Category: baking

A Cake That’s Worth the Wait

What do Pat Benatar, George Foreman, and I, your humble columnist, have in common? We were all born on the same day: Jan. 10! I only know this because someone gave me a 768-page book simply titled “The Portable Book of Birthdays.” Good thing, too, or I’d never have known that, according to the book’s…


Créme Brûlée With a Citrusy Surprise

It’s citrus season, and there’s no better way to embrace it than with blood oranges. Despite their graphic name, blood oranges are sweet, delectable, and unique. They are smaller than standard oranges, with mottled orange and rose-hued rinds. When peeled, their interior reveals segments streaked in brilliant crimson, ruby, and port wine colors—hence their name….


Lemon, Herbs, and Butter Flavor This Fancy Fish Dinner

As we all know, at the start of each new year, many people want to eat healthier. This dish is a great way to add a healthier option to your weekly menu. It’s a straightforward recipe using a potentially new technique for people who want to eat more fish. Fancy Fish in Foil Serves 4…


No Need to Share! With This Recipe, Everyone Gets Their Own (Mini) Chocolate Cake

Flourless chocolate cakes are rich, fudgy, and intensely chocolaty. Instead of using flour or leaveners for structure, like most other cakes do, these special cakes rely on a combination of eggs and cornstarch. As the cakes bake, the eggs puff up in the oven, giving them lift. The cornstarch creates a kind of glue to…


If You Haven’t Tried Baked Shrimp, You’re Missing Out

This baked shrimp recipe is inspired by two of my all-time favorite Kitchn recipes: Meghan Splawn’s Shrimp Scampi Pasta and Yasmin Fahr’s Garlicky Shrimp and White Beans. Both of these recipes take the garlic flavor to the next level by marinating the shrimp in garlic before cooking, so that’s exactly what I did here. This…


The Secret to Perfectly Cracked Crinkle Cookies

These deep, dark, chocolaty cookies are also known as “earthquakes” because of all the cracks that break through their snow-white surfaces during baking. The key to creating these crinkly cracks is rolling the formed dough first in granulated sugar and then in confectioners’ sugar. The granulated sugar helps create that crackly, crusty exterior and keeps…


The Family Table: Nut Horns by the Platter, Best Made With Helpers

Submitted by Diane K. Brewer, Apalachicola, Florida Nut horns are cookies that have been in my family and enjoyed by them since the 1950s at least. They’re irresistible! I always thought that they were Slovak, from my father’s family perhaps, but my Polish godmother made them, too. I read on the internet that Hungarians claim them…


Dreamy Meringue Cookies for Your Christmas Platter

These light, airy, and slightly chewy meringue cookies are like chocolatey clouds studded with mini chocolate chips. They’re flavored with a touch of almond extract and dusted with freeze-dried strawberry powder (easily made by whizzing up strawberries in a spice grinder) for a subtle tartness to counteract the sweetness. But they’re highly adaptable. If you’re…


Cornbread Gets Dressed Up for the Holidays

Cornbread gets a festive makeover in this recipe with the addition of fresh and dried cranberries. If you like your cornbread on the sweeter side, increase the honey to 1/2 cup. Cranberry Cornbread Active Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Serves 10 2 cups fine whole-grain cornmeal 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or white…


These Fluffy Dinner Rolls Really Rise to the Occasion

The fancy French word for dough shaped in a ball is boule. Bread makers use the same technique to form a tight ball of dough for a large loaf of bread and for small individual dough balls such as these fluffy dinner rolls. While it takes two hands to form a large loaf into a…