While my “regular” yeast bread is soft and wonderful for sandwiches, toast, or just fresh with a little butter and/or jam, it does not have that chewy crust that makes more “artisan” bread or rolls. In an effort to try to get to that crust, I have combined a very, very old recipe with some…
Applesauce Date Bars
Some time ago, I ordered several pounds of dates from an online provider when the price locally had gone beyond my budget. They were diced with a very light coating of cornstarch to keep the pieces from sticking together, and I have found them to be very good in a wide variety of baked goods–along…
Peanutty Pops (guest post)
Enjoy these childhood favorite, rich and peanut-buttery, frozen treats on a hot day.
Filled Chocolate Chip Graham Cracker Bar Cookies
What happens when you find a clearance on graham crackers for 50 cents a box and then score some 12 oz bags of chocolate chips of various flavors and sizes for ony 99 cents? You have the ingredients for something new and different for dessert. Like rich chocolate chip cookies without the tedium of drop…
Bread and Butter Pickles
In between the sourness of dill pickles and the excessively sweet pickles that go by that name, “bread and butter pickles’ are a refreshing middle ground. They are also very easy to make and often have the added flavor of onions and/or green peppers added to the cucumbers, a bonus for those of us who…
Lots of (Yellow) Cornbread Options
There is something about a cold winter night and a pot of chili that really calls for good, warm cornbread–the “sweet” yellow cornbread style that I grew up with–sorry my southern friends, but all the choices today will go in this direction. With a family game night planned and vegetarian chili on the menu, this…
Stovetop Flat Bread
No need to heat up the oven to have freshly “baked” bread–and this dough can even be refrigerated, so you can make up a big batch and have fresh bread every day for a week–if it lasts so long! For centuries, women (yes, mostly women) have been baking these kinds of breads, flattened with their…
Luna’s Walnut and Raisin Cookies
Over the years, it has been fun to find the global variations of these simple cookies, from Russian Teacakes to Mexican Wedding Cakes and more. My Lebanese exchange student, Luna, has introduced me to her mother’s Lebanese cookies, made even richer with eggs and lots of lemony flavor. Luna’s mother sent a photo of her…
Dill Pickle Juice Rye Bread
This old-fashioned recipe calls for “potato water,” an ingredient that was likely pretty common back in the meat and potatoes days of the early and mid-20th century. However, unless you are making this after a large family gathering (Thanksgiving or Christmas for example), you might not be boiling potatoes for mashing or otherwise cooking them…
Yeast-raised Spinach Bread
Just in time for St. Patrrick’s day, a bread I made last year for my grandson’s birthday dinner. He had asked for his favorite take out, from Pho Thai, a Vietnamese restaurant here in town that has wonderful pho and lots of other dishes we all love. That was the main part of the meal,…