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…
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…
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 “try this in the future” file. One, entitled “Improving on…
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…
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…
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 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 “those short, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines,’ which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop…
During the catering busy season at Glorious Foods, seventy-hour work weeks were common. On the rare day off, several of my kitchen colleagues and I would meet for a late breakfast at Sarabeth’s, a popular Upper West Side restaurant known for its American cuisine. They also featured very good basic…
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