For as long as I’ve been writing about food, I’ve had a dessert idea jotted down; one that combines a trio of my favorite things, and yet, I just got to it this past week. This might say something about my tendencies towards procrastination, or my love of making unrealistically long lists — if only you could see my collection of epic-length Google docs — but the real reason this cherry-almond chocolate bark only now came to fruition is simpler and less personality-trait-related: namely, I hate tempering chocolate.
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holiday
Honey Whole Wheat Cornbread
Over the years, I’ve auditioned a variety of recipes for stuffing, pie, mashed potatoes, turkey, and cranberry sauce. The one constant at my Thanksgiving table: this hearty cornbread, which makes an appearance both as a side and as the backbone of cornbread stuffing. Sour-cream-enriched, and lightly-sweetened with honey, it is a decidedly Northern take on the cornmeal quick bread, akin to a dressed-up, homemade take on Jiffy cornbread.
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Sweet Potato Pie Bars
When I learned that one of my all-time favorite cookbook authors would be writing a book all about cookies (one of my absolute favorite things to bake), I could hardly contain my excitement. Fast forward many, many months, and it’s here: Dorie’s Cookies. Since it hit shelves a few weeks back, I’ve been plowing through butter and sugar at an alarming rate, testing recipes from it, and — no shocker here — it is excellent, filled with a wide range of well-written recipes, many of which I’ve bookmarked.
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Molasses Spice Cookies
It might seem a bit premature to share a recipe for molasses spice cookies, a treat that many associate with Christmas, but I can’t wait any longer. Last winter, I set upon a quest to find the best recipes for molasses spice cookies and gingersnaps, and have been waiting to tell you all about these cookies since. I’m still on the hunt for the latter — if you have a favorite gingersnap recipe, let me know in the comments — but after testing and tasting my way through a handful of contenders, I feel pretty darn confident that these molasses spice cookies are a real winner.
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Iced Sugar Cookie Hearts
Nowadays, most of what comes out of my kitchen are savory everyday things like bean soups and kale salads, but baking was what first piqued my interest in the culinary world. I still enjoy it — there’s something so magical about transforming butter, flour, and sugar into a treat so much greater than the sum of their parts — but it’s more of an occasional, whimsical thing. (One cannot live on sweets alone.) Cut-out sugar cookies, like these hearts, are a long-time love of mine, one of the first things I remember baking.
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