Last Friday I went on local television to bake a pie– a Chocolate Raisin Pie. I think chocolate and raisins are sort of the perfect combination. I always eat the raisins with the chocolate chips out of the “bad-for-you” trail mix. (Which is really the only type of trail mix I like.) I love a […]

It seems like I don’t bake a lot of cookies around here, so when I do bake a batch, I want them to have a bit of everything in them. And apparently Joanne Chang, baker and proprietor of Boston’s Flour Bakery feels much the same way. (Although I suppose that being the baker at a […]

It’s November, and Thanksgiving is early this year. If you’re anything like me, you’re already making mental checklists of everything you want/need (really, is there any difference?) to cook and bake for this holiday that beats all other holidays, culinarily speaking. I’ll be baking a pie this week on local television. (For those of you […]

I am American. As if you didn’t know that from the title of my latest book, or the subheading of this site. But another way to tell my nationality is my undying love for all things peanut butter. THIS is the true way to tell when you are dealing with an American. I ‘ve found […]

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 […]