peanut butter pie

August 05, 2024 by Sarah Blanchard in baking

Oftentimes you’ll find a peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust…and believe me, you’d be hard pressed to find bigger fans of chocolate and peanut butter than we are! (See this chocolate peanut butter pie.) But for this concoction, I really wanted to let the peanut flavor shine. For that reason, a graham cracker crust is the best choice here. Its golden toasty notes are in harmony with the peanut butter. The heaviness of straight peanut butter is brightened by beating in cream cheese and lightened by folding in whipped cream. Topped with more whipped cream, and a sprinkling of chopped peanuts and shaved chocolate for just the slightest textural and flavorful contrast, if not a symphony of flavors, this creamy peanut butter pie is pretty darn delicious and easy to whip up.

Brown Sugar Banana Bread

July 22, 2024 by Sarah Blanchard in baking

This banana bread is simple, moist, deeply flavored, delicious…and made in one bowl! It’s a recipe I have memorized because we make it once a week. We eat one loaf for snack and the other for breakfast the next day.

Below is the brown sugar riff — a recent favorite — but there are loads of ways to vary the texture and flavor working with inspiration and what you have on hand. There’s a guide in the notes section to help with that.

chockablock cookies

July 03, 2024 by Sarah Blanchard in baking

Here’s a cookie chock full of chunky texture. They aren’t much to look at, but yeesh they are addictive. The soft oatmeal cookie base barely holds together an abundance of shredded coconut, pecans, and butterscotch and chocolate chips. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, these make a lovely dessert, but an even better breakfast! Bake them soon, eat them by the dozens.

salted caramel tart

June 25, 2024 by Sarah Blanchard in baking

An elegant classic, this tart features a buttery shortbread crust and deeply flavorful salted caramel filling. You probably won’t believe me when I say it’s simple to make, but believe me, it is. It’s a quick fridge-and-pantry-staples raid, I-need-a-dessert-to-bring-to-dinner type dessert that’s just a tad more upscale than a pan of brownies.

speculaas (dutch spice cookies)

December 11, 2023 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

These cookies are meant to be pressed into a mold, but I don’t have one. I opt to roll and cut them out like sugar cookies (actually, I always make these with my kids the same day as those). These are a humble cookie, but if you love spice cookies like I do (I often laugh at how many variations of spice cookies I have in my yearly list), these will find a spot in your own holiday baking, not only for their warm, comforting flavor, but also for their being a cinch to make!

ricotta cookies

December 07, 2023 by Sophie Barrows in baking, dessert, sophie

A few years ago, I started baking several different cookies leading up to Christmas, freezing them as I went. The goal was to have a stockpile of beautiful cookies to pull out on Christmas, give to friends, bring to gatherings, and enjoy throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas. Each year, I try to rein in the near absurd amount of cookies I plan to make, but the list of keepers continues to grow…

Berry Oat Bars. revisited

December 04, 2023 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

A while back, I shared a recipe for Raspberry Oat Bars that were quickly becoming a favorite breakfast/snack bar in our home. In fact, they’re made so frequently that the recipe has become lazier — ahem! — modified over time into something far more streamlined, just as tasty and worthy to be shared.

Cauliflower and Almond Cream Soup with Harissa Butter, Almonds and Dill

November 10, 2023 by Sarah Blanchard in cooking, sarah

A creamy lightly-spiced cauliflower soup with robust flavor from toasted almonds, slight heat from harissa-infused browned butter and a bright earthiness from a sprinkling of dill as garnish. I think you’ll love this warm earthy soup in the winter months!

Peanut Butter Cranberry Oat Bars

October 30, 2023 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

These easy-to-make bars come together quickly and are a favorite grab n’ go snack around here. There’s something about the simple combination of peanut butter, butter, honey and oats, studded with dried cranberries and topped with a drizzle of chocolate and a sprinkling of flaky sea salt that is just so satisfying.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti

October 09, 2023 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

These chocolate cherry almond biscotti were good enough to pull me out of sluggish apathy this morning and finally revive a blog wallowing in abandonment for over a year. Well, abandoned by us as bloggers, but not as bakers. We continue to reference this blog for our favorite shared recipes on a weekly, if not daily, basis. And it looks like many of you reading this do the same! We thank you all for continuing to follow along for the past year, even when new content was scarce. After a long break I think we’re ready to start posting regularly again…just in time for the holidays!

