Typically, I don’t add food coloring to my icings unless a customer (or my daughter) requests it, but for this icing I make an exception. Just a drop or two of green food coloring makes the icing a nice shade of pale green and hints at the mint flavoring. It looks so festive atop a chocolate cupcake or mini cupcake, garnished with green sparkling sugar, that it is a natural choice for St. Patrick’s Day or other springtime celebrations. The cream cheese subdues the mint essence a little, creating a softer, rather than spicy, mint flavor. Whereas the Peppermint variation on the Swiss buttercream (page 156) is more of a seasonal option, this mint icing is popular all year long.
This classic 15-minute sauce is your secret weapon for homemade mac and cheese, chowder, lasagna, and more.
Turn humble onions into this thrifty yet luxe pasta dinner.
Round out these autumn greens with tart pomegranate seeds, crunchy pepitas, and a shower of Parmesan.
The silky French vanilla sauce that goes with everything.
Caramelized onions, melty Gruyère, and a deeply savory broth deliver the kind of comfort that doesn’t need improving.
An extra-silky filling (no water bath needed!) and a smooth sour cream topping make this the ultimate cheesecake.
This pasta has some really big energy about it. It’s so extra, it’s the type of thing you should be eating in your bikini while drinking a magnum of rosé, not in Hebden Bridge (or wherever you live), but on a beach on Mykonos.
Crispy tots topped with savory-sweet sauce, mayonnaise, furikake, scallion, and katsuobushi.