Category Archives: Recipes (Sweet)

Super Fast and Easy Shortbread — With A Twist

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These shortbread aren't like others.
These shortbread aren’t like others.

One-pan shortbread are by nature one of the fastest and simplest of cookies to bake.

This one is even quicker since there’s no need to wait for butter to soften beforehand. Nor the need for an electric mixer to cream the butter into submission. That’s because there’s no butter in this dough whatsoever, only olive oil that makes it extra lush tasting.

There’s also a flavor curve ball to it. Sure, you’ve had shortbread sprinkled with a touch of sea salt. But how about crowned with freshly ground black pepper, too?

“Salt and Pepper Olive Oil Shortbread” is a little sweet and a little savory. Plus, a whole lot delicious.

It’s from “Snacking Bakes” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

It’s the newest cookbook by Brooklyn-based Yossy Arefi, creator of the acclaimed blog, Apt. 2B Baking Co.

It’s sure to appeal to those who love to bake, but don’t enjoy overly complicated recipes. Instead, most of the recipes in this book can be made in less than one hour, and using one bowl.

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The Richest Tasting Carrot Cake — Ever

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Destined to be your ultimate carrot cake recipe.
Destined to be your ultimate carrot cake recipe.

This might very well be the most decadent carrot cake you’ll ever taste.

Picture moist cake with deep, lasting flavor from not just grated carrots, but roasted ones, too. Then, smothered with gobs and gobs of thick frosting made with a ton of browned butter and a load of cream cheese.

You’d expect no less from Nancy Silverton, right?

“Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting” is from her cookbook, “The Cookie That Changed My Life” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

Silverton, the baker extraordinaire who pioneered the artisan bread movement in Los Angeles, is the only chef to ever be awarded both the “Outstanding Chef” and “Outstanding Pastry Chef” awards from the James Beard Foundation. She is the co-owner of Osteria Mozza, Pizzeria Mozza, and Chi Spacca, all in Los Angeles.

She wrote the book with James Beard Award-sinning journalist, Carolynn Carreno.

The cookbook contains more than 100 recipes, all of them classics that Silverton has tweaked and refined over the years, to come up with the version she considers the most delicious and satisfying.

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Start the Day Off Right with Blackberry-Rye Cream Scones

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Buttery, tender, and filled with fresh blackberries.
Buttery, tender, and filled with fresh blackberries.

It doesn’t have to be a holiday like Valentine’s Day to make any day a whole lot sweeter and more pampering with “Blackberry-Rye Cream Scones.”

Rye flour gives them an earthy color and a nutty taste, while a sprinkling of sugar on top before baking creates that crackly sweet crunch none of us can resist.

The recipe is from “Bake Smart” (Harvest, 2023) by Brooklyn-based Samantha Seneviratne, a recipe developer and food stylist who stars on the Magnolia Network’s “Everyday Cooking.”

It’s a collection of 100 recipes for homespun treats such as “Burnt Caramel Basque Cheesecake,” “Chocolate Chestnut Loaf,” “Pretzel Cheese Buns,” and “Buckwheat Walnut Linzer Cookies.”

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Indulge In Scandinavian Brunsviger (Brown Sugar “Focaccia” Cake)

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A sweet version of focaccia that's a specialty of Denmark.
A sweet version of focaccia that’s a specialty of Denmark.

Is it focaccia?

Or is it cake?

It’s kind of both. And boy, is it dang delicious.

It looks exactly like focaccia with its dimpled top, which creates perfect crevices to hold the buttery, sweet syrup that gets poured over its entire surface before baking.

Take a taste, and it’s as if pancakes drenched in butter and syrup were transformed into focaccia instead.

“Brown Sugar ‘Focaccia’ Cake,” otherwise known as brunsviger, hails from Funen, the third largest island in Denmark and the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson.

It’s a featured recipe in the new “Scandinavian from Scratch” (Ten Speed Press, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

Described as a “love letter to the baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,” it was written by Nichole Accettola, an American chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who lived in Denmark for 15 years and now runs Kantine, a Scandinavian bakery in San Francisco.

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In the Mood For Hot Buttered Rum

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A new love affair with an old favorite.
A new love affair with an old favorite.

Pardon me while I lounge in front of this roaring fire.

With a plush throw wrapped around me.

And my feet snuggled inside way-too-cute, furry white bunny slippers with the floppiest ears.

OK, maybe not. But sipping this soothing warm drink sure makes me feel as if I’m doing all of that.

When’s the last time you had a “Hot Buttered Rum”?

Me? I can’t even remember.

What a shame that is. Because once you take a sip, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been enjoying more of these regularly.

I thank Toni Tipton-Martin and her new book, “Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy, for reminding me of the pleasures of this cozy drink.

The culinary journalist and editor-in-chief of Cook’s Country magazine has used her expertise and passion for historic research to write a book that pays homage to Black drinking culture through the ages by spotlighting its hospitality, creativity, and longevity.

You’ll be thirsting to make everything from “Strawberry Wine,” “Coffee Liqueur,” and “Pomegranate-Demerara Rum Punch” to “Pineapple-Lemon Highball,” “Absinthe Frappe,” and the clever, non-alcoholic “Cosmockpolitan.”

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