Blackberry, Peach, and Rosemary Crisp

Blackberry, Peach, and Rosemary Crisp

Thing one: I’d like to reassert my position that rosemary is a really excellent dessert flavor.  And that it’s a terrible shame that it is not more used in that capacity. Thing two: I’d like to revise my position on summer.  It’s still the most miserable time of the year here in Philadelphia, with the humidity, and the triple-digit temperatures, and the creeping, headache-inducing allergies.  But it’s pretty cool — I’ll admit — that peaches and blackberries are in season Continue reading

Peach Upside Down Cake

Peach Upside Down Cake

Welcome to self-congratulation-ville, population — me. That’s right, friends. This post marks number one hundred for Twice Cooked. And it marks just about (though not quite) one year of blogging about food, politics, and whatever else it is you find on this sight. So — celebratory pigs! I’d like to thank you all (dear readers!) for showing enough interest in Twice Cooked to keep me at it. And I’d especially like to thank the truly excellent stable of guest bloggers Continue reading

Nutty Ganache Cake

Nutty Ganache Cake

This cake is easy. You probably don’t believe me because there’s a tiny voice in your head sputtering: False! Cakes are difficult! It’s in their nature! But if you hear that voice (dear readers!), feel free shout it down. Because I do not lie. This cake is easy. This cake is, in fact, just three elements. And none of them take more than a half hour of actual work to produce. There’s a sponge, a dark chocolate ganache, and a Continue reading

Cardamom-Nut Granola

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Making granola is simple, simple, simple. And as I think about it now, I cannot fathom why it is that I haven’t done it in years. I got it into my head to start again when Sarah told me the other day — offhandedly — that I really shouldn’t buy the pre-packaged granola. That when she opened the last container I had brought home from the grocery, it was all damp and stale. It wasn’t pre-packaged, I told her. I Continue reading

Spent Grain Bread

Spent Grain Bread

I love spent grain bread. It’s one of my very favorite things about brewing. You see: brewing is sort of a wasteful process. You take eight or ten or twelve pounds of grain, soak it in water, and convert the runnings from that little bath into five gallons of sweet wort, and then eventually into five gallons of beer. And all of that is great. And tasty. But when the process is done, it’s not as though the grain has Continue reading

Mixed Berry Tart

Mixed Berry Tart

Someone at work is having a baby shower, Sarah said. Will you make a dessert? Sure, I thought. I had just been watching this sexy video chronicling the construction of a Sachertorte — a classic Viennese chocolate-on-chocolate-on-apricot number that l desperately wanted to reproduce. So I restarted the video and showed it to Sarah. And she did not even crack a smile. You can’t make a cake, she told me, all matter of fact. The boss is making a cake Continue reading

Ciabatta

Ciabatta

Looking through the archives this morning, I discovered that ages ago, among the legacy posts that came over from my Livejournal, I actually had a recipe for ciabatta. In that post, I wrote that I was dissatisfied with my recent attempts in almost every way, and that I was kind of figuring artisan baking out as I go along. Darn right, I say. Looking back at that bread, I can see the way it was a work in progress. I Continue reading

Chocolate Macaroon Fail!

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

I think that I wanted it too much. That was the problem. Passover is coming, it’s my favorite holiday of the year, and what better way to celebrate here at Twice Cooked than with chocolate coconut macaroons. Parve, kosher for Passover, chocolate coconut macaroons. But alas. I suppose that it wasn’t to be. Here’s the story: a while ago, I got a macaroon recipe from my mother. You have to try this, she told me. I’ve made these a few Continue reading

Emu Egg Quiche

Emu Egg Quiche

Alright folks — are you ready for this? Here it is. My geekiest dinner party fantasy. One day, some day when I don’t have quite so much other work hanging over my head, I’d like to host a sci-fi dinner. I’ve been thinking about it for years, on and off, slowly planning the menu. It wouldn’t be Food Of The Future™ — not molecular gastronomy, or whatever its successor might to be. Instead, it would be the food of, and Continue reading

Italian Semolina-Truffle Oil Rolls

Italian Semolina-Truffle Oil Rolls

Surely, I’ve thought to myself, all these many months that I’ve been posting here — surely, I’ve already written about semolina bread. It is, after all, a perennial favorite in this house. It is, after all, a regular in my bread rotation. But I did some searching through the archives yesterday, as I was thinking about what to make for you all this week. And I discovered, to my horror, that the answer is apparently not. Apparently, I have posted Continue reading