Tag: sinful
-

Napoleon Cake
Layered Napoleon cake is our family’s heirloom recipe. The number one cake. It can also be called mama’s signature cake. Nobody she shared this recipe with could reproduce what she did. Luckily I wrote it down in my recipe notebook some thirty years ago. I made it a few times, but it was never like…
Written by
·
-

Judas Buns for Easter
In Czech Republic, Judas Buns are served for Easter and, following the most popular legend, symbolize the rope on which Judas hang himself after he betrayed Christ (the traitor had some remnants of conscience in him after all). I have been thinking about baking these buns for a few years now. I used to make them long time ago when I incidentally acquired…
Written by
·
-

"Bewildered Turkey" Meatballs
Meatballs is not quite the right word. In Russian, тефтели (pronounced: tef-teh-lee) is the name for meatballs that contain a large portion of rice or potatoes in addition to meat. This recipe uses turkey meat, which is lower in fat and has a milder flavor than beef. To make up for this mildness, I went…
Written by
·
-

Classic Tiramisu, with Blackberries
Oh, who has not heard of Tiramisu, the modern Cesar of Italian desserts? It has conquered its native country in a storm, taken over the rest of Europe, made its way into the US. Indeed, Tiramisu has an empire of its own, though the recipe itself is at most 35 years old. Once, when I…
Written by
·
-

Slightly Chocolate Coffee Cake
This coffee cake has a rich and crumbly chocolate crust and a fluffy inside with a hint of chocolate and nuttiness. The basic recipe for the batter comes from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes, a book with amazing photography and recipes that are as good as they look. But the crust invention and the flavorings are all…
Written by
·
-

Cinderella Almond Pear Tart
This weekend I got to enjoy a glorious event that only happens once in a blue moon: my parents drove over to New York to visit me. This was a perfect occasion to seek out the imaginary pear tart that has been haunting me. I exploited my imagination and several cook books at once, and…
Written by
·
-

Cheater's Green Tea Ice Cream
In the last few weeks of summer, it is permissible to catch up on ice cream before the coming of sleet, rain and snowfalls, before the unforgettable slushy winter blues catch up with you and steal your soul, if only temporarily. Because I have been careful to avoid ice cream in the sweltering July days…
Written by
·
-

One Very Nutty Coffee Cake
Finally I have broken my hiatus from cooking, which had begun to extend dangerously. It’s fascinating what a staggering effect failure has on motivation (and I did have a few cooking failures recently, mostly gelatin-related). But when is it ever easy? Nothing will come out right, if you quit after the first few stumbles. It…
Written by
·
-

Almost-Healthy Tomato Salad-Toasts
This weekend I was visiting my parents in the suburbs of Boston, where the grass is greener, and the air mostly smells of spring, and much less of the city garbage, where the sun is hot on your back and the earth breathes easily under the feet of children and farmers’ ploughs. This means that…
Written by
·

