Cookbooks

There’s no such thing as a bad scrambled egg, but this concoction, made creamy with fresh ricotta, comes close to the perfect scrambled egg. The eggs are partially cooked and cheese is added off the heat to impart a soft texture. Chives and fleur de sel give this breakfast a rustic feel. Substitute four egg whites for the two eggs and serve it with whole-wheat lavash to lighten up the dish, or dress it up with slices of smoked salmon, avocado, or bacon.

These are no ordinary poached eggs. Rich, tender toasted brioche—or challah, if you can’t find it—adds subtle crunch while shaved Parmesan lends just the right hint of saltiness. But the real star is the pistou. France’s version of pesto, this basil-and-garlic–infused oil brings an herbal vibrance to the beloved egg, cheese, and bread combo. You might want to make extra pistou; pour leftovers over pasta for an effortless dinner.

I love a recipe like this, in which one familiar item (balsamic vinegar) combines with something else very familiar (in this case, the elements of a homemade barbecue sauce) to form something entirely new. The end result, which gets slathered all over spareribs that have been slow-roasted in the oven and baked at a high temperature until the two entities combine, makes for a sticky, tangy, unforgettable take on good old-fashioned ribs. If you're feeding a crowd, the oven is your best bet for that final step; if you have the time, though, try broiling the ribs with the glaze on top. The rib and the glaze fuse together and, if you take it far enough (just before it turns black), you get a crispy, sweet, and succulent rib that'll be your new standard from now on.

Meaning "snails" in German, schnecken are pecan-cinnamon buns drizzled with gooey pecan caramel.

This may be the most sought-after cookie recipe in the book, the cookie that makes it into Seattle Metropolitan magazine's food lover's guide year after year. Once, when director, screenwriter (When Harry Met Sally), and novelist Nora Ephron was in town, she stopped by the dahlia Bakery and bought a few of these cookies. Later she e-mailed me, saying this was her all-time favorite and asked for the recipe. Naturally, I sent it to Nora along with a big package of cookies. When I asked Nora if I could name the cookie after her in my cookbook, she said, "Are you kidding me? This may be the greatest cookie ever ever ever." A sandwich cookie takes more effort than a drop cookie, because you have to make both cookies and filling. In addition, this recipe involves a chilling step and requires the cookies to be double-panned. But the results are worth it for the best-textured peanut butter cookie with the creamiest peanut filling. After arranging the scoops of cookie batter on a baking sheet, slip another baking sheet underneath to double-pan so the cookies bake more slowly and evenly. Since you can bake only eight cookies per baking sheet, and the cookies must be double-panned, you'll have to bake them in batches. Be sure to let the baking sheets cool thoroughly before reusing them. We use two different peanut butters in this recipe. Skippy creamy peanut butter makes the filling smooth and creamy. Adams crunchy peanut butter, which like other natural peanut butters must be well mixed before using to incorporate the oil, has just the right almost-runny consistency and crunchy bits of peanuts to give the cookies the perfect texture. To re-create our peanut butter sandwich cookies, we suggest you use the same or similar brands. We prefer moist brown sugar from a resealable plastic bag rather than from a box. This recipe requires a 2-hour or longer chill of the shaped cookie dough, so plan accordingly. The amount of salt in the filling is a perfect balance to the creamy peanut butter, but if you are substituting table salt for the kosher salt called for in the recipe, be sure to cut the amount in half. This recipe was inspired by the Bouchon Bakery.

When I was a kid and my mom made tomato soup, she would cut buttered toast into squares and float them on top of each bowl. My twist on Mom's toast is to make brown butter croutons, though when I'm really feeling feisty I go all the way and make grilled cheese croutons to float on the soup. To cut the bread for the brown butter croutons, take a 4-inch chunk of rustic bread (5 to 6 ounces) and cut off and discard the crusts using a serrated knife. Cut the bread into 4 slices, then cut the slices into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes.

Some famous French hostess supposedly started the fashion for the recipe below and created a sensation in her salon. I am sure a reputation and a leading position in any town can be built up if you serve enough of them for they are as contagious as measles. A good friend of mine can eat a dozen of them at one sitting. Not only is this delicious, but it is one of the most decorative canapés you can make, for an edging of brilliant green enhances the golden yellow of the brioche and makes a most appetizing tidbit.

Despite their names and their common family, the Jerusalem artichoke and the globe artichoke aren't at all alike—one is a tuber, the other a thistle. Yet, flavorwise, they relate perfectly in this pasta dish. Add some slivers of red onion, lots of garlic, a kick of red pepper flakes, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a shower of thinly sliced fresh mint and you have a boldly seasoned pasta dish worthy of serving to company yet easy enough for a family meal.

