In Santa Monica, not far from McCabe’s Guitar Shop where I was taking a class, there was a small chocolate shop with the best chocolate cookie that I’d ever had in my life. As a sincere believer that chocolate is a food group, I made sure to have them often enough to sustain life. The … More juliyya’s Chocolate Joneses, truly a Star
My daughter asks for these every year as a selection in the Christmas cookie mix. She used to make them, too, as her contribution to the holiday baking. I don’t prefer to put them in the gift boxes because they are big. It’s impossible to make them small or all you get is a few … More Haystacks. Someone thinks they’re a star
My mother gave me the 2007 Taste of Home Annual Recipes Book not long ago and I decided to give these a try. A layer of crushed Oreo cookies mixed with some butter, baked 10 minutes and cooled is topped with melted caramels and masses of pecans (which I roasted) and then a glossy fudge. They’re very … More Caramel Pecan Candy, a Star
We have these every year for Christmas and times when the extended families get together. Chopped dates, roasted walnuts, crushed graham crackers, marshmallows all held together with a can of sweetened condensed milk, then rolled in flaked coconut. They mellow for a few days. Then we’re off and away. I threw in some maraschino cherries … More Aunt Clara’s Date-Nut No Bakes, a Star
Christmas cookie platters on display in stores and on lovely tables all over the world include some variation of this classic cookie with a cake name. When I was growing up, we called them Russian Tea Cakes and they were made with chopped raw walnuts. They are also commonly called Snowballs and Mexican Wedding Cakes. … More Mini Tea Cakes, Star of the Day
It may be a good thing that today I sent a big handful of the wrapped Molasses Caramels to my mother and a few to my downstairs neighbors. Why? All the rest of the wrapped caramels are going to be unwrapped and repurposed. The caramels are indeed intensely flavored, which means that their appeal is … More Ginger Snicks with Molasses Caramel Filling, Star of The Day
Christmas goodie-making time began on Monday night with an untried recipe which was a result of looking at half a dozen recipes for molasses caramels, choosing the one which appealed most because it doesn’t have corn syrup and having a go, changing it a bit. My family loves molasses and also a dark caramel custard. … More Molasses Caramels, Star of the Day
Tidying my cookbook shelves today led to the two things in this photo. The lovely photo of the artfully arranged desert tray within my photo is from a 1950 book edited by Ruth Berolsheimer at the C.A.I. and published by Consolidated Book Publishers in Chicago. What does it have to do with the sock smiling … More Mismatched Sock Rice
Last night, as dinner was on the stove and with an accompaniment in the oven, I mixed a batch of cookie dough for another experiment in fillings, in high hopes that the result would be the third offering of a peppermint-related cookie trio. There are already two unique and well-proven members of that trio, typically … More Peppermint Cream Snicks, Maybe
It’s the season for pumpkin, the savory and the sweet. We see pumpkins in big piles at the grocery stores and some of us start jonesing for a familiar taste. I hear about pumpkin this and pumpkin that, pumpkin spice in a latte, pumpkin soup, pumpkin couscous and my inner baker reminds me that it’s … More Pumpkin Spice Joneses, One Variation
Ms Chef in Seattle 