Pumpkin carving is a tradition worth having and when you are done, you can turn your handiwork into something worth eating. So long soggy pumpkin bread that’s decidedly un-pumpkiny. I’ve figured out how to bake pumpkin into the kind of bread that would make even the scariest Halloween pumpkin smile. This Halloween, like so much…
Year-End Special — Rosh Hashanah Apple Cake
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year starts Friday at sundown, and man, are we all ready for a new year, a fresh start. We observe Rosh Hashanah by tasting something sweet, to start the new year with sweetness. Traditionally, this means apples and honey. We’re keeping the tradition, keeping the apples, but losing the…
Calling Forth Morning in America
I originally wrote this Huffington Post piece on the eve of the 2016 election, urging everyone to vote. I even embedded video of Maya Angelou from 1993, reciting her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration. It all seems almost quaint now, with a pandemic, systemic racism called out at last,…
Panforte
Doing Dessert for a Sweet Solstice Originally posted for Huffington Post on 12/21/2015 Howdy and happy winter solstice. Winter officially begins tonight and we continue speeding towards Christmas, Kwanzaa and the finish line of 2015. As usual, I am not ready. In fact, I’m still mulling over something from October. My husband I were visiting Cayman…
Steviva KetoseSweet Lemon Poppy Tea Cake
Happy 2019. I’ve learned two things — 1) The healthiest thing you can do for yourself is to eat more greens. 2) People don’t want to eat more greens, they want to eat sweets. Sweetness wins. It’s a win for everyone when the sweetness comes from a source that doesn’t mess with your weight or…
Apricot Frangipane Tart
Apricots and almonds dazzle in this holiday tart. I’m all about seasonal produce but I’m also for cutting yourself some slack, especially during the rush-rush of the holiday season. Dried apricots magically plumped and revived with an overnight soak take the place of fresh, so you can make it any time of the year. The…
Spice Me Up Holiday Rum Cake
Spice Me Up for Christmas Originally posted for Huffington Post on 12/23/2013 All right, fellow fruitcake fans, I know you’re out there. Start macerating your dried fruit for a potent holiday fruitcake. It’s time to spice up the season. If the idea of anything other than a white Christmas seems strange, spend Christmas in the islands —…
MY FAVORITE PEOPLE, MY FAVORITE RECIPES: Carolina Molea
MY FAVORITE PEOPLE, MY FAVORITE RECIPES: Carolina Molea Mon Dieu, the winner of Miami’s best croissant contest is L’Artisane Bakery, the brand-new Surfside shop helmed by my brilliant vegan friend Carolina Molea. That’s right, vegan croissants, flaky on the outside, light as air on the inside, buttery beyond belief (yet butterless) and voted Miami’s best…
Red Velvet Cake (Vegan Chocolate Beet Cake)
Marla Rose Takes it to the (Vegan) Street Originally posted for Huffington Post on 3/7/2016 Here’s your easy answer for sweet Easter treat. In 1998, the internet was in its infancy and vegan was not yet cool. Yet Marla Rose and husband John Beske saw tremendous potential for both. So Rose, a writer and Beske, a graphics…
Seed Cake
Spring Awakening Originally posted for Huffington Post on 3/30/2015 I’d intended to make this post about Passover and Easter, the two holidays that bookend this weekend. Nature has had other ideas, signaling to me in my favorite kind of way. The bees have been buzzing around my firebush, the bluejays and mockingbirds are warbling and trilling ……
