The spring obsession with strawberries continues. As the season settles in, I look for other ways to enjoy the little red jewels, as I have almost eaten my fill of them plain from the bowl I keep in the fridge, filled every week at the famers market. And so I turn to baking to find [...]

Tender, tangy and subtly sweet. These delicious little pillows are perfect for Spring.  The ricotta makes the cookies tender and adds a little tang, and the gentle hint of citrus in these cakey cookies is enhanced by the sweet citrus glaze.  With a little work, I think you could shape the dough into an egg shape [...]

January 8th is Elvis’s birthday.  If you grew up in Memphis, you know that.  For my 25th birthday (quite a few years ago, and not in January), I had a big party.  At Graceland.  The party was in the large lobby of the ticket pavilion, decorated (by Graceland) in pink, black and turquoise balloons.  We [...]

Milk Punch has roots in New Orleans, with a history as a hair-of-the-dog remedy.   In fact, my best milk punch memory is enjoying a bit too much at a wonderful wedding brunch in New Orleans.  And now, that bride makes milk punch for a Christmas party every year.  I have to admit though, I make [...]

Red Velvet Cake is a real childhood memory for me.  I have an aunt who makes a great one.  But it was definitely not trendy or cool or in.  Red Velvet was seriously down-home, real country food.  It wasn’t even a standard on diner menus.  But that all seems to have changed.  I am dubious [...]

The flavor of caramel covered apples is amazing.  Eating a caramel apple, not so much.  The caramel-to-apple ration in my opinion, tends to be too low.  I can’t abide those pre-made wrap around sheets, and making a good caramel is a bit of work.  And in the end, the caramel tends to slide off the [...]

I set out to make a cookie reminiscent of good-old fashioned gingerbread cake.  When I managed to achieve this, it occurred to me that if I called them gingerbread cookies, it would bring to mind the crispy, crunchy type – like gingerbread men or tree ornaments.   That is not what these lovelies are at all.  [...]

As a kid, I was a great one for projects. Homemade play-dough. Cookies painted with egg/food-coloring paint. Dollhouse furniture. Leaves pressed between waxed paper. I was never very good at any of these, and my record on finishing what I started was less than stellar. So maybe I should clarify that I was a great [...]

The iconic S’more.  That memory-provoking piece of gooey, melty childhood – summer camp, the Fourth of July, beach bonfires.  I am not the first to re-imagine the s’more in a slightly less drippy, sticky and potentially hazardous form, but perhaps I am the laziest.  The portable, storable S’more cookies need only six ingredients, one bowl [...]

St. Patrick’s Day is a silly holiday – in the best possible way.  Grown folks dressing in green fuzzy wigs and big hats.  Pinching co-workers and friends who forget to wear green.  Drinking green beer.  Singing Irish songs as if you just came over from the old country.  In fact, celebrating a holiday largely based [...]