Tag Archives: sugar

Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

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by Chef Katie Chin

Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies from Chef Katie Chin

These buttery shortbread cookies are festive little cubes with tart cranberries, nutty pistachios, and a hint of orange zest. The dough is shaped into logs and chilled, then sliced into squares so every cookie bakes up neat and uniform. A drizzle (or dip) of white chocolate makes them look like holiday gifts in cookie form – glossy, bright, and impossible to resist.

Yields: 18-24 cookies

  • 1 cup Challenge Unsalted Butter Cubes (2 cubes), softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • Zest of 1 orange (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2⅓ cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
  • ⅓ cup pistachios, roughly chopped 1 cup white chocolate, melted
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and orange zest until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
  2. Beat in the vanilla, then mix in the salt and flour until just combined.
  3. Stir in the cranberries and pistachios.
  4. Divide the dough in half and roll each portion into a log. Use plastic wrap to shape the logs into rectangles so the cookies will slice into squares later. Chill in the refrigerator at least 2 hours, or overnight.
  5. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Slice the chilled dough into squares about ½ inch thick and arrange on the prepared sheets.
  7. Bake 12-15 minutes, until set but not browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
  8. Transfer the melted white chocolate to a piping bag (or a zip-top bag with a corner snipped off) and drizzle over half of each cookie. Alternatively, dip half of each cookie directly into the chocolate. Sprinkle with extra orange zest if desired
  9. Allow to cool until the chocolate hardens, then serve or store in an airtight container for up to a week

Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Bars

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by Chef Katie Chin

Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Bars from Chef Katie Chin

These cookie bars are rich, fudgy, and full of holiday cheer. Baked as one pan and sliced into neat squares, they skip the hassle of shaping individual cookies. A dip in melted dark chocolate and a sprinkle of crushed peppermints (or candy canes) give them that festive finish – dark, glossy, and sparkling with red and white.

Yield: Makes about 16 bars

  • ½ cup Challenge Salted Butter cube (1 cube), softened
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 8 ounces dark chocolate, divided (half for the batter, half for dipping)
  • ½ cup crushed peppermints or candy canes
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal.
  2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, then mix in the peppermint extract.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
    Gradually add this dry mixture to the wet ingredients on low speed until just combined.
  5. Stir in 4 ounces of the dark chocolate (chopped). Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
  6. Bake 20-25 minutes, until set in the center. Let cool completely in the pan, then lift out using the parchment and slice into squares.
  7. Melt the remaining 4 ounces of dark chocolate in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring until smooth. Dip half of each bar into the chocolate, then sprinkle with crushed peppermints.
  8. Place on parchment paper to set until the chocolate hardens. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Fermented Strawberry Soda

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Fermented Strawberry Soda served in four glasses with mason jar

Recipe excerpt from:
The Modern Pioneer Pantry
by Mary Bryant Shrader

If you have ever made homemade ginger ale. you will love this variation on a classic. Homemade fermented strawberry soda is a delightful, probiotic-rich drink that refreshes and supports gut health. You’ll make this effervescent beverage using a ginger bug, which acts as a natural starter culture. The process is simple and yields a lightly sweet and tangy soda that’s perfect for summer days. This homemade soda is an excellent alternative to store-bought versions, offering a refreshing and healthy drink for the whole family.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Fermentation Time: 2-4 Days
Total Time: 2-4 Days 15 Minutes
Yield: 4 Servings

Equipment

  • Blender or food processor Colander or fine-mesh strainer flower sack towel or cheese cloth
  • Large Bowl
  • Half-gallon (64oz) jar with screw on lid (you need sufficient space for stirring with no mess)
  • Narrow-mouth funnel
  • 4 glass bottles (approximately 4 oz each) with screw on caps

