Ward Street Bistro

Apricot-Cashew Fruit Cake

It's closing in on Christmas Day, which means it's time for me to make my annual "fruit cake." I put that in quotes because it's more of a pound cake studded with dried apricots, golden raisins, and salted cashews. I've made this cake now for a good 20 years at Christmas--and it would not be Christmas with out it. In fact, if Christmas only consisted of our Christmas tree, Russian Tea Cakes, and this fruitcake, I think Drake and I would be happy enough.

You can go directly to the printable recipe, or I'll show you how to make it, step-by-step...

Apple Cider Cupcakes

I've been food blogging since March of this year and it's been an absolute blast.  One aspect I've especially enjoyed is getting acquainted with other food bloggers. There is some serious talent on the Internets when it comes to food blogging!

For this post I'm pleased to feature a recipe from Rachel Rappaport of Coconut & Lime. She graciously agreed to "adopt" me as part of Dine & Dish's Adopt-a-Blogger event. There are so many great recipes on Coconut & Lime, but given that Fall is upon us, I decided to feature Rachel's Apple Cider Cupcakes. I took these to a pumpkin-carving party last weekend and boy, were they tasty!

I'll show you how to make these wonderful Fall cupcakes step-by-step...

Fruit Crispler

What is a crispler? Well, it's kind of a cross between and fruit crisp and a cobbler. The topping is softer, and more biscuit-like than a crisp, but it's not exactly a cobbler either.  I'm showing a peach crispler here, but you can make it with any fruit or berry. This past year, we've made more crisplers than we can count, with whatever fruit is in season.

You can go directly to the printable recipe or I'll show you how to make it, step-by-step...

Angel Food Cake 101

For me, angel food cake is the cake of summer. Light, soft, and fluffy. With fresh summer fruit. Maybe with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. It was my mothers favorite cake and her (August) birthday cake each year. But the grocery-store versions just don't compare to the homemade variety. Which is why I make it from scratch.

The good news is that angel food cake is quick and easy to prepare once you get the hang of it.

You can go directly to the printable recipe or I'll show you how to make it, step-by-step...

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I love these cookies. When the occasion calls for a chocolate-chip cookie, these are what I make.

For me, three things elevate them above the standard chocolate-chop concoction:

• using ground oats in place of some of the flour (for a chewy texture and pleasing oat-y flavor)
• melted milk chocolate incorporated into the dough (which adds depth to the chocolate flavor) and
• hand-chopped bittersweet chocolate chunks.

They keep wonderfully, too. The recipe is an adaptation from Cook's Country magazine, sister publication to Cook's Illustrated.

You can go directly to the printable recipe or I'll show you how to make them step-by-step:

Press-in-the-pan Pie Crust

This no-roll crust is delicious and super-quick to make. The folks at Cook's Illustrated call it a "No Fear" Pie Crust and I think it really is foolproof. Even if you are experienced at making pie crust this recipe has the advantage of being fast. Plus, the cream cheese in it gives it a bit of a tang and wonderfully tender texture. It will likely become a standard for me when making pies with a single crust, such as the Rhubarb Custard Pie.

I'll show you how to make this crust, step-by-step...

Rhubarb Custard Pie

It's high season for fresh, local rhubarb right now - the perfect time to make a rhubarb custard pie. This pie is a simple and old-fashioned combination of diced rhubarb, sour cream, and sugar with a brown-sugar streusel topping. Darn - spring eating doesn't get much better than this!

You can go directly to the printable recipe, or I'll show you how to make it step-by-step...

Quick and easy berry fruit crisp

Today, I'm doing a turn as a guest blogger at one of my favorite cooking sites: Kathy Maister's startcooking.com. For my guest post, I pulled out one of my all-time favorite recipes: this quick and easy berry fruit crisp.

Kathy has so many wonderful resources on her site for cooks. The step-by-step videos are amazing! They include basic techniques such as how to prepare garlic and onions, as well as recipes such as stuffed mushrooms. I love that she has put together a site just for "busy people who never got around to learning the basics of cooking."

"Foolproof" pie crust roundup

Soon the Pacific Northwest will be resplendent with beautiful local fruits and berries. For me, this means pie-making season. But before that all begins, I wanted to review some "foolpoof" pie crust recipes and demonstrate one of them (an all-butter crust).

All these recipes aim to achieve what can be a tricky proposition: a dough that's easy to handle and that consistently produces a tender, flaky crust. To accomplish this, most rely on an ingredient that inhibits gluten development (which can make a crust tough): vinegar, yogurt or sour cream, alcohol, or cake flour...

Rhubarb fool

In honor of April Fool's Day (and with rhubarb season around the corner) I'm offering up this rhubarb fool. The recipe, adapted from Cook's Illustrated, could hardly be simpler, yet served in some pretty glassware it makes an elegant finale to a meal. 

You can go directly to the printable recipe or I'll show you how to make it step-by-step...