Searching through my files, I found this recipe I’ve had it since it first appeared in the NY Time in 1990. I was so excited to retry it that I decided to make it again. The only problem was it calls for 2 cups of blueberries and I only had one cup. But I had a bowl full of cherries. I pitted one cup, (see photo below for simple pitting) added them with the blueberries and was thrilled with the end result.

This cake is ethereal.

During the forty years I’ve been collecting, teaching and writing recipes, I’ve made dozens of lemon cakes. This one has a fun story behind it.

This a lovely coffee cake, It is tender, moist with a surprise of lemon curd sandwiched in the middle. For me, any cake with streusel is an automatic hit. I love texture, so the crunchy topping is important. Olive oil guarantees a very tender crumb. I use California Ranch Organic Olive oil, see photo. It imparts a slight olive flavor, which is perfect for a coffee cake.

David Lebovitz is one of my favorite pastry chefs because he writes the most precise recipes and has exquisite taste. He was the pastry chef at Chez Panisse for many years and has written a couple of excellent cookbooks. His recipes always work and taste wonderful. This cookie is no exception.

This recipe comes from Bon Appetit and I have an admission: I didn’t follow the recipe. Instead of cooking the 3 flavors of chocolate in 3 separate bowls over simmering water, I microwaved them. Perhaps they wanted the cream cheese batter to be firmer, so it would plop on the top, instead of run, more like camouflage. (I’ve never studied camouflage design, so I’m not sure what it looks like in detail.) Of course I could have waited until the batter firmed up a little or microwaved it less, but I think that my end result looks pretty damn good.

I thought everyone had either made or tasted this recipe so I was hesitant to teach it to a recent class. But when I needed something quick and easy to fill in a time gap, I decided to go for it and make them. I was surprised that not one person was familiar with the recipe and they were all really excited to try them.

I admit the title is a slight exaggeration. The popcorn is only famous among the people who have tasted it., but, wow, have they raved. So, I can dream, can’t I?

Those of you who have followed my cooking through the decades know my motto: A meal is not a meal without dessert and fruit is not dessert. So, you might wisely wonder, when would I serve this luscious dip with all these beautiful summer fruit?

With all the beautiful fresh fruit overflowing the fruit stands, we can’t have too many ways to use them. Until I tasted this cobbler, I would have called myself a crisp gal. I love texture, so a buttery crumble atop fresh fruit was my favorite. But after I tried this cobbler, I changed my mind. This cobbler with it’s tangy fruit and tender biscuits gives every crisp I’ve ever tasted stiff competition.

One look at the cake and you may think that it’s a simple, homey coffee cake with berries. But one taste and your dancing taste buds will convince you this is a symphony of favors. They all blend together in perfect harmony, but with the complexity of a jazz quartet.

This is a traditional tiramisu with equal parts Zabaglione (an Italian custard flavored with sweet marsala), mascarpone (a double or triple whipped cream cheese) and whipped cream. It must be refrigerated overnight before serving, but recently I made an amazing discovery.

If you think a crisp is a pie with an upside down identity crisis that belongs only with homespun dinners, take another look. This scrumptious combination of sweet pears and tart cranberries baked under a crunchy cashew coating can hold its own against any right-side-up pie or high falutin torte. And as further distinction of its personality, it makes a delectable breakfast entree.

These are the world’s easiest brownies, bar none. You only need 3 ingredients—a jar of Nutella, 5 eggs and 1 cup of flour. Plus, after you’ve finished combining the ingredients, you have only one dirty bowl and a mixer to wash (I use my electric hand mixer.)

No one will ever guess that one of the main ingredients in this cake is a yellow cake mix. That’s because it is completely overshadowed by the earthy sweet taste of pumpkin, accented with warm cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. As you can see in the photo, the cream cheese, powdered sugar topping glistens after it’s baked.

One of my favorite pastry chefs just wrote a cookie book that if you like to bake, you’ll want to get. It is called Craving Cookies by Helen S. Fletcher. Her website is pastrieslikeapro.com. Her book has more how-to tips and photos than any cook book I’ve seen in a long time. That is because Helen and her husband, a retired photographer, wrote, styled and photographed everything.

This recipe comes from Robin Miller who calls it, Absolute Best Banana Cake. I hesitate to give my recipes such effusive titles. After all, I like to think that I would only be sending you a recipe if it is superb, outstanding, terrific… (you get the point

If recipes could be a ball game, these are a home run. I hadn’t made them in years when I decided to make them for a brunch class I was teaching for high schoolers in LA.

This fabulous recipe comes from baker and cook extraordinaire, Rosemary Mark. Rosemary admits that she is a bit obsessed with Shaker Lemon Pie and has experimented with it dozens of ways before concluding this the best. .

I call these make-your-own biscotti, because once you’ve made the basic batter, you can flavor it as you wish and stir in any additions you like.

I wanted to teach this crisp recipe in one of my Zoom classes, because it isn’t complicated and bakes in only 30 minutes. But, after I peeled, cored, halved and chopped the pears, I realized that this takes too long to do on Zoom with people either cooking along or watching.

These muffins are loaded with blueberries. Some are smashed while others remain whole. The crumbs are cake like and they have a little crunch from a sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon over the top.

This is not a traditional pie crust, because it is made with sour cream instead of ice water. I prefer it because it is easier to work with, doesn’t shrink when pre-baked and is always flaky and tender. This crust is used to make Fresh Summer Fruit Pie, click here for recipe.

All you need for this pie is beautifully ripe nectarines or peaches and fresh black or boysenberries. Cook up the berries with a little sugar and cornstarch and let their glaze fall over the fruit in the baked pie shell. It’s a summertime dream.

Oftentimes the simplest cookies are the best. These are the easiest ever. No mixer. No butter to bring to room temperature and only 6 ingredients. I make them often to bring to neighbors and store in the freezer for whenever I need a pick-up.

My reason for choosing to blog these cookies is because the one ingredient that people haven’t gone crazy about hoarding (at last near me in Northern CA) is eggs——and chocolate chips and cocoa powder are hopefully in your pantry.

I hope I am still in time for you to bake these delicious gingerbread cookies for the holidays. They absolutely shout Christmas with their pungent ginger, cinnamon and molasses flavors.

Moist, dense banana bread swirled throughout with fudgy ribbons of Nutella—you got that right—it’s a wow!

Easiest most delish crisp you will ever taste—or make. And if you don’t know much about baking or are fearful of it, this dessert will gain you a reputation as such an expert that you will have trouble convincing your friends that you’re not.