Unearthing Old Recipes: California Raisin Cake

By Sandy Hu

Deep inside, I am a neat person. If you knock on my hotel room door on any business trip, you’ll find it tidy, all the clothes hung, shoes lined up in a row and everything in its place. I am also a meticulous packer.

But at home? Not so much.

Everything is fine until I get busy; then I let things slip. Recently, Dave and I have been working seven days a week on Special Fork and my house has paid the price. So, given it was the first free weekend I’ve had in a long while, I looked forward to getting my house back in shape.

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My Favorite Dessert

By Sandy Hu

This is my go-to dessert when I want something impressive and delicious, that doesn’t take too much time and effort.  Juicy strawberries are encased in a feather-light, crisp, sweet crust and served warm with a divine raspberry sauce and a cloud of whipped cream.

The recipe may look daunting, but it’s deceptive.  If you watch the video, you’ll be able to make this dessert without the written instructions.

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Tropical Ice – Conjuring up a Taste Memory

The other day, I was idly looking at papayas sitting in the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter when they triggered a taste memory:  the intense flavor of papaya transformed into something smooth, creamy and icy. 

Funny thing is, I could remember the taste and texture, but it took me awhile to conjure up the recipe in my head.  It niggled at me until I let the memory play out...the kids were little, we lived in a condo on Cathedral Hill in San Francisco and I used to make this ice for company all the time.

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Step Aside, Sister! An Easy Dessert Makes me the Hero

By Amy Jacbos

Growing up as one of three daughters of a home economics teacher, dinners were always organized and planned. Dessert was my elder sister’s specialty, mine the main course and the youngest, well, she made the Chex Mix.

I don’t do dessert. I’ll think nothing of burning through the daylight hours planning something for dinner but curse dessert if takes more than 15 minutes. So when a recipe this simple comes along with ingredients that don’t require leavening agents or a mixer, I see it as my opportunity to be the dessert hero, the superwoman of sweetness that has eluded me growing up.

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On Cloud Nine With Meringues

By Katie Barreira

All my life I’ve been a chocolate girl. Chocolate and peanut butter to be specific…or caramel, or toffee, or….

See me at the movies and I’ll be cradling a sack of Reeses Pieces, Milk Duds or for a lighter treat, Junior Mints. On rare occasions, I’ll swing for Sour Patch Kids (there’s just something about that citric acid eating away at my tongue) but generally, my sweet tooth gravitates towards the earthy sweetness of chocolate rather than the saccharine intensity of say, frosting. But that all changed when I met the meringue.

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