From the category archives:

cookies and bars

Chewy Toffee Blondies

November 18, 2009

Can I just say how touched I am? You all left the sweetest congratulatory messages on the last post, and I’m really just tickled. We’re told this is a pretty exciting time in our lives, and if the last two weeks are any indication, exciting is quite an understatement. We’re floating. But I digress: this [...]

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The Best Tea Cookies on the Planet

May 9, 2009

I’ve always loved the idea of having a local baker — someone whose shop was within a short walk of my apartment, where I could drop by in the morning for a baguette or a scone, pick up a loaf or two of fresh bread, and pop in on a lazy Sunday afternoon for tea [...]

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Cherry Almond Biscotti

May 3, 2009

Two wrist-slaps for me: I made these so long ago, I can’t even remember when at this point. And I was oh-so-sure I blogged about them. But you know what? I didn’t. I realized this yesterday, when I was poking around a great blog I recently discovered (which, in coincidence of coincidences, belongs to an [...]

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Meringues (Finally)

March 16, 2009

For all those anticipating Passover, these meringues are the perfect Passover dessert. They require no flour or leavening, but actually taste good. I simply can’t go the week without them. I was looking through my archived photos today and discovered something utterly shocking: I’ve had a website for…how long now? a year and a half?…and [...]

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Coffee Walnut Cookies

March 2, 2009

When it comes to dessert recipe creators, none holds a candle to Alice Medrich. Considered by many the “first lady of chocolate,” she is the founder of the famed Berkeley patisserie Cocolat and the author of several wonderful cookbooks, most recently Pure Dessert. I’ve raved about her twice before — her whole wheat sables and [...]

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Cinnamon Palmiers (and cheat puff pastry)

November 25, 2008

File this under “things I’ve always wanted to make but thought I needed an excuse.” Not that they’re actually so hard, but let’s face it — nothing is easier than simple chocolate chip cookies, or my go-to dessert of late, chocolate pudding. It’s just that the recipe is very specific, and one must strictly adhere [...]

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Conquering Macarons

October 18, 2008

If there is an ultimate test for baking aficionados, it is the very delicate, very complex, and oh-so-French macaron. If you’ve never had them, here’s the best description I can muster: two thin almond-flour-meringue cookies sandwich a restrained but sumptuous layer of cream. The flavor possibilities and combinations are endless. There’s something irresistable — something [...]

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Cherry Almond Tea Cakes

October 3, 2008

Just peek out the window and you’ll know it’s officially fall. The sky in Washington is a crisp blue today, and the air is breezy and cool. Knowing DC as well as I do, I was sure that the cool front would pass quickly, making way for just a little more of that lovely summer [...]