Some of the best, most brilliant recipes are the most simple. (Perhaps that is also true of many things in life). But finding out how easy it is to make homemade fiery-red beet chips, or a silky-smooth hummus, is always such a revelation to me.
Read moreAPPLE YOGURT CAKE
"I think this is the best one you've made," he said, gently scraping his fork against the white dessert plate. He gathers the crumbs in a pile and presses the fork against them -- the cake is so moist that the last bits stick together. He scoops up the last bite.
Read morePURPLE PLUM TORTE
Let's talk a little bit about comfort. Lately I've been baking a lot for comfort. If I'm feeling listless, or uncertain, it gives me a wonderfully concrete task to focus on. You have to walk to the market with purpose, and make actual choices instead of meandering with your hands in your pockets, eating too many cheese samples and asking questions like "how late are you open?", to indicate that you could possibly buy something at some distant point in the day, instead of just eating all the aforementioned samples.
Read moreBANANA POPPY SEED YOGURT LOAF
My mom makes Italian-style biscotti – no butter, no oil. I’d place three or four of them in a bowl and crush them with a potato masher into unevenly sized crumbs. Then I’d whip some cream to stiff peaks, fold the crumbs into it, and put the whole concoction into the freezer during dinner. It would freeze into a semifreddo-like dessert, studded with crunchy chocolate biscotti chunks and strewn with crumbs that turned the cream gray, like cookies and cream ice cream.
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