Ingredients

  • 6 cups fresh strawberries, washed, stemmed removed, and sliced
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • Juice of 1 medium lemon
  • ¼ cup Ginger Bug (see Cook’s Notes)
  • Chlorine-free water
  1. Puree the strawberries with the sugar and lemon juice in a blender or food processor.
  2. Line a colander or fine-mesh strainer with a flour sack towel or cheesecloth, place it over a large bowl, and strain the mixture.
  3. Add the Ginger Bug to the liquid in the bowl and add enough water to make 4 cups of liquid.
  4. Pour the liquid into the jar. Place the lid on the jar and tighten.
  5. Place the jar in an area away from direct sunlight. For best results, you should maintain the temperature between 68 ° F and 72° F (20 ° C and 22° C). On the floor of a cool, dark pantry is a good option, but the fermentation happens quickly, so a bit cooler or warmer will still work. The fermentation time may vary by 1 day, one way or the other.
  6. Within 24 hours, you should see bubbles begin to form in the jar and float to the top. This is carbon dioxide, a normal by-product of the fermentation process. Loosen the lid of the jar, allow the gas to escape, then retighten the lid.
  7. Since pH strips do not work well with highly colored ferments, use your eyes and nose to determine success. By the second day, this soda should look somewhat effervescent and have a pleasant strawberry aroma. Unfortunately, if you see any mold or the soda has a foul odor, it will need to be discarded.
  8. If the soda looks to be progressing along nicely, taste it.
  9. If you like the taste of the soda, you can begin decanting it as early as the second day, but you can allow it to ferment for up to 4 days. It will become more effervescent and less sweet the longer it ferments. Use a funnel to decant the soda into glass bottles with screw-on caps. Leave a 2-inch (5-cm) headspace in each bottle to allow for any additional fermentation. Refrigerate.
  10. The fermented strawberry soda will stay fresh for up to 4 weeks in the refrigerator but will lose carbonation over time. To retain a greater level of carbonation, you will need to decant the soda in swing-top air-tight bottles specifically made for carbonated beverages. But I generally don’t recommend this. Swing-top bottles are at risk of exploding, so great caution should be taken when choosing to use them.

Cook’s Notes

How to make a Ginger Bug: Making a Ginger Bug is an easy way to create a fermentation starter for probiotic-rich homemade sodas. This recipe only takes a few minutes of daily preparation over 5 days. The result is a bubbly, gut-friendly beverage starter.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Fermentation Time: 5 Days
Total Time: 5 Days 15 Minutes
Yield: Approximately 1 ½ Cups

Equipment

  • Quart (32oz) glass jar with screw on lid

Ingredients

  • 10 tbsp freshly grated peeled ginger, divided
  • 5 tbsp granulated sugar, divided
  • 10 tbsp filtered, chlorine-free water, divided
  1. Add 2 tablespoons grated ginger, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 2 tablespoons water to the jar. Stir well. Place the lid on the jar and tighten. Place the jar in a warm area away from direct sunlight for 24 hours.
  2. Repeat Step l each day for the next 4 days.
  3. After 5 days, your Ginger Bug is ready to use.
  4. You can store any remaining Ginger Bug in the jar at room temperature, but it must be fed every day, as stated in Step 1. Only plan on doing this if you make a lot of fermented soda. Otherwise, simply refrigerate your Ginger Bug until you are ready to make a new batch of fermented soda. (Refrigeration slows down the fermentation process and puts your Ginger Bug to “sleep.”) You will need to wake up your Ginger Bug with a few daily feedings until it is bubbly again, so plan ahead.

“Excerpted from The Modern Pioneer Pantry reprinted by permission of DK, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2025 by Mary Bryant Shrader”
 
Photography credit: Kimberly Davis

Two-Color Cookies (Galletas Bi-Color)

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Two-Color Cookies

Recipe excerpt from:
The Whole Enchilada: Mexican Recipes full of History and Fun
by Glenda Galvan-Garcia

