Recipes Blog

Recipe for Peanut butter & jelly brownies from Brownies, Blondies, and other Traybakes (Ryland Peters and Small)

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Peanut butter and jelly, great combination. Peanut butter and chocolate, even better. But, good grief, pb&j and chocolate? So good I can barely stand it. For your next month or two of baking, try this brownie goodie, then butterscotch blondies, then Bakewell slices, then gingerbread brownies, then pistachio, and then cherry. Finish with Brookies, which are an adorable cross between a cookie and a brownie.

Recipe excerpted with permission From Delicious Brownies, Blondies and Other Traybakes: 65 Delicious Recipes for Home-Baked Sweet Treats, Ryland Peters & Small, 2021

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Recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Ultimate Book of Chocolate by Mélanie Dupuis, photographs by Pierre Lavelle

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Here is a recipe for something delicious to start off a sweet year. This enormous book is a chocolate lover's dream. It contains step-by-step instructions, with illustrations and photographs, to guide you to make bonbons, tartlets, and an opera cake (Aunt Stacey’s favorite!) that is fancy dinner party-worthy. It also has very clear instructions on how to temper chocolate, which was the hardest thing I learned in culinary school. Today’s recipe is the simplest in the book—amazing chocolate chunk cookies.

Recipes excerpted with permission from The Ultimate Book of Chocolate by Melanie Dupuis, published by Hardie Grant Books.

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Recipe for Ricotta and Baby Pear Tart from Torta della Nonna by Emiko Davies

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Turn your oven on when the weather starts to cool down. This tart with adorable baby pears is the first thing on my list. I plan to bake from it all fall and winter long. What to bake right after that—a hazelnut cake, or one with apple chunks and apricot jam swirls? Cinnamon cookies, or honey-scented almond biscotti? Chocolate cake sprinkled with the last of the summer’s berries or individual rice pudding tarts? What happy choices.

Recipes excerpted with permission from Torta della Nonna Emiko Davies, published by Hardie Grant Books

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Recipe for Smoked Salmon Niçoise Salad from The Complete Salad Book by America’s Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

It’s so nice to have a big salad, with dressing on the side, in the fridge. Add some seared tuna, grilled chicken, or tofu, and you have a late summer evening’s meal. Next on my list: peach caprese; beet salad with spicy yogurt and watercress; farro with spring vegetables; and a steak salad with pear and pickled fennel. Then, on to the dressings—poppy seed and then creamy roasted garlic. First, try this salad, using smoked salmon instead of tuna.

Recipe excerpted with permission from The Complete Salad Book by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Grilled stone fruits with rosemary and rose syrup from Honey & Co Chasing Smoke by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This fun book is filled with wonderful stories, recipes, and photographs from Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Greece. It will inspire you to grill tomatoes, corn, eggplant, and a whole fish or two. Of course, there are lamb kebabs and chops, served with spicy sauces or hummus. And these delicious, sweet fruits. Fire up the barbecue and start grilling!

Recipe excerpted with permission from from Honey & Co Chasing Smoke by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich (Pavilion)

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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.

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

Recipe excerpted with permission from Rizzoli

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