Overnight French Toast Casserole Say ‘oui’ to this yummy overnight breakfast casserole

When I began writing this column over 10 years ago, I had grand illusions of people sending me their favorite recipes and me trying them. What I found was that people are normally pretty guarded with their best dishes, and even more so, everyone wanted me to tell them something new to try instead of …

Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting ‘Poppy’ in the kitchen and try some beautiful scratch-made cupcakes

I have always been a sucker for poppy seeds. If there is a tray of pastries that includes poppy seed bread or muffins, that is what’s going on my plate. That nutty flavor is just irresistible. That being said, I rarely bake with poppy seeds, for some reason. I had to change that, and what …

Homemade Chai Latte ‘Chai’ can’t believe I managed to make these lattes at home

Before I married into the Young family, I was pretty coffee agnostic. I would basically drink whatever was in front of me and be happy with it. The Youngs, though, are coffee people, by which I mean they know how to make a fantastic cup of the stuff. If you want proof, just pop by …

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 …