Category Archives: Recipes (Sweet)

In Praise of Cardamom Butter Cake

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This cardamom butter cake is made with an unusual method, and results in a tender, fluffy, and irresistible texture.
This cardamom butter cake is made with an unusual method, and results in a tender, fluffy, and irresistible texture.

When Pittsburgh-based Liana Krissoff set out to write her newest cookbook, she had herself and her daughter in mind — as well as anyone wanting to nurture an everlasting love for cooking in their children.

“In Praise of Home Cooking” (Abrams, 2023), of which I received a review copy, showcases more than 85 recipes that have not only proved formative to Krissoff’s own culinary prowess, but helped her instruct her daughter in such a way that she gained both skills and confidence along the way.

Krissoff, a recipe tester, editor, and veteran cookbook author, readily admits that some of the recipes in the book may seem basic at first glance. However, they provide not only a solid foundation, but a jumping off point to hone techniques and creativity.

That’s why you’ll find recipes for “Grilled Cheese Sandwich” (with tips on how to jazz it up with spices and kimchi or sauerkraut), “Baked Potatoes” (rubbed all over with bacon fat before going into the oven), “Basic Meatloaf with a Few Vegetables,” and “Yogurt Marinated Spiced Chicken.”

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A Slice of Cool

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If this doesn't help beat the heat, nothing will.
If this doesn’t help beat the heat, nothing will.

The heat is on.

Is it ever.

I may not have the ability to turn the master switch to “off” to quash this heatwave. But I can definitely cool things down deliciously with “Frozen Yoghurt-Honey Parfait with Flash-Roasted Blueberries.”

Creamy, tangy, and — yes — frosty, it’s like ice cream without the need for an ice cream maker.

The recipe is from the new cookbook, “Fruitful” (Kyle Books), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Sarah Johnson, an American-born pastry chef who trained at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, and now splits her time at two United Kingdom restaurants, Spring and Heckfield Place. Hence, the UK spelling of “yoghurt” in this recipe before you think that a typo.

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Jamming on Jamaretti Cookies

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A play on the classic thumbprint cookie.
A play on the classic thumbprint cookie.

As a kid, life sure seemed to move at a languid pace. Summer vacation seemed never-ending. Our favorite holidays seemed to take forever to come around.

Not so as an adult.

Life now seems to whoosh by at Millennium Falcon hyper speed, making us ever grateful for all the shortcuts and time-saving tips we can get.

Enter “Jamaretti” cookies from Martha Stewart.

You know those classic jam-filled thumbprint cookies you made as a kid, rolling balls of dough one by one, then pressing your thumb into each one before spooning jam into every single crevice? Yeah, those ones.

Well, this recipe streamlines that process by making these cookies more like biscotti.

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Shortbread Cookies With A Novel Ingredient

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These buttery shortbread cookies have candy cap mushrooms in the dough.
These buttery shortbread cookies have candy cap mushrooms in the dough.

I’ll be the first to say that my foraging experiences have been few and far between.

There was the time on an elementary school field trip hike, when our teacher had us nibbling sour grass growing in a canyon.

There was the white-water rafting trip on the American River in my 30s, when our guide steered our raft to an outcrop of wild blackberry shrubs and we reached out to hungrily pick our fill.

And there was the recent visit to the sprawling Inn at Newport Ranch in Fort Bragg, where my guide picked peppery wild ginger leaves for me to try.

So, admittedly, I am no expert.

But my friend and colleague Maria Finn definitely is. And she’s written a new cookbook, “Forage. Gather. Feast.” (Sasquatch Book) that will open your eyes to the bounty that can be foraged all around you.

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Spoil Yourself — Or Someone Else — With Cherry Almond Bundt Cake

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Chopped fresh cherries hide inside this Bundt cake.
Chopped fresh cherries hide inside this Bundt cake.

As a kid at this time of year, I fondly remember pulling open the fridge door to snatch a big handful of fresh cherries waiting and ready in a colander in all their crunchy, ice-cold sweetness.

Whether because my family lacked a pitter in our tiny kitchen or didn’t yet know about the drinking straw or paper clip method to pop out the pits, I never baked with them back then. I just happily ate them out of hand, picking up each one by the stem to plop into my mouth with gusto.

As a proud pitter owner now, though, I revel in staining my fingers fuchsia as I methodically dislodge one pit after the other until amassing enough to bake in something special.

Something exactly like this moist, rich tasting “Cherry Almond Bundt.”

This cake, full of 1 1/2 heaping cups of — ahem — pitted and chopped cherries, is from the new cookbook, “Around Our Table” (Hardie Grant), of which I received a review copy.

Version 1.0.0

It was written by James Beard Award-nominated cookbook author Sara Forte, who lives with her husband and two kids in Southern California.

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