Lemon kisses the crust, but leaves this bar-style cheesecake rich and creamy, then appears again in a sweet sauce that covers the strawberries on this springtime dessert. My grandma would have us over for Sunday dinners often. When my family up and moved away from the city, his brother followed, buying the house two doors down. His parents, my grandparents, would keep a respectable distance of 1/4 mile when they moved, too, so as not to crowd the boys. Only my aunt, with her world-traveling ways,... more

Yesterday I was making blueberry crumb bars for Babble when I decided I needed use up some of the produce in the fridge. We were headed up to the Boundary Waters, and I had, well, a lot of produce that wasn’t scheduled to be packed in the cooler and carted up there with us. As I stared at the cherries that had sadly been neglected as life took over and deadlines loomed, I decided they would work perfectly in the crumb bar recipe I’d just tossed into the oven. The cherries had originally been... more

I enjoy cooking with my kids. I believe that teaching them how to cook and bake and feed themselves is an important part of the child rearing process. So, I set out to do that this week. First, we made brownies, but not just any brownies. We made brownies with a mint cheesecake layer, and then we topped them off with a simple ganache. I mean, it was St. Patrick’s Day. What ends a meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and Guinness like a rich brownies with a refreshing minty kick? Nothing.... more