Lavender Lemon Cookies

So far my adventures in cooking with lavender have been successful, so I’m gonna keep going. I recently had some lemon cookies at a party, and as I was eating them couldn’t help thinking a lavender lemon cookie could be a treat. It is! Guessipe 1 stick butter 1 cup lavender sugar 1 TBSP lemon…

Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomato Sauce and Fried Caper Crumbs

Cookbook Club – America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated For February’s Cookbook Club, people were able to choose recipes from the America’s Test Kitchen website and cookbook and the affiliated Cook’s Illustrated magazine and cookbook. To see what we selected from the thousands of recipe options, go to my cookbook club site. For now – my…

Lavender Madeleines

Now that I have lavender sugar, my first experiment in using it was these Lavender Madeleines, which I have to say turned out great. I have had this worm in the back of my mind about making madeleines ever since I watched the movie The Transporter (yes, Jason Statham is one of my guilty pleasures…

Apple-Cinnamon Cereal Snickerdoodles

Cookbook Club – Holiday Cookie Swap As a bonus Cookbook Club event, we did a holiday cookie swap where each person chose a recipe from either BraveTart, The Cookie Collection, or Dorie’s Cookies. Then we all got together and swapped cookies, so you went with one batch of cookies and came home with a variety…

Persimmon Crisp

Our Cookbook Club tradition is to do a Friendsgiving event in November, where instead of using a cookbook everyone makes a dish that’s either a Thanksgiving tradition for them or something new they want to try this year. It’s persimmon season, and my friend recently gave me a bag full from her tree. I make…

Quince Custard

A friend of mine gave me some quince, which are in the pear and apple family but aren’t eaten raw. I baked them into a custard which my boyfriend liked so much he said it was the best dessert I’ve ever made (though I should make the disclaimer that he has a really short memory…

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

My boyfriend’s dad is obsessed with Old Bay Seasoning. He buys it in bulk and puts it on everything. At his prompting, I bought some and my first order of business was to try my hand at making the cheddar bay biscuits everyone talks about. It’s the basic Bisquick biscuit recipe with some cheddar cheese…

Rosemary Ricotta Lemon Bars

After making a full ricotta-themed meal (appetizer, main, dessert) with the best ricotta ever (no exaggeration), I had exactly 2/3 cup of ricotta left. I figured that was the perfect amount to mix into lemon bars for a little creaminess to smooth out the lemony tang. I also used rosemary in the shortbread crust to…

Lemon Ricotta Torte

I had made an appetizer and a savory main course with the ricotta from my friend, and I still had a few treasured cups left. So it seemed appropriate to try my hand at something sweet. Ricotta is so versatile! A crumb crust provides a nice bit of crunch to complement the creamy goodness of…

Cheese-Swirled Bread

When I make this bread, my boyfriend will eat the whole loaf in one day. The bread is soft and fluffy on the inside, with a crispy cheese crust on top, and delish herb cheese swirling through the middle. I have tried every combination of cheese and herbs – my favorite is cheddar with green…

Hot-and-Sour Curried Chickpeas

Cookbook Club – Milk Street: The New Rules Cookbook Club is back!!!!! Can you tell I’m excited? It’s been 15 months of COVID craziness – wearing masks, staying away from people, and definitely not having dinner parties. Anyone who knows me knows I love a dinner party, so it’s been rough. But the world is…

Mini Lemandarin Pies

A Lemandarin, also known as a Rangpur Lime or a Mandarin Lime, is a hybrid between a lemon and a mandarin orange. The tree in my neighborhood had a ton of ripe lemandarins in December. I’m told they’re great for making marmalade, but since they’re a bit like sour oranges or Meyer lemons (which you…