There are two things I need to tell you about these cookies. One is that they’re crazy-good. And the other is that they’re huge. The recipe makes just five cookies but each one is so packed with flavor, that you’ll be glad you can have one all to yourself. Your other four friends or guests will be delighted as well. (But they’re quite generous, so it’s okay to share…) What makes these cookies extr

This may or may not happen to you, but sometimes when I’m a guest in someone’s home, where everyone pitches in to make dinner, all eyes (or just the host’s eyes) fall on me to make dessert. Gulp. I happy to pitch in with the cooking or bringing along a few baked goodies for the weekend, but I’m not always prepared to bake on the spot. If you’re lucky, there may be a scale, a cake pan, a sharp knif

This recipe, from The Great Book of Chocolate , is one of my favorite recipes in the book. It’s a deep-dark chocolate spread that’s just as welcome on the breakfast table with warm croissants or toast, as it is as an afternoon snack, swiped on a slice of baguette. The recipe comes from my friend Deb Perelman, of Smitten Kitchen , who came to Paris and made it in my kitchen with me. You can watch t

Margot Lecarpentier is one of the best bartenders in Paris. At her bar, Combat , she shakes and stirs up cocktails – with and without alcohol – that are some of the best in the city. One a warm summer day, Margot stopped by to make an Affogato for us to enjoy in my backyard. In Italian, affogato means “drowned,” and the typical affogato is a scoop of ice cream drowned in espresso, which is delicio

One of the first “recipes” on this blog was No-Recipe Cherry Jam , posted in 2005, which wasn’t quite a recipe. Nevertheless, a lot of people successfully used those guidelines to make cherry jam over the last fifteen years. The basis for it was how I’ve been making jam forever, using 3 parts sugar to 4 parts fruit puree. The standard ratio is to use equal parts sugar to fruit puree but I like to

I had so much fun when Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen came to my kitchen in Paris and made a batch of Chocolate-Olive Oil Spread, a delicious recipe from The Great Book of Chocolate . The spread is easy (and fun!) to make, and is just one of the more than 50 recipes in the book, which includes Chocolate Mug Cakes, award-winning Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies, Individual Warm Chocolate Cakes, Ch

I was recently gifted an overload of strawberries: I bought four baskets from a vendor at the market, whose booth I shop at often, and he threw in two extra baskets for free, the equivalent of a carte de fidelité (loyalty card) in Paris. So I’ve spent the past few days washing, hulling, cutting and cooking my unexpected bounty. I’ve been making a number of things with the gorgeous strawberries. Bu

Being a baker, summer is my favorite time of year. Not only are peaches, nectarines, cherries and plums abundant at the market, but as the seasons progress, the volume of fruits lowers the price, and I stock up on whatever I can, whenever I can. At Paris markets, I try to search out producteurs , the vendors who grow the food they sell, and every summer, one in particular shows up at my market wit

It’s summer! Whether you’re in or outdoors, hopefully for all of you there are beautiful summer fruits and berries to be had, and I hope that you’re able to get your hands on as many of them as you can. I am loading (actually, over loading…) myself up at the market. While a good portion on the fresh fruit gets eaten just as-is, some of it goes into the following dessert recipes that I continue to

May 5th marks the release of The Great Book of Chocolate which is now available for pre-order from your local independent book seller as well as Bookshop , Amazon , and Barnes & Noble online. And I’m going on book tour! Due to global events, travel has become more challenging, especially internationally. If you can’t make it to an event, and I’m not coming to where you live, and you’d like a perso