I received an email from Suzanne Scara of New Jersey letting me know that her 'Bubbe's Apple Cake was one of the top 5 finalists in the Spreading Smucker's Traditions Recipe and Essay contest.' She wanted me to take a look at her recipe and vote on it. They are picking the grand prize winner on October 1st, 2008. So I thought I would share her recipe here on my Blog and invite you participate in the competition.

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving in February at Barbecue Bob's home and Geoff brought the cookies plus this Apple Pear Cake. It was delicious so I wanted to share his adapted recipe and tips.

When I arrived home this morning after a visit with Meg to the Farmer's Market, I was greeted with a banana caramel milkshake my 14 year old daughter prepared for me. She was thumbing through a teen magazine, saw this inviting concoction and decided she had to make one for us.

I wanted to share with you my adaptation of a Bananas Foster recipe because it was much easier to make than I thought it would be and maybe you’re looking for something to serve at one of your holiday dinners. The ingredients are simple to prep and the cooking technique is easy (except you have to be extra careful when you flambé at the end!). The Williams-Sonoma ...

In the interview, I asked Ja'Lisa for one of her favorite recipes and she sent me a recipe for Basil Ice Cream. I know it sounds... different, but I'm sure it is delicious.

This blueberry cake would be equally at home at the end of a festive meal or for breakfast with a cup of coffee. I know, because we enjoyed it both ways, and both ways were fantastic!

This bread pudding is flavored very simply with vanilla, but you can flavor it in any way that you like. Feel free to add cinnamon, ginger or any of your favorite spices to the custard. Substitute stewed apples or soaked, dried cranberries for the raisins. Master this recipe, and you'll always know a delicious way to use up leftover bread.

Two frosting recipes you can use if you don't like the taste or texture of regular American buttercream. One comes from The Whimsical Bakehouse and takes color very well. The other is a light and airy Italian buttercream.

Chocolate Cake in a Mug My wife's sister Judy sent us four gorgeous mugs with zip lock bags filled with what looked like instant coco powder. There were also little packets of chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, crushed candy cane and cinnamon chips. Hmm, I thought, this looks interesting, but what is it? Caught up in the Christmas frenzy, I didn't spend too much ...

I have been fortunate enough to try some of Chef Keem's products. His Espresso Sea Salt Caramel Truffles are a wonderful treat, but I think the Agasweet, his flavored agave nectar, is so tasty and so versatile that I was inspired to create a recipe with it. Based on his wife's recipe for peach cobbler, this cherry version contains both batter and a buttery streusel topping. Need I say more?

Here are two brownie recipes, one calling for unsweetened chocolate and one calling for semi-sweet. Both brownies are very chocolaty and fudgy, but the differences between the two recipes is worth a look.

I have never done a scientific study on this issue, but I'm willing to bet that if I gave 100 people a choice between chocolate cake and white cake, the vast majority would choose the chocolate cake. What is it about chocolate cake that is so enticing? There is something soul satisfying about a thick slice of chocolate cake. Something that takes us back to childhood.

Two options for simple yet romantic Valentine's Day desserts: a luscious chocolate fondue for dipping, or simple and elegant chocolate-dipped strawberries.

This cake is every chocolate lover's dream and not your typical cake. It is almost a flour-less chocolate cake and very dense.

While chocolate might not be the first Italian dessert flavor you think of, these budinos are richly, decadently chocolatey. Budino al Cioccolato is Italian Chocolate Pudding. Think of these as individual molten chocolate cakes.

Don't be scared by the word "Soufflé". I remember when I first started cooking and someone suggested making a soufflé I thought, "No way. Sounds too fancy and difficult to make." Loosely translated, soufflé means “full of air.” That doesn’t sound so difficult, does it? In the food world, one of the best ways to get a dish “full of air” is to fold in whip...

Cinnamon coffee cake with chocolate chips: perfect for a casual dessert or for breakfast with a cup of coffee. My 12-year-old made this, and it was excellent. This is a great recipe for the young bakers in your house to try.

With three kinds of chocolate chips and toasted nuts in the mix, you really can't go wrong with these cookies from 100 Easy Peasy Cookie Recipes by Heather and Lucinda Wallace. Whenever something is easy and tasty, I'm in.

Eggs a la neige is a traditional French dessert created by the marriage of two classic culinary concoctions: crème anglaise and meringue.

 Seizing Ganache Some of you may not be that familiar with "ganache". I know I wasn't until I became friends with Pastry Chef Jenni Field and she started teaching me about various baking techniques and how some of my recipes call for ganache and I didn't even know it.  See Chocolate Pudding Recipe Italian Style  What is Ganache? Basically it is a ver...

Aside from being a scary story to tell on Halloween, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow also portrays Ichabod Crane as somewhat of a gourmand. For Halloween and in honor of Ichabod's love of food, here is a peach pie lightly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, that would've thrilled Ichabod's palate.

I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to key lime pie. This particular recipe starts with a graham cracker crust. For the filling, tart lime juice, plenty of zest, creamy sweetened condensed milk and the binding power of egg yolks. Feel free to top this with meringue or whipped cream, but I prefer mine straight.

Here's the recipe for the Molten Chocolate Cake that I promised to post in my Humbled But What a Great Night of Cooking blog. If you didn't read it, this recipe came from a cooking class my wife and I attended at a great BYOB restaurant called Blackfish. Not only did we have a fun night of cooking and a great meal, I learned a lot from Chef Jeff Power and Chef Ashley Hess.

Use the freshest peaches you can find. This cobbler is simply flavored with cinnamon and vanilla, so the peach flavor really shines through.

Peach Melba is a dessert consisting of vanilla ice cream, peaches poached in a vanilla flavored syrup, and a topping of raspberry sauce. It was invented by the famous French chef Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), in honor of the popular opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931).

My daughters have been showing more of an interest in cooking the last few weeks. My 10 year old prepared these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, with a little help from mom, that were easy to make and delicious.

If you're interested in making your own crust with just a few ingredients, all of which are pronounceable, here's how to make your own pie crust.

I'm not sure why but, for birthdays, I always asked for pineapple upside down cake. It may be that I just liked the taste of pineapple with a classic yellow cake mix, or maybe it was the only cake my mom knew how to make. I'm not sure. Either way, I love pineapple upside down cake to this day.

Since time is at a premium on Thanksgiving, here are three levels of pumpkin pie you can serve this holiday: The quick pumpkin pie, the no-crust pumpkin pie and the made from scratch pumpkin pie.

Here is a simple but classic favorite of mine for Pecan Pie.

Simple yet elegant, this strawberry shortcake consists of a genoise rolled jelly roll-style with orange marmelade and topped with strawberries macerated in sugar, orange juice and some red wine. This dessert isn't for children, but your adult diners will be very happy indeed.

With these facts in hand, Chef Jennifer was able to point out why the second batch did not turn out “perfect” plus offer some changes to Kathy's recipe for future cookies. Here is what she said.

Rich and decadent and brimming with chocolate chips, these cookies as made by my friend Geoff, are fast becoming a staple of our neighborhood gatherings. Try them, and you'll see why.

The pastry chef who taught us this recipe has literally been perfecting it for years. And you know what? I think she's right: I ate tiramiso in a lot of restaurants when I lived in New York City, and this is absolutely the best I've ever tasted.

Avoid those sad faces around your holiday table and give the folks what they want, but make it the best pumpkin pie you can. Dare to be traditional!

This is a basic recipe, but I don't mean that it's boring. Adding some softly whipped cream to the batter gives it a velvety texture, and a mixture of white and brown sugars give it just a slight caramel edge.