I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day (do I really need to list the reasons why?), but this year I felt compelled to celebrate, even if in just some small way.  Perhaps it's because there was a third person this year (who is technically not here yet) and my emotions got the better of me and convinced me that Valentine's Day is in fact important.  The end result was a simple baking project, so it's not as if I went all out, but it definitely meant more to me this year than it has in years past.

It seems like madeleines are all the rage right now. I’ve been sitting on this recipe for months and of course when I come back to post it, I see recipes for madeleines everywhere!



If you’re not familiar with them, madeleines are French cookies that are really more like little cakes. Best served warm from the oven, they have a lightly crisp exterior that gives way to a light, spongy, interior that is redolent of butter and should be barely sweet, just so to make them the perfect companion for afternoon tea.  

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is one of my favorite flavors, but I realized the other day that it's always the same - vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough.  A little boring, huh.


I, along with a handful of bloggers, was recently asked to create a recipe using the egg-free cookie dough recipe from The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook (and was also sent a free copy of the book), and I immediately thought of revamping this classic ice cream flavor using some of my favorite flavors.

I was all set to start sharing my recipes from my Thanksgiving extravaganza today, but then I had to go and get distracted by a food competition.

I know I said that The Food Experiments National Championship was going to be my last competition (and yes, I know I have yet to post my recap of it), but when I heard that  The Cookie Takedown was happening in a few weeks at one of my favorite venues in the city and my favorite venue for a food throwdown, The Bell House, I couldn't resist entering my favorite cookie recipe.

A sneak peek of what I'm making for The Cookie Takedown

The Cookie Takedown is on Sunday, December 18, at 3 pm at The Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  $15 gets you 30 cookies and an hour of Bulleitt Bourbon eggnog (if you're into eggnog - I can't drink that stuff - but Bulleitt Bourbon is good stuff, and I don't drink just any brown spirits).  Vegetarians, this is one of the best food competitions for you to go to because you'll probably be able to eat most of the offerings (although I'm sure there will be a few bacon-studded cookies...).

Get your tickets now before it sells out - which it will, and soon, at that.  I will be wearing my sparkliest holiday finest and serving up some seriously delicious cookies, so I hope to see you there!

I first made these cookies for my New Year’s Eve party at the very end of 2010. The menu for my party had a bit of an Indian slant, so I took my Earl Grey tea shortbread cookies and simply swapped out the Earl Grey tea for regular black tea and added all the spices that go into a comforting mug of Indian masala chai. [Please, folks, don’t call it “chai tea” – chai means tea in Hindi so you’re calling it “tea tea” – masala chai is the correct term for the now-common Indian beverage of milky, spiced black tea.]

I wasn’t sure how these would go over at the party but they were a hit, particularly among two of my close friends who literally stood in front of the stand on which these cookies were resting for about a half an hour while they systematically demolished the entire platter. Thanks for leaving some for the rest of the guests, guys, but also thanks for the huge praise.

I've been meaning to post the recipe for these cookies for more than a month; that they're going up just a few days before Valentine's Day is purely coincidental.  Well, maybe not, but what better day for heart-shaped cookies than Valentine's Day?

I made these cookies as favors for Matt's brother Doug's wedding in late December.  Doug's wife, Tracy, had gone for a vintage/rustic theme (and well at that - their wedding was just featured on Ruffled, a wedding blog for vintage and DIY weddings) and one of the decor components was lavender: it was used in the place settings and centerpieces as well as in a variety of other places throughout the decor. 

It was really hot here in NYC last week (like late July hot, 90 degrees and humid) and it’s been making me crave ice cream sandwiches. There are a few places in town that serve up a mean one (check out the roundup that Serious Eats did last summer), but there’s something to be said about a homemade ice cream sandwich.


I had planned to make rhubarb-ginger frozen yogurt and serve it with fresh strawberries (the teeny tiny ones from our fruit share), but I later decided that those strawberries deserved to be eaten on their own so that they could take center stage. I suppose we could have eaten the frozen yogurt by itself, but, being who I am, I couldn’t just stop there; I would make ice cream sandwiches with it!

Last week, the New York Times' dining section invited readers to submit photos of their prettiest holiday cookies.  I immediately thought back to the beautiful sparkly sesame cookies I had made my first winter in Baltimore and the interesting photo I took of them so I submitted it right away .  When I went to NYTimes.com this morning, what did I see among their 35 picks but my photo!  (It's the one all the way on the right in the 2nd row down - here's the direct link.)



The recipe is not my own; it's from the December 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine - the holiday cookie issue.  There were so many cookies to choose from in the issue but these really stood out to me for their unique flavor and delicate sparkle.  The appearance of these cookies relies on luster dust, and, fortunately, I always have a number of colors on hand, so I made a trio of colors of these cookies - copper, gold, and silver.  They're just as tasty as they are beautiful; they have a very delicate sesame flavor and aren't too sweet, and they're also very easy to make.

These aren't cookies for everyone - the sesame flavor is a little out-of-the-ordinary and they're not very sweet so they likely won't satisfy the average cookie eater.  However, if you're looking for something different in both appearance or taste, these are it.

Happy new year! I know I’ve been totally slacking on posting regularly, but I’ve come up with a few ideas to maximize my use of time, so hopefully I won’t be as negligent on here anymore (at least not for the next few months…I also have to kick the wedding planning into high gear – I’m getting married in eight months!)

Anyway, a few weekends ago, I went on a baking bender and made tons of cookies for a friend's family's holiday party as well as to take down to my fiance's family's house for Christmas (I still can’t reconcile palm trees + Christmas lights). Among the many cookies I made were these little shortbread cookies.

In case you couldn’t tell from the lack of a single cookie recipe on here to date, I’m not really a cookie person. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth (but you might not know it from all the cupcakes I make - and then give away), but, if given a choice between a cookie and a cupcake, I’m going for the cupcake, and pie beats out both of those. Sure, I’ll eat a cookie every now and then, but only if it’s a really good cookie – meaning that it is moist, chewy, and contains lots of stuff – chocolate chips, dried fruit, maybe some nuts, whatever, but there needs to be a lot of them in the cookie.