The year was 1979 and my mother and I were sitting in the kitchen. I was having a snack and drinking diet chocolate soda (Do they even still make chocolate soda?) and my mother was at the sink washing dishes.
I was reading the soda bottle and alarmingly exclaimed, “Mommy, this says it causes cancer in laboratory animals!”
I’ve never been a huge lemon bar fan. I know sacrilege. I mean, they seem to be at every party or bake sale. But no matter how many I tasted, I was always left cold. Give me a brownie instead thank you. Until I sank my teeth into these! It must be the pistachio (which, as a side note, I think is the most underused flavor in American desserts). The nuts break up the intensity of straight lemon curd, still leaving you with a pungent lemon flavor but one that doesn’t cause your lips to pucker. It also tempers that day glow yellow which is so pretty but not something I am 100% comfortable eating.
I remember, like most Americans, the sound of the ice cream truck as it appeared from around the corner. You heard it before you saw it and that bell signaled summer. Was it the ice cream or the excitement of the chase that got our hearts pounding? Whichever it was, the ringing of the Good Humor truck instantly caused every young child to start yelling at Mom or Dad, “Hurry, hurry, we are going to miss it!”
Blondies have always held a special place in my heart. In high school, I always made them for pep squad bake sales. Now before you picture a perky girl with pigtails, I want to remind you that I am urban. So pep squad was more like 20 girls lined up doing the steps. Yes that’sRead more
I wanted to make a truly great chocolate cheesecake crust. I mean one that knocks the socks off all bakers, not just gluten-free ones. Crushed Oreos or gluten-free Teddy Grahams were not good enough as far as I was concerned. If you read this blog regularly you’ll know I have a prejudice against store-bought cookies. Just don’t like them. Sue me. So I was left with the conundrum what type of cheesecake should I pair with this amazing crust? I chose to start with Kahlua because, well, yum.
