Recipes Blog

Recipe for Classic and Best Lemon Tart from Plat du Jour by Susan Hermann Loomis (The Countryman Press)

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I got lost in the recipes in this beautiful book. Try the avocado, cherry, and chive salad, with pistachios; some fromage blanc; and the fig and hazelnut bread for a light lunch. For dinner, a fish soup from Flanders with the adorable name of Waterzooi; garlicky red peppers, roasted and pureed, served with cod; lamb chops with rosemary and orange syrup; beef and onion stew; or some pissaldier, the famous tomato, olive, and anchovy tart, served with happy toasts. For dessert, there are all kinds of sweets: this lemon tart, or an apple version; plum clafoutis; and a chocolate mousse. Heaven.

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Recipe for Chewy Iraqi Almond Cookies from Jew-ish by Jake Cohen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Get ready for Passover! Send a copy of this wonderful book, and some macaroon brownies, or these cookies, to your friends. The rest of the year, use your own copy to make some brisket, a kugel, shakshuka, or some salted honey chopped liver. What could be bad?

Excerpted from JEW-ISH: A COOKBOOK: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch © 2021 by Jake Cohen. Photography © 2021 by Matt Taylor-Gross. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

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Recipe for Caramel Popcorn from The Complete DIY Cookbook for Young Chefs

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

One kid plus one adult, needed for this recipe. First, you make the popcorn. Then, the caramel sauce. Pour it on the popcorn, with some peanuts, and bake. A couple of stirs of the hot mixture, and Voila! A crunchy treat is born. The Complete DIY Cookbook for Young Chefs is filled with great recipes to make with your kids. Pita chips, smoothies, muffins, and even pesto. The companion book, Kitchen Explorers! has puzzles, games, and experiments sprinkled in with even more recipes. These books are perfect gifts for a budding young chef.

Recipe excerpted with permission from The Complete DIY Cookbook for Young Chefs by America's Test Kitchen.

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Recipe for Raspberry and Rose Party Hearts from Afternoon Tea at Home by Will Torrent, photography by Matt Russell

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Make these lovely biscuits (cookies) for your sweetie. Then master the techniques for scones, jellies, and curds. There are recipes here for new takes on traditional British tea fare: deviled egg mayonnaise sandwiches with micro herbs, and cucumber sandwiches with yuzu and chive butter. Next on my list: pbj cookie sandwiches, sour cherry cake, and Veronica’s gingerbreads.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Afternoon Tea at Home (Ryland Peters & Small)

Recipe for Chocolate Covered Pretzels from Milk Jar Cookies by Courtney Cowan, photography by Ashley Maxwell

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I was enchanted with these pretty no-bake pretzels. There are wonderful recipes for baked goods, too. Get the book and make some banana split cookies, blueberry ricotta pancakes, and fudge.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Rizzoli

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Recipe for Sufganiyot with blood orange jam (Chanukah doughnuts, filled with jelly) from A Good Bake by Melissa Weller with Carolynn Carreño, photographs by Johnny Miller

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is filled with recipes for baking bread and some sweet things. Get in the kitchen and make some challah, sticky buns, or a very modern rugelach with strawberry jam and hazelnuts. Pretzels and chocolate cookies are next on my list.

Enter Mrs. Zabar's Holiday Cookie Contest! Click here for the details!

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Recipe for Vanilla Sablés from How to Bake by Nick Malgieri

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This classic cookbook, written by my amazing baker-friend, is full of all sorts of recipes and tips. It’s time to start baking your holiday cookies. First up: this ultimate, simple, sugary cookie. Then bake the chocolate spice cookies. They will whip up quickly. After that, his decorated gingerbread cookies, the chocolate version of the sablés, and a few dozen fig bars and hermits. Fill tins to send off to your loved ones and be sure to save one for yourself.

Recipe excerpted with permission from How to Bake by Nick Malgieri (Dover Books)

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Recipe for Lemon Bars from The Good Book of Southern Baking by Kelly Fields with Kate Heddings, photographs by Oriana Koren

This wonderful book will inspire you to practice your pumpkin pie making skills. Then, on to cornbread, a crumby, fruity coffee cake, some puddings of the bananas Foster and warm chocolate varieties, buttermilk pie, a Creole cream cheesecake, and some pretty wonderful berry treats. Or try these amazing lemon bars. Go in the kitchen and bake!

Reprinted with permission from The Good Book of Southern Baking by Kelly Fields with Kate Heddings copyright ©2020 published by Lorena Jones Books, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC Photographs copyright © Oriana Koren

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Recipe for 24-Karat Cookies from Cookies are Magic by Maida Heatter

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Here are some yummy cookies, filled with honey, to start your sweet new year. The rest of the book will keep you baking all fall. Fill your cookie jar with Pecan Butter Pillows, Maida’s Mother’s Gingersnaps, and Cookie Kisses.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Cookies are Magic by Maida Heatter (Little Brown and Company).

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Recipe for Glazed Plum Tart from Women in the Kitchen by Anne Willan, recipe by Edna Lewis

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Whip up this simple, amazing purple plum tart, pop it in the oven, and curl up with this book. I am always interested in people’s favorite recipes and cookbooks. Of course I am. This one is bursting with stories of women, some famous, some not, but all interesting. The recipe selection is wonderful. Check out Alice Waters' garlic soufflé, Marcella Hazan's polenta and tomato recipes, Julia Child's Coq au Vin, and the original Fannie Farmer will show you how to cook scallops and make a somewhat scary melted cheesy thing called English Monkey.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Women in the Kitchen by Anne Willan (Scribner).

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