I first heard about Red Velvet Cake from Bobbie Lou, my Baltimore elementary school classmate. Bobbie Lou was a pretty, plump, dark haired girl who lived a block away with her colorful grandmother who raised her because Bobbie Lou’s mother worked night shifts and slept during the day. Bobbie Lou’s family had recently moved to …
We didn’t entertain much during the three years I studied law, but reading recipes provided a needed break from legal treatises and fueled fantasies about when and how I would prepare them. I was a pent-up hostess and when the last semester was ending, I invited friends for dinner I planned in my mind for …
With a few days left until Christmas, I am focusing on holiday baking. I am late this year and probably should not do much, but it’s a habit hard to break even though we eat fewer sweets each year. Nonetheless, an unexpected, spectacular dessert ending to a holiday meal is a special treat. Of course, …
Orange Christmas Cake with White Chocolate Frosting Read More »
I made this Viennese Poppy Seed Torte, Mohntorte, to assuage my longing for poppy seeds. I know it sounds strange. Why of all culinary ingredients available in the United States, would I miss poppy seeds? Well, poppy seed dishes were part of my Ukrainian-American childhood, often used for special occasion treats such as strudels and …
The annual appearance of firm red and green rhubarb stalks in farmers’ markets heralds that winter is finally over. Knowing rhubarb season is fleeting, I usually buy enough to fill my baking and cooking cravings. This year, it’s time for a Strawberry-glazed Rhubarb Yogurt Cheesecake. My affinity for rhubarb started early. In our first small …
I created this Cranberry Cream Tart to highlight cranberries, an underutilized fruit which plays a secondary role to savory dishes and rarely in desserts. Since learning about the importance of wild cranberries to the diet of Native Americans in my third-grade lesson on the first Thanksgiving and their use by Pilgrims as a ubiquitous condiment, …
It’s the middle of March and it’s snowing for the fifth time this month. The piles of snow will linger long after spring starts a few days from now. As I watched the white flurries outside the window this morning, I recalled that Scandinavians go to great lengths to keep spirits up in the waning …
This German Apple Cake – Gedeckter Apfelkuchen was on my to-bake list for years from the time I was a law student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I did not cook or bake much while studying. With 700 pages of weekly reading of treatises and case law, there was little time for culinary endeavors …
I recently discovered an early recipe for Baked Cheese Babka, a Ukrainian Easter dessert, in an out-of-print 19th century cookbook published in western Ukraine. What intrigued me most was the fact that this Baked Cheese Babka is flourless. After researching other baked cheese babka recipes, I realized the uniqueness of this recipe. Other baked cheese babkas …
A recent article in the New York Times’ Thanksgiving Food section suggesting alternative pecan recipes to the traditional pie reminded me of this Chocolate Pecan Mille Crêpes Torte I made for Mama’s 94th birthday. Mama’s birthday on November 18 was for many years my annual kickoff for holiday baking. Each year it was a warm-up …