Category Archives: Recipes (Sweet)

Not Your Usual Blondies

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A whole tablespoon of toasted sesame oil really adds an irresistible flavor to these blondies.
A whole tablespoon of toasted sesame oil really adds an irresistible flavor to these blondies.

Brownies and blondies are classics that always satisfy.

But rarely do they offer up a surprise.

“Toasted Sesame Blondies” definitely does, though.

These have all the portability plus chewy texture you love about blondies. But they also sport a splash of toasted sesame oil and a profusion of black and white sesame seeds overtop that give them a whole new personality.

One that tastes as if butterscotch and sesame had a love fest.

This fabulous recipe is from “100 Afternoon Sweets” (Chronicle Books, 2024), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Sarah Kieffer, a Minneapolis baker and creator of the award-winning The Vanilla Bean Blog.

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Scaling the Heights of Lofty Peaches and Granola Galette

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As tall and majestic as a deep-dish pizza, that's what this peach galette is like.
As tall and majestic as a deep-dish pizza, that’s what this peach galette is like.

If a classic galette were a ranch house, then this baby is a high-rise for sure.

“Lofty Peaches and Granola Galette” lives up to its name, with a girth and stature like pizza that’s extra deep-dish.

This statement-making galette is from the new cookbook, titled — what else — “Galette!” (Artisan), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Rebecca Firkser, a Brooklyn-based writer and cook, whose recipes have been published in Bon Appetit and on Food52.

I have always loved a good galette, especially because it requires rolling out only one round of dough, and its free-form nature means no matter how you crimp or fold, it will still end up with a lovely rustic look.

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The Nostalgic Taste of No-Churn Yuen Yeung Ice Cream Cake

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Sara Lee Pound Cake goes fancy and sentimental.
Sara Lee Pound Cake goes fancy and sentimental.

As a Chinese American kid growing up in San Francisco, I would peer into our family freezer to spy not only bamboo leaf-wrapped sticky rice dumplings and on-sale bags of shrimp for future stir-frys, but plenty of Swanson Salisbury steak dinners, boxes of Banquet boil-in-bag chicken a la king, and Sara Lee Pound Cake.

The latter of which I much preferred to eat still frozen.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in that, either.

Not if the cookbook, “Salt Sugar MSG: Recipes From A Cantonese American Home” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy, is any indication.

That’s because deep within its pages is a recipe for “No-Churn Yuen Yeung Ice Cream Cake” made with — you guessed it — a Sara Lee Pound Cake, but one gussied up with layers of a fluffy whipped cream-and condensed milk flavored with Lipton tea and a dash of coffee.

For me, it is as if old-school Chinatown milk tea and that buttery dense pound cake decided to skip joyously together down memory lane.

The cookbook was written by Calvin Eng, chef and owner of Bonnie’s, a well-regarded Cantonese American restaurant in Williamsburg in New York. who is also a Food & Wine “Best New Chef,” with assistance from Phoebe Melnick, a New York video journalist.

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Rah-Rah for Rhubarb Brownies

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An easy rhubarb jam gets folded into the batter for these rich chocolate brownies.
An easy rhubarb jam gets folded into the batter for these rich chocolate brownies.

Resembling mutant celery and smelling rather strangely green and vegetative, rhubarb hasn’t necessarily been a favored springtime pick for me.

If given the choice, I’d much rather reach for strawberries instead.

But a recipe for “Rhubarb Brownies” captured my fancy enough to want to place a bunch in my grocery basket.

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

It was written by Chef Scott Clark of Dad’s Luncheonette in Half Moon Bay, with assistance from James Beard Award-winning food journalist Betsy Andrews, who is a contributing editor at Food & Wine magazine.

If you’ve had the pleasure of visiting Dad’s Luncheonette, you know that it’s the cutest little cafe that operates out of a permanently parked, historic train caboose.

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The Perfect Number of Cupcakes

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When four cupcakes is all you need.
When four cupcakes is all you need.

We love cupcakes.

We also like to bake them.

But often, we are faced with a cupcake conundrum: recipes that produce 12, 18 or 24, when all we really want are a few of them.

Thank goodness for America’s Test Kitchen.

While other small-batch cookbooks come at you with recipes for modest amounts of cookies, doughnuts or tartlets, its new “Baking for Two” actually has a recipe for “Vanilla Cupcakes” that makes four of them. Yes, perfect for a family of four, a couple who wants to indulge in seconds, or a close-group of besties to share together.

The cookbook has more than 200 recipes for bakers who want to indulge their passion but don’t want to bake themselves into a frenzy.

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