Financiers are cake-like cookies, usually made with hazelnut or almond flour. Named for the stockbrokers, financiers, of Paris and originally shaped like gold ingots, they were meant to be a rich treat for the rich men. My rendition—a treat for everyone—is made with ground pistachios, has matcha and whole wheat flour, and is baked in…
Samoa Bars
In the UK, we’re not lucky enough to have access to American Girl Scout cookies, and that’s a big problem, at least for me. My yearly cravings for thin mint and Samoa cookies remains unfulfilled. Thankfully, both are relatively easy to replicate at home. These simple bars are my vegan take on the classic Samoa…
Goong Goong’s Almond Cookies
These cookies are soft in the center, crisp around the edges, and perfectly sweet, with just enough almond flavor to fill your kitchen with the intoxicating scent of buttery almonds. Better yet, they have the seal of approval from my mom and the rest of my family, which is all I really needed. I hope…
Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
I rarely try to make my holiday cookies in red and green colors, but every once in a while I submit to tradition. These cookies are actually a shade of burgundy (how I like my red velvet to be), but you can add extra red food coloring if you want them to be more vibrant….
Spiced Honey Rum Balls
This version of old-school rum balls amps up the flavor with a few clever ingredient swaps, like graham crackers instead of traditional wafer cookies, honey to replace corn syrup, and warm spiced rum for white rum. A pinch of cinnamon brings out the rum’s spices, while a toss in coarse sugar adds sparkle and crunch….
What’s the Point of Painting Directly From Life?
In William R. Davis’s landscape painting, “Late Day Colors,” the last light of the late sun illuminates the sky and sends a shimmer of light onto a lake: It’s the sun’s final hurrah before disappearing behind a distant forest. In another painting, “Bouquet,” by Daniel Caro, a glorious bunch of sunflowers and yellow roses cheerfully…
Learn About Cherokee Culture in Cherokee, North Carolina
One of my favorite childhood memories was an exciting weekend in the small town of Cherokee in western North Carolina. I recall that at that time several tame black bears were chained at the street corners, and cars stopped to feed them. The town, as far as I knew, was one wondrous street with Native…
‘A Christmas Carol’ and Overcoming Devilish Greed
We’ve all met people who are greedy and who never seem to have enough, even when they have plenty. Some of us may be haunted by a desire to have more: more money, more time, more affection, more fame, and so on. It is sometimes difficult to remember that we come into this world with…
A Taste of Porto
A historic city center, colorful buildings with red-tiled roofs, phenomenal foods with a namesake, world-famous wine, and a beautiful river running through it—this is Porto, Portugal’s second city after Lisbon, and a real gem of a travel destination. An Enduring City Back in the days of the Roman Empire, a settlement flourished along the south…
Giving Biscotti a 2nd Chance
I first tasted biscotti long ago, when I was a cookie-loving child. I wondered how anyone could like such hard, dry, and boring so-called “cookies.” Years later, my sister-in-law tucked some homemade biscotti into my Christmas cookie box. To my surprise, they were delicious. By then, I had grown up and become an avid baker,…
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