Moving!

People say that moving is one of life’s most stressful events, along with divorce, retirement and death (not your own, because, after all, you can’t be stressed if you’re dead). Well, I’ve never been divorced, so I can’t comment on that. But my husband recently retired and I’d say he’s looking pretty relaxed – no sign of

agitation there. We’ve also decided to move, and the stress factor has just kicked in for both of us. I confess that I’m a bit of a pack rat, probably owing to the fact that I grew up in a big house with a big basement and we kept e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. 

My family read a lot, so the house was filled was books on just about every subject. Biography of Sigmund Freud? Check. Textbooks on exotic dermatological diseases (one of my faves)? Check. Medical book of case studies on sexual deviants? Check 

(this was another fave for the Boyle offspring). And cookbooks, we had those, too, though not as many as I seem to have accumulated today. Over the course of his life my husband has also accumulated hundreds of books, most of which are 

about military history, so those also need to be taken into account.  I live in an apartment (largish by NYC standards), but it’s crammed to the gills with stuff – books under every couch and chair and a storage room brimming with all sorts of 

collectibles. All this is fine and dandy when you’re staying put, but when the time comes to move, everything has to be carefully picked through and then packed up and protected from the brutality of the modern mover. As a result of all this unpleasant activity, I’m having a mini nervous breakdown and wake up at 4 am

 every morning in a cold sweat just thinking of all sorts of grisly scenarios involving broken valuables, missed flights, forgotten cat, etc., etc.

In light of my fragile mental state, I’ve decided to suspend blog activities until sometime in April at which point, God willing, I’ll be back to my chipper, carefree self and able to resume blogging duties. Please excuse my absence during

 this period and wish me well on my journey. We’re heading for Florida which, according to my husband, is the U.S. center for man-eating gators and sharks, blood-sucking insects, poisonous snakes, hurricanes, blazing tropical sun, and oranges. I’ll need some good wishes, as well as some luck fighting the elements. See you in the spring, in my new home. It’s got a great kitchen, so hopefully this will all be worth it. If not, we can always move again…

Chocolate Chip Bourbon Blondies

I sometimes forget how wonderful blondies are. In the bar cookies category, they are frequently over-shadowed by their showier relatives, the brownie family, and don’t get much attention. But a

good blondie is a wonderful thing – moist, chewy, and loaded with nuts and chocolate chips. They are more subtle than brownies, with the same deep caramelized brown sugar flavor that you find in 

classic chocolate chip cookies. A shot of bourbon really perks them up, as does the addition of toasted walnuts and good quality chocolate chips (I love Ghirardelli’s 60% cacao morsels, which are 

available in many supermarkets).  If you want to bump up the chocolate factor even more, you could glaze them with a little ganache, or just increase the morsels to ¾ cup. But that might be moving too close to the neighbors, those spotlight-hogging Brownies.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream

I’m ready for a new year – 2012 had more than its share of bad stuff in it and it’s time to move on. Lots of folks start off the new year with a diet, but diets don’t seem to take with me. I find I’m

 better off eating normal food and just cutting down on my portions. Eating rice cakes with cottage cheese on top just makes me sad. So, in the spirit of eating real (read: indulgent) food, here’s 

an ideal recipe: a really rich flourless chocolate cake, a small sliver of which is guaranteed to satisfy anyone with a hankering for something chocolaty. I serve it here with a Caramel Whipped

 Cream, which is basically a caramel sauce combined with softly whipped cream and then whipped to firm peaks. The cake is an adaptation of one that appeared in The Cake Book, my Chocolate Valentine Cake, which is baked in a heart-shaped pan. And that’s appropriate, because you’re going to love it. Happy New Year!!

‘Tis the Season Eggnog Cheesecake

Oh, Eggnog! For most of the year I don’t give it a thought, but when those holiday decorations start going up and the Christmas tunes start playing, all of a sudden I begin to crave that thick, rich, boozy treat. And, inevitably, it starts to find its way into my desserts. 

Eggnog is the meeting of nutmeg and booze, and what a meeting it is. To capture the essence of eggnog, the nutmeg absolutely must be freshly grated – don’t use that pre-ground dead stuff in a jar  – and the booze can be dark rum (my fave), brandy or bourbon, as you 

prefer. Here I’ve featured the combination in a rich cheesecake that’s idea for a holiday dinner. The crust is made with cinnamon graham crackers, and is just the thing for the rich eggnog filling. The trick to achieving a perfectly textured cheesecake – creamy and 

very smooth – is two-fold. First, once you’ve made the cake batter, pass it through a fine-mesh sieve right into the crust. This ensures there won’t be any little globs of undissolved cream cheese in the cake. Second, place the springform pan into a slightly larger pan to insulate it from the water bath. With this trick, you’ll never have another soggy crust. So, go ahead, indulge a little. ‘Tis the season, after all.