Bakery Recipes

All Butter Crust for Sweet and Savory Pies (Pâte Brisée)
Pâte brisée (pronounced paht bree-ZAY) is a standard all-butter pastry dough used for making pies and tarts.
All Butter Pie Crust with Almonds
With the substitution of almond flour for part of the wheat flour, this recipe makes a truly special pie crust for sweet pies. It is adapted from a recipe in Oprah Magazine.
Almond Crescent Cookies
This week's Christmas cookie is presented to you by guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic. ~Elise When I was a child my parents hated me enough to put me into a table manners class called Ms. Etiquette. I learned...
Amaretti Cookies
Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic. ~Elise The first time I had amaretti was in the Piazza San Marco in Venice. I stumbled upon a small cart selling a variety of ornate confections. Yet amongst all the...
Apple Carrot Cupcake
It's as if our carrot cake and our apple cake decided to get together and have babies. (What really happened is that my father wanted to make a great 3-layer spice cake from Sunset magazine for the 3rd time in...
Apple Coffee Cake
Almost every Sunday morning growing up, my father would make a huge apple coffee cake for us after church. Recently I pulled this recipe from the Boston Globe; they had it listed as an apple cake for the Jewish high...
Apple Cranberry Pie
Every year for the past 6 or 7 years, my father has served this apple cranberry pie at some point over Thanksgiving weekend. He found the recipe years ago in Bon Appétit magazine (Oct, 1998). This year we've modified the...
Apple Turnovers
With apple turnovers, the biggest decision one needs to make is how to do the pastry crust. If you use an already prepared frozen puff pastry or folded pie crust, the apple turnovers will be a snap to make, they...
Applesauce Spice Cake
July marks the beginning oJf the apple season here. The brightly striped Gravensteins are the first to ripen. And when they do, we spend weeks making homemade applesauce and apple butter. As our freezer is now packed with applesauce, and...
Baklava
Please welcome Simply Recipes guest author Garrett McCord who brought us some of the best baklava we've ever tasted. ~Elise Have I ever mentioned that I'm a baklava addict? It's true, I have a problem and should be taken to...
Banana Bread
The best recipes come tried and true from friends who begged them from other friends and so on and so on. That's the wonderful thing about sharing recipes - the more good recipes we share, the better we all get...
Banana Nut Muffins
If time and waistline permitted, I could wake up every morning to the smell of fresh muffins baking in the oven, especially these banana nut muffins. This recipe is based on our popular banana bread recipe, with a little less...
Bisquick Apple Coffee Cake
Can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. A favorite family ritual growing up was apple coffee cake on Sunday mornings. My dad would prepare it for his six greedy kids, all of us begging for him to pile on...
Blackberry Muffins
"I have the best blackberry muffin recipe!" my friend Suzanne announced to me a few weeks ago as I was musing out loud that I was looking for a good muffin recipe. Suzanne and I have been friends since we...
Blondies
Please welcome Simply Recipes guest author Garrett McCord who shares with us his favorite blondie recipe. Blondies are often called brownies without chocolate which I find silly; blondies are a dessert with their own unique deliciousness and personality. Whereas brownies...
Blueberry Buckle
Hanging out with my dad is like living in a test kitchen. Dad's baking experiments are the bane of anyone's low carb diet. One must have formidable willpower to resist his creations, and fortunately for my taste buds, I don't...
Blueberry Cake
We made this lovely gâteau a few days ago with some fresh blueberries now in season. Although the cake was delicious, I'm beginning to think that fresh blueberries are best eaten fresh. If we can't tell the difference after cooking...
Blueberry Muffins
There are three things I have a hard time resisting - my dad's tapioca pudding, Belgian dark chocolate, and freshly baked blueberry muffins. Muffins are not as easy to get right as one might think. Too dry, to dense, to...
Blueberry Pie
When blueberries are in season, what better to do with them (other than eating them straight from the basket) than make blueberry pie? Blueberries have been found to be a "superfood", so good for you that you should go out...
Boysenberry Cobbler
Come late spring, our boysenberry vines start giving up their berries, a few cups a day. What to make with them? Boysenberry cobbler. Quick and easy, this recipe produces a delicious cobbler, a formidable blow to any low carb diet...
