I have a best friend. On here I call her Muffin.
Muffin has a history with illness; a much more storied, dangerous, and exacting one than mine. Our friendship began when our bodies were strong and our spirits unstoppable. We’re so thankful now that we were reckless, and lived dangerously and fully back then. Now we’re so careful, so precise, and so used to premeditating physical complications and energy black holes. This recipe is from her, and for her.
Years ago, I was an avid blogger.
I had a network of talented bakers that I interacted with regularly, was part of baking circles and recipe swaps, and eagerly combed through various websites on a constant basis every morning. I loved blogging, and I’m thankful for what it brought into my life. Like the chance to make some new virtual friends and occasionally write a recipe for their wildly successful blogs.
A while back, when I had aspirations of combining my theatre training and gluten-free baking, I did a series of videos for E:How’s Cooking Guide; recipes they requested and a video dude came out to shoot in the kitchen of my childhood home.
Since then I’ve decided I prefer staying behind the scenes and writing about other people who make food, hence my work shifting primarily to its home on WordsFoodArt and my lagging behind with new recipes here. Trust me, I’m still baking. I’m just not quite as focused on taking photos and writing things up. But more Madeleines are on their way, as well as some vanilla almond crepes that have been making my weekends just delightful.
Until then, here’s the first of the 10 E:How videos I’ll be putting up here in the weeks to come!
– Jacqueline
Milk Bar Mondays are back, folks!
Well… sort of. A long, long time ago, now, I joined with a group of lady bakers and bloggers to bake our way through Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar cookbook, headed up by Audra at The Baker Chick. But then, as often happens, our lives eventually got in the way of the sometimes lengthy, complicated recipes in the book; we changed schools, jobs and cities, some of us had babies (!), and our recipe priorities shifted. I’m sure we all value our blogs still for the many aspects of joy they bring to our lives, but I can’t say I’m surprised at our slow fizzle.
I wish, though, that I could have shared this cake with the other MBM ladies. Because it’s weird. Good weird, but weird. I made it for my dad’s 64th birthday, as the man adores pistachios and for many years bags of them have been stocking stuffers, random tokens of love and birthday gift toppers. So, despite the questionable potential of the cake’s general likeability, the copious amount of not-cheap pistachio nuts and pastes that went into it, and the somewhat lengthy procedure (that doesn’t feel that long, now, if I admit it to myself), this cake would be made.
And, damn, is it good. Weird good, but good.
Ugh, I hate when I make something so delicious as this pumpkin bread, sometimes.
It’s just too, too much for one little body.
But when the leaves start to shift from green to gold — yes, even here in New York City — and I can no longer wear flipflops when walking Mitra in the mornings (sniff), my thoughts turn to pumpkins and squash and apples with such a force that recipes like this get penciled in my day between interviews and rough drafts and number crunching, or whatever it is the day may hold.
Gluten and dairy-free Chocolate Coffee Cake with Kallari Chocolate
I have a fun little history with Kallari chocolate.
One of my darlingest lady friends, who I commonly refer to as Muffin on here, went to Ecuador for a semester while we were in college. Amongst the many experiences she came back with, one was literally a sweet treat for her friends; bars of chocolate wrapped in wax paper from a cooperative set where the Andes and the Amazon overlap. Kallari was a small company then, one that strove to independently own and sell their chocolate to make a much healthier living wage and quality product, and I indulged in buying a few bars. Dark, slightly bitter, and incredibly floral and fruity, I didn’t forget the name. Kallari. Continue reading
I’ve been spending a good amount of time observing the shifting in the seasons, lately. I take Mitra out every morning and take in the weight of the clothes I’m adding on, the chill of the frost on the grass when I’m in my dad’s backyard, or the whip of the wind off of the Hudson River when I’m home in New York. I stare at how the sun blasts up the luminosity of green leaves while dozing in my hammock, and the first touches of gold as I drive the Merritt Parkway back to the city again. The shadows on the brick outside my building seem a tad muted, now, and I know soon there will be only trunks sketched on them, their branches bare and trembling.
But I love this time of year, the duality of it. At the local market the apples have taken their first sign of crispness and cold, while the peaches soften and bruise next to them. Last week I made a gingerbread cake with pears for a sunny social event, and I’ve already clipped my crop of herbs and stuck jars of gremolata in my freezer to get me through the winter.
But then… there are still peaches.
Photos by my brother’s awesomely talented friend, Louis Abate
I don’t want to say goodbye to peaches, or long swings in the hammock in Connecticut, or walking barefoot through grass, or taking Mitra for her morning walk in flip flops and short sleeves. I don’t want to say goodbye to the farmer’s markets that dot the northeast and flourish only a few months a year. I don’t want “school to start again”. Or to admit that I haven’t “started school again” in ten years.
But then…
There are pumpkin-laced candles to be burned. And root vegetables to roast. And CHRISTMAS. And fireplaces to light. And scarves and jackets and warm cocktails and long, hot baths. And apples and pears and gingerbread.
Gluten-free cornbread with fresh sweet red sweet corn.
I am badass.
I’m not really supposed to be eating corn right now. But here we are, with this plate o cornbready love.
Bad. Ass.
Fall dessert recipes are starting to abound and my local grocery store has an aisle of Halloween candy at the ready. But I’m not about to call it quits on summer yet, even though the leaves are falling on my city sidewalks and there’s talk of a cold winter to come.
Instead, today I’m going to light up my dad’s grill and char the fresh tiny eggplant that I got at the farmer’s market on Wednesday, even though it’s a nightshade and not good for people with arthritis (me). Then I’m going to take it to my grandparents along with gigantic stems of broccoli rabe and some grilled chicken and a few cookies I made. Because, again, I’m pretty tough.
Oh, and last week I flew a plane with my little brother. Continue reading
I’ve been so good with the sugar lately.
As my little tackle with Lyme symptoms flaring has made digesting sugar a bit hard (even small portions induce a bit of shaking), I’ve cut back dramatically on my intake and, therefore, the amount that I’ve been baking. But the other night as I whipped up my little Ramp and Maitake Tartelettes, I was craving something sweet. I don’t really keep sweets on hand, and didn’t want to go full force into a new recipe.
I had a bit of Divine cocoa powder left over from my Divine Gluten-Free Cocoa Brownies and wanted to showcase them in something incredibly quick and easy. A mug cake it would be. Continue reading
The Dusty Baker 