We are on the cusp of berry season, strawberries are just around the corner, then blueberries and blackberries are hitting the stands. We’ll get some raspberries around here, but not too many. And of course, there are the other fruits like peaches and plums just soon to make an appearance. All the hues from the fruit add so much color to the farmers market, coming out of the … [Read more...] about Simple Moist Almond Cake
Cherry Almond Cream Muffins
The combination of cherry and almond is a favorite of mine, so that must have been the appeal when I stumbled across this recipe in Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison’s A Real American Breakfast Cookbook, which is something of a bible of breakfast recipes. I used to make these muffins all the time. I had a friend whose mother loved these, so I would always take her a batch … [Read more...] about Cherry Almond Cream Muffins
Guinness Brownies
As Irish eyes start smilin’ at this time of year, I always seem to break out the Guinness for recipes in my kitchen. I’ll be perfectly honest, I don’t really like drinking Guinness straight up, but in cooking it adds a whole new depth and dimension to so many things. Sausage Coddle, Oatmeal Quick Bread, Bangers and Mash, Caramel Sauce. And that holds … [Read more...] about Guinness Brownies
Plain Cake
Most of the older community cookbooks I have, even some reproductions of recipe books and “housekeeping manuals” from the 18th and 19th centuries have a recipe for Plain Cake. Sometimes it is used as a base for other things, like trifle, but mostly it just sits there on the page between the other more elaborate cakes. Easy to ignore or just flip past. This has been in … [Read more...] about Plain Cake
Creole Daube
Creole Daube is one of those recipes I have seen in Louisiana community cookbooks for years and often marked with a little sticky note flag. Those recipes are usually the short and sweet type written by home cooks who could undoubtedly make it blindfolded. You know, a list of ingredients then directions like “brown meat, cook trinity, add tomato sauce, serve.” It’s always … [Read more...] about Creole Daube
