In 2017, when we were visiting our daughter-in-law Liv's family in Copenhagen, Eva, her mother, made a delicious meringue torte for us, similar to the schaumtorte of my childhood, a dessert the German part of my family served at Passover, but one that I always thought was too sweet. I loved that the hazelnuts and the dark bitter chocolate of Eva's recipe cut the sweetness of the meringue. Now it is part of our Passover Seder menu, though it also works beautifully throughout the year, especially for gluten-free friends. During the pandemic, when I was in New Orleans, I substituted local pecans for hazelnuts.
The first stop on my coffee cart treat quest (second stop, Raspberry Mazurkas, page 108) is the elusive Pink Cookie. Uncle Seth’s Pink Cookies are palm- size cookies scented with cardamom and topped with a pink- tinted cream cheese and almond frosting. Here, I’ve made them into a pat- in- the pan cookie bar with a layer of perfectly pink cream cheese frosting scented with a bit of almond extract.
This recipe offers an elegant twist on the classic pineapple upside-down cake, a dessert that’s been made and reimagined for decades. The basic concept is simple: pour cake batter over slices of fruit and flip the cake after baking to reveal a beautifully caramelized layer of fruit—in this case, pineapple.
The batter in this version is uplifted with the addition of pink peppercorns and cardamom.
This recipe comes from my mother-in-law, Mary. She’s taught me a lot of great cooking tricks and is an absolute force in the kitchen. You know Mary is cooking when you walk into the house and the music is pumping at full volume. I’ve changed some of the seasonings and herbs, but the timing and technique here are all hers. This is an easy, totally hands-off method of cooking fish, which makes it an ideal recipe for new or nervous cooks—for all cooks, really!
Those who know me know I’m an unabashed fan of stuffed-crust pizza. In fact, I included a recipe for one in my second cookbook. But as I get wiser with age and experience, I have started to think of things like, “Why just stuff the crust when you can stuff the whole thing?”
Held together with two layers of cheese, the prosciutto in this recipe tucks nicely into a pillowy focaccia dough. On top, wild ramps soften and char in the heat of the oven, creating a lovely, sweet onion flavor. If you can’t find ramps, feel free to use young garlic, spring onions, or your favorite pizza toppings. This focaccia is best served the day it’s baked.
You won’t believe how good mushrooms can taste. All you need is soy sauce, a bit of honey, and a dash of smoked paprika. After a quick roast, they’re crispy and packed with deep umami. You can serve these mushrooms as a main dish accompanied by cooked buckwheat, or use them in Miso Żurek with Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Mushrooms, and Dill.
Almond butter is pretty mild in flavor, but crisp almonds, chocolate, and punchy freeze- dried strawberries make these a special little snack. Feel free to substitute peanut butter or any other nut butter for the almond butter. If your almond butter is unsalted, add an additional pinch of salt to the dough. Toast the almonds in the oven while the bars are baking to save yourself some prep time.
In our home, this is the crème de la crème of breads—a quintessential part of any mountain table. We serve it alongside about any meal, with cabbage, chili, pot roast, my Chicken and Dumplings, and more. You need a cast-iron skillet to make proper cornbread. Although my grandmother was a cornbread purist, every so often I like to break tradition. One of my favorite cornbread variations is to slice a large onion and lay the rings flat in the skillet before pouring in the batter. What you have is a sort of onion upside-down cornbread that pairs grandly with soup or beans. Another option that goes great with chili is to add a cup of whole kernel corn before baking.
I started making this rye focaccia while leading the Pastry and Bread program at Rossoblu in Los Angeles. I wanted the bread program to reflect the whole--grain heritage of Italy, and I loved making seasonal variations with fruit. Focaccia is also known as a salt cake, and I love cake with fruit. Here, we are celebrating a classic autumn variation of apples and onions, with some lemons to brighten the whole affair. Feel free to change out the toppings as the seasons change! This dough is extremely forgiving and a great place to build shaping confidence. Focaccia is great served warm alongside dinner or enjoyed cold as the ultimate sandwich bread stuffed with your choice of fillings. I also love it sliced thick and grilled with olive oil. Keeps for a week at room temperature, wrapped in a tea towel. Replace the honey with molasses to make the recipe vegan.
A good molasses cookie should achieve a harmony between the sweetness of brown sugar, the bitterness of molasses, and the gentle heat of spices. This cookie does all that, but where it really delivers is the texture: perfectly soft and chewy. The dough can be portioned and frozen ahead of time, making these your all-purpose holiday cookie.