Sour Cream Double Chocolate Muffins New baking technique delivers ‘dome sweet dome’ for muffins

I learned something new this week that totally blew my mind: how to create muffins with perfectly domed tops. It’s been a mystery for me for a long time how bakeries and other super bakers manage to get their muffins to rise so tall, puffing perfectly over the edges of their cupcake liners. This week’s …

Sour Cream Donuts Lots of leftovers results in some recipe (sour) scheming

So much sour cream. Seriously, you should see the nearly literal vat of sour cream in my refrigerator right now. We hosted a catered meal about a week ago, and I ended up with the leftovers in my fridge. I’m not complaining, mind you, because the meal was absolutely delicious, and I’m never going to …

Fresh Peach Muffins Fresh peaches are ‘muffin’ short of delicious for breakfast

I caught Joey eyeballing the bowl of peaches sitting in our fridge this week. “I’m going to use them this time,” I promised him. “They won’t end up in the freezer until next summer.” His facial expression betrayed a lack of confidence in my promises, so of course, I had to do some baking this …

Strawberry Rhubarb Galettes ‘Galette’ yourself enjoy some tasty, fruit-filled pastry

I had a great dinner night with my family over the weekend. After going out for some greasy food, topped off with ice cream and helping my niece extract every last quarter from my purse so she could eventually win a tiny stuffed turtle from a claw machine, I headed back to my parents’ house, …

Coconut Brownies Make ’em go ‘coco’nuts for fudgy, layered brownies

This weekend, I stumbled on an article by Gabrielle Drolet called, “In Defence of Garlic in a Jar: How Food Snobs Almost Ruined My Love of Cooking.” It’s a long read, but Drolet makes the point that cooking shortcuts are a great way to make the kitchen more accessible to people who have disabilities. She …

Handheld Apple Pies This summer, let’s come together and give ‘pies’ a chance

When I was growing up, my mom’s specialty, which was required at every family get together, was her deviled eggs. I remember my uncle jokingly blocking the door, looking for her tell-tale Tupperware box before we were allowed to come inside. I also remember one fateful day when I accidentally dropped the box, creating havoc …

Brown Sugar Peach Cake Stone fruit and brown sugar are truly made for ‘peach’ other

Last summer, we ended up with a large box of peaches, and when they started to get soft before we could finish them, I sliced them up, tossed them in a bag, and stored them away in the freezer. Well, rather than using them up sometime last fall…or winter…or spring…they’ve just been hanging out in …

Blueberry Crisp This crisp lets fresh berries’ true colors shine ‘blue’

The past two weeks, every time I walked through the produce department at our local grocery store, pints of blueberries have been calling my name. I tried to avoid eye contact with them, knowing that I didn’t have a good way to get rid of a lot of dessert. But when we were invited to …