Makes about 20 cookies

  • ½ cup unsalted butter or lard, at room temperature
  • ½ cup butter flavored shortening
  • 1¾ cups powdered sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2¼ cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • Red food coloring
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, for dusting
  1. Place butter and shortening in a stand mixer. Mix on high for 30 seconds. Turn off the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix on high until smooth. Turn off the mixer, add the powdered sugar, and mix for 30 seconds, gradually moving up to high speed. Turn off the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl again. Mix until blended.
  2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Turn off the mixer and add baking powder, salt, and half the amount of flour. Mix at medium speed until you get a smooth consistency. Add the remaining flour and continue mixing until the dough comes together and there are no streaks of flour. (Do not overmix the dough as it will result in tough cookies.)
  3. Remove the dough from the bowl and split it in half. Each half should measure about 1⅓ cups. Place them in separate medium-size bowl.
  4. Add cocoa powder to one dough half and knead it gently with your hands until it is uniform in color. To the remaining dough, add about 5-6 drops of red food coloring to make it pink. Knead it gently with your hands until the color is mixed throughout.
  5. Cover each dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate them for 15 minutes.
  6. Remove the plastic wrap. Sprinkle flour lightly onto a cutting board and roll each dough separately with your hands to form a log; about 1½ inches wide and 11-12 inches long.
  7. Press the doughs together in one log and roll until the dough is smooth. Wrap it in plastic.
  8. Place the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
  9. Place the dough on a cutting board. Remove the plastic wrap. With a sharp knife, cut slices ½-inch thick.
  10. Place the dough slices on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake them for 12 minutes. The dough will appear dry on the surface and will not sink when you touch the top of the cookies.
  11. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for about 3 minutes. While still warm, sprinkle a bit of sugar on top.

Pro Tip! These cookies are best enjoyed within two days—if they last that long!

Rugelach with Raspberry Walnut Filling

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Rugelach with Raspberry Walnut Filling by Joan Nathan

Recipe excerpt from:
My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories
by Joan Nathan

When I was in Montreal at Hof Kelsten, a stellar Jewish bakery-deli, I tasted the best rugelach ever. The cream-cheese dough was shaped into small rectangular pockets, overflowing with strawberry jam and nuts. Although the chef would not share the recipe, he did tell me the ingredients, and I realized his pastry is very similar to my own, a simple American cream-cheese butter dough so good that one reviewer in Montreal mistook Hof Kelsten’s version for a French mille-feuille pastry!

Many years before that, when watching a knish maker on the Lower East Side, I was struck by the way she cut her dough, using the side of her hand. I’ve done the same with my rugelach since then, to have a connection to the past.

Besides the dough, it is the high-quality jam and not too finely chopped toasted nuts— plus the old-fashioned cutting technique, which creates pockets in warm, jam-filled cookies— that make the recipe. I also heat the oven to 400 degrees and then, as soon as I put the rugelach in, turn it down to 350 degrees, to help set the crust. Recently, I made these rugelach for a group of women at a break-the-fast on Martha’s Vineyard, and every single one was devoured or taken home. Here it is, with all the recipe’s deliciousness.

Makes 32 rugelach

  • 8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (2 sticks/227 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 cups (250 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup (315 grams) thick, good-quality raspberry or strawberry preserves
  • ¾ cup (75 grams) walnuts, toasted and finely chopped (but leave some slightly larger chunks)
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar, for sprinkling (see note)
  1. Put the cream cheese, butter, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream until blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then add the flour and salt and mix until a very soft dough is formed, about 1 more minute. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic or food- grade silicone, wrap it tightly, and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
  2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the dough into four balls, then pat each into a rough square. Roll one piece into a rectangle about ⅛-inch thick (roughly 9 by 12 inches). Spoon a fourth of the jam onto the rectangle, then spread it almost to the edge, leaving about a ½-inch border all around. Sprinkle on a fourth of the nuts.
  3. Roll the dough up along the long side, like a jelly roll, tucking in the ends and positioning it seam side down. Using the side of your hand like a knife, cut the roll into eight pieces (this causes the dough to crimp partially shut, whereas an actual knife would create a more spiraled appearance). Place the slices on the prepared baking sheets, repeating with the remaining dough and filling. You should have sixteen cookies per baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
  4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with two oven racks in the middle. Remove the rugelach from the refrigerator, and use your fingers to crimp the edges shut. (Any jam that oozes out will caramelize beautifully, so don’t worry too much about that.) Sprinkle the cookies generously with the vanilla sugar. Put the sheets into the oven, and immediately decrease the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes, then swap the baking sheets, rotate them back to front, and bake for about 15 minutes more, or until the rugelach are golden on top. Transfer them to racks to cool.

