At The Snapery Bakery, we decided that, although brioche is delicious, it’s not exactly ideal for burgers, which is what it’s most demanded for. Brioche is too sweet and rich to be slathered with sugary sauces, a fatty patty and a slab of melty cheese. So, of course, we had to develop a bun ideal for burger use.
We can’t think of anything more versatile and delicious than these tomatoes. Eat them by themselves, over rice, tossed with pasta, as a friend for fish, underneath steak, baked with eggs, and spooned next to squash.
No traditional Danish Christmas dinner is complete without a dish of small caramelized potatoes. But this sweet, savory side dish is good for any time of the year.
People serve many kinds of cookies and candies to guests on Chinese New Year. Walnut cookies are often included.
The French figured out a long time ago that the best way to cut the heat of a raw radish is to dip it into softened butter and sprinkle it with salt. They also take it one step further and put it on a baguette, turning it into a light lunch or a snack with wine.
I make this soup, or something quite like it, all year, with frozen corn and fresh.
Make up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate. Have the sauce at room temperature before using.
We have about 10 chocolate cakes in our repertoire, from Cynthia's Chocolate Cake made with cocoa and buttermilk, to the decadently rich Ballymaloe Chocolate Cake made with the very best chocolate money can buy, lots of ground almonds, and a silky chocolate frosting. But if I had to choose just one, it might have to be this recipe given to me by my sister Blathnaid Bergin. It is deliciously chocolatey, yet light and rich at the same time. You can serve it very simply with the chocolate ganache poured over the top or spruce it up for a birthday cake.
Cut into buttery little pieces, this cross between a tart and a cookie crumbles and then melts away as you eat it. Best of all, this recipe belies the assumption that you need the angels on your shoulder to make tender pastry, and that it takes a lot of time.
Sometimes there's nothing better than the simplest of flavors. We both love these cookies as they are or with a simple glaze, or we sprinkle demerara sugar on them for a bit of sparkle. If you add 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar to the dry ingredients and roll them in cinnamon sugar prior to baking, you will have classic snickerdoodles. With orange or lemon zest, they can easily be nudged in other directions. When we lived in New York, there was a little bakery, now gone, called Mary's Off Jane. She made the most incredible lime shortbread-ish cookies with a lime glaze that we devoured. These come close, but we have yet to re-create them to her standard.