Tuesdays with Dorie: Vanilla Ice Cream

Earlier this month, I bought a package of 20 vanilla beans.  It was an impulse buy if there ever was one.  I had an armload of dried pasta, olives, cheeses, and fresh bread from my favorite Italian grocery, and I was standing in line behind a few other cheerful shoppers who were obviously in the [...]

Read Full Post »

Tuesdays with Dorie: Blanc Manger

There are certain desserts that seem perpetually remote.  Clafouti.  Mincemeat pie.  Almost any dessert that calls for rose water.  Whether I’ve ordered these desserts in a restaurant or made them at home, I still don’t feel like I know them.  Not really.
Show me a slice of chocolate cake, or an eclair, or an oatmeal raisin [...]

Read Full Post »

Tuesdays with Dorie: Brioche Apricot Tart

I resented this brioche.  Never having made brioche before, I didn’t realize it was so needy.  Measure, mix, knead, rest.  Sure, fine.  That’s the deal with homemade bread.  But this required sustained attention that left me trudging back and forth to the kitchen every half hour, muttering to myself, “This better be good.”
Once the brioche [...]

Read Full Post »

Tuesdays with Dorie: Katharine Hepburn brownies

“I coulda been a contender.  I coulda been somebody.”
Katharine Hepburn’s brownies have me thinking of that classic scene in On the Waterfront.  Just look at these brownies.  Terry Malloy would have eaten them by the fistful — they’re rugged, gnarled, scrappy.  But they’ll never get a title shot.  No, they get a one-way ticket to [...]

Read Full Post »