Claire Keegan’s “Small Things Like These” Christmas Cake Recipe Here’s an updated version of Odlum’s recipe, mentioned in Small Things Like These. It seems to turn out well, every time. The trick, I think, if there’s any, is in getting the oven temperature right. Is there anything lovelier than a slice of Christmas cake with […]
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BAKING WITH DORIE: Dorie Greenspan’s Miso-Maple Loaf
Dorie Greenspan’s Miso-Maple Loaf from BAKING WITH DORIE: Sweet, Salty & Simple (Mariner/HarperCollins, 2021) If I owned a bed and breakfast, I’d make this my signature treat. Sturdy, coarse-crumbed (I say this with admiration) and on the brink of savory, the loaf is reminiscent of many crowd-pleasers. It may make you think of honey cake, […]
BEFORE WE WERE YOURS: Lisa Wingate’s Apple Bread Pudding Recipe
BEFORE WE WERE YOURS: Lisa Wingate’s Apple Bread Pudding Recipe “Shantyboat families, such as the ones depicted in my novel Before We Were Yours, often gathered in small communities to share news and food, find companionship, trade goods, and play homemade instruments and sing. A rare sweet treat would have thrilled Rill and her siblings. Wingate […]
THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS: Lisa Wingate’s Buttermilk Pie Recipe
THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS: Lisa Wingate’s Buttermilk Pie Here’s a recipe that’s a true time period delight from Hannie’s era —Hannie was a freed slave in Louisiana in 1875. It would also be a favorite in the cafe’s dessert case in present-day Augustine, Louisiana. It’s not a ‘pretty’ pie, but served as a […]
Emily Layden’s ALL GIRLS Apple Cider Doughnuts
Emily Layden’s Apple Cider Doughnuts Nestled in a hilly corner of rural Connecticut, The Atwater School in All Girls is a haven for progressive thinking and feminist intellectuals—and also a quintessential piece of the New England landscape. From Litchfield and the Berkshires to interior New Hampshire and coastal Maine, boarding schools pepper this wing of […]
Leesa Cross-Smith’s Pasta alla Norma Recipe
Leesa Cross-Smith’s Pasta alla Norma In This Close To Okay, my character Tallie encounters a man named Emmett on a bridge in the rain. He’s considering suicide and Tallie is a therapist but doesn’t tell him that. Instead, she plays him some music and talks to him, listens to him, shares her heart with him. […]
Ladee Hubbard: Elizabeth’s Lemon Cake
Ladee Hubbard: Elizabeth’s Lemon Cake The Rib King is set in the early 20th century and tells the story of an African American domestic servant in a wealthy household who creates a meat sauce that becomes a national sensation. Food is an important emotional core of the novel and a lot of my research involved considering […]
Diane Chamberlain’s Gold Nugget Cake
Diane Chamberlain’s Gold Nugget Cake In the 1940s, World War II was in full force and food rationing was a normal part of life so the government could ensure that everyone was getting an equal amount. In spite of this, women came up with unique and quirky menus that we simply don’t see today. When […]
Ijeoma Oluo’s Feminist Pudding
Ijeoma Oluo’s Feminist Pudding Anybody who knows me knows that when times get tough, the tough make pudding. Between the pandemic, a house fire, and being immersed in white male supremacy for this book and in my life, times have certainly been tough. Fortunately, homemade pudding is one of the most comforting foods on the […]
Natalie Jenner’s Classic Victoria Sandwich Cake
Natalie Jenner’s The Jane Austen Society Classic Victoria Sandwich This is a very classic British cake recipe from the BBC Good Food Magazine (May, 2005) which is super easy and quick to make. If you prefer, you can skip the icing filling and just spread strawberry jam between the two sponge layers. In The Jane […]