Some of you may be shocked to learn that I was a nursery school drop-out. When my mother discovered that napping was a strictly enforced part of the curriculum, I was promptly withdrawn from the program. I could “nap at home for free”, Mom announced. However, maternelle, or nursery school in France, is not for sleepy-heads. There, every child learns this recipe for gâteau au yaourt, yogurt cake, using a…
Standing and frying doughnuts or sufganiyot at Chanukah time is a labor of love that I have chosen to forgo. After serving doughnuts that were raw in the middle on too many occasions, I abandoned my deep fryer and joined the line that snaked out the door of my local bakery. Twenty-five different flavors of sufganiot including Oreo crumb-covered donuts, Boston cream and salted caramel versions, are sold only at…
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a hermit is a person who retires from society and craves solitude. Ironically, it’s also the name of a cookie that is going to make you the most sought-after guest at every holiday party and family gathering, provided that you bring along a heaped tray of these soft, chewy, treats. Sweetened with brown sugar that imparts a caramel flavor, subtly scented with cinnamon and nutmeg,…
I was struck dumb last Thursday evening when I learned of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. And then the tears came. When my sister called and invited me to join her in singing “G’d save the Queen” one last time, I squeaked out a couple of notes and more tears followed. The Queen was a constant figure in my life from the time that I started elementary school. Our…
My mother made the most plush, tender sour cream coffee cake. It was moist and buttery, with the slightest sour cream tang and decked with a generous sweet, nutty cinnamon-sugar topping. Mysteriously, my mother stopped making my favorite cake around the same time that she began to harbor secret hopes of me wearing her wedding dress to my own nuptials. You didn’t have to be Hercule Poirot to solve that…
Summer has finally arrived and every sunny day is a gift that I’m reluctant to squander. Homemade dessert is always appreciated but sometimes a pint of premium ice cream can save the day and send your guests home wearing happy smiles. Put your own special signature on that store-bought treat and raise it to the next level with the addition of a sprinkle of Dorie Greenspan’s deep, dark cocoa streusel. Published…
Serving dairy desserts and pastries on Shavuot, the holiday of receiving the Torah, is a custom that I always look forward to. But shopping for the imported farmer cheese to make cheese delkelekh (Danish) gave me pause when I saw that the price was fourteen dollars a pound. Was the cheese being flown in on a private jet, accompanied by a masseuse and stylist? At these prices, it seemed likely.…
Driving to join friends for lunch, I turned my head to check on the salted caramel cheesecake, my most requested dessert, nestled carefully on the back seat, and gasped in dismay. Unable to resist a preview of the finished dessert, I had topped the cake with lush, golden caramel sauce before leaving the house. It was a mouth-watering sight. Unfortunately, the caramel had languidly dripped off the top of the…
In the summer of 1965, my family took a pilot trip to Los Angeles, California with an eye to settling there. My maternal grandparents had waved a cheery farewell to the snow in Buffalo four years previously and were encouraging my parents to do the same. For six weeks our family of five shared a cozy one-bedroom apartment with my Bubby and Zeidy (surviving the Second World War in hiding…
One of the many perks of working in a library is being able to anticipate the pending arrival of new books (and placing holds on them), perusing the new titles that are lined up like soldiers on their respective book carts, and flipping through New York Times Magazine as soon as it’s delivered, to read Dorie Greenspan’s monthly column, On Desserts. When this recipe for cocoa-cornmeal biscotti appeared, I knew…