Buttermilk Biscuits with Goat Cheese and Chives
Ever wonder what the difference is between scones and biscuits? The light, sweet scones enjoyed in England are nothing like the heavy, somewhat dry scones we usually have here in the states. They are more like our biscuits, but sweet...
Buttery Apple Torte
This Italian apple torte is easy to make, and delicious. Cooking the apples first helps concentrate the flavor and remove moisture, so the cake doesn't get soggy. The lemon zest, although only a half teaspoon is used, is an essential...
Caramelized Nut Tart
Here is a delicious autumn nut tart that you can make with practically any mixture of nuts. Just make sure you get the freshest nuts possible - from your local farmers market, or from the bins at stores with high...
Carrot Cake
We love the carrot cake recipe from the Silver Palate cookbook. However, each bite is enough to send a normal person into sugar shock. So here is our recipe with the sugar level much reduced.
Chiffon Pumpkin Pie
If you are looking for a special pie for the holidays, this is it - a light pumpkin pie with beaten egg whites folded into the pumpkin custard, spiked with rum, set in a gingersnap cookie crust, and covered with...
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
When I first encountered Clotilde Dusoulier's fabulous Chocolate and Zucchini website, I thought to myself, "How wonderful, the ingredients of my favorite cake!" My grandmother taught me how to bake when I was very young, and later when I was...
Cranberry Nut Bread
One of the great blessings of living in California is our abundance of produce year round. Walnuts are in season, as are navel oranges. Buy an orange and squeeze it fresh to get the best juice for this recipe (grate...
Cream Cheese Frosting
Quick and easy cream cheese frosting brought to you by guest author Garrett McCord, the cupcake king. ~Elise Cream cheese frosting is a baking basic. It's perfect for practically any cake and any leftovers are great dolloped onto some freshly...
Extra Thick Apple Pie
Apple season means apple pies, and my favorite are those apple pies packed with apples, not overly sweet, and with a buttery crust. The problem with baking thick apple pies is that the apples shrink as they cook, leaving a...
George's Light Rye Bread
As long as I've known my friend George he has been an enthusiastic bread maker. George lives in Carlisle, Mass, and when I go out there to visit his daughter and grandchildren George often has a freshly baked loaf of...
Giant Ginger Cookies
My friend Suzanne's daughter Audrey (age 10) loves to cook. The last time I was there to visit, Audrey presented me with one of these fabulous cookies. Here's what she has to say about them... "I wanted to make these...
Ginger Almond Biscotti
These ginger almond biscotti boast ginger and toasted almonds, as well as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and all spice. Perfect for dipping in coffee.
Gingerbread Man Cookies
No cookie says Christmas more than a gingerbread man cookie. It's been thirty years since I last made gingerbread men, and it took all weekend to get this recipe right. After starting with a truly terrible recipe from a 1974...
Gingered Lemon Bars
"I can't wait for you to get here Elise. We can cook! We can make pies and cakes and cookies and more yummy things," exclaimed my young friend Alden as we were talking on the phone last week. Between Easter...
Gingersnap Cookies
Ginger snaps are just about my favorite cookie in the world, next to oatmeal raisin. So imagine my delight in finding this recipe from a woman who got it while interviewing for at job at Chez Panisse. They are thin...
Gluten-free Pumpkin Cupcakes
Many people are sensitive, some extremely so, to gluten - a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Shauna of Gluten-free Girl has a whole blog devoted to gluten-free cooking (with recipes and gorgeous photography, by the way). As someone...
Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies
I've been going through our family's stash of recipes and came across my grandmother's oatmeal cookie recipe. She passed away a few years ago at age 97 (she was born in 1899). It's funny how just seeing her handwriting conjures...
Homemade Pizza
What to do when your 8-year old nephew comes to visit? Make pizza, of course! Well, not of course, actually. I didn't think of it until we exhausted Sorry, Monopoly, and gin rummy. But it did turn out to be...
Irish Soda Bread
Around ten years ago I took a vacation in Ireland, spending days driving in and around Western Ireland. I still have vivid memories of bright green hills, muddy bogs, sheep with the scariest eyes, massive downpours, happy raucous pubs, learning...
Lemon Ginger Muffins
I've been experimenting lately with lemon ginger muffins, looking for just the right recipe. Unfortunately, with all the heat we've been having around here lately, my experiments took a hiatus for a couple of weeks. Who wants to turn on...
