Writing about food since 2004.
Category
Desserts
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If Food = Love, This Cake = Hot Sex (Flourless Chocolate Cake for Valentine’s Day)
I’ve been reading a book on food and sex in anticipation of an interview I get to do with the author next week for another website [more on that soon!] and thusly food and sex have been on my mind. Specifically, how the pleasures we enjoy in the bedroom are not so different from the…
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Rocky Macaroon
[sung to the tune of that Beatles song] Now somewhere in the black mountain hills of Hawaii there’s a company called Dr. Paulo’s and one day an e-mail came that took guts it said: “We’re gonna send you some nuts [and coffee] How’d you like that boy?” So I said, “Sure send it” and I…
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That’s My Lebovitz! A Crack at David’s Chocolate-Almond Buttercrunch Toffee
Imagine a sitcom called “That’s My Lebovitz.” It takes place in Paris at the chateau of an emigre American pastry chef who loves to shake his rolling pin at old French women and humor the visiting American nebbish (played by me) who insists on learning things about Paris and baking and taking pictures of his…
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“Pass Me Some More of that Devil Corn” (Craft Caramel Corn, That Is)
When I met Derrick and Melissa at Craft in October, our meal ended with a tiny gift from the kitchen. Caramel Corn: Longtime readers of this site will tell you that caramel corn has been the bane of my cooking existence for almost two years now. Disaster after disaster leaves me with burnt, globby messes…
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A Loaf of Vitamin C: The Barefoot Contessa’s Orange Pound Cake
“Loaf” is the name of the imaginary booth I want to open at the Union Square Farmer’s Market. There I would sell all sorts of cakes baked in loaf pans: Amanda Hesser’s Vanilla Bean loaf, The River Cafe’s Pistachio Loaf Cake, their Pine Nut Loaf Cake, the Barefoot Contessa’s Lemon Pound Cake and this Orange…
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Sophisticated Candy For The Sophisticated Reveler: A Halloween Special
To quote Peter, Paul and Mary: “If I had an orange, I’d make a candied orange peel.” And so it was that I had an orange left over from the recipe below. And so it was that I made candied orange peel. Making candied orange peel is very easy. I used a recipe from foodtv.com…
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Fall into Fall with an inFALLible Recipe: Pumpkin Apple Bread
The very first thing I can remember making on a regular basis–when I was right on the precipice of becoming an amateur gourmet—was pumpkin bread. It’s a great recipe to start with if you’re scared of the kitchen, if you don’t have fancy equipment, if you want all the pleasures of baking without the hassle.…
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Free Book Churros
One of the perks of my job as The Amateur Gourmet is that people sometimes send me free stuff. When someone e-mails me and says that they want to send me something for me to write about on my site, I tell them my official policy. My official policy is this: “You can send me…
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Sloth Make Rocky Road
Hey you guys!! Me Sloth! You Chunk! I love you Chunk! Me Sloth like Rocky Road. You like Rocky Road? Me make it! Me make Rocky Road with book from Chocolate Man. Buy book here. It good book. Make Rocky Road: buy chocolate. 1 1/4 lbs [565 grams] [20 oz.] bittersweet or semisweet. Chop chocolate.…
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A Pine Nut Coffee Cake, If You’re So Inclined
This is a pine nut coffee cake: It comes from the Babbo cookbook. It’s the cake I tried to make a few weeks ago, only to fail, leading to the hit film Failure. This time the cake came out a-ok (last time I forgot to add the butter) and the finished product looks pretty and…
