Peaches, blueberries and thyme create a summery, not-too-sweet filling for this rustic, less-daunting-than-pie galette. Recipe below.
THE GUY WHO ALMOST NEVER BAKES—and certainly never bakes pies—just baked an almost pie. A rustic fruit galette. I blame my colleagues. Continue reading “Easier than pie: Peach Blueberry Galette”
Music, camaraderie and a recipe (not mine) for some decadent brownies.
THE AD AGENCY WHERE I WORK HAS A FUN COMMITTEE. Their task, which they take quite seriously, is to create events that give us even more reasons to be happy to show up every day. Last Friday, thanks to their efforts, we celebrated Record Store Day a day early. Continue reading “Celebrating Record Store Day’s Eve with vinyl and “outrageous brownies””
Mixed fresh berries and olive oil keep this cake deliciously light—for weekend guests or a treat for yourself. Recipe below.
Our Thanksgiving desserts, as ever, ranged from the delicious reliables (pumpkin pie!) to the wild and crazy throwbacks (tiny chocolate bottles filled with liqueur!) to the outrageous (chocolate tres leches cake!). But when the guests had gone, and the last loads of bedsheets and dishes were stacked and put away, and the idiot cats had emerged from their hiding places blinking into the light, I found myself wanting something easy, something simple and sweet—and something I could knock together in a few minutes, without having to go to the store or particularly think. Continue reading “Simple to make, not too sinful: Mixed Berries Olive Oil Cake”
This week, we’re featuring six recipes/ideas from the Blue Kitchen archives for entertaining, celebrating and just feeling festive.
The holidays are upon us. Time for parties, family get-togethers, intimate dinners and even being indulgent on your own. Food—and drink—play a big part in all of it. Let’s start with something to drink. Continue reading “Six recipes for eating, drinking merrier”
Ricotta, goat cheese, dried tart cherries and a mere 7 tablespoons of flour are the basis for this traditional Italian cake. Recipe below.
Since we moved, some of our boxes of cookbooks have not yet revealed themselves. The other day, I was looking for them and for some documents. I didn’t find any of that (yet), but in a box otherwise full of a jumble of office things was Italian Kitchen, by Anna Del Conte. Continue reading “Hold the cream cheese for this Italian cheesecake: Ricotta Chevre Cake”
Heavy cream, sweet condensed milk, fresh fruits or other flavorings of your choice and not much else create a luxuriously creamy, no churn ice cream. Recipe and variations below.
This whole thing started when our friend Laura Perry, one of the great home cooks we know, posted on Facebook about her success with a recipe for no churn salted caramel ice cream. I thought: huh? But sure enough, all of a sudden, I started noticing recipes for no churn ice cream all over the Internet. I was super skeptical of this whole thing—no churn? No… churn? But I have to say, as Laura notes, it is ridiculously easy and ridiculously luxurious. It just takes a bit of advance planning. Continue reading “No ice cream maker? No problem: No Churn Strawberry Nectarine Ice Cream”
Marion’s addictive Passover dessert, made with white and semi-sweet chocolates, and spicy rose sugar, makes a delicious return. Recipe and variations below.
We moved last Saturday, probably more of an evacuation than an actual move. We love our new old home, but both it and our lives are a little too chaotic right now to sensibly cook and post something new. With Passover a little more than a week away, sharing Marion’s popular Matzoh Crack seemed like the perfect idea. [Read more here…]
Challah, a traditional Jewish braided bread, can be flavored in many ways, from simple to savory to sweet. Here, semi-sweet chocolate and brown sugar create an almost dessertlike loaf. Recipe below.
MY MOTHER, A BRILLIANT BAKER, used to routinely make elaborate, gorgeous, braided challahs with five, seven and even nine strands, filling them with chocolate, or candied fruits, or finely chopped nuts, or just cinnamon and sugar added with a cheerful generous hand. The scent, the anticipation, the burnished golden crust, all the ways we could use it: challah was a regular and wonderful part of my childhood. Continue reading “Braided bread with a sweet twist: Chocolate-filled Challah”
Another trip into the Blue Kitchen archives as our needed break continues. If you’re looking for an unexpected Thanksgiving dessert, consider Marion’s whoopie pies with pumpkin cookies and two different cream cheese fillings—lemon and maple syrup.
When I told my friends that for this week’s post I would be making whoopie pies, no one said, “Making what?”
Pretty much everybody in the United States these days knows what a whoopie pie is. A cookie sandwich with an icing filling, it’s simpler than cake, a happy intermediate between a cupcake and a sweet bread. Whoopie pies emanated from the American Northeast—Maine (where it is the “official state treat”), Pennsylvania and Boston all vow they invented it. Wikipedia reports that the world’s largest whoopie pie was made in South Portland, Maine in 2011. It weighed 1,062 pounds. This is a real thing, that happened. [Read more here…]
Greek yogurt and lime juice lighten up and brighten up a traditional Polish blueberry cake. Recipe below.
We are getting a lot of amusement out of describing this roller coaster weather. On Friday night, it was so clingingly muggy and hot that we turned on the air conditioning. On Saturday night, after a day of plunging temperatures and changing clothes every couple of hours to stay warm and struggling around comically in pretty much maritime gales, we had to turn on the furnace. And when we went out to a surprise party Saturday night, I wore boots and a light down jacket. Continue reading “The bright, fresh promise of summer: Blueberry Lime Yogurt Cake”