Maple Cream Pie

01/04/2023

Vermont takes its role as biggest producer of maple syrup in the United States seriously and syrup containers are proudly on display in many stores. So, while there over the holidays and working on the upcoming baking schedule I began thinking about a dessert incorporating maple syrup. On my return…

Cardamom Cake

12/22/2022

Cardamom with its unique taste and distinctive scent, is used extensively in Scandinavian baking recipes. Among them are Sweden’s Cardamom Buns (Kardemummabullar), Norway’s Christmas Bread (Julekake), and Finland’s Cardamom Sweet Bread (Pulla). And the most well-known, Denmark’s Danish Pastry (Wienerbr¸d). This simple yet delightful Cardamom Cake relies on that Scandinavian…

Christmas Ivoire

12/13/2022

This Christmas version of Ivoire et Chocolate incorporates the colors of the holiday into a beautiful dessert. It was inspired by a holiday cake design in the excellent book Cocolat (1990). Christmas Ivoire is a good example of taking a favorite cake and giving it a different look for a…

Pear Charlotte Royale

12/07/2022

For years, the New York Times Sunday magazine section included a Food column from Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey. This was the first thing I looked at when starting the paper, and many recipes were cut out and put in a â€œtry this in the futureâ€ file. One, entitled â€œImproving on…

Coconut Thumbprints

12/01/2022

These delicious Coconut Thumbprints are one of my favorite holiday cookies for several reasons. The toasted flaked coconut surrounding the subtly flavored dough, filled with raspberry jam or apricot preserves is a wonderful combination of tastes and textures. They are quite simple to make and may be refrigerated or frozen…

Cranberry Streusel Muffins

11/24/2022

Cranberries are a unique and wonderful fruit that for their brilliant color and tartness, merit use in many ways other than Thanksgiving’s cranberry sauce. In Cranberry Streusel Muffins, we use the Blueberry Muffins recipe from July 21st, substitute cranberries for the blueberries, and add a streusel topping. These are delicious…

Steamed Pumpkin-Ginger Pudding

11/15/2022

For several years Williams-Sonoma produced excellent booklets with complete Thanksgiving menus and recipes. One featured a delicious Steamed Pumpkin-Ginger Pudding recipe that has been part of my holiday dinner table ever since. The diced crystallized ginger and baking spices marry well with the pumpkin to produce a flavorful and unique…

Madeleines

11/09/2022

Madeleines are wonderful, small tea cakes baked in scalloped molds, which were immortalized by Marcel Proust in Remembrance of Things Past, Vol, 1. In the famous passage Proust writes how â€œthose short, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines,’ which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop…