

Fluffy Meringue Frosting

If you have been looking for a fat-free vanilla frosting, this is it! It is bright white, very sweet and must be used right away. It is has a marshmallow quality to it in terms of texture and taste. You might notice that the recipe is the same as the Italian Meringue Buttercream – but […]

Chocolate Cupcakes

Look no further for dark, moist chocolate cupcakes. Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces 1 1/3 cups sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1 cup milk Directions: 1. […]

S’Mores Cupcakes

This recipe is from A Baker’s Field Guide to Cupcakes. You will find the recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes and Fluffy Meringue Frosting in the BASIC RECIPES section. Holiday/Event: Fourth of July Description: What do you get when you combine chocolate cake, chocolate covered graham crackers and marshmallows? S’more cupcakes, of course. They are finished […]

Chocolate Walnut Meringues

This recipe is from A Baker’s Field Guide to Christmas Cookies. In that recipe, as presented below, you will see that they are made a bit smaller. I sometimes like to make them a bit larger, as in my photo, where I use two teaspoons to gather about a walnut sized blob of meringue batter […]

MallowMores

(from Unforgettable Desserts) Image posted courtesy of photographer Alexandra Grablewski; food styling byBrian Preston-Campbell Here in the northeast you can find Nabisco Mallomars in the cookie aisle; but they are so much more than a cookie. This nostalgic favorite is comprised of a circular graham cracker-like cookie topped with a thick marshmallow filling and covered […]

Swedish Ginger Snaps

Also known as Pepparkakor Habitat: Sweden Description: Filled with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, molasses and orange zest, these rolled cookies will thrill all gingerbread lovers. Use any shape cookie cutter that you like. Historic Notes: Another cookie given to me by Joan Eckert. These are her Swedish grandmother Olivia Abrahamsson’s cookies and are typical of […]

Plum-Topped Pound Cake

Adapted from Carole Walter’s Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More (Clarkson Potter, 2007) I adore prune plums and really the only thing bad about them for me is that they signify the end of summer. I love fall; I live in New England, after all, but the LONG winter just comes too damn […]

Tea Brack

Adapted from The Best of Irish Breads & Baking, Traditional, Contemporary and Festive (Epicure Press, 1996). Note that the recipe has a big range of baking time. The mixture is dense and depending on the temperature of your ingredients, it can vary widely. Make sure to tell folks that there is a ring in there! […]

Pumpkin Ice Cream

My BFF Juanita loves pumpkin ice cream and is always on the hunt. We live in the Pioneer Valley and Herrell’s Ice Cream is nearby in Northampton, MA. They have rotating seasonal flavors and this is one of them. And it is fantastic. Problem is, of course, that they don’t always stock it. Even during […]

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