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Pine Nut Cookie Bars
Festive ingredients and a simple baking method make for the perfect holiday cookie. With pine nuts in caramel topping a shortbread base, these cookie bars satisfy the need for something golden and toasty on the dessert table. Still tender when baked, the nuts lend a delicate texture and their nuanced, buttery flavor. Whether you’re making Christmas cookie boxes, looking ahead to New Year’s Eve, or sharing dessert at a holiday gathering, think about the shape of your cookie bars before serving. They can be cut in a variety of ways with a knife or cookie cutter and always come out looking like lacy gold ornaments. Just be sure to save…
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Peach Upside-Down Cake
There is always a bit of magic in an upside-down cake, complete with a final reveal – the turned cake coming effortlessly out of the pan and showing its glossy, caramelized topping. For this cake, peaches or a combination of peaches and plums create a delicious top layer. Actually, that’s the bottom layer when you’re building this in your cake pan. All part of the magic. With the steps below, you’ll learn how to make that final flip reliable, so your fruit doesn’t stick, and make the cake even more delicious with some of my favorite batter additions. While stone fruit season is still here, try this recipe to hold…
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Cranberry Linzer Torte
With a crust that rivals the best holiday cookie, this linzer torte features warm spices, ground nuts, and a vibrant, lightly sweet yet tart cranberry filling. Topped with a generous lattice that makes dessert gorgeous and rustic at the same time, consider this your invitation to bake up a bit of holiday magic. In place of traditional almonds or hazelnuts, I include pecans and/or walnuts in this recipe as they pair so well with cranberry, though you can customize using your favorite ground nuts if preferred. They make the crust incredibly flavorful and ensure this cranberry linzer torte will be the jewel of the dessert table – even more so…
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Apple Loaf Cake
Each slice of this loaf cake has an irresistible quality that comes from a combination of baked apples and cider. Studded throughout the batter, the chopped pieces add fresh-from-the-orchard flavor while the reduced cider and warm spices give it depth. Buttermilk makes it tender and far from dry. Bake this at night then enjoy it for breakfast – or bake it when the sun comes up and enjoy it throughout the day. As morning fare, a snack, or dessert, it’s the ideal way to celebrate apple season If you’ve enjoyed my apple cider vinaigrette recipe, you already are familiar with the process of making a cider reduction. Concentrated apple flavor…
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Skillet Cornbread Topped with Tomatoes and Rosemary
Skillet cornbread may be the best kind to serve, as it cooks up with a toasty bottom and tender middle. I love to top mine with garden tomatoes and chopped rosemary to hold onto every last bit of summer. Since corn is available through September, fold some into the batter for added texture and flavor using the recipe below. Recently I recommended this as the ultimate side to my summer Cobb salad, and with Labor Day weekend here, this is a crowd-pleasing addition to the menu. By the start of September, our vegetable gardens have become looser, more natural and sprawling, and our dishes follow suit. The actual amounts of…
