Category Archives: Recipes (Sweet)

Rah-Rah for Rhubarb Brownies

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An easy rhubarb jam gets folded into the batter for these rich chocolate brownies.
An easy rhubarb jam gets folded into the batter for these rich chocolate brownies.

Resembling mutant celery and smelling rather strangely green and vegetative, rhubarb hasn’t necessarily been a favored springtime pick for me.

If given the choice, I’d much rather reach for strawberries instead.

But a recipe for “Rhubarb Brownies” captured my fancy enough to want to place a bunch in my grocery basket.

The recipe is from the new cookbook, “Coastal” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Chef Scott Clark of Dad’s Luncheonette in Half Moon Bay, with assistance from James Beard Award-winning food journalist Betsy Andrews, who is a contributing editor at Food & Wine magazine.

If you’ve had the pleasure of visiting Dad’s Luncheonette, you know that it’s the cutest little cafe that operates out of a permanently parked, historic train caboose.

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The Perfect Number of Cupcakes

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When four cupcakes is all you need.
When four cupcakes is all you need.

We love cupcakes.

We also like to bake them.

But often, we are faced with a cupcake conundrum: recipes that produce 12, 18 or 24, when all we really want are a few of them.

Thank goodness for America’s Test Kitchen.

While other small-batch cookbooks come at you with recipes for modest amounts of cookies, doughnuts or tartlets, its new “Baking for Two” actually has a recipe for “Vanilla Cupcakes” that makes four of them. Yes, perfect for a family of four, a couple who wants to indulge in seconds, or a close-group of besties to share together.

The cookbook has more than 200 recipes for bakers who want to indulge their passion but don’t want to bake themselves into a frenzy.

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Whipped Cream Cake That’s As Good As It Sounds

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Whipped cream cake that tastes as rich and buttery as you imagine.
Whipped cream cake that tastes as rich and buttery as you imagine.

Would you believe that this cake contains no butter and no oil?

Just heavy cream — a lavish amount of it.

“Whipped Cream Cake” is from the newly revised and updated, 35th anniversary edition of “The Cake Bible” (William Morrow, 2024), of which I received a review copy.

It’s a beautiful golden-hued Bundt cake with a tender, moist crumb and a taste so rich that it needs no embellishments.

First published in 1988, it’s by baking expert, Rose Levy Beranbaum, who has been nicknamed the “diva of desserts.”

The revised book is a whopping 684 pages, with 150 pages and 30 percent more recipes than the original.

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The Ultimate Cookie: Brown Butter, Passion Fruit Chocolate, Walnut & Sea Salt

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Instead of dark chocolate in this Dominique Ansel cookie recipe, I used Valrhona Passion Fruit chocolate feves.
Instead of dark chocolate in this Dominique Ansel cookie recipe, I used Valrhona Passion Fruit chocolate feves.

Does the world need another chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Absolutely, if it’s one by legendary pastry chef Dominique Ansel.

After all, the man who originated the croissant-donut mashup, the Cronut, definitely knows his stuff when it comes to baked goods.

This cookie recipe, which I took one liberty with, comes from his newest cookbook, “Life’s Sweetest Moments” (Harvest, 2024), of which I received a review copy.

He may be a James Beard Award-winning pastry chef whom Food & Wine magazine dubbed a “Culinary Van Gough,” but rest assured that this collection is designed for the home-cook with 40 recipes ranging from the easy to those that will require a little more time and effort.

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Treat Yourself to A Batch of Tamarind Cream Danishes

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Puff-pastry danishes with a cream cheese-tamarind caramel filling.
Puff-pastry danishes with a cream cheese-tamarind caramel filling.

Attention: Raise your hand if you have a partially used jar of tamarind concentrate languishing in your fridge.

Yes, I’m talking to you. And to myself, of course, because I am equally guilty of that.

“Tamarind Cream Danishes” is the perfect excuse to dig out that jar and put it to good use in this flaky, buttery treats that sport a center of cream cheese and tamarind caramel.

The recipe is from “Sugarcane” (Hardie Grant, 2024) of which I received a review copy.

It was written by food writer and recipe developer Arlyn Osborne, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, who worked at Food & Wine magazine and the Food Network.

It’s a collection of 80 recipes for sweets that are inspired by her Filipino heritage from her mother’s side. Think “Ube Coconut Cake,” “Mochi-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies,” “Star Fruit Tarts,” and “Lemongrass Vanilla Scones.”

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