Although our oven joins us in a collective groan as the summer heat draws near, there’s one little appliance tucked in the back corner of the kitchen that lets out a happy squeal at the first sign of 90-degree days. “Yippee da doo, eep eep eep!” Or something like that. Yes, after nearly nine months…
Once-a-year twice-baked cherry pie
Second only to the just-add-water blueberry muffins that I proudly baked during my earliest days of kitchen duty, cherry pie spent a good many years atop my menu of signature dishes. Of course, this was cherry pie by way of an 8-year-old chef in the mid-’90s, which basically meant a skillful combination of two newly…
Strawberry tarts forever
Our farmers market basket overfloweth! It’s a happy problem indeed, though it’s one that necessitates a rather concentrated effort to cook, bake and nibble our way through the abundance of produce as fast as our tummies can take us. Our kitchen always feels more creative in the warmer months because we tend to do a…
Voice for the misunderstood: Prune coffee cake
Consider the following correspondence, unearthed from an archive of never-been-printed-but-could-have-changed-the-culinary-world-as-we-know-it advice columns: Dear Abby, Lately we’ve been feeling quite misunderstood. Every time we try to make new friends, we’re met with crinkled noses and rejection. Is it us? Are we not sweet enough? Not pretty enough? People love our smaller cousins; they’re always invited to…