Category Archives: Pie & Other Pastries

Mincemeat has an interesting history, a bit of which we will get to in a moment. I thought though that I would start with the pears as this mincemeat has no meat in the recipe. I first came across a pear mincemeat recipe in a Ball recipe book at least two decades ago. It was […]

I am back for round two. I still have no idea what button I pushed that deleted the entire post and left me with one lonely “t”. My hope is that in the end what gets created now will be a better post. Sour cherries have a very limited season. They are generally ripe mid […]

Along the sides of roads and down country lanes blackberry brambles are in full fruit. They are in fact coming to an end and before they disappear for another year along with fresh blueberries, here is an easy mixed berry pie, finished with a crumble topping. When picking wild blackberries, it is always a good […]

We have a valley about three hours away by car that grows wonderful fruit; grapes for wine making, cherries, melons, apples, peaches, apricots and nectarines for jams, wine, preserving and just enjoying. This time of the year I always look forward to the first of the local nectarines and generally do not do anything other […]

Baklava is a sweet Mediterranean dessert made from filo(or phyllo) pastry, nuts of some variety and honey or a syrup. After baking the thin sheets of pastry to golden brown perfection, honey or syrup is immediately poured over the individual pieces or a full tray allowing the sweetness to be absorbed into the layers of […]

Local apricots have a relatively short season. If yours have already finished then canned, drained apricots can be substituted in these easy danish pastries. You will find that fresh apricots are more substantive once baked but canned apricots allow you to enjoy apricots this way all year long. Magically speaking, apricots are a fruit of […]

This past Mother’s Day I was trying something different for my step-mom while working on using up the last of the mini marshmallows from class before they dry out. I also wanted them to disappear not just be extra lumps of sugar. Ruth likes mocha, a combination of hot coffee and chocolate with whipped cream […]

I have been trying to get to this post for several days and it was just not working. I am going to sit here until it is finished as I had promised a suggestion for the Seville Orange Whiskey Curd posted last month and since tomorrow is Pi Day, it seemed like perfect timing. Let’s […]

Lemon Curd is by far the most well known variety of this heavenly filling. Christmas dinner was never complete for my father without a cold from the fridge spoonful of lemon curd inside a freshly warmed tart shell. Before Seville orange season comes to an end, I wanted to share a different option with a […]

I am teaching a cheese making class the day after tomorrow. There are several tasty cheeses we can get through in three hours but a cream cheese with rennet is not one of them. The 14 hour wait time before dripping for several hours more is the issue. The solution was to make up a […]