I love bread.
I love bread with butter, bread with jam, bread with jam and cheese, bread with jam and peanut butter, bread with peanut butter and honey, bread with honey and cheese (my latest obsession), bread with coconut butter, bread with almond butter… I could go on.
I love baking bread almost as much as I [...]

I endured another NYC marathon Saturday afternoon that began at I Tre Merli with me spinning platters for the Day & Night brunch and ending 12 hours later at Provocateur trying to delicately balance my laptop bag and glass of Rosé wine. Post brunch we went by the beer garden at The Standard then [...]

City Bakery’s Hot Chocolate Festival
a different flavor of hot chocolate each day for the month of February
need I say more

There are days when I am so bothered by the rain and all I want is sunshine and clear days and for the rain to go away and come another day.
In the same sentence, there are also days in which I embrace the rain..
Today is one of those days. The melodious [...]

Pecan balls rolled in a mountain of powdered sugar resemble little snowballs and bring out the kid in each one of us no matter what our age as we must lick our fingers after indulging in these bite size morsels of heaven. Baked in the oven to perfection, these cookies are best served warm… [...]

Today’s forecast for New York City:
Rain/Snow. 34 Degrees.
My remedy:
make a batch of homemade cranberry preserves with a hint of orange and pomegranate!

*****

CRANBERRY PRESERVES
6 1/2 cups whole, fresh cranberries
2 tsp. orange zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup pure pomegranate juice
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
Add all ingredients to medium stockpot and bring to a simmer [...]

Autumn is here. The leaves are yellow. The air is a bit chilly. Thanksgiving is around the corner. The Christmas tree for Rockefeller Center has been cut. Friends are beginning to discuss New Year’s Eve festivities…
Wait a second. Hold my horses. Note to self: I must [...]

The other night my sister offered to photograph one of my baking creations… we spent the next hour flipping through my cookbooks and trying to decide what we wanted to bake… and more importantly what we could bake as neither of us were willing to go to the market. We wanted to make something [...]

The other day, I was experimenting in the kitchen… and whipped up a batch of some coconut cupcakes and hit a home run at my first bat!!!
Literally.
Is it obvious I’ve been watching a few Yankee games as of late?
Side thought.
Anyway, these cupcakes are so good, you will sneak a few for breakfast too.
Perfect [...]

Homemade foccacia bread.  I could eat this alone.  Dipped in really good extra virgin olive oil and a really good glass of vino.  Who am I kidding?  I do eat this alone.  Who needs pasta?  The foccacia is so yummy hot out of the oven that I fill up on it before dinner is served. [...]

Gentlemen, listen up!
If your wives, mothers, sisters, fiances, or lovers aint no Betty Crocker in the kitchen… may I offer a suggestion? Treat her to her very own bread machine! It sounds ambitious, but trust me… this appliance does ALL of the work. It mixes, kneads and bakes. It’s a [...]

I have ALWAYS wanted to meet Martha Stewart. In fact, friends of mine encouraged me a few years ago to audition for the show Martha Stewart’s Apprentice… however, competitive reality television shows are not my cup of tea.
I recently had the opportunity to go behind the scenes of a taping for the Martha Stewart [...]

It’s cold outside. Nothing warms the house more than the smell of cookies baking in the oven. This is one of those “everything but the kitchen sink” cookie recipes. It was given to me by a sorority sister in college to add to my recipe binder collection.
RANGER COOKIES
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated [...]