Saturday was a beautiful, cold, gray, windy, winter day.

I’m not complaining, the air above the frozen pond was white. (Can it be so cold that fog freezes?) The trees on the hill were  black and created a startling contrast to the white field. The alpacas were cozy inside their upscale fleece. Rosie, working on her version of a canine snow angel, was frequently distracted by the scent of creatures tunneling beneath the icy crust of snow. On the other hand, I wanted pie. Not a frozen pie from the market, not a pumpkin pie made from a tin of pumpkin, not an apple pie, I wanted a pie  that would leave pink streaks on the plate. I was missing summer pies.

What to do — I opened the freezer and found a bag of cranberries and remembered that I had once made a cranberry pie but I couldn’t remember how. I had to be adventurous, think creatively and get started. I had an unbaked pie crust in the freezer and I began by rinsing the cranberries and thinking of pies past. I knew that the birds would be pleased with the pie if I wasn’t. Luckily –

It look good enough to slice.

One bite

After the next

Sorry birdies — maybe next time.

Here’s how I made it.

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Mathea Tanner is the cook, writer, artist and brains that make Peas Love Carrots one of the food blogs I love to visit. Her recipes for penguins, snowmen and lambs will make you want to rush to the kitchen even if you are a vegetarian.  I’m pleased to be able to introduce you and her blog, peaslovecarrots, to you.

I often have these moments of excitement when I think I’ve had an original recipe idea only to rush to my computer and have Google tell me that I am last in a line of hundreds to have it.  I’m left wondering if in the past I’ve seen these recipes somewhere or another and forgotten about them, only to resurface again as subliminal faux-epiphanies.  While it’s not a bad thing to do something that’s been done before, it does take away the feeling of being some sort of culinary explorer, charting unknown waters.  Every now and then one likes to feel like a discoverer, right?

The other day I day I decided to make rainbow cupcakes. [/dontprint] … read more

Cookies are simple to make with few ingredients and can be modified to include fruit, nuts, seeds, and spices, and rolled, cut and decorated for any occasion.

Whether making and sharing easily transportable energy bars or delicate treats served on fine china, cookies are a sweet way to say, “I love you.”

Since my early attempts at cookie baking, I have been fascinated by the endless variety of both names and flavors of cookies. There are snaps, sandies, hermits, dainties, thumbprints, gems, biscotti, pizzelle, crisos, mondel brot, tray bakes, gems, moon cakes, whoopee pies and snicker doodles. I enjoy saying Karlsbader Oblaten as much as I enjoy eating the delicious butter wafer made crunchy with coarse sugar and groundnuts. Learning names of exotic cookies and tasting them is a hobby similar to stamp collecting but one I find more rewarding.

When my younger son, Matthew,  was eight he had a cookie stand during an annual two day garden tour in our neighborhood. We baked trays of cookies and after two very successful days, he was able to made a hefty deposit to his drum kit fund. Toffee cookie bars, called toffee tray bakes in the UK, topped with nuts and chocolate were the most popular. Here’s how we made them a few days before the garden tour: … read more

In November, I decided to try my hand at creating a recipe that featured Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry for a contest. I have never thought of myself as a competitive cook but decide to give it a whirl.

I signed up, got a coupon in the mail that I redeemed for one package of Puff Pastry. I opted for sheets rather than for the shells primarily because I had absolutely no idea what I was going to make.

The pastry waited patiently in the freezer for about ten days until lightening struck and I was inspired by the food in my fridge and a recent visit to Sicily. I had fresh cranberries and fresh ricotta cheese – hmmm, how about Cranberry Cannoli Puffs, a simple dessert made with a minimum number of ingredients.

I submitted the recipe and I thought that the contest rules required that I not tell a soul what I had made until the contest was over.  I got an email last week that said that I was free to share my entry so –  Here’s how I did it:

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Last December, after I had mailed out the final gift boxes of cookies to friends, I realized that I had forgotten to save cookies to serve to Christmas Eve visitors and any of Santa’s helpers who might stop by.

Out of time, frosting and cookie-baking energy, I wondered if the adage, “less is more” was true and then I remembered my breakfast in bed at the Colony Club twenty years earlier.

The Colony Club, established in 1902, was the first social club for women in New York City. It is an elegant and very private club with members whose last names range from Astor to Whitney. I spent a weekend there as the guest of my friend Jean. She was my guide in the culinary world and to the rarified dining of the Colony Club. As we planned my trip to New York, she took me under her wing and insisted that my day begin with “perfect Colony Club cinnamon toast” served on a tray in my bedroom. Perfect cinnamon toast? I had my doubts but Jean was a Manhattan matron with a sophisticated palate who was not to be denied. She ordered my breakfast, it was perfect and I’ve never thought of cinnamon toast in the same way since. Inspired by that memory I decided that Colony Club Cinnamon toast would be perfect Christmas Eve treat. Here’s how I made it: … read more

Five days before Christmas is the perfect time to make my favorite butter fruitcake created in memory of my mother’s butter fruitcake.

She wasn’t much of a baker but, the week before Christmas, Mother always found time to bake. When friends visited during the holiday, she served thin slices of buttery pound cake filled with raisins and dotted with bright red candied cherries with a pot of tea. I’m baking the fruit cake today so that there will be time to infuse the cake with generous splashes of Myers’s Dark Rum before friends arrive.

This recipe started with my mother’s recipe but, when I cook, reading the recipe is merely the first step. I compare similar recipes, check out the contents of my pantry and fridge and get started, taking notes as I go, and trying to confine the inevitable sticky mess. Today’s version had dried apricots and cranberries, golden raisins and crystallized ginger. It’s baking while I’m posting. Here’s how I made it: … read more