4 Rochester

I know I'm not the only one who's been craving lighter, brighter flavors lately. Eggnog, cookies, cheeses, meats, sauces, pies, cakes, and all those wonderful holiday foods are terrific, but after eating them for awhile, it's nice to enjoy something a little different. Not only does this...

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux . They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand . If you recall, the DBers did a yule log last year but this year's yule log is very...

Over at Culinary in the Desert , Joe posted his recipe for Eggnog Spiced Spritz Cookies as part of his holiday baking spree . "Mmmm," I thought. "Those sound like the ones my mom makes." So I went off in search of my cookie press. And came up empty. I can't remember the last time...

Do you like my Truman Capote snowman? Looking for a tasty alternative to sugar cookies? Give these lovely cookies a try. I love their warm orangey flavor, perked up by cardamom. You don't have to frost them, but the citrus icing really pulls everything together. Orange Cardamom Cookies ( source ...

Another recipe from blog favorite, Mark Pescatore : This is an OLD recipe, one my family has been since before I was born, a gem from a cookbook from yesteryear. Understand that this is a cookie that tastes better a day after you make it. When you pop one in your mouth fresh out of the oven, you'll...

Photos TK, I promise. When I asked the kids last week what kind of cookie they'd want for Christmas if they could have only one kind, Sadie said, " Lace cookies ." Kian said, "Snickerdoodles." My goal was to find out what cookies they really, really loved, so that we could all...

Photo source: NPR. My own pics TK. Almost a year ago, I came upon this recipe for Chocolate Bread. Why did it take me so long to bake it? God only knows. But I finally did, and it was worth the wait. While the final product is supposed to be have a "feathery yet rich texture," mine was denser...

My new favorite vegetable to play with is Spaghetti Squash. Slice it open, cook it, shred it with a fork and poof! -- strands of squash that look like spaghetti. It's dead simple to prepare: just slice it in half length-wise, scoop out the seeds, loosely cover each open half with plastic wrap and...

I'm a leeeetle behind on posting this recipe. You see, Chris and Shelly, our next-door neighbors, invited Shane and I for a backyard celebration. Excellent cooks in their own right, they had a full menu planned for their event, so I needed to find something I could bring that wouldn't interfere...

I've decided that anything I make -- be it baked, sauteed, fried, roasted -- that doesn't come out looking like something out of a Williams-Sonoma cookbook will be dubbed "rustic." Hence, rustic Napoleons. (I should probably go back through the archives and rename 95-percent of the...