speculaas (dutch spice cookies)

December 11, 2023 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

These cookies are meant to be pressed into a mold, but I don’t have one. I opt to roll and cut them out like sugar cookies (actually, I always make these with my kids the same day as those). These are a humble cookie, but if you love spice cookies like I do (I often laugh at how many variations of spice cookies I have in my yearly list), these will find a spot in your own holiday baking, not only for their warm, comforting flavor, but also for their being a cinch to make!

ricotta cookies

December 07, 2023 by Sophie Barrows in baking, dessert, sophie

A few years ago, I started baking several different cookies leading up to Christmas, freezing them as I went. The goal was to have a stockpile of beautiful cookies to pull out on Christmas, give to friends, bring to gatherings, and enjoy throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas. Each year, I try to rein in the near absurd amount of cookies I plan to make, but the list of keepers continues to grow…

"anything you choose" muffins

February 17, 2020 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

Ok, so Joy of Cooking just calls these Basic Milk Muffins, but since you can also use cream, or buttermilk, or add any kind of fruit - dried or fresh - or nuts or spices or any variation thereof, I figured I could get away with calling them “endlessly variable”.

These really are just a simple muffin - not heavy and bready, not fluffy and cakey; moist but not dense, and juuuuust sweet enough. They are delicious. Sometimes I make them plain Jane with nothing at all. Sometimes I add a bit of cinnamon and chocolate chips; sometimes I add fruit and/or nuts. In the variation pictured above, I added orange zest, fresh cranberries, white chocolate chips, and walnuts.

I have never made these and not liked them.

orange cornmeal cake with candied rosemary and orange bourbon soak

February 11, 2020 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

One of my favorite challenges in reworking or rethinking or creating a new recipe is to minimize waste. So, for instance, my preferred method of making macarons is to use a French buttercream as the base for the filling—which uses up all the egg yolks leftover from the macaron shell’s egg whites. (On that note, Sophie does have two great posts offering tips on using up leftover egg yolks and egg whites.)

Mini marzipan scones

January 20, 2020 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

Hands down almond is my favorite flavor. I can vaguely recall a time as a child when I didn’t like marzipan, but those days are far behind me. Something happened and now I can’t get enough of anything almond-flavored.

Lemon Tea Cookies, 3 Ways

January 16, 2020 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

I found this recipe many years ago. A friend came over after school, and we paged through my family’s cookbooks for baking inspiration. We hit upon this one, and it has remained a beloved recipe ever since.

No-Knead Artisan Bread

November 12, 2019 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (or ABIF) was something of a revolution when it first hit the market just over a decade ago (in fact, the word “revolution” is present in its very title). It was the bread-baking technique that first got me, and countless others, baking bread on a regular basis. The notion was simple: bread baking shouldn’t be prohibitive; it’s a basic human activity. How can this ancient tradition be reintroduced to the modern home? With a recipe that takes roughly “Five Minutes a Day,” Artisan bread was back on American tables.

Apple Pandowdy

October 10, 2019 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

Apple Pandowdy may very well be better than apple pie…and I’m someone who really likes apple pie.

It’s not an elegant dessert—I think the name speaks clearly to that. But it’s the name, “Pandowdy,” that first got me hooked, and the baked dessert lives up to it every inch.

Salted Caramel Sauce

October 04, 2019 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

It’s the season for apples, cinnamon, pumpkin and all things autumn, and there’s really no better accompaniment for all those good things than a salted caramel sauce. It’s so versatile and adds another dimension to dessert with its more complex sweetness and buttery smoothness. Drizzle it over cheesecake or pie, swirl it into brownies, sandwich it between cake layers - there’s so much you can do!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

September 30, 2019 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

I’m not crazy about making all things pumpkin the moment Fall begins. BUT, I’m not one to complain about cinnamon rolls either. So, when my little sister visits and requests that we make these, I don’t object.

Soft white sandwich bread

July 19, 2019 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

If you look closely at these photos, you’ll notice that the crumb is a little more open than it should be. Perhaps it wasn’t shaped as tightly as possible or the dough wasn’t developed as well as it could be for even distribution of yeast development. Guess why I don’t care. BECAUSE MY EIGHT YEAR OLD SON MADE IT. I realized one day that he was totally capable of baking bread start-to-finish all on his own and that not only would it be a great learning opportunity for him, but it could also become one of his “chores”. So I walked him through the process and wrote down these ingredients as we baked this loaf together - intended to be easy and forgiving and to yield a loaf that he would be proud of and all the kids would want to devour.