Rustic Ricotta Cheesecake

October 09, 2020 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

Backstory: In high school, we spent just over a month living in Trastevere for my dad’s work, and there was this bakery where we would get cakes. One of these cakes, I still fantasize about today. It was a mysterious creamy cake studded with chocolate chips.

Peanut Sandies

September 18, 2020 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

As much as I love Ottolenghi’s savory recipes for their dynamic flavor profiles, so much do I love his sweet recipes for their subtlety and finesse. Just like his Oat Cranberry Almond Cookies, these Peanut Sandies have flavor without being in your face. They perfectly balance butter with peanut, sweet with salty, not one element outshining the other. The texture is delicate and crumbles away in your mouth. They are, in a word, a delight.

Zucchini Bake

September 17, 2020 by Sophie Barrows in cooking, sophie

This recipe is a very humble one, but much beloved. We all look forward to zucchini season so that we can make this! Delicious as a side to a cookout (or other meal), it also makes for a good meatless main course served on its own with a large salad and maybe a watermelon.

ricotta everyday cake

September 01, 2020 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

For some reason, whenever we use ricotta around here, it always seems we have a little leftover. Rarely is the whole container is completely used up. But, happily, this phenomenon led me to this recipe which is so tasty, I buy ricotta now just to bake it up.

the well-stocked kitchen: small appliances

August 27, 2020 by Sarah Blanchard in collaborative, home & family

This month brings yet another installment of The Well-Stocked Kitchen, a series of posts in which we take a virtual tour through our kitchens and name off the items we reach for day after day, those gadgets and doodads that make cooking and baking that much easier, and enjoyable.

Ham, Potato, and Cheese Galette

August 19, 2020 by Sophie Barrows in cooking, sophie

I’ve shared before my love for galette. It is so elegant and pretty without demanding too much work. It is a blank canvas for any creative cooking inspiration. It is hardly ever a dud, thanks to the nearly fail-proof flaky, rich crust that ties it all together. This ham, potato, and cheese variation was intended to be a crowd pleaser (with children particularly in mind), a departure from my usual veggie laden galettes. A classic flavor combo, it was a big hit, no surprise.

magic kiss middles

July 24, 2020 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

This is kind of a crossover between two cookie classics—Keebler’s Magic Middles and Hershey’s Secret Kiss cookies.

potato buttermilk sandwich bread

July 15, 2020 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

Before you ask me, “Why another white sandwich bread recipe?”, let me ask you: do you ever have leftover mashed potatoes going bad in your fridge because no one wants to eat them? Or do you ever have that last bit of buttermilk that you can’t find a use for? And if you said no to both of those, then how about this: Why NOT another white sandwich bread recipe? Especially when it is a supremely soft, voluminous loaf, with a little more chew than your standard white and a bit more flavor profile from the buttermilk, This is a glorious loaf of bread. If you have enough restraint to let it cool completely before slicing, it makes for wonderful sandwiches and even better toast.

graham cookies + a wonderful baking tool

July 01, 2020 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

I love these cookies. They are the perfect snack cookies that are sweet enough to satisfy a craving, but not sweet enough to make you think you’re over doing it on any regular old day. And they are so yummy! And satisfying! To be honest, I’m finding myself baking these up every other week or so.

roasted poblano salsa

June 22, 2020 by Maria Almeida in cooking, maria

My husband eats chips and salsa like I eat popcorn: after the children have gone to sleep, in peace and quiet, as a way to unwind and relax. I churn out a batch of my simple salsa about once a week, but sometimes I’ll go off road a bit and do a salsa verde or a roasted red salsa or add something fun like black beans or corn or whatever. Usually it is a function of whatever I have in my kitchen. This salsa was something I threw together because of a couple poblanos getting a little soft in my fridge. Since the elements are broiled and charred, it has a much deeper flavor than my usual, which is quite bright and acidic. The product is delicious, but the method is dead simple and lends itself to any amount of variation. Look through your fridge and be creative!