Flaky, buttery, short, and golden brown– pie dough can be the thing that turns a pie from simply a good dessert to truly a great masterpiece. But dough seem to be the most intimidating process for many home bakers. Whenever I teach a class, or give a demo, there are always a multitude of questions […]

My mom always made the best Rice Crispy Treats– me, not so much. It’s taken approximately 33 years to make a treat that rivals hers. I know, you’re probably reading this and thinking, just follow the directions on the back of the box, and there you go. But my mom’s are great– gooey, chewy, sometimes […]

I love dessert– a tall layer cake, a slice of pie (duh, I wrote a book about that one!). I’ll even take a cookie. But what I really love, are trustworthy, un-embellished, not-too-sweet, single layered, coarse crumbed cakes. My friend calls these cakes abstemious– but he’s a wordsmith. I have a few of the recipes […]

This is a picture of the two pies I brought down to Washington, DC with me last week– in that horrible heat wave that struck the East Coast. These pies were cooling on my kitchen counter in Connecticut ready to make their debut at the NPR studios in DC. They were covered in pure white, […]

Let’s take a moment and think about pie. I actually took way more than a moment to think about, bake, and research, this outstanding, American culinary tradition. I took about a year. Maybe you guys have noticed the image on the right-hand side of your computer screen. I put the picture of a book cover […]

Do you ever start one project, and by the the time you’ve finished it, it is almost unrecognizable from what it was meant to be? I do. It happens to me all the time– when I’m getting dressed for the day, running errands, and especially when I’m cooking. When I’m cooking  I like to call […]

If it’s your birthday, I will make you a cake. I should clarify. If it’s your birthday, and you’re a dear friend of mine, who lives within a reasonable distance (walking or driving)– I will make you a cake of your choosing. It has become a sort of tradition since my husband and I moved […]

I’m smitten with a lowly flour. It all started last year with a trip to upstate New York. I went to the teeny-tiny, mill town of Penn Yan. It was quaint. But what do you do in a mill town except buy flours and grain? Not a whole lot. So, I filled the trunk of […]

Do you know that song by Lionel Richie? “Stuck on you, got a feeling down deep in my soul…dah, dah, dah, Yes, I’m on my way–” (Hum the rest, because if you’re anything like me, you NEVER know the correct words to ANY songs.) Well, that song kept playing over and over in my head […]

Fall can be a confusing time. Don’t get me wrong– it’s one of my favorite seasons. (Out of four, it’s probably number one!) For one thing, there is always the crisis of what to wear. Tights or bare legs? Sandals still, or do you move on to flats? Light sweaters in the morning, jackets for […]