Category: baking

How to Make a Classic French Yogurt Cake

Think of yogurt cake as the little black dress of French baking: an easy, everyday staple that always delights and pairs well with just about everything. With a golden exterior and moist, fluffy crumb, it’s the perfect cross between a pound cake and light sponge cake, an ultimate family favorite for any occasion. Why is…


This Homemade Father’s Day Gift Is Delightfully Delicious

Generations of kids and grown-ups have baked and eaten chocolate chip cookies. We have just one person to thank for the chocolate chip cookies we know and love: Ruth Wakefield. In the 1930s, Ruth and her husband ran a restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, called the Toll House. Ruth invented a recipe for Toll House Chocolate…


Baked Peaches and Cream

When baked in the oven, peaches caramelize in their juices, deepening their flavor. This dessert becomes elegant and sophisticated in its presentation: Use a pretty plate or a coupe glass and layer the soft, caramelized fruit with golden toasted almonds and mounds of orange-scented whipped cream. The almonds add crunch and smokiness, and with almond…


How to Make an Upside-Down Cake With (Almost) Any Fruit

Surely everyone is familiar with the classic pineapple upside-down cake, topped with rings of canned pineapple and dotted with neon-red maraschino cherries, all nestled in a brown sugar glaze. What many people don’t know is that nearly any fruit can be subbed in for the pineapple-cherry combo with fresh, delicious results. Read on for our…


This Savory Galette Makes a Great Lunch or Dinner

A galette is like a pie, except the crust is only on the bottom and the sides and it’s a totally free-form dish. No pie plate here! A good galette has a crust that is nice and crisp. But the filling can create a problem. Most veggies are filled with water, which can make the…


The Secret to My Great Grandma’s Cookies? Smash Them After Baking

When I stumbled upon the recipe for these pistachio smash cookies, I wasn’t sure what I had found. During one of my spontaneous urges to deep clean the house in the early months of the pandemic, I rediscovered a box of old family recipes tucked away in the laundry room. I hadn’t looked through the…


Citrus Quick Bread Is My Mother’s Day Favorite

Mother’s Day can be filled with anxiety. How best to celebrate your mom? Does she like going out to dinner, spending the day at a long brunch, or tea with the family, or maybe a hike and a picnic? Once you decide what makes her happy, you can proceed. So, what am I hoping for…


Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

When Tamie Cook was growing up, there weren’t many days when her mom didn’t make a fresh pone of cornbread. Cook loved nibbling around the crispy edges. Her dad preferred his crumbled in a glass and covered with fresh buttermilk—a much-loved Southern tradition. Here is her recipe. Makes 6 to 8 servings 1/4 cup melted…


How to Make Basque Cheesecake at Home

My first bite of Basque cheesecake was a revelation. I’ve never been a fan of super-rich New York-style cheesecake, so it was as if Basque cheesecake—which is decidedly less sweet and really lets the flavor of the cheese shine—was made for me. I was initially drawn in by its dark, almost-burnt appearance, but it was…


Rachella’s Tahini Carrot Cake

This recipe from Omri’s mom, Rachella, is the one that woke me and my sisters to the power of tahini. The cake is super moist and rich. The tahini gives it a nutty aftertaste, and because the tahini reduces the amount of oil in the recipe, this cake never gets greasy the way many carrot…