Note: To make vanilla sugar: Put about 4 cups of sugar in a bowl or a glass jar with a lid. Take a vanilla-bean pod and carefully cut down the length, flicking out the beans from the center of the vanilla. Submerge the pods in the sugar, close the jar, and let it infuse for at least a day. Use it whenever you want to make a pastry with vanilla, even if the recipe doesn’t call for it, or if you wish to sprinkle it on your rugelach.

From My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories © 2024 by Joan Nathan. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Mrs. Collins’ Sweet Potato Cake

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Mrs Collins Sweet Potato Cake recipe from Anne Byrn

Recipe excerpt from:
Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories
by Anne Byrn

Sweet potatoes make some of the most glorious cakes because they have it all—color, flavor, and moisture to keep a cake fresh days after it’s baked. This gorgeous cake comes from the late Elizabeth Cate Collins—whom I only knew as Mrs. Collins—who raised her family in the Nashville house before us and grew sweet potatoes in the back garden. Each year after the harvest, she would bake a sweet potato cake to send to a son in Berkeley, California, for his birthday. A taste of home, the cake was shipped frozen and arrived redolent of spice and seemingly fresh from her oven. In fact, she was so adept at baking and shipping cake that in her 2023 obituary it read, “She was one of the best local customers for FedEx and UPS, whose agents viewed her as a friend.”
 
Serves: 10 to 12
Prep: 35 to 40 minutes
Bake: 50 to 55 minutes

  • 3 medium (1 to 1 1/4 pounds) unpeeled sweet potatoes
  • Vegetable shortening and flour for prepping the pan
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces/57 grams) roughly chopped pecans
  • 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
  1. Wash the sweet potatoes and pat dry. Place them in a large saucepan and nearly cover with water. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and let simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. Test for doneness by piercing them with a fork, which should easily slide through. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and mash. You’ll need about 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes. Set aside.
  2. Heat the oven to 325ºF, with a rack in the middle. Grease and flour a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan
  3. Place the pecans in a small pan in the oven to toast while the oven heats, 4 to 5 minutes. When the pecans are cool enough to handle, finely chop and set aside.
  4. Place the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, cloves, and ginger in a large bowl and whisk to combine well.
  5. Place the oil and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until they are well combined, about 1 minute. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, a total of 2 minutes. The mixture should be thick and smooth. Stop the mixer, add the sweet potatoes, and blend to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined and smooth, about 1 minute. Fold in the toasted pecans.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan, give it a few good shakes to loosen the cake, then invert the cake onto a serving plate. If desired, spoon the confectioners’ sugar into a sieve and dust it generously over the top of the cake. Let the cake cool for 45 minutes, then slice and serve.

Baking a Beauty

I once asked Mrs. Collins how she presented this cake fresh from the oven, and she told me her simple trick of dusting powdered sugar over it while it is still warm, so it makes its own glaze. Now I bake her cake in the Nordic Ware Brilliance pan, simply because this sturdy cake releases well from fancy pans and looks absolutely stunning, with or without a dusting of sugar.

To Freeze Cakes

  • Layers, don’t let them thaw all the way. They will be easier to stack and frost if still a little froze.
  • Unfrosted, cakes freeze well, up to 6 months if well wrapped and stored in a deep chest freezer.•First, let the cake cool completely.•Wrap it first in plastic or parchment, and then in foil.
  • If possible, place in a zipper-top bag and seal.•Write the name of the cake and the date on the bag before freezing.
  • To thaw, remove the cake from the bag and open the packaging to let the cake breathe and the moisture escape.
  • If you are frosting the layers, don’t let them thaw all the way. They will be easier to stack and frost if still a little frozen.

Taken from Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories by Anne Byrn.  Copyright © 2024 by Anne Byrn. Photographs © 2024 by Rinne Allen. Used by permission of Harper Celebrate. 

