Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

If there’s one thing that reminds me of my childhood – and I’ve been thinking more about my childhood since my mother passed away recently – it’s peanut butter cookies. The ultimate comfort food, this cookie is simple, sweet and captures the essence of every kid’s favorite spread – the next best thing to scooping peanut butter out of a jar and eating it outright. (And don’t tell me you never did that!)

As far as I’m concerned, a cookie can only be called a peanut butter cookie if it has the crosshatch pattern on top, made by flattening the ball of cookie dough with the tines of a fork. Whoever came up with that idea met two practical needs at once: providing a way to shape the cookies easily and giving them a distinctive identity.

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Spring Salad

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

My friend, Chef Tal Ronnen, inspired this spring salad. He’s the guy who cooks for power vegans from Hollywood to Washington, D.C. He just opened his first L.A. restaurant called Crossroads.

Crossroads is an awe-inspired restaurant because it’s vegan … but not the hippie vegan fare composed of sprouts and garbanzo beans. Crossroads food and flavors stand up to any fine dining restaurant in Los Angeles, but without the butter and cream.

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Mashed Taters and Leek Lessons

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite indulgences and when mixed with the sweetness of caramelized leeks, what could be better?

Ramps, known as wild leeks, are everywhere at this time of the year and they certainly can be used in place of the leeks. But I would reduce the amount by one-third, because the ramp, while a cousin of the leek, is from the boisterous, assertive side of the family.

Leeks are much more timid and sweeter and they are native to Mediterranean countries where they have been enjoyed for thousands of years.

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Shortbread – the Best Cookie in the World

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

I’ve been on a cookie tear recently, and it’s reminded me just how much I love shortbread. It’s arguably the best cookie in the world, especially when made with the very best ingredients. Butter, sugar and flour, that’s it, and each has to be of the highest quality to shine.

The way I like to jazz up shortbread is by simply adding spices to it and treating it like an eating utensil for ice cream. Cardamom Shortbread Cookies is inspired by ginger crunch cookies from New Zealand, one my favorites. I add cardamom and ginger to the basic shortbread dough and then add a touch of sea salt on top. This headily spiced cookie is the perfect foil for vanilla ice cream, but would also pair well with chocolate, strawberry or any classic, mellow ice cream flavor.

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In Memorium

Congratulations to Angela Y from San Diego, CA, the winner of our Sandy in France Sweepstakes.

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Some people become good cooks because their moms were bad cooks. My case was the opposite.

My mom was a really good cook, and since I took good food for granted, I wasn’t motivated to try to cook it myself.

It was only when I stumbled into a food career that I began to take cooking seriously. So I can’t say I learned from my mom, while attached to her apron strings.

But one thing my mom taught me – if only by the food she made – was what good food should taste like. And that palate – the ability to taste and to correct seasonings – was learned at the dinner table, eating her food.

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