Dessert Recipes

There used to be a tiny bakery tucked behind a vintage shop in Portland called The Witching Hour that made the most spectacular Halloween sugar … Read more

The fall bake sale was in less than twelve hours and I’d completely forgotten. Everyone else would be bringing their grandmother’s legendary apple pies, those … Read more

Three winters ago, I attempted to make a loaf of banana bread for a holiday potluck. I was tired, the kitchen was freezing, and I … Read more

My brother-in-law Mark had refused to eat anything described as “baked French toast” for nearly a decade. Said it was soggy. Said it was a … Read more

I was standing in the checkout line at the hardware store—of all places—when the woman behind me, who I later learned was named Marge and … Read more

There used to be a tiny candy shop tucked into a strip mall on the edge of town that made the most incredible candy bark … Read more

Miriam wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by to drop off a casserole dish she’d lent me—the good one with the blue flowers—and the … Read more

My sister-in-law, Claire, had a long-standing, very public, and frankly, a little dramatic hatred for meringue cookies. For years she claimed they were “just puffs … Read more

My neighbor, a retired baker named Frank, once asked me why I couldn’t just dump all the dry ingredients into a bowl without sifting them … Read more

Lena wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by to borrow a bundt pan—mine had mysteriously vanished after a friend’s bake sale—and the smell of … Read more