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
I love lemon poppy seed muffins. This recipe is based on the same Cook's Illustrated master muffin recipe on which I based our blueberry and lemon ginger muffins. The balance of flour, leavening, eggs and yogurt results in a light...
Lemon Tart
My father and I have been experimenting with lemon tart recipes for a year, without much success, by the way (until now). First there was the disastrous lemon tart from the New York Times, described so well by Deb of...
Marion Blackberry Shortcake
Who says strawberries have a monopoly on shortcake desserts? Mid summer is the season for many varieties of blackberries, which are delicious served over biscuits with whipped cream. Sweet and juicy marionberries are native of Oregon, but we found some...
Molasses Spice Cookies
Molasses spice cookies are sort of like ginger snaps except bigger and chewy. The recipe for these cookies comes from Cook's Illustrated's The Best Recipe cookbook. Here's a hint on preparation - don't reduce the amount of sugar, the cookies...
Monster Cookies
Elise's neighbor Andrew enjoys one of Garrett's monster cookies. Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who is sharing some of his favorite cookie recipes with us here on Simply Recipes. ~Elise Monster cookies. Ultimate Chippers. Super Cookies...
Mrs. Adams' Delicious Pound Cake
My mother has been praising our neighbor Mrs. Adams' pound cake for many years. My mother is a self-described cake person ("There are cake people and there are pie people. I'm a cake person.") who gets dreamy eyed just thinking...
Mrs. Paxton's Raw Apple Cake
When it's apple season here in Northern California, we are picking and processing daily from our trees (3 trees, 15 varieties). Of the many apple recipes we have, this is one of my favorites. You simply cannot go wrong with...
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
So, my favorite cookies in the whole wide world are these oatmeal raisin cookies. Could be because my grandmother used to bake them with me when I was little. I got to lick the bowl (they don't let kids do...
Old Fashioned Apple Pie
It's that time of year again, apple season. Our trees are practically raining Granny Smiths. In anticipation of a long apple season we have begun to experiment with apple pies; this recipe is our current favorite. What makes it special...
Orange Cornmeal Cake
When we first came across this recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine we had to try it out. We've made it several times now, and everytime with great results. It's sort of a cross between a coffee cake and...
Palmiers (Elephant Ears)
Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who shares his dead-easy palmiers cookie recipe with us. ~Elise Sometimes I just want a quick cookie. Something simple, yet flashy, with very little work on my part. A quick rendezvous...
Patricia's Holiday Fruitcake
Every year around this time, we anxiously await the arrival of a package from my dad's friend Fred. What we crave is a loaf of the most wonderful fruitcake, packed with dates, raisins, and glazed cherries, a raisin bread on...
Peach Cobbler
Peaches are plentiful midsummer and peach cobbler is a delicous way to enjoy this fruit of the season. We have found that the best peaches to use with this recipe are the yellow variety. White peaches, although delicious on their...
Peanut Butter Cookies
I learned something new today: peanut butter cookies are my mother's favorite cookie. I had no idea. Dad, however, won't eat them. Go figure. Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorite cookies; they remind me of school. They were...
Pecan Pie
Most pecan pie recipes I've found call for 2 cups of sugar - one cup of corn syrup plus one cup of either granulated or brown sugar - which results in pies so sweet they can give you a sugar...
Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies
Holiday cookie season is in high gear with another one of guest author Garrett McCord's delicious cookies. We ate these right after the photo was taken, super chocolate-y! ~Elise If this cookie doesn't capture the seasonal taste of Christmas, then...
Perfect Pie Crust
The big dilemma for those of us who like to cook but don't always have the time to do everything perfectly is whether to attempt to make our own pie crust or to buy a frozen store bought version. Most...
Persimmon Cookies
A few weeks ago I noticed branches from a neighbor's persimmon tree hanging far over a wall, dropping persimmons on the sidewalk. Naturally, I went home and returned with a step stool, so I could retrieve a few other persimmons...
Persimmon Pudding Cake
Hachiya persimmons can bake up into a delicious, moist cake that is almost a pudding. This recipe takes only a half cup of added sugar and uses the sweetness of the persimmon pulp.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
This pineapple upside-down cake is one of my father's favorite recipes (he'll look for almost any excuse to make it). The cake is wonderfully dense, with a slight almond flavor and with sweetness from caramel and pineapple. Dad has recently...
