Not Your Mother's Cookbooks

Butter cookies are good for company, for Christmas Eve, after mass, after dinner.  They are a gloriously simple rolled cookie. And this recipe is the one perfect recipe to have in your stash of Christmas cookies for giving and sharing,…

Read More »

With the myriad of pumpkin recipes that get circulated this time of year, one thing is consistent–recipes call for canned pumpkin puree. Of course with the back to the local and sustainable movement, using a canned product might be passed over as too 1950s. But there is a reason canned pumpkin is so popular–its fantastic.

Read More »

I can tell I am getting wound up about the upcoming royal wedding when I have buttercream on my mind. Mousseline Buttercream are two sweet words that slide off the tongue. Also called a French buttercream or Swiss buttercream, leave it to the French to find a way to make one of the richest, most luxurious frosting preparations in all of pastrydom. How do they do that?

Read More »

I have a passion for poundcakes. Of course they are dense and rich, they’re meant to be, but for a birthday or special occasion holiday, it is a dessert cake that reigns supreme.
I grew up with poundcake. By a baker named Sara Lee.

Read More »

Trifle is the quintessential winter holiday dessert and positively addicting. It might as well be the official state dessert in Great Britain. Every home, school lunchroom, tea parlor, and restaurant have a version it is so beloved.

My mom is known for her trifle, which is a cold dessert with layers of dense-textured plain cake soaked with cream sherry and a vanilla English custard, which she has made every Christmas for decades ever since she got her first microwave in the early 1980s.

Read More »

What is Christmas without Christmas cookies? I have friends who start at Thanksgiving with their baking and bake right on through the month of December, ending up with a cache of beautiful cookies in different shapes, styles, colors, and flavors. For my holiday catering, I used to always offer the cookie tray, which was wildly popular and worth all the hours of baking that went into creating it.

Read More »

Fudge making has a bad rap. Making it is messy, you need a thermometer, the stove heat can’t be too hot to burn the chocolate, and there is a big chance it will turn out grainy. Its easier to head over to See’s candy and buy a box of ultra sweet fudge.

Read More »

Buffet Preparation, Storage,and Service Timeline

* Prepare two chocolate tortes, the chocolate sauce, the crêpes, almonds, biscotti, chocolate chip cookie dough, and compote 2 to 3 days ahead.

Read More »

There is Mud Cake and there is Mud Cake. The always-fudgey cake takes its name after the thick mud of the Mississippi River banks, needs a glug of bourbon just like on the old riverboats, and is a card-carrying member of the Southern baking repertoire along with banana pudding and biscuits.

Read More »

I love ice cream. And considering the rash of ice cream books these days, everyone else feels the same way I do. You can play ice cream on any level–your favorite flavor at the supermarket or make your own. It really doesn’t matter. If you love the flavor, you are satisfied.

Read More »