Let me preface this entire post by saying in an official capacity as a responsible human being (and employee of a flour company): DO NOT EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH. But in my unofficial capacity as a real human being with thoughts and feelings and tastebuds: raw cookie dough is an unparalleled delicacy and should be awarded seventeen Michelin stars, if that were a thing.
Read moreSIMPLE STRAWBERRY CAKE
Guys! The sun is shining—in earnest—and as I write this, I’m looking out over the water at the white strip of sand that forms the edge of Shelter Island. The bay is placid today, the surface of the water blue and sparkling and ruffled only by an occasional breeze. This morning I took a walk wearing shorts, and though the sight of my extremely pale skin is always mildly alarming come May, the freeing sensation of not wearing another G-D pair of sweatpants is really quite splendid.
Read moreBASIC SOURDOUGH BREAD
If I subscribed to the “everyone else doing it” approach to life, I could have found myself in all sorts of scrapes. Had I been the type to follow along with the crowd blindly, my teenage years would have been littered with mishaps and missteps—I might have shoplifted tote bags from the boutique next to the soft pretzel stand in the mall, or decided that accepting a red Solo cup filled with something called “Jungle Juice” proffered by a boy with good hair in a faded Nantucket red baseball cap was a good idea.
Read moreNUT BUTTER BROWNIES
Where to begin, really? Since the beginning of March when I last wrote something here, the world has changed rather dramatically. Plot twist, as they say! Like many of you, I’m not quite able to articulate much about the present circumstances. (Thank goodness for emojis, I suppose.) There’s a lot I could say but none of it would come as much of a surprise to you—for once, we’re all experiencing a very similar mix of emotions, which creates an oddly powerful sense of solidarity.
Read moreDARK CHOCOLATE ORANGE SOUR CREAM CAKE
If you grew up in England, or somewhere in proximity to British candy and grocery brands, you might have fond memories of eating Terry’s Chocolate Orange, a round orb of chocolate flavored with orange oil that “peels” apart in sections to mimic the shape of a real orange. I didn’t experience one until after college, when I used to frequent a tiny British sweets and tea shop in the West Village (which felt like stepping into the pages of a picture book set in a small town in 1950s England). I’d stand in the dim light of the shop, ogling the unfamiliar packages and wrappings: Cadbury flake bars and Rowentree fruit gums and McVitie’s Jaffa cakes and Fortnum & Mason lemon curd. Reading the names off the candy shelf sounded like something out of Harry Potter: fizzers and chewits and salted sweet cats and licorice sherbet sticks and peppermint creams.
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