Four Nights A Week

Adventures in Eating

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Amy’s Writing, Photography and Art can be found at amybisson.com

Category: Special Treats

  • 23 December 2020: Egg-Free Cutout Cookies

    One of my fondest childhood food memories is of the big rectangular tin of cutout cookies my Aunt Eleanor used to make for the four of us each Christmas and Easter. She had collected an impressive array of cutout shapes which, when I had to downsize, went to another family member. I love her recipe…

  • 20 December 2020: Union Square’s Chocolate Biscotti

    Each holiday season, I choose a biscotti recipe – or two – to make for my family as a way to honor my Sicilian heritage. This year’s bake comes from New York’s Union Square Cafe and melds chocolate, espresso and white chocolate (the original calls for milk chocolate). The condo filled with the aroma of…

  • 15 December 2020: Nut Brittle

    I remember tins of peanut brittle although I don’t remember exactly where they came from so when King Arthur Baking sent out this Microwave Nut Brittle recipe in a weekly email blast, it seemed like an opportunity to try something from long-ago memory. When I think of handmade gifts for giving at the holidays, I’ve…

  • 12 Dec. 2020: Cranberry Nut Chocolate Bark

    And just like that, it’s time to start Holiday Baking again. This year, I’ve made fewer cookies, and included some other confections in my repertoire. King Arthur Baking share a couple of recipes over the last week that I am working on for family and friend homemade gifts. The contrast of cranberries, roasted pecans, and…

  • 09 Aug 2020: Yellow Squash Bundt Cake

    I did a double-take when I spotted this recipe for Yellow Squash (!) Bundt Cake. Yellow squash, seriously? But with an enormous haul of yellow squash in our CSA share the last 2 weeks, it felt as if this recipe from Southern Living was meant to be baked. So I did. Yellow Squash Bundt Cake…

  • 26 June 2020: The Perfect Scone

    Up until about a week ago, we have been without an oven for about two months. As you can imagine, that put quite a damper on baking during our self-quarantine; no home-baked bread, and no morning baked treats. Happily, we were able to resolve some installation issues in our kitchen and now have a working…

  • 2 April 2020: Ellie Krieger’s Blueberry Coffee Cake

    While we are all sheltering in place I can imagine that people are indulging in some comfort foods. This is a recipe that helped me not only use the blueberries I bought, but use up the yogurt we had in the fridge as well. Also, it satisfied a craving I had for something sweet.  As…

  • A Quebecois Treat for Christmas

    Baked from “Sap Happy” written by OLIVER SCHWANER-ALBRIGHT. New York Times, March 2, 2008 I’m sure there are other more traditional sweets from my husband’s Québécois heritage that we could roll out for the holidays, but this one was a special family request: Sugar Pie (always Maple) or Tarte au Sucre.  It ticks all of…

  • 05 December 2018: More Classic Holiday Cookies – Natale Cookies

    Unbelievably, this year, I’ve been drawn away from chocolate cookies toward citrus-y cookies! I know, there are Peanut Butter Blossoms in my (baking) future, but so far I’ve been working on something entirely different. Again, The Boston Globe’s Classic Holiday Cookie article is my source. Three bakes in and every single one has been a…

  • 29 November 2018: Laura Raposa’s Coconut Orange Macaroons

    In general, I don’t keep a lot of home-baked sweets in our house. I do so, not as a lofty statement against sugar consumption. I do it because I love them too much! But after Thanksgiving has gone by, there is some strange phenomenon that occurs: I feel the need to bake cookies. I like…