I’ve spent most of my adult life as a bake-by-photos kind of girl. No, I don’t mean that I ignore textual instructions and base my cooking exclusively on what I see (though that could be a mighty fun and/or terrible idea), but when it comes to wooing my culinary curiosity with winning recipes, delicious photos…
Project NYT: Molasses cupcakes with lemon icing
Like most people, I definitely have my favorite flavors. Cinnamon, vanilla, anything citrusy: I always tend to gravitate toward recipes that incorporate the tastes that I love. More often than not, those recipes call for expected combinations: cinnamon with nutmeg and vanilla, lemon with fresh berries, rolled oats with brown sugar. They’re classic combos because…
A belated celebration: Chocolate chip pancakes
So yesterday was National Chocolate Cake Day, and somehow I missed the memo until mid-afternoon when it was too late and I was too busy to partake in the sugar-filled euphoria. Sad, I know. And I do so love a good holiday. Anyway, I spent the better half of yesterday thinking about cake (which is…
Project NYT: Baking from honey-dipped memories
Food is a funny thing. On the one hand, it comes equipped with so many quantifiable qualities: vitamins, nutrients, calories and ingredients. On the other hand, so much of what we eat and how we eat is tied to much less tangible traits: what we know, whom we know and what we remember. Food has…
Project NYT: Rollin’ in dough
For the past few years, my heart for pizza has been divided between two great loves: Shakespeare’s Pizza, the No. 1 college hangout here in Columbia (seriously, just ask Good Morning America) and Monetti’s Pizzeria Ristorante, a little Italian restaurant in my hometown of Warrensburg. One’s classic American fare, done right with fresh ingredients, and…
Fresh baked snow day
It’s a snow day in Columbia, Mo.! Woo to the hoo! After another downpour of more than half a foot of fresh, sparkly snow, the world outside our windows is looking quite winter wonderland-esque. Few things in the world are as peaceful and pretty as a snow-covered morning. Of this, I am sure. Although we’re…
Project NYT: Nostalgia and the 67-year-old brownie
My quest for the perfect homemade brownie continued last night, and I dare say I might have found a winner. Hidden nearly 700 pages deep, in the “Cookies and Candy” section of my NYT Cookbook, there lies an incredibly simple, back-to-basics type of recipe that sounded like just the kind of the thing I was…
Project NYT: Oatmeal, meet Cookie. Om, nom, nom.
Dried oats are pretty amazing when you think about it. With little more than a dot of water and sprinkle of brown sugar, they’re an automatic breakfast. Roast them with dried fruit and maple syrup or honey, and your granola wishes are fulfilled. Add some butter, sugar, flour, eggs and raisins, and you’ve brought them…
A feast for the eyes: Raspberry pavlova
When it comes to baking, few things are more satisfying than pulling a perfect batch of cookies from the oven or adding the final dollop of whipped cream to a beautifully plated cake. Sure, taste is the most important factor when all is said and done, but there’s also something to be said for that…
Another day, another cookie (salted double chocolate peanut butter)
I know, I know. Enough with the cookies already. It’s no secret to any of you that I’ve been a regular cookie-baking machine since Halloween rolled around (as evidenced here and here). But seriously, these are A-mazing (yes that capital A is intentional. Holla!) and so worth a trip to the store for a gallon…