Plum Cobbler
What to do with Santa Rosa plums? One easy and absolutely delicious possibility is plum cobbler. This was so good, we're making it again tomorrow. (Have to do something with all these plums!)
Poppy Seed Kolache
My father gets a faraway look in his eyes when he remembers his Minnesota Czech grandmother's poppy seed pastries. Called "kolache" (koh-LAH-chee), "kolacky" (koh-LAH-kee), or how my dad pronounces it, koh-LAH-chkey, these Czechoslovakian yeast-based pastries can be filled with any...
Pumpkin Biscotti
Please welcome Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who is kicking off a series of cookie recipes as a guest author on Simply Recipes. ~Elise It's early fall here in Sacramento, and outside the proof is irrefutable. Low grey clouds crawl...
Pumpkin Bread
Double the recipe and make two loaves of pumpkin bread. Whenever we carve up a pumpkin for Halloween I'm always reluctant to throw the pieces out. We salvage the pumpkin seeds and roast them for a tasty snack, but what...
Pumpkin Ginger Nut Muffins
What I love about these quick bread pumpkin muffins is that they are so easy to throw together, and so hard to mess up. You can mix everything by hand with a wooden spoon, don't need an electric mixer. Baking...
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Please welcome Simply Recipes guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic. ~Elise Red velvet cake is classic Americana cooking with its roots in the south. Deliciously festive, moist, flavorful, and maybe a hint of playful tackiness it's a dessert that...
Rhubarb Ginger Galette
Please welcome Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who ushers us in to Spring with this rustic rhubarb tart. ~Elise Early Spring, sadly, is a time of wanting. Where we pace back and forth, twiddling our thumbs, rolling our eyes, waiting...
Rustic Apricot Tart
Leave it to the lady with the tree to have some great recipes for apricots. My neighbor Pat (the one whose tree is raining apricots this week) suggested cooking an apricot pie on the grill and passed along a recipe...
Rustic Onion Tart
I recently observed my friend Suzanne whip up a couple onion tarts for a family meal and was so impressed by the wonderful flavor of the caramelized onion, I decided to try my hand at it. I've deviated a bit...
Southern Corn Bread
This corn bread is packed with cheese, onions, and whole corn, and flavored with bacon drippings. Need I say more? Recipe courtesy of my friend Lynn R. of Newton, Mass., who I think adapted it from one in The Southern...
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Several weeks ago, strawberries and rhubarb both began to show up in quantity at the store. Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my favorite desserts on the planet. But it's a pie. And being a pie, it takes some work...
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Rhubarb is one of those strange vegetables that acts more like a fruit - the bright pink rhubarb stems that is; the leaves are poisonous. Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my favorite pies in the world; in fact everyone...
Strawberry Shortcake
What better way to conjure up memories of the joys of youth than strawberry shortcake? Strawberry shortcake consists of sliced strawberries that have been macerated with whipped cream served over a white cake or biscuit. I'm from the camp that...
Suzanne's Best Brownies
If one is going to take the trouble to make chocolate brownies, and incur the wrath of the Fat-god for eating them, one may as well make them right. Brownies from a box? No thank you. This is my dear...
Suzanne's Chocolate Cake
My friend Suzanne served in the Peace Corps for two years in Kenya in the late Eighties. The Peace Corps at that time published a recipe book for their volunteers that provided a chocolate cake recipe that was special in...
Suzanne's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie
My friend Suzanne performed an experiment with her family and me. She baked two pumpkin pies, one using the purée and recipe from a can, the other using purée she made from a ripe sugar pumpkin. Each of us received...
Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan Topping
I've had so many friends rave about sweet potato pie that when I found a recipe for one I just had to try it. Given that I completely botched the first pie crust (forgot to chill it before baking it...
Valentine Linzer Cookies
Happy Valentine's Day! Why should chocolate have all the fun? Here are some Austrian Linzer cookies with a red preserve filling that seem perfectly suited for the occasion. Enjoy. :-)
Zucchini Bread
This recipe is adapted from one in an old issue of Sunset Magazine (September 1974) and is the recipe I used to follow as a teenager to make zucchini bread. If you've never made zucchini bread before, the thing to...