Boy, these cookies sure look like biscotti, don’t they? And they’re baked just like biscotti. And they taste… just like biscotti.

Fooled you! They’re mandelbrot.

A cookie by any other name would taste as sweet? (more…)

Challah? Me, a nice Irish-Catholic girl from Boston—what do I know about challah?

It was Halley again. “Let’s put up some recipes for the Jewish high holidays. We need a new section on the recipe site. What should we put in there?

“Cheesecake,” said Susan. “And honey cake. And I have this wicked good potato crust pie…” (more…)

It’s the ne plus ultra of artisan bread.

The gold medalist (whoops, make that King Arthurist) of chewy loaves.

The Holey Grail. (more…)

I love regional food. There are specialties to be ferreted out all over the country, and no matter where you live, other exiles from your home region all have the same visceral reaction to a particular food that they grew up with.

Being a Jersey girl, I can’t live without Taylor Ham, bagels, sticky and crumb buns (the bakeries Down the Shore in Ocean City still make me swoon). As a child, we went down to Ocean City for family reunions. My grandfather was one of seven children, thus my mother had a healthy number of cousins. One of them, bless him, worked for the Tastykake company in Philadelphia. This family cousin arrived with cases of KandyKakes and Butterscotch Krimpets, which considerably brightened our lunchboxes for weeks afterward. Needless to say, as far as we were concerned this was a one of our coolest relatives. (more…)

How do you like THEM apples?

That’s what I said to myself as I finished scattering toasted walnuts atop this cake, one that can only be described as GORGEOUS—wouldn’t you agree? (more…)

I grew up 45 minutes outside Manhattan (yes, a true Jersey girl, from the land of Taylor Ham sandwiches and great diner food). Where I come from the cheesecake is dense, creamy, and tangy with a bit of sour cream, riding on a shortbread cookie-style crust. I still remember the incredible silkiness of the cheesecake Mrs. Weimann brought down to the beach where I was working as a lifeguard one day, just to give us a treat. And what a treat it was. (more…)

Why are waffles on the very outside edge of the breakfast landscape?

I mean, even on the weekend, pancakes are about as fancy as you get, right? Or maybe an omelet. Or a coffeecake. All good choices, for sure. But I’ll bet waffles seldom (if ever) enter your mind. (more…)

Chocolate cake made with sourdough starter? You have GOT to be kidding.

No, ’tis true. Sourdough chocolate cake is a richly flavored, craggy textured, deep-dark chocolate cake, one you enjoy without ever suspecting its origin in a bubbling pot of sourdough starter. (more…)

“PJ, you have to do a sourdough blog.”

Halley, our Web projects manager, was cracking the whip on me. That’s what project managers do; it’s their job.

“Awwww, do I have to? I hate sourdough. It’s so…. fussy,” I said, trying to weasel out of it. “I don’t even like sourdough bread. C’mon, you don’t really want a sourdough blog, do you?”

But Halley was a rock. “Sourdough is, like, our most searched-on term. You WILL do a sourdough blog.”

“Oh, WHATEVER.” Grumble grumble grumble… (more…)

Did you know that Elvis’ favorite cake, one he enjoyed on his birthday AND at Christmas every year, was vanilla pound cake?

I grew up loving chocolate cake. Still do. But over the years I’ve also developed a great appreciation for vanilla cake, the dessert equivalent of your little black dress: simple, classic, goes with everything. And my very favorite vanilla cake is super-dense, golden pound cake. (more…)