simply divine carrot soup
Simply Divine Carrot Soup is simple, and divine. Carrots, onions, garlic, a splash of white wine, broth, salt and pepper, and heavy cream combine into a silky smooth soup that lets the carrots shine.
Read Morepumpkin sausage pasta, revisited
About a year ago, I shared on the blog one of my favorite fall recipes: Pumpkin Sausage Penne. Comforting, satisfying, spiced—it basically checks all the boxes for a cozy autumn meal.
Over the years, I haven’t fussed with the recipe much. I liked it the way it was. But this time around, when Fall arrived and I rushed to the kitchen to prepare this dish, I realized I had to change a few things up…
…And I loved it.
Read MoreAdjusting to new pressures
Today my bread rose up into the puffiest plumpest little loaf you ever did see. It’s the third time I’ve made this recipe (easiest softest white bread) and it has turned out differently each time.
Read MorePistachio Rose Shortbread Cookies & how not to be a food snob
My sister-in-law, fresh from a World Market shopping trip, placed a packet of dried rose petals in my hands and declared they were ripe for some Sarah confection.
That night, I went home and began my brainstorm: rose, pistachio, marzipan. Yum. Cream, ganache, praline. Yum. Strawberry rose pavlova -- rhubarb and rose -- coconut cream and rose pudding.
The first fruits of this brainstorm you'll find in the recipe for Pistachio Rose Shortbread Cookies below. Waaaaaay below. You're going to have a scroll through all my thoughts on "food consciousness" before you get to the crumbly buttery tea cookies pictured above.
Read MoreBreakfast week! Chocolate, orange and date scones
Is there anything prettier than a display of assorted scones on various tiered trays? With a floral tablecloth, delicate china tea cups, and silver spoons? the sun angling through a window lined with soft muslin curtains, illuminating the faces of friends?
Read MoreBreakfast week! Sweet Potato Hash-cakes with Bacon and Chives
I don't know if this is a true "hash" or not. From years of watching Chopped, people always seems to be criticized for calling something a hash when it isn't. The best I can find from a dictionary search is simply something cut up into small bits. I like this from the OED: "A mixture of mangled and incongruous fragments." Mmmm, yes, serve me some of that!
Read MoreBreakfast week! Buttermilk Potato Cinnamon Rolls
About a year ago, Maria sent Sophie and me a recipe she developed for buttermilk potato cinnamon rolls with the caption: "I created this recipe and I think they were bomb diggity!"
They are.
Read MoreI made my man the momofuku milk bar birthday cake & subsequent thoughts on cult-status desserts in the age of social media
We were watching the latest season of Chef's Table. The first episode came to a close, the credits began rolling, Noah turns to me and says: "I want that cake for my birthday."
Game on.
Read MoreReversed German Chocolate Cupcakes
A moist chocolate cupcake, filled with a crunchy chewy mixture of dulce de leche, toasted coconut, and pecans, topped off with a pile of rich and thick chocolate buttercream.
Why reversed? A classic German Chocolate Cake uses a coconut pecan frosting. These cupcakes rock the nutty duo on the inside (which is, I may add, an aesthetic win). The flavor profile is jacked up a notch by toasting the coconut and pecans, subbing out the evaporated milk mixture for dulce de leche, skipping over the traditional cake recipe, which uses sweet German chocolate, in favor of a deliciously deep and moist cocoa cake, and sweetening the deal with pretty swirls of chocolate frosting.
Read MoreAll About Brownies
The very day that I finished this post on my at-the-time favorite brownie recipe, Noah broke the news to me: they weren't his favorite.
You simply can't imagine the depths of frustration into which his statement threw me. The quest for the best brownie recipe--one that we both agreed on--has been a bit of a preoccupation for me. After finishing that post back in October, I thought I could finally rest easy. But now I see that a part of me knew I would never find peace on this topic. Why else did I decide to include the word "current" bracketed off in the blog post title? (As in, "Sarahs [current] favorite brownie recipe.") At the very moment that I was gushing over how this recipe was "my perfect, everyday, brownie satisfaction," my subconscious was hard at work undermining my complacency.
Read More36 hours in the Florida Keys
Visiting the Florida Keys, particularly Key West, particularly Hemingway's Home, has been on my bucket list for ages. After nine years of stalling, we finally decided to make the trip with some friends over Memorial Day weekend. We were doing this! The decision was made. We booked a hotel on Key West. And then...murmurings of a less-than pleasant forecast for the weekend began to emerge. Tropical Storm. Possible Hurricane. High winds. 100% chance of precipitation. Probably blinding rain. Some likelihood of water spouts. Maybe tornados.
