Good carrot cakes balance many variables. They have to be sweet, yet spicy; moist, yet delicate; and beautiful, but not pretentious. Finding a recipe that embraces all of these and holds its own under a mountain of fluffy cream cheese frosting is a challenge — but we’ve done it!
4.38 / 5 Stars | 23 Reviews
by Bea Gassman
“Serve pumpkin butter at breakfast or as a snack during the holidays for a real treat!”
I think we can all agree that bacon is pretty irresistible as is. That crispy, crunchy texture and smoky flavor can liven up breakfast plates and add an extra oomph to salads and sandwiches. Which is precisely why it’s time to up the ante on your next batch of bacon with the help of a few rich, sweet, spicy, and savory upgrades.
While the idea of churning my own butter appeals to the part of me that obsessed over the Little House on the Prairie books as kid, I think that if Laura Ingalls Wilder landed in the present day, she’d ditch that butter churn for a blender in a heartbeat.
In a blender, making your own butter becomes a practical, everyday affair for us modern-day home cooks. Find a sale on your favorite heavy cream? Have half a carton left over from the weekend? Treat yourself to some homemade butter.
If you’re in the habit of only using your blender to make smoothies in the morning, you’re missing out on all the soups, sauces, and desserts you can make with this multitasking appliance.
Consider this a comprehensive curriculum in just what your blender is capable of. Now the only question is: Where do you want to get started?
4.92 / 5 Stars | 12 Reviews
by Mary Adams Hogan
“Raisin and nut cookies with cloves and cinnamon get an extra kick from the addition of black pepper.”
I still remember the controversy in 2007 when Jessica Seinfeld came out with a cookbook about how to sneak vegetable purées into kid-approved dishes like mac and cheese and brownies. It sounded like a bad idea to me. How would a child learn to recognize and eventually enjoy vegetables if they were eating them unknowingly? I wouldn’t do that to my kids, said my late-20s self, probably over a leisurely late Sunday brunch, wearing an outfit not crusted with old oatmeal, and definitely not listening to Dora the Explorer singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” on repeat.
A lot can change in nine years, including one’s stance on feeding vegetables to children.
Comfort food is rarely thought of as luxurious as a nice filet or ribeye. Instead, we lean on words like “homey” and “simple” to describe its appeal. Take meatloaf, for example — it’s a dish that ruffles up childhood memories for so many people. Maybe for them, like me, it was a weeknight staple growing up. It was uncomplicated and easy, which is why it now sits in the category of comfort food for me as an adult. But why can’t meatloaf get an upgrade? Particularly if that upgrade is so easy to pull off?
As the founder of a sous-vide business, I spend a lot of time thinking about sous-vide cooking — mostly about how amazing it is and how I can share this magic with everyone else. But I’ll admit that, to the uninitiated, the immersion circulator, like the one I developed with my husband, can seem like just another kitchen gadget that will end up gathering dust in your already-crowded cabinets or cluttering your precious counter space. In this era of Marie Kondo, it’s natural to wonder: Do I really need a sous-vide machine? Will it spark joy?
4.06 / 5 Stars | 26 Reviews
by Cyndi
“Very moist and fruity cake, no oil added, quick and easy. Especially delicious when served with whipped cream.”
