Le Financier (Almond Tea Cake)
Everybody’s always going on about macarons and madeleines, but if you ask me, the real superstar of the small pastry world is “le financier." Financiers (pronounced fee-nahn- [...]
Wine-Poached Pears
Now that I've worked out this recipe, my goal is to have wine-poached pears in my fridge all winter long so that I can serve them and cook with them regularly, the way I did [...]
Homemade Apple Butter
Each year, I make more. I have not yet reached the apple butter output of nearby villages in Brittany where le pommé (the local term for apple butter) is simmered and stirred [...]
Breton Buckwheat-Apple Cake
It is so very, very rare that a recipe one imagines turns out just right the very first time that it’s important to call it out, celebrate it, tell everyone about it. ‘Cause [...]
Real Brownies
Back in the dark ages before internet shopping gave expats access to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Nestlé Chocolate Chips and (name your favorite brand) Brownie Mixes, a rich, [...]
Wild Plum Compote
I have been wracking my brain for a way to make ‘compote’ sound sexy. Exciting. Like something you want to jump out of your chair and make immediately. And I keep coming up w [...]
Strawberries and Cream Tiramisu (with Elderflower Liqueur)
So pretty. So tasty. So simple…and with a secret ingredient that knocks the socks off everyone who tastes it. What else could you want from a summer dessert? All I’ve done he [...]
Homemade Custard
I grew up on this custard. My grandmother would serve it often: on its own or with pound cake and sometimes she’d bake it in small, glass custard cups until set, then top it [...]
Marc’s Chocolate Custard Tart
One of the bright spots during an otherwise dark time in my cooking career was working with Marc, a pastry chef from Tours. Marc had been brought into the French bakery/resta [...]