A friend from Trinidad introduced me to my first taste of coconut sweet bread around the holidays. Before bringing me a slice, she described it as “a cake with fruit in it”, and said that her mother possessed a ‘sweet hand’, meaning only certain Caribbean folks had the special ability to turn out a perfect
Candied sweet potatoes are always on the menu at my family’s Thanksgiving dinners. I used to just layer the ingredients on top of the sweet potatoes but cooking the butter and sugar mixture on the stovetop first gives the topping some extra richness. This year my sweet potatoes were especially yummy because the caramelized sugar added
Usually called Russian Tea Cakes, these crumbly cookie balls are a delightful little bite to enjoy with tea. My favorite tea is masala chai, so I couldn’t resist replacing the customary vanilla extract with chai spice in these late afternoon treats. Their small size and resemblance to snowballs also make them ideal to serve as
My giant chocolate chip cookie recipe is arguably even easier than my deep dish chocolate chip cookies. This pan cookie is great for small parties, like the occasion that inspired this post – my family of four just spent an evening at home together enjoying this cookie as part of a low-key Father’s Day celebration.
My family likes bananas, but no matter how small a bunch we buy, we can never seem to get to the last one before it goes brown. One overripe banana is just perfect for tossing into a smoothie. But on the rare occasions when several have been neglected, I make banana bread. My recipe is
After sampling co-author Hayley’s yummy deep dish chocolate chip cookie in a ramekin, I was inspired to make a mini-dessert of my own. These days, I’m more of a cake person than a cookie monster, so I came up with this: a basic cake recipe scaled down to fill two ramekins. This little treasure is perfect
I’m not sure why packets of hot chocolate mix contain so many ingredients, when a rich and creamy hot chocolate can be easily made at home with just three. Leave that Alpine lady up in the slopes and warm up against winter’s chill using my no-measure method. [Don’t worry, I’ve included precise measurements as well,
When is a vegetable not a vegetable? When it’s dessert! My family has a long history with sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving. In fact, I’ve never known a Thanksgiving at home without both sweet potato pie and “candied sweets”: thinly sliced sweet potatoes baked with cinnamon and brown sugar, swimming in butter. I learned the basic
Please resist the urge to use an apple corer to prepare this dish. Too much of the apple is discarded that way, and trust me, you’ll want to keep as much as you can. Warm, sweet, and spiced – this comfort food is the epitome of a fall treat. On chilly autumn days, I enjoy
I don’t care for many fruits but I really enjoy apples any time of the year. So many different varieties– sweet, tart, and the desserts you can make… ah, that’s the best part! Sometimes I make baked apples with brown sugar for dessert on the fly, but when I want something with a little more
The first scone I ever tasted was a cranberry orange scone sold by a certain well-known coffee company that had a shop near my job. I liked it immediately and ordered it often, so I can’t help but judge all other scones by that standard. Now, years later, I present my homemade version – which
Not being a huge fan of pumpkin, it’s fairly easy for me not to get swept up in the pumpkin spice frenzy that pops up in every bakery and coffee shop in autumn – except when it comes to pumpkin scones. I have a weakness for breakfast pastries anyway, but pumpkin scones are often glazed,
This is my go-to dish for autumn potlucks. I almost always bring this to Thanksgiving or Halloween-themed office parties and Fall Festival school bake sales. This is by design; originally, I was not really a fan of pumpkin, but sought to learn a recipe with this flavor, to contribute something fitting for the season. But
I make this when I’m craving chocolate chip cookies, but don’t want to expend the effort to make a full batch. Well, technically, this recipe DOES make the equivalent of a dozen cookies — which might be considered a small batch – but pressing the dough into ramekins is much quicker than dropping rounded tablespoons
For me, brownies bring the best of both worlds – the thick, richness of cake melded with the chewy, snackable quality of cookies. This recipe is for the classic, no-frills, fudgy version, which I bake in a muffin pan for easy individual servings. Double the recipe (but not the pan size) and bake about 10
I used to be very particular about how I made drop cookies. After mixing and chilling the dough, I’d scoop it into balls – which I weighed to ensure uniformity – before baking, and then let cool several minutes before serving. The whole process took me about an hour and a half, which I was
Master this recipe and you’ve got two for one — lemon curd (the topping) and shortbread (the base). The lemon curd here is sort of a quick-and-dirty version, so you don’t have to boil it first. Just stir together and bake. I’m a die-hard chocoholic for most of the year, but I actually prefer lemon
A proper shortbread adheres to a strict 3:2:1 weight ratio–3 parts flour, 2 parts butter, and 1 part sugar. I’ve included volume measurements too, but—to be honest—I’ve never used them. (I’m a stickler for precision.) If you ever needed a reason to buy a kitchen scale, this recipe would be it. The subtle sweet and
There are probably a dozen ways to make cornbread. Southern cornbread tends to be savory and is often served with barbeque or chili. Northern cornbread tends to be sweeter and cakelike. I’m a New York City woman with a sweet tooth, so I lean toward the sweeter version but I still want it to have
Eaten warm or cold, as is, or served with a pat of butter and a dollop of jam, cornbread is great any way you slice it! (Pun intended. ) Because I use kosher salt for absolutely everything, my version comes out faintly flecked with it, which adds a deliciously subtle hint of salt to this
