by Brian | Feb 12, 2015 | Dessert Digest, Recipes
For her corporate and private events at Cooking by the Book — over 250 a year — Suzen prepares menus to let clients customize their meal. If you look at all the combinations of appetizers, sides, main courses, and desserts, it is mathematically improbably...
by Brian | Feb 9, 2015 | Dessert Digest, Recipes
There are a hundred versions of Devils Food Cake, or Devil’s if you still believe in English grammar. The “standard” ingredients have shifted substantially over the past century. Variations abound: with chocolate or with cocoa, with sour cream or...
by Brian | Feb 5, 2015 | Cookie Jar, Dessert Digest, Recipes
I do remember my first visit to the Museum of Modern Art. Decades ago. Before two, or is it three, massive expansions. Now, the Museum is as big as a cruise ship. Then, it was smaller, more intimate. There were fewer people and it was quieter. And the paintings seemed...
by Brian | Jan 7, 2015 | Cookbook Review, Cookbook Reviews, Cookie Jar, Dessert Digest, Recipes, Techniques
Fans of this blog know that I have a favorite cookie: the Maxine, a refrigerator cookie with a chocolate-nut center wrapped in a dough, sliced and baked. I’ve made it for Christmas for over 30 years. Suzen and I no longer have a tree every year,...
by Brian | Nov 22, 2014 | Dessert Digest
This cake is not gingerbread. Now, I personally love gingerbread, the spicier the better, but some folks have a different palate, one that does not appreciate the assault of too much ginger on the tongue. For those of you, and I respect you ginger sensitivity,...
by Brian | Nov 10, 2014 | Cookie Jar, Dessert Digest, Recipes
“Delicious,” Suzen said. Coming from my wife, on a scale of 1 to 10, that’s an 11. To my shock, she reached for another. Now we are up to a 12, an appropriate number actually for baked goods. You see, Suzen does not like cookies. At all. If we sat...
