Dessert Recipes

Sarah wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by to drop off a package she’d requested and the scent of toasted nuts and caramelized apples … Read more

I was standing in line at the hardware store last October, holding a new showerhead and trying to remember if I’d turned off the coffee … Read more

My nephew Leo asked why I couldn’t just buy the caramel sauce from the store instead of making it from scratch. I started to explain … Read more

The rain was hammering against the windowpane, a rhythmic drumming that usually helps me sleep, but tonight it just kept me awake. I was hungry. … Read more

The Halloween office party was in forty-five minutes and I had absolutely nothing. I had just come from a double shift at the hospital, my … Read more

My neighbor Frank, a retired electrician who bakes like a pastry chef, asked me last summer why I couldn’t just layer graham crackers with chocolate … Read more

This was supposed to be a sophisticated, multi-tiered wedding cake for my cousin’s engagement party. I had spent three days baking layers and perfecting a … Read more

I wasn’t expecting baking advice from the quiet accountant next door, but there I was, standing in the hallway holding a box of store-bought cookies, … Read more

There used to be a tiny, windowless bakery called The Wicked Crumb on Essex Street that made the crispiest ghost meringue cookies you ever saw. … Read more

My niece asked why I couldn’t just use marzipan instead of the shortbread dough. I started to explain why that wouldn’t work — then stopped. … Read more