Growing up, I was an inveterate chocolate lover.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Oreos. Chocolate cream pie. And, of course, chocolate ice cream.

My brother, on the other hand, was Mr. Vanilla. White-on-white cupcakes. Vienna Fingers. Twinkies. Vanilla ice cream.

On hot summer nights after Little League games, our parents would treat us to a cone at the Kenwood Farms ice cream stand, just over the river from our home in in Glastonbury, CT. Dad would have peach; Mom, butter-almond. My sister, Meagan, was an orange sherbet type gal. No question at all about my choice: chocolate, with chocolate jimmies.

And Mike?

read the rest of this entry »

A few years ago, I wrote a blog about bread pudding and how until I had my first bowlful, I wanted nothing to do with it. For a long time, I felt the same way about rice pudding, Rice to me belonged in stir-fry, not in dessert. And then a wacky twist of fate brought my new love and I together.

read the rest of this entry »

I could sense some doubt when I mentioned making a gluten-free shortbread.

I heard, “You can’t do that, it just won’t work” enough times to almost start believing it myself. I was like the kid who was discouraged from doing something dangerously daring and just wanted to do it anyway to prove everyone wrong.

Armed only with a gluten-free butter cookie that crumbled like a dry sandcastle when touched, I was ready for some structure science. This drop cookie was great for a trifle maybe, but not-so-impressive for solo presentation.

True shortbread should be strong enough to be cut in to wedges or squares, but still tender enough to melt in your mouth.

read the rest of this entry »

AJ Quigley, a regular on King Arthur’s Baking Circle community, emailed us this recipe with the following message –

“I ran across one of my favorite sugar cookie recipes years ago in one of those ‘company’ fundraiser cookbooks, and have used it quite often since then. I checked KAF’s recipes and there’s not one like it, so I thought I’d share. It makes a tender-crisp, melt-in-your-mouth cookie.”

Well, I’d been looking for the “perfect” sugar cookie recipe for a long time. Since about 1967, to be exact, the last time I tasted a sugar cookie from the Colonial Bakery in Glastonbury, Connecticut…

read the rest of this entry »

Isn’t this just the nicest looking yellow cake?

Close/fine texture, yet still moist; high-rising, not crumbly… and the crown of chocolate doesn’t hurt, either!

read the rest of this entry »

Although summer doesn’t officially begin until June 21, I’ve always considered Memorial Day the real kickoff to the season.

Having put away the fleece (at last) and resurrected the outdoor furniture from its winter hideaway in the cellar, I’m ready to kick back on the deck, throw some burgers on the grill, and soak up some rays.

More than ready, after the challenging season we’ve just experienced here in northern New England. Record-breaking snowfall this winter was followed by a “spring” that offered very little in the way of sunshine, LOTS in the way of rain.

Read: dirt roads turned into mud baths, and spring flowers going from colorful to drooping and rusty brown within the space of a day or so.

So far, we’ve had 3 days of sunshine this month. We’re more than due for some good weather this Memorial Day weekend – are you listening, Mother Nature?

read the rest of this entry »

Blame it all on Bingo. No, not Bingo the game but Bingo the dog. You know Bingo, right?

read the rest of this entry »

Love at first bite.

SUCH an overworked expression, but still… when you’re talking cheesecake, the tiniest bite is capable of sending you into paroxysms of ardor. The richness of the cream cheese! The delightful interplay of tangy and sweet; the barely crunchy crust cradling its ultra-smooth filling…

Be still, my heart!

read the rest of this entry »

Do you remember the first time you made a marble cake? I do. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world to blob the chocolate batter into the vanilla batter like the 5 pips on a die. Two at the top, two at the bottom and one right in the center, symmetry at its best. Then taking a butter knife and swirling the batters together, it was magical. Of course, being young I just had to…

read the rest of this entry »

Ah, Easter! Another holiday, another occasion to make pizzelle.

I didn’t grow up Italian; I never heard of, saw, or tasted a pizzelle till after I’d married my Italian husband, and began visiting Boston’s North End – close by the Haymarket, where Rick’s family sold vegetables from their farm.

Since we lived in Maine, the trip to the North End was pretty much confined to holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. We’d make the rounds, from the meat market, with its hanging skinned rabbits; to the bread bakery, where we’d pick up light-as-air loaves showered with sesame seeds; to Trio’s, where you could get every kind of fresh pasta imaginable. read the rest of this entry »