Bake with abandon!
No recipe today. Instead, a story about berry picking in my youth. Ignore the calendar and temperature. Summer arrives with strawberries. At least it used to. Long before giant, white-on-the-inside California berries made themselves at home in Canadian grocery stores, strawberries were an annual, limited-time …
No-Churn Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream When I was a child, ice cream was a black-or-white choice. Vanilla or chocolate. Those were the two standard grocery store options. If we were lucky, Mom would bring home a carton of Neapolitan with its impressive layers of chocolate, …
Orange Dream no-Churn ICe Cream Well, that took longer than expected. I’d meant to take a week off to clean up some of the maintenance issues on the blog and — gulp — do my taxes. (Thanks to the pandemic, the Canadian tax deadline has …
No recipe today. Instead, a Mother’s Day tribute. This is my mom in a pose that shows off her hands and gives a glimpse of the diamond ring I was obsessed with. It NEEDS LEMON My mother puts her hands on the kitchen table, one …
Orange Crispy Rice Squares It snowed today. It’s the second week in May, and instead of planting pansies, I’m wondering where the snow shovel is hiding. So, as all good bakers do, I turned my back to the window, faced the stove, and created a …
Citrus-Topped Poppy seed bars I’m feeling wistful today. Maybe because Mother’s Day is approaching and for the first time in years, I won’t be at the same table as the Woman Who Gave Me Life. (Don’t panic. My mother is alive and well. I’m observing …
Indian-Spiced Roasted Cauliflower Soup You can’t make a zebra change its stripes, or a leopard change its spots, or a cook change her favourite spice combinations. I am partial to Indian and Mexican flavouring, so have cumin, coriander, and various chilis at the ready. You’ll …
Salted Caramel Brownie Cookies These are the cookies that Jack built. Sort of. I adapted them from Leite’s Culinaria, who got them from Katie Workman. I’ve no idea what inspired her — other than chocolate brownies — but they’re ideal for chocolate lovers. They’re so …
No recipe today. This story is the introduction to my first cookbook, The Messy Baker. It explains why chocolate chip cookies are my favourite comfort food. I stand on a chair pulled up to the counter. My nose hovers near my mother’s elbow as I …