July 4th Lemon Tart

A pie decorated with berries and whipped cream.

When searching for a July 4th dessert with patriotic colors, I had two specific criteria in mind. Firstly, it needed to be easily sliceable, ensuring it maintained its visual appeal on guests’ plates. Secondly, given that there will be a lot of other food prep going on that day, it should not require last-minute assembly. …

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The Friday Baking Project
S’mores Tarts

PRINT Yield: 6 tarts # of Servings: 6 Ingredients6 Keebler Mini Graham Cracker Crusts1 egg white, beaten until frothy (optional) ½ cup (4 fl. oz) heavy cream 4 ½ oz chocolate, 64 to 66%, wafers or broken into pieces. ½ recipe Italian Meringue Special tools and equipment required:  Pre-recipe preparations: Directions: 

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S’mores Tarts

Four meringue pies are sitting on a tray.

With Independence Day around the corner, I’ve been contemplating dessert ideas that embody an American theme. S’mores, which were first documented in a 1927 Girl Scouts guidebook, immediately came to mind, and I started envisioning them as individual tarts.  The challenge lied in creating free-standing individual tarts with the same flavor profile as the campfire…

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Strawberry Ice Cream

A bowl of ice cream with strawberries and a cracker.

With gorgeous fresh strawberries making their annual June appearance in farmers markets, there is no better time to pull out (or purchase) your ice cream machine and make a batch of strawberry ice cream.The first thought when making this quintessential taste of early summer is to simply cut up strawberries and add them to your…

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Coconut Cream Pie

A coconut pie with whipped cream on top.

With a smooth, creamy filling, and a generous crown of whipped cream, topped with lightly toasted coconut, Coconut Cream Pie is one of the classic American pies. The recipe below, with a few modifications, is from the excellent book Pie and Tarts by Kristina Petersen Migoya.   The procedure for the filling is exactly the…

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The Friday Baking Project
Peach Blueberry Crisp

PRINT Peach Blueberry Crisp Yield: 1 medium baking pan # of Servings:6 IngredientsCrisp topping: ½ cup (2.3 oz / 64 g) all-purpose flour ¾ cup (5.4 oz / 153 g) firmly-packed light brown sugar4 tbl (2 oz / 56 g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces ¾ cup (2.5 oz / 72 g) old-fashioned rolled…

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East 62nd Steet Lemon Cake

A bundt cake with powdered sugar on top.

This is the recipe that is perhaps most closely associated with Maida Heatter. Published in the New York Times in 1970 it put her on the path to becoming the author of seven baking books, with many recipes considered classics of the home baker’s repertoire.  East 62nd Street Lemon Cake is, for many, the highlight…

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Triple Layer Cheesecake

A cake sitting on top of a wooden board.

This cheesecake, from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts is one of her creations where one wonders – how did she do that?   How did she get the layers to stay apart during mixing and baking?  It all begins with a basic vanilla-flavored cheesecake batter. I use my classic Cheesecake recipe, which is based…

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Budapest Bundlettes

Four donuts on a wooden tray with icing.

Among Maida Heatter’s many contributions to the American dessert repertoire was her recipe for Budapest Coffee Cake. It appeared in her first book in 1974, and by the late 1970’s and early 1980’s it was on the counter, under many different names, in specialty food stores across the country.  The original Budapest was baked in…

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