The petite woman knocking gently on the door of ER bay 17 last Wednesday opened it slightly and poked her head through. “May I come in?” she said softly. Everyone else had rapped loudly and bustled in and out. I nodded and moved to make room for her near the gurney where my father lay….
Tag: dessert
Classic Apple Pie
I made pie for me, just me, last Thursday. It was delicious. I ate almost the whole thing, and I am not sorry. Filling made with 1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples and 2 pounds Golden Delicious apples, prepared according to the recipe in The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, by the editors at America’s…
Grilled Pineapple Upside Down Cake
I would have missed out on a great cake had I junked this month’s mailer from my electric co-op along with the Blair catalogs and offers from Mutual of Omaha. There’s little in the communiqué on rural electrical matters that interests me, but I’m a sucker for a page of recipes, so I always read…
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Cheesecake might’ve been a more appropriate, if ironic, choice for dessert to enjoy while watching the Miss America pageant on TV last week. Instead, people at my house had warm and delicious flourless chocolate cake. I would have made enough for everyone, contestants included, if that were possible. Those women looked like they hadn’t had…
Sticky Toffee Pudding
Boiling good beer won’t get a cook arrested, but some beer purists might argue that it should. This Sticky Toffee Pudding is worth the crime, though. An American will see that it’s really cake, known in British nomenclature as pudding because all desserts are puddings in Brit-speak. Don’t serve the cake without the sauce; it’s…
Magic Chocolate Frosting
It was a week of unintended consequences. I loaned my daughter my car, and her sweet cat peed and pooped in it. I made cookies jammed with expensive ingredients (gluten-free flour, dried cherries, chunks of good-quality bittersweet chocolate, large coconut flakes), but the pepitas also called for turned out to be tough and stale and…
Bakewell Tart
I should have been looking at street signs on that summer day in Spitalfields, London, but my attention was diverted by the treasure in my hand: a generous slice of the best Bakewell tart I’d ever tasted. I broke off bits to eat as I strolled. A triangle of pastry holding frangipane and a thin…
Lemon Cake 2.0
I made two loaf-sized lemon cakes yesterday, requiring lemons galore. Juice and zest permeate every aspect of the recipe, from batter to hot syrup to sugar glaze, with tangy, tender, delicious results. A day later, the cake is nearly all gone. So now I have a lemon cake situation, because my craving for the stuff…
Chocolate Meringue Pie
If you come to my house for dinner, you’ll eat well, but you’ll eat late. No matter what preparations I make in advance, I cannot seem to get food on the table in a decent amount of time. We’ll have fun, we’ll talk and laugh, I’ll offer you an appetizer and something to drink while…
Bigger, Better Rice Krispies Treats
Sometimes the craving for a sugary, sticky treat hits without warning, and it must be addressed. I came home from Walmart Tuesday with mundane stuff that was on my list (printer paper, milk, green bell peppers, whole wheat bread) and exciting stuff that was decidedly not (Rice Krispies® and marshmallows!). I had a pan of…
Cookbook Wall 