Blueberry Crumb Cake

08/30/2023

The memory remains vivid: it was a beautiful summer day, and we all sat outside, relishing the food and each other’s company. The cake was a resounding success, yet somehow, the recipe ended up tucked away in a file and forgotten over time. Two summers ago, while searching through my…

A piece of cake on top of a white plate.

Meringue Bombe

08/09/2023

Working at the Harborside Inn in Edgartown my first summer on Martha’s Vineyard I had heard about a unique restaurant in Menemsha on the other side of the island. The Beach Plum Inn had two seatings, a view of the sunset, and offered a rotating menu of four entrees each…

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

08/01/2023

Banana Walnut Muffins were a popular choice among the rotating morning muffin offerings at Seven Layers. During our second summer, we decided to experiment by adding chocolate chips to the batter and that’s how these delicious Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip muffins were born. They were an instant hit! With good…

A plate with berries and ice cream on it.

Peach Blueberry Crisp

07/27/2023

In this easy and excellent summer Peach Blueberry Crisp, you’ll toss farm fresh peach slices and blueberries with lemon juice, place them in a baking dish, cover with an oatmeal crisp topping and bake. That’s all there is to it! The fruits require no sweetener or thickener and the peaches…

Chocolate Cloud Cake

07/17/2023

This quintessential fallen chocolate cake is a perfect summertime chocolate dessert. It requires no elaborate decorating, just a generous cloud of lightly sweetened whipped cream spread over at the last minute. Bake it in the morning and you’ll have the rest of the day for summer activities. Â The cake…

Cherry Pie

07/11/2023

There are two schools of thought on the procedure for Cherry Pie. One is a standard fruit pie preparation: combining cherries with sugar, flavorings, a thickener, and lemon juice, pouring the mixture into a pie shell, covering with a top crust. The pie is baked until the fruit bubbles, and…

A plate of chocolate brownie bites topped with powdered sugar.

Glorious Brownies

07/06/2023

Glorious Food wrote the book on upscale catering in New York City in the 1980’s and 1990’s, when it was the caterer for events at the city’s museums, cultural institutions, and other large venues. It was also an amazing place to work. The kitchen on East 74th by the FDR…

A pie decorated with berries and whipped cream.

July 4th Lemon Tart

06/26/2023

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…