Recipes Blog

Recipe for Chocolate Shortbread from Desserts Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

There are so many amazing recipes in this cookbook, I wasn’t sure where to start. I suggest you pick a chapter and start baking! Snack cakes was first for me. Pumpkin-chocolate, classic gingerbread, and applesauce were my choices. Then, on to pies. There’s a whole chapter devoted to variations of the beloved apple pie. After that, cakes, of course. Or try this simple and simply wonderful chocolate shortbread. Next on my list: cranberry-orange cake with olive oil. Happy baking!

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Desserts Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Giulina’s Risi e Bisi: Rice and Peas from Veneto from Pasta Grannies Book Two by Vicky Bennison

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Cook your way through Italy with some pasta grannies. I love this simple variation of risotto. It’s perfect for dinner on a cold evening. Next on my list: this Nonna Honey is going to make Anna Maria’s Ziti alla Genovese and Ida’s Chocolate Bunet, a pudding with caramel.

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Recipes excerpted with permission from Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking by Vicky Bennison, photos by Emma Lee, published by Hardie Grant Books.

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Recipe for Lille Bakery’s Raspberry Sugar Berliners from New European Baking by Laurel Kratochvila

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book will take you on a trip through Europe, via the baking kitchen. There are all sorts of recipes for breads, pastries, and cookies that will improve your baking skills. Celebrate Chanukah with these amazing doughnuts, which are filled with a raspberry whipped cream filling. There are recipes in the book to make alternative fillings, such as a pastry cream and varieties of fruit jam. These little doughnuts are the perfect treat for the holiday. Next on my list: Wild Fennel Bread, Brioche Bread Pudding, Lemon Meringue Danishes, and a Pistachio Cloud Tarte. Halva Flan? Yes, please.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from New European Baking by Laurel Kratochvila (Prestel, 2022). Text © Laurel Kratochvila, image © Małgosia Minta.

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Recipe for Brown Sugar Snaps from The King Arthur Baking School

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is full of detailed instructions for baking all sorts of doughs, and beautiful photographs for clear understanding of each recipe. There are sourdough and yeasted doughs, pre-ferments for pizza and bagels, and laminated dough for pastries. I was charmed by these simple cookies, and made them with a sprinkling of raw sugar. Next on my list: Ciabatta; S’mores Tart; Cream Scones; and a lovely Cocoa Streusel Coffeecake.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The King Arthur Baking School (The Countryman Press)

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Recipe for Pesto from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition by Marcella Hazan

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This amazing cookbook combines two of Marcela’s classic books. The classic pesto recipe is one to make over and over. I got lost in the pasta sauce chapter. You will too. Next on my list: Chicken Fricassee, Cacciatore Style; Green Beans Pasticcio; and apple fritters.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition by Marcella Hazan. Copyright © 1992 by Marcella Hazan. Foreword copyright © 2022 by Victor Hazan. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe for Sweet Dairy Noodle Kugel from Modern Jewish Comfort Food by Shannon Sarna

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This recipe is for a dish I rarely make, because my kids like food to be either sweet or savory, not both. This version is especially dear to my heart, as it is very similar to one that my old friend, Robin, loved as a child. Her family recipe was lost for years until a cousin made it and shared her copy, hand written on an index card by Robin’s mother herself. Now you can make it for your family to start a sweet new year. Next on my list: Stuffed cabbage from Eastern Europe, or maybe stuffed onions from Syria. Then, coconut-crusted schnitzel fingers and an adorable confetti mandel bread for Brody, the littlest Zabar.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Modern Jewish Comfort Food by Shannon Sarna (The Countryman Press)

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Recipe for Orange Salad with Dates, Chillies and Preserved Lemon from The Levantine Table by Ghillie Basan

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is filled with recipes for Middle Eastern food, perfect for summer meals. The salad is a refreshing start to dinner—I served the chillies on the side. Next on my list: a carrot and caraway purée with yoghurt; a pide bread, sprinkled with nigella seeds; a lovely poached fish with saffron rice and caviar; and for dessert, an interesting rice pudding.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Levantine Table: Vibrant and Delicious Recipes from the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond by Ghillie Basan, Photography by Steve Painter © Ryland Peters & Small

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Recipe for Mexican wedding cookies from Sweet Paris by Frank Adrian Barron

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This perfectly gorgeous book is filled with lovely cakes and sweets. Curl up and read about them, then after your armchair trip to Paris, run into the kitchen and bake! Today’s recipe is for a cookie that deserves to be on your dessert platter all year long. Next on my list: Gâteau Orangette, a marvelous chocolate cake with candied orange peel; Pain d'épices (Alsatian gingerbread); and a savory cheese board. 

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Sweet Paris by Frank Adrian Barron (HarperCollins)

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Recipe for Garlic and Herb Cream Cheese Spread from Boards by America’s Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is filled with ideas for platters of food you can set out for your next brunch, drinks party, or cookie swap. Try one of these cream cheese spreads with your nova and bagel sandwich. Next on my list: a cheese board and grilled vegetable platter. And some pretty cute cookies for dessert.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Boards by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Pat's Pancakes from Always Home by Fanny Singer

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This memoir is sweet. I loved Fanny Singer’s stories of her childhood. Imagine Alice Waters packing your lunchbox. The memories are lovely, and the recipes tempting. Next on my list: a fruit galette, and the charmingly named egg fried in a spoon in the fireplace. Have fun making these pancakes.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Always Home by Fanny Singer (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)

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