Baker Without Borders

Maple is one of my favorite fall flavors. It’s a welcome change from all things “pumpkin spice,” and lends itself well to unconventional autumn desserts. Here, I’ve updated a favorite childhood recipe for vanilla pudding, swapping brown sugar for maple syrup (for an interesting history of the sweetener, click here) and sprinkling toasted pecans on…

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These decadent treats are made with crunchy chocolate, walnut, and brown sugar shortbread cookies and a generous layer of creamy walnut frosting. Shortbread cookies are typically sweetened with powdered sugar, but I used turbinado, a coarse variety of brown sugar, instead. For the frosting, I adapted an excellent recipe from the blog Cake Decorist, adding…

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I first made these cupcakes, based on a delicious vegan cake recipe from the blog Nora Cooks, for my sister-in-law’s birthday. I’d set out to bake a two-layer cake, but scrapped that plan when I couldn’t locate a second springform pan. I prepared one 9-inch cake and a dozen cupcakes instead. The batter is unbelievably…

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Thicker and tastier than pasteurized honey, raw honey is a star ingredient in this fragrant cake, along with chunky homemade apple sauce, cinnamon, and vanilla. Made with whole wheat flour and olive oil, it’s relatively healthy, as far as cakes go. It’s perfect for snacking, and also makes an excellent dessert on Rosh Hashanah, the…

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5-Ingredient Tahini (or Almond Butter or Peanut Butter) Cookies My 18-month-old twins are obsessed with almond butter, and love to “help” me bake cookies, so I was thrilled to stumble across a super simple, 3-ingredient almond butter cookie on the blog Skinny Taste. The flourless cookies were a hit with my whole family (especially the…

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With a thick, mousse-like layer of chocolate whipped cream, crunchy homemade chocolate wafer cookies, a swirl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and dark chocolate shavings, this decadent ice cream cake is sophisticated, not too sweet, yet still a hit with kids; I served it to celebrate my husband’s graduation from medical training, and my…

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This is an extra-chocolatey spin on Nestle Toll House’s famous, original chocolate chip cookie recipe, the first chocolate chip cookie in America (click here for the interesting history behind it.) I added cocoa powder and used mini dark chocolate chips, sprinkling a few extra on top for a decorative finish. To compensate for the cocoa…

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In my latest food column for The Knockturnal, I shared my springtime twist on a classic focaccia recipe by the Food Network’s Anne Burrell. Chives and strawberries might seem like an unlikely pair, but these seasonal ingredients yield a flavorful bread that is at once oniony and tangy and sweet. To tie everything together, I…

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In Kentucky, where my husband spent part of his childhood, cornbread is traditionally baked in a cast-iron skillet. A couple years ago, I shared a handwritten buttermilk cornbread recipe from my husband’s former babysitter, Edith, a Kentucky native. She would bake and then broil her crisp, unsweetened cornbread in a bath of oil. With brown…

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These sweet and spicy shortbread cookies are infused with two kinds of ginger – freshly grated and ground – and coated with a tangy lime glaze. (For another delicious glazed shortbread, see my recipe for chocolate rosewater cookies.) For extra flavor, fans of chocolate can add a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder to the dough…

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