Last week at home on the farm it stormed. The thunderstorm was sudden and intense, like most summer storms. They sweep in from nowhere. The sky stays blue and bright until just before it starts. The only warning is a subtle change in the atmosphere --- the air feels damp and crackles in anticipation as if with some secret electric charge. Clouds gather quickly. The temperature drops ten degrees. A few raindrops fall, becoming a constant patter, and then sheets of water sluice down from above. The rain is so heavy that your shirt soaks through when you dash outside to check your car windows.
Read moreTHE EASIEST STRAWBERRY TART
It's a lovely coincidence when the most beautiful desserts happen to be the easiest, as is the case here. Aside from slicing strawberries -- which I'm going to assume you can handle -- there's very little skill or effort involved at all. You bake a simple graham cracker crust for 10 minutes, then fill it with a blend of Greek yogurt and sweetened whipped cream, and top it with sliced strawberries. Even if you are half asleep, or talking on the phone, or totally intimidated by pastry baking, you can make this.
Read moreGRAPE-NUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Chocolate chip cookies are already pretty good to begin with. Add in a few handfuls of snack-like ingredients for crunch and chew, and they get even better.
I don't remember eating a plain chocolate chip cookie very often growing up -- this is the version I know and love. The cookie dough of this recipe is exceptional, and you should be warned that it's almost impossible to stop eating once you sneak a spoonful.
Read moreRASPBERRY RICOTTA CAKE
This cake is improbably delicious. At first glance -- well, at first glance it looked good enough that I wanted to dive into the magazine page and take a bite. At second glance -- and upon reading the recipe -- I was confused about the texture. It has over a cup of ricotta cheese and 3 eggs, so is it a cheesecake? But it has over a cup of flour and butter, like a regular yellow cake.
Read morePERFECT CHOCOLATE CAKE
The best part of this chocolate cake was not the perfectly swirled frosting success (thank you Erin McDowell for all the lessons), or the very, very, very intense flavor that comes only from regular old Hershey's cocoa, or how good it tasted three days later at 1 AM when we ate some, tipsy, on the couch.
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