Read Morestrawberry-filled Coconut Cake with blue ombre frosting
Boy, have a got a cake for your memorial day weekend!
Picture moist but light, not-too-sweet layers of vanilla cake kissed with coconut essence, sandwiched around a delightfully red strawberry jam and artfully smeared (a la royal wedding) with a fluffy blue ombre vanilla buttercream. It's summer appropriate, perfectly festive, and a tad more updated than your typical cookout fare (hello, red berry flag cake!). It's got a low-key blue and white vibe with a surprise dash of red inside.
Read MoreWhat to watch: Quiz Show (1994)
I remember, when the second Batman film came out, how everyone was struck by the depiction of pure evil in the character of the Joker. My dad, a philosopher often throwing a wrench in the common consensus, commented on how that’s not what evil really looks like. It’s a glorification of evil, he would say. Real evil in the world is far less spectacular, far more, if you will, innocuous.
Read MoreYogurt Cake with Citrus Glaze and Yogurt Drizzle
This recipe is YUM.
I'm trying to think of another more intelligent way to explain it.
Let me put it this way: I made two loaves one afternoon. They were gone by the morning. Let me try again: I brought a loaf to a girls night. The four of us easily ate 3/4 of it in two hours. I may or may not have finished it off when I got home. Here's another scenario: I pulled a fresh loaf out of the oven, a friend stopped by, chat chat chat, 30 minutes later she says good-bye, and half a loaf is gone.
Read More10 things to get the postpartum mom
Perhaps your best friend who lives in another state just gave birth to a brand new baby, and you want to show her you're there for her. Or you are bringing a new mom a meal and want to add a little something "extra" to help her along in those first few weeks. Maybe your sister-in-law is in the hospital with a new precious bundle, you're stopping by to say hi, and want to bring her a gift. Or you're attending a baby shower next month, and you're looking to put together a present that is thoughtful and unexpected. Who knows? You might be a postpartum mom yourself, looking for ways to treat yo' self!
Whatever the scenario, we've compiled a list of helpful (and fun!) little ways to shower the postpartum mom in your life with love. If you don't know of any new moms, save this post for the future!
Read MoreJeni's Roast Chicken
I was flipping through the weekend newspaper a few months back when I passed over an interview with Jeni Britton Bauer. I probably would've continued flipping pages, but there was an inset recipe for hot fudge sauce that made me pause. Putting two and two together, I realized this was Jeni of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.
Read Moreiced wedding dress sugar cookies
I had a ton of fun making iced wedding dress sugar cookies for a bridal shower over the weekend. Usually, I don't have the patience to do a classic iced cookie, with the multiple steps of outlining, flooding, and then finishing with decorative piping on top -- not to mention the time waiting for the icing to dry in between, compounded when you are using multiple different colors!. More often than not, when making iced sugar cookies, I opt for the far simpler wet-on-wet technique (which can actually yield quite stunning results). You can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was by how therapeutic these classic iced sugar cookies turned out to be for me, especially when spaced out over a couple days. I particularly loved getting lost in the piping of the dress embellishments. It proved a tremendous creative outlet.
Read Morehomemade teething toast (zwieback)
Not gonna lie, I'm not a huge fan of the rice teething crackers that fill the baby aisles these days. They're sort of flavorless, insubstantial wafers that break down into a soggy mess and, once hardened, are impossible to clean up. Years ago, I remember seeing zwieback toast packaged and marketed as teething biscuits, but after looking around, it seems that both brands I recall have discontinued the product. Bummer! But then again, perhaps not. In my online quest, I discovered many recipes for making zwieback from scratch at home. I decided to give it a try.
Read MoreRobin Egg cake bites
For Easter this year, I fell in love with the idea of doing a Robin-egg-themed dessert...something that was a beautiful speckled blue. In the course of my pre-holiday shopping, I came across these turquoise Wilton candy melts (you can find similar ones here) and I was sold on the idea: I was going to make Robin Egg cake bites! Perfect for an Easter brunch (next year!) or any Spring-themed spread, these moist chocolate cake balls are shaped into ovals, dipped in blue melting chocolate, and speckled all over.
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