Have you ever thought that the thing about making shortcake for summer fruits is that it’s not chocolate enough? Maybe some 20 years ago I devised a chocolate biscuit for shortcake, but it was made the “hard” way, by which I mean cutting shortening into the dry ingredients which adds time in the kitchen. Anyone … More Chocolate Shortcake with Nectarines, Recipe
Yesterday’s phone call with my mother went something like this: “That Rum Raisin Banana Bread* you sent to Poulsbo on Friday was delicious. I shared it with your youngest brother Saturday morning after he collected it from the mailbox. You know what I really loved? Those Lavender Butter Cookies** you sent me for Mother’s Day.” … More New! Raspberry Butter Cookies
“Mummy, do we have any chocolate?” asked my daughter visiting for a few days from London. “Well, how about a quick batch of brownies? Do you want anything in them? Nuts? Fruit? Chocolate chips?” She suggested raisins and I said they’d have to be golden raisins since I reserve the Thompson’s for breakfast oatmeal, but … More Fudgy Frosted Chocolate Cherry Brownies, Recipes
Experiment number I-don’t-know, but with a jar still more than half full of my Cranberry Lolly needing use and a container of frozen cinnamon crumble topping and a chilly morning, it’s off to the kitchen to warm up and scent the apartment and maybe have a lovely small cake to share. I began with the … More Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake
I’ve made two kinds of cookies for my mother and this year’s Mother’s Day, the first that she can hide in her room because it’s a crispy, buttery bit of goodness which stores a bit longer than the softer cookies. She’s been hiding sweets that she doesn’t want to share for as long as I … More Evie Vinson’s Ranch Cookies & Fennel Butter Cookies for Mother’s Day
I received an envelope with a card and a two-page story from the 8 year-old girl in whose honor the character of Pinky arose along with Pinky’s Grasshopper Cupcake. (If I didn’t mention it already, Pinky is attracted to frostings.) The young lady and her sister have created critters to join Lady Lolita VandenBug and … More When one gets a Mesij from Caryor Pishon, one makes Leftover Cake
Two things. First thing: I got ingredients to make a batch of my artisanal cookies, the Peppermint Cream Joneses* for my pregnant grandniece’s craving … a couple months ago. She lives some distance from me on the other side of the water and it seems that nobody could make it to Seattle to pick them … More Pinky Grasshopper Cupcakes
Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t, but I am thinking about a spiced apple pie, the Dutch* kind. One of my neighbors has been frantically readying her art for sales (and hopefully some fun) at the Emerald City Comic Con which started today at the Convention Center in downtown Seattle. I think she and her … More National Pi Day. Maybe some pie.
Maybe 30 years ago I made a 3-tiered version of this cake for the 50th birthday of the wife of the lawyer for whom I worked in Santa Monica at the time, along with the rest of the meal I catered for 50 guests, precisely. It was then, like now, Camp Fire mint season and … More Chocolate Mint Cake, Deluxe Edition
An experiment in gooeyness is all this is. A low-fat, chewy chocolate chip cookie with a marshmallow baked onto the top of it. Variations on this theme are called smookies and marshookies because they’re a takeoff on those wretched campfire things made with graham crackers, squares of milk chocolate and a freshly-roasted marshmallow. I thought … More Smookie Marshookie Fold-overs
Ms Chef in Seattle 