Ideally, I’d be spending this Valentine’s evening with someone tall, dark and handsome. But that’s not to be. So, I’m making a date with the next best thing: something dense, rich and available. And I’m going to whip him up in my kitchen, maybe lick my fingers along the way, and take my time enjoying [...]
These impressive little cakes are easy to make and produce a soft cake with a crispy exterior and a rich, molten chocolate center. If you’d like to melt anyone’s heart this Valentine’s Day, this would be the recipe to try. To get the best molten center, I recommend the shorter baking time of 14 minutes. [...]
TIPS ON SUCCESSFULLY MELTING SUGAR: First and foremost: be patient. Don’t rush the sugar. Give it time to melt. Don’t be in a hurry to get it to temperature. It will happen and the slower the better. Pour sugar into a pan with a cup of hot water, stir and cook until crystals dissolve and [...]
Fudge is fickle. Authentic, old-fashioned fudge is tricky business and not for the faint of heart. I know. I made five disastrous batches (no thanks to the Joy of Cooking). But it’s the holidays and I wanted some fudge and I couldn’t be defeated by sugar. So I made it till it worked by making [...]
Many of my best childhood memories were made in a small kitchen in Ohio, surrounded by my family at the oval-shaped country-kitchen table, making candy at Christmas. We would make fudge or ‘white divinity fudge’, which is egg whites cooked with sugar. Mom would boil the sugar (dangerous stuff), Sis would help, Joe and I [...]
“Ohhhh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is sooooo delightful!”… And so are home-made marshmallows melting into a cup of super hot chocolate. Dip the tip of your nose in some meltingly sweet marshmallow cream on these cold Denver nights. Don’t bother ordering those spendy hand-crafted ones from overpriced specialty stores when you [...]
Cheesecake! That is one dessert I’ve never had a problem swallowing. For some people it happens with bananas, for others it might be mashed potatoes. But for me, it’s pumpkin pie. I confess to having a bit of a gag reflex when I try to bite into a piece, which is too bad since I love [...]
My garden produced a few lovely ears of corn this year. Of course I roasted a few ears to eat straight off the cob, but I thought it would be fun to experiment and think outside the husk. So I made a few garden-flavored ice creams. If you aren’t a fan of curry, you don’t [...]
The store windows were taped with paper to keep out the lookie-loos. Mark and I had an appointment so we let ourselves in, despite the ‘do not enter’ sign. We walked into a homey but voluminous retail space flanked by tall brick walls, high ceilings, a tattered wood floor, and a lot of empty real [...]
As a former pastry chef, I always have liqueurs on hand. When people see my shelves of bottles I assure them that “they are for baking purposes.” Some people smirk a little with skepticism. The truth is I do not drink much, and these luscious liquids are reserved for flavoring chocolate truffles or sweet sauces [...]
Blackberry and Cookie Ice Cream AN ORIGINAL TPP RECIPE Makes One Quart Special equipment: Tabletop ice cream machine with prefrozen tub Ingredients 1 cup whipping cream 2 cups nonfat milk 1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped and reserved 1 cup sugar 6 egg yolks 3 tablespoons blackberry preserves 6 ounces fresh or frozen blackberries 3 [...]
Speaking of pie, I thought I’d make one for us. I felt guilty for not including a recipe in my post about the Denver County Fair yesterday. All that talk of pies and pie-eating contests had me drooling for pie. So I’ve made this one just for my readers. I’d like to call you fans, [...]
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