Editor's note: Use this chive oil to make White Bean Soup with Chive Oil from Kim Severson and Julia Moskin's cookbook, CookFight.

Amazingly, the New York Times fashion critic, Cathy Horyn, is also an accomplished cook and intrepid baker. The equivalent would be if I, a food writer, were also a sleek fashion plate with a deep bench of vintage and modern pieces. This is certainly not the case, so I find her extremely impressive. She claims that these cookies are a Swedish-American tradition in her hometown of Coshocton, Ohio, but I feel they are the cookie equivalent of Paris Fashion Week: a modern, edgy take on a classic. They are truly remarkable, with a robust and smoky undertone that sets them apart from other gingersnaps.

This creamy soup, served in tiny cups and bright with chive oil, is easy to make and serve. Kids will like the little cups and the crazy green swirl. Adults will appreciate the healthfulness and the flavor.

I am a big fan of rugelach made with cream cheese, so I used soy cream cheese to make these. There are so many different fillings for rugelach; my favorite is apricot jam or chocolate. It is fun to make different flavors so that when you place them on a platter, you see rows of different color swirls. In my baking classes, I give the students a buffet of choices so they can create their own combinations. Here I've given you three fillings to choose from. If you prefer to make one type, simply double one of the filling recipes (each filling amount is enough for half the dough). Or you can divide the dough into four and make four types—any flavor of jam, coconut, raisins, currants, or any kind of chopped nuts make great fillings.

You will find that the garlic has been tamed in the cooking and acquired a delicious buttery quality. Serve with hot toast or thin slices of pumpernickel—to be spread with the garlic sauce.

This layer cake was a standard in our house. This recipe is a very old one that people could keep in their heads because of the utter simplicity of the formula that gave the cake its name—1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, and 4 eggs. The juice mixture will give the cake a lovely, fresh, fruity flavor and it is not rich like an icing.

Sometime during the first year of my marriage, I visited my mother-in-law in her kitchen. There she was, listening to the radio, whistling (she is a formidable whistler) and rolling cream cheese dough around raisins and nuts to form the crescent-shaped cookies known as rugelach. I was spellbound—I'd had no idea that rugelach could be made at home. As far as I knew, rugelach, like ketchup or ships-in-bottles, were only made in laboratories. But here was my mother-in-law shaping the cookies with ease. And a short time later, there I was, eating them with ease. These cookies weren't like the rugelach my mother bought every week at the local German bakery—they were much better. I was so excited I asked for the recipe.
My mother-in-law wrote it out in her precise hand on a 3-x-5 index card. And, as she wrote, she told me that this recipe was not exactly the same as the one her mother used, that it had come from Mrs. Strauss, her next-door neighbor, and that she was sure I'd have no problem making the cookies as long as I didn't overmix the dough.
She was right. I was a newcomer to the world of baking, but I had no problem with the dough, the only potentially tricky part of the process.
Since then, I've made rugelach countless times, but nowadays my dough is even more foolproof because I make it in a food processor. I've also made a few other changes to the recipe. While my mother-in-law's rugelach were filled with cinnamon-sugared nuts, mine also include a slick of jam, some currants and a handful of chopped chocolate. This is a very old recipe, and I have no doubt that everyone who has made it has added or subtracted a little bit to make it her own—and my mom-in-law, Mrs. Strauss, and I expect you to do the same.

These doughnuts are insanely moist. I promise you, they melt in your mouth. My friends can never get enough of them. This cake doughnut recipe is very simple to make. I store the doughnuts glazed in the freezer for sugar-craving moments. Once the doughnuts are fried, they can be glazed with Coconut Glaze or any other glaze you like, or dusted with superfine sugar.

A tartine is an open-faced sandwich usually composed of a slice of crusty artisan bread topped with a spread, vegetables, and sometimes meat or fish. They are usually served along with a soup or a salad to make a complete meal—definitely one of my favorites. In this recipe, figs, Serrano ham, goat cheese, and greens are piled on top of a savory hazelnut crust.

This is a very simple recipe for crêpes that can be filled with all kinds of savory ingredients or turned into a sweet dessert by omitting the herbs and black pepper and adding a touch of honey. I like them sweet-savory: Spread a little bit of sweetened yogurt over a Chestnut Crêpe, roll it, and drizzle with honey. It makes the perfect snack. If you cannot find chestnut flour, use a combination of 1/2 cup (70 g) superfine brown rice flour and 1/4 cup (35 g) buckwheat flour.

We're always experimenting with new flavor combinations, so once you get the basics down, have fun mixing and matching.