Dutch Cocoa Cream Cake

July 12, 2019 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria, projects

I had my doubts about this cake. The ingredients and method both seemed unusual to me, and I expected it to be maybe one dimensional and unremarkable. I know the recipe promises the cake will be “light, delicate, and delicious … like a milk chocolate bar”, but I was skeptical. But I’ve been working through my vintage recipe project and the occasion of my 1 year old’s birthday was pretty low stakes, so I gave it try. And I am so glad I did! This cake came out of nowhere and totally won me over. It is so so delicious. It’s not fancy, it’s nothing gourmet or complicated, but it is light as a dream with a delicate texture and chocolate flavor. The cake layers and the whipped cream together are airy and not too sweet - in fact, the cake is almost salty in the way that the most delicious milk chocolate has the sweet/salty element that keeps you going back for more. The frosting is very sweet, but it pulls it all together and balances the cake and cream. I’ve made a lot of cakes and watched a lot of kids eat those cakes and most of the time they don’t finish, or they eat the frosting and leave the cake or pick out the cake and leave the frosting. Not this time. They inhaled it., each one of them, both days it was served. So did the adults… I mean, when a cake is this light, it goes down real easy.

great British Bake Off Challenge July: Eton Mess

July 07, 2019 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

When I started thinking about what GBBO bake we should do for July, I immediately thought something light, fresh, easy and perfect for summer. Eton Mess is all of that and more.

lemon blueberry cheesecake bites

July 01, 2019 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

Graham cracker crust topped with a cheesecake filling, bursting blueberries and a hint of lemon…these fresh and pretty bites practically scream “take me to a summer bbq!”

rice flour snickerdoodles [gluten-free]

June 24, 2019 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

We aren’t gluten-free in my home, but I have enough family and friends who are that it helps to have a few stellar gluten-free recipes on hand to pull out for parties and get-togethers, or just because! And I have to admit, I’m prejudiced against recipes that tout themselves as “gluten-free” and then simply call for a gluten-free flour mix in the ingredients list, or worse for me, some home-concocted mixture of 100 different flours and powders that I simply don’t have on hand and probably never will invest in.

French Snacklettes & Dorie's Cookies Review

June 21, 2019 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

Ever since I tasted Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies, I have had an eye on her cookbook Dorie’s Cookies. One bite of the World Peace Cookie, and I was crazy over the play between crumbly and chewy, the deep chocolate flavor, the ease of baking, and the adorable little puddle-circle shapes. The recipe struck me as genius, and I wanted more.

Whole wheat English muffins

June 12, 2019 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

These English muffins are so vastly different from our sourdough English muffins, both in terms of flavor, texture, method, and time. Our sourdough English muffins are bready and made in the traditional way of a yeasted bread - risen, shaped, proofed, cooked - and in order to develop the sourdough flavor, all of it done over the course of 12-24 hours. These whole wheat English muffins, on the other hand, are soft and wheaty, and the dough is almost more of a batter that gets scooped onto a griddle, flipped, and finished off in the oven - all in a wonderfully short 2 hours. They aren’t perfect circles and they look pretty rustic but they are undeniably yummy. You can get up a little early and make these for a same-day late breakfast or brunch. Kind of magical if you ask me!

three simple game-changing tricks for your morning bowl of oatmeal

June 07, 2019 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

I hope I’ve gotten your attention. I hope you didn’t skip over this post thinking, “Blech, I hate oatmeal it’s so gross” or wondering why anyone would be excited about oatmeal at all. I used to not be excited about oatmeal, too. Now we have it every Monday and Friday and even my kids are happy about it. Here’s the thing: these tips are game-changers because they turn your bowl of oatmeal from a flavorless mess of gluey slop into something that is actually full of flavor, delicious, and doesn’t even need brown sugar. (Although you can still put brown sugar on. I do. Along with a lot of other yummy things. Read on!)

GBBO Challenge June 2019: Schichttorte! Or Baumkuchen....

June 02, 2019 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

Welcome to our June GBBO! Now this dessert goes by two names: schichttorte (as introduced on the GBBO) and baumkuchen. The German cake was traditionally made on a spit over a fire, each layer being brushed on, baked, then another layer brushed on to bake on top of the previous one. The end result is a beautiful ringed pattern, reminiscent of the cross section of a tree. Over the years, a simpler version was invented where layers were brushed into a pan, then baked under a grill or broiler. The same intricate layers were created, but now horizontally stacked.

pear spice muffins with oat streusel topping

May 28, 2019 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

Reminiscent of applesauce cake, these uber-moist pear muffins with a touch of spice and a crunchy oat topping are a sweet breakfast treat—and a great way to use up those too bruised or over-ripe pears.