“You need to get a new banana bread recipe!”
That’s how Jay greeted me, without saying hello, as I walked in from yoga this afternoon. Before I left, I had mixed up a batch of Joanne Chang’s banana bread from Flour and left Jay in charge of testing it and taking it out of the oven. The recipe had rave reviews, so you can … Read more
“A good whoopie pie never expires”
Maybe you’ve heard about the small tempest brewing in Maine over an attempt to designate whoopie pies the official state dessert. If you’re out of the loop, rest assured, members of the public have been speaking out: “A good whoopie pie never expires,” said a costume-wearing visitor to the Maine Legislature who identified himself as … Read more
Back-of-the-box cooking
I have a soft spot for recipes from the back of the box. They tend to be earnest and straightforward—never anything too difficult or unconventional—and seem to me to represent a kind of cheerful, all-American “you can do it!” approach to cooking. Sort of like Rosie the Riveter, only in your kitchen, and lives are … Read more
About that pear tarte tatin…
It was amazing. It was not perfect (the caramel sauce soaked through parts of the pastry), but it was amazing. I used frozen puff pastry and red pears. I used the amount of cinnamon specified and threw in an equal amount of ground ginger. We had to stop ourselves from finishing the whole tart tonight. … Read more
“You gonna put frosting on that?”
-Jay, with a skeptical eye on a freshly baked applesauce spice cake. On Friday I made a public threat on Facebook, about a baking marathon, that I didn’t really make good on over the weekend. I did bake one cake, an old favorite Real Simple recipe for applesauce spice cake. You can swap out the … Read more