Saffron Honey Simple Syrup

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Saffron Tea and Simple Syrup

Recipe excerpt from:
Saffron
by Emily Brooke Sandor and Christina Xenos

Makes 1 1/2 cups

  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon saffron threads
  • ½ cup honey
  1. Combine water, sugar, and saffron threads over medium-high heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in the honey.
  3. Allow the mixture to steep in the pan for 10 minutes.
  4. Pour Saffron Honey Simple Syrup into a glass jar, seal, and allow syrup to cool to room temperature before using or storing.
  5. Store the jar of syrup in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Mango and Chamoy Pops

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by Ericka Sanchez
Nibbles and Feasts
Courtesy of Aguas Frescas & Paletas

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Ataulfo mango (about 5 mangoes), divided
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1⁄2 cup pure cane sugar
  • 1⁄4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons chamoy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon chili lime salt

Directions

Add 2 1⁄2 cups mango, lime juice, sugar, and water to blender. Blend until smooth. Set aside 2⁄3 cup of mango mixture.

Place the rest of the mango mixture in a small bowl. Stir in chamoy sauce and chili lime salt.

Chop remaining 1⁄2 cup mango into half-inch cubes.

Divide mango cubes into popsicle molds. Layer plain mango mixture and chamoy mango mixture in each mold, alternating between mixtures. Push mixtures in the mold with a spoon to make swirls. Cover and insert popsicle sticks. Chill overnight.

Spoon mixture into popsicle molds. Cover and insert popsicle sticks. Freeze at least 4 hours or until firm.

Show 125, June 6, 2015: Pastry Chef Emily Luchetti continues…

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Emily LuchettiAcclaimed pastry chef Emily Luchetti is Chief Pastry Officer at Big Night Restaurant Group in San Francisco (Cavalier, Marlowe and Park Tavern), the Chairman of the James Beard Foundation, and a James Beard Award recipient. Her new mission is “#dessertworthy”, a social media movement to empower individuals to be mindful of their dessert and sugar indulgences.

#dessertworthy Manifesto

  • To return dessert to its origin, which is to be consumed as an occasional treat and not an everyday indulgence.
  • To build and consistently engage a community of digital supporters that are making active attempts to enjoy dessert in moderation.
  • To raise awareness that consumers should be picky about their dessert intake. Enjoy dessert in moderation and/or earn sweet treats by combining them with healthy eating and fitness.
  • To increase consumer knowledge of processed foods and hidden sugars.
  • To be a resource for maintaining a #dessertworthy lifestyle through tips and reinforcements on digital communities.

Emily also talks about all the good work of The James Beard Foundation best known for the annual James Beard Foundation Awards. Emily is the Chairman of the New York-based, James Beard Foundation. For the first time in the history of the Awards they were held in Chicago. It’s the center of the country so it’s more-inclusive. They will also be staged there in 2016 and 2017.

The Foundation is also heaily involved in education and grants scholarships to pursue education in the culinary arts. The Beard Foundation is one of the key programming organizers of the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano (World’s Fair) running through the end of October. Food is a theme.

Show 83, August 9, 2014: Tarit Tanjasiri of CremaCafe & Bakery

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Tarit TanjasiriTarit Tanjasiri is the consumed baker/proprietor of the revered CremaCafe & Artisan Bakery in Seal Beach. It started eight years ago as a small breakfast and lunch spot. Tarit couldn’t source a bread for his sandwiches that satisfied him so two years ago he added an adjacent production bakery. It’s the café on one side and the bakery on the other. We’ll meet him.

Tarit’s Kouign Amann was one of the OC Weekly’s “100 Favorite Dishes of 2014.”

According to Anne Marie Panoringan of the OC Weekly : “Per Tarit, a Kouign Amann is a pastry from the Brittany region of France. It’s often considered more of a cake than a pastry, although Crema utilizes croissant dough for their version. Layers of butter, dough, sugar and a bit of sea salt are formed. Shaped to resemble a blooming rose, it is then placed in the deck oven to bake. Sweetness and density are much higher in France, and they come in many more sizes, shapes and filling flavors.”