sweets

It’s that time. Whether you love it or hate it, find it joyous or stressful, the holiday season is upon us. Or as I refer to it: cookie season. And I am a cookie fan, especially Christmas cookies. I touched on this last year when I blogged about easy slice-and-bake holiday cookies. Frosted holiday cookies […]

Oh my, do I love apples and apple sauce!  Homemade apple sauce, I should add. Making your own apple sauce for the upcoming Hanukkah holiday is to me as important as making your own cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving–it’s critical. It also does not take much time or effort. Apples in season do the hard work […]

It’s almost game time, Thanksgiving will be here before you know it. This is my favorite holiday of the year by a long shot, which is probably not a surprise to anyone who knows me well. A food-focused day with friends and family, truthfully, I could Thanksgiving frequently. Last year I blogged about a favorite […]

Halloween is not just for kids. Some of my adult friends are clearly more into Halloween than their children. A few couples in particular reliably dazzle neighbors and friends with their well-thought-out, elaborate, and creative costumes. My husband and I are not that couple. Don’t get me wrong: when required, we can put forth some […]

Funnel Cake will forever remind me of strolling through crowded street fairs in NYC as a kid. Funnel cake, which is essentially fried dough batter with powdered sugar sprinkled on top, is a food popular in North America at carnivals and street fairs.  But this treat is believed to have traced back as far as […]

Oh boy do I love figs, always have.  Fig Newtons (now called simply Newtons) in my lunch box as a kid was a favorite. I don’t think I encountered a fresh fig until I was in my mid-20s.  But, no surprise, I liked them right away.  Figs are native to the Middle East and western Asia […]

Gluten-free and vegan-friendly, these blackberry oat bars may just become your new favorite treat. Fresh blackberries are the feature of these tasty bars. Sweet, yet tart with great texture. Thankfully, fresh berries are available well into the cool Fall months and here in California even longer. Oat and almond flour make the base of this […]

This recipe is based on a recipe I recently saw in The Jewish Weekly in a special food feature about Rosh Hashanah (which starts tonight) the Jewish New Year–also known as the first of the High Holidays. As someone who celebrates the Jewish holidays, I welcome new foods to make during the celebration. This cake captivated […]

I don’t typically crave jam. But in the summer, with delicious ripe fruit and berries, it’s more appealing. Right before traveling to Europe, our entire apricot tree ripened at once. Totally serious, the whole tree! I made some coconut-apricot bars using my raspberry-coconut oatmeal bar recipe if you check out my Instagram feed you will see […]

Let’s talk about pop-tarts. Chances are, if you were a kid growing up in the ’70s and 80’s, you not only knew what Kellogg’s pop-tarts were, you loved them.  I know I loved them; not for breakfast per se, but for a snack. I was unlike most kids in that I did not like mine […]

July 4th is a beloved American holiday. For some, that means watching fireworks; for others simply hanging out with family and friends in the backyard or by the pool.  No matter what you do, you’re looking for fun, simple foods that work well with groups. A patriotic nod is a bonus. With that in mind, […]

Cinnamon rolls are a true weakness of mine. I don’t have them often. But boy, if I could, I would. My earliest memory of cinnamon rolls relates to my parent’s divorce when my sister and I were very young. My mom moved to NYC, and my dad Arizona. My sister and I traveled between the […]

Fresh blueberries always remind me of summer.  Well, that and the well-known children’s book “Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey, which I must have read to my boys 1,000 times when they were little.  Blueberries are a wonderful, tasty summer fruit.  Loaded with fiber, potassium, iron, vitamin C, and vitamin B6, they are believed to […]

As I have said before, I love cookies; but shortbread cookies are on my list of top five favorites. Unlike a traditional cookie, shortbread cookies are meant to be slightly crumbly (as opposed to soft). Shortbread is a Scottish biscuit traditionally made with one part sugar, two parts butter, three parts flour–and no eggs. Lots […]

I’ve recently become obsessed with hummingbird cake.  First, I love the name: it sounds pretty.  Second, it’s almost a cross between four of my favorite sweets: coconut cake, frosted banana cake, carrot cake, and banana bread.  It’s sweet, but not overly so.  It has texture but is super moist.  It’s rustic, yet elegant.  Best of […]