Recipe Flash

BAR COOKIES: Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares; Best Brownies; M&M Blondies; Coconut & Brown Sugar Shortbread

There is something so classic about these crumb squares. Perhaps it’s that they are made entirely of “crumble,” that buttery mix so sought over in slices of coffee cake or apple crisp. See, unlike in those confections, in these the crumble takes over all parts of the sweet. Not only is the top-which looks like crumble-made of crumble, but the base is too, just it’s pressed in a little more tightly there, providing a fine foundation for raspberry jam.

Or perhaps it’s …

Other Homemade Drinks: Lemonade, Spiked or Sober; Iced Chai Tea Latte

I didn’t grow up with many processed foods. My mother rarely brought me to the actual supermarket, and, when she did, it was one big tease. Head down, I would walk by the Gushers and the Oreos and the Dunkeroos-the staples of my friends’ houses-and follow my mother to the frozen vegetable section. But later on, outside her supervision, when I came into contact with these junk food items, especially at my friend Anna’s house, I would Go. To. Town.

The one loophole I found in sugary, …

OTHER GREAT RECIPES TO MAKE WITH AUGUST TOMATOES: Creamy Gazpacho, Tomato Jam, Cacik, Summer Scallops with Sweet Corn and Tomato Succotash, Grandpa Potato Salad, Tomato and Dinner Roll Panzanella

I talk a lot about my fruit phobia. Probably too much. But I’m going to indulge again right now.

The thing is, I used to be terrified of cherry tomatoes. Long after I started eating regular tomatoes, cherries, unless diced like regular tomatoes, were off the table. And that’s not just because they have “cherry” in their name. It had to do with the …

Other BGSK Potato Salads: Warm Blue Potato and Green Onion Salad; Sarah’s Herbed Potato Salad; Grandpa Potato Salad

Last Labor Day, I shared the recipe for my mother’s herbed potato salad. If you’re looking for a classic BBQ side, it doesn’t get any better. But it’s also a lot of work.

Since I think about potatoes more than the average person, and my pasta cravings have now been shifted onto other carbs, this summer involved a lot of quick potato side dishes. One of the best thus far is this simple dish of smashed new …

Other Great Taco Condiments: Peach Salsa; Guacamole; Vegetable-Mint Salsa; Cooked Tomato Salsa; Chipotle Mango Salsa.

I think that as the summer wears on, we all become corn snobs. Around here, we start to see the first local ears just after July 4th, and it’s pretty exciting to make the switch from frozen corn-which we find useful in our small kitchens-to fresh. Though the ears are, well, a little small, and the kernels aren’t exactly oozing sweet corn flavor, they’re satisfying and we’re happy.

But by the middle of August, we’d totally pooh pooh those meager …

OTHER BBQ MAINS: Cheddar Cheese Burgers with Charred Red Onions; Carne Asada; Chermoula Lamb Chops

Though ribs would seem to sit squarely in the domain of the Grill Master, not the Small Kitchen Dweller, they make a great dish to bring to a barbecue. Here’s why. Ninety-five percent of the work is done completely in advance. The ribs are seasoned and cooked, and the mop is made. Once at the grill, they simply have to be plopped on, browned, and covered with said mop-this can even be done by whoever’s grilling at the party right then; you don’t …

You know that feeling when you have shelves of cookbooks, piles of food mags, and oodles of bookmarks to blogs, and you remember a recipe and then, for the life of you, you cannot find it, no matter how many times you scroll through your masses of cookbooks, mags, and bookmarks? Welcome to the Blueberry Cornmeal Cake from Sheila Lukins’ magnificent USA Cookbook. It’s a great cake, but it has this way of running for the hills when you explicitly go to look for it. Every few summers, my mom and I have stumbled on the recipe and made it for someone’s birthday or a dinner party. But in intervening summers, when we craved the cake, we were simply at a loss. We’d browse our way through our collection, at times sure we were getting closer to the source, but alas, that cake’s formula would stay hidden.

This must have been an “on” summer: I uncovered the recipe early as I was browsing through, getting ideas for ice cream. I ripped off a piece of paper, physically bookmarked the recipe, and just a few days later I turned to it easily, ready to get baking.

This time around, though, I kept on pushing my luck.