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

What to do when you have food that needs to be used in short order? In this case, the obvious solution was to whip up a bread pudding with a few extra lemons, ricotta, blueberries I’d planned on feeding the kids but then forgot about and a loaf of bread with a forgotten purpose. (I loved this recipe so much, I ended up including it in my cookbook, Desserts in Jars. Cookbook photo pictured above.) It all started when I agreed to make broccoli cheese soup for Kiera. She’d asked for it... more

It’s hard to say where this kugelhopf originated from. While other kugelhopfs start from sweet, yeast-risen dough, I grew up eating a rich cake-like version my grandmother made. With its distinct rich taste and buttery texture, this moist cake is the perfect complement to your morning coffee and manages to hold its own after the main course with a cup of coffee. The reason it’s hard to say where exactly my grandma’s kugelhopf came from is that her history is a bit like a rubber... more

Finally, I share my shortbread for all the world to see. You can just add this to the list of things I have failed or fallen short at recently. It belongs right there next to purchasing pants that actually fit my growing 5-year-old and scrubbing my floor. You see, I made and photographed this shortbread late one night before I left for San Francisco. I brought the pictures with me. I even brought the cookies with me. Yet, despite my good intentions, technology interfered. Not only did it take... more

So, you may have been wondering how much hot chocolate I was going to make with all that ganache the other day. Hot chocolate for everyone! Actually, not really. Hot chocolate for no one. Truffles for everyone…or at least for me. The bonus of making hot chocolate from ganache is that I successfully crossed off one of the items on my holiday “baking” list: truffles. They are flashy, and I like adding a few here and there to cookie gift containers. Plus, they’re easy, especially... more

There’s no doubt about it. Fall is here. The wind has a certain crispness that was missing not too long ago. Leaves have changed, fallen and been raked into piles. My vegetable garden is cut down to the dirt. Still, the farmer’s markets are bustling with squash, apples, root vegetables and more and Thanksgiving is now right around the corner. While my favorite way to rejoice in a fall harvest is by battering and frying apples for apfelradln, apple crisp is Ole’s and it is... more

Some mornings my grandma would show up on her bike at my childhood home with a basket of these, still warm, covered in cinnamon and sugar. For breakfast. When she would watch us, my sister and I would ask if she could make them. “Grandma, can you make apple raddles? Please? We have apples!” And occasionally she would when everything fell into place just so, and then life was complete. There was nothing better than one of these, straight out of the pan and into our mouths. So,... more