Williams-Sonoma: Home Baked Comfort | Weldon Owen, 2012 | Makes 12

I’m a child of the 1970s, and though my mom baked fresh bread, made her own yogurt, and had a vegetable garden, there was a certain amount of junk food that my brother and I always asked for. I loved cherry Pop-Tarts as a kid. I haven’t had one in many years, so I thought I’d create a somewhat adult version of the pastry (but don’t put these in the toaster!).

Experiment with your favorite types of jam to re-create a Pop-Tart flavor you loved as a kid. You can embellish the tarts with all sorts of fancy sprinkles, or stir a little food coloring into a portion of the glaze and sling it across the top.–Kim Laidlaw

LC By Toaster Tarts Obsessed Note: Yes, toaster tarts. Even if you weren’t obsessed by Pop Tarts as a kid, we think you’ll swoon over these almost-wholesome, made-from-scratch, choose-your-own-flavor-filling rendition. In fact, one of our recipe testers, who shall remain nameless, made them three times in as many weeks. Three times. (Hey, Kara, how many batches have you made by now?)

Active time: 45 minutes | Total time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Toaster Tarts Recipe

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Joy the Baker Cookbook | Hyperion, 2012 | Makes one 9-by-5-inch loaf

Dear Mommom,

I love your banana bread. It’s moist and uncomplicated, full of banana bits and supreme comfort. I’ve enjoyed your banana bread for as long as I can remember. Dad makes a low-fat version of your banana bread but come on! I just can’t get behind that. Your recipe reigns supreme. Just one thing though, I added chocolate and bourbon to your classic. What can I say—I’m young and reckless.

Love, Your Dear and Darling Granddaughter,

–Joy Wilson

LC Not Your Grandma’s Banana Bread Note: Is it just us being behind the times or is the notion of stirring chunks of chocolate into banana bread batter a relatively recent thing? And why did no one say anything to us sooner?! Regardless, no matter what its title, this eat-it-by-the-loaf recipe isn’t exactly your grandma’s banana bread. It’s better. And a little different. “This banana bread has wayyyy more in common with cake than any banana bread I’ve ever eaten,” one of our recipe testers expressed upon making–and tasting–this little life-changer of an approach. “Not that that’s a bad thing.” Not a bad thing at all, we think. Although those hoping to get a buzz off the bourbon, please note that its function here is as a fundamental flavor enhancer. Much like vanilla extract. If you crave a harder hit, you’ll need to keep that bottle by your side. Shot glass optional.

Active time: 25 minutes | Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Chocolate Bourbon-Spiked Banana Bread Recipe

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Urban Pantry | Skipstone Press, 2010 | Makes about 5 pints

This pretty pink rhubarb jam is a total winner. Rhubarb is among the first produce available in spring, making it a great choice for kicking off canning season. It’s quite tart, so I add more sugar than I normally would during preserving. I choose long, thin stalks and I don’t peel the rhubarb, as I don’t mind whole pieces intact in the jam. The jam is delicious alongside roast pork, replacing the more typical applesauce.–Amy Pennington

LC Canning Catchall Note: Curious to learn how to can jam? Then this, dear reader, is the recipe for you. The jam itself is lovely and essentially foolproof, although the carefully worded instructions are an added boon. Novices, you may wish to take a peek just below the recipe for author Amy Pennington’s Canning 101, which consists of even more of the author’s articulate, easy peasy techniques, tactics, and tricks. More experienced canners, you won’t want to miss this jam. Besides, you never know what you may learn in Amy’s canning recap.

Active time: 45 minutes | Total time: 1 hour

Easy Rhubarb Jam Recipe

Directions

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Canning 101

• Preparing Jars
• Be sure to set up your jars and workspace before making the jam so you can establish a rhythm. Wash your jars and lids in hot soapy water and set them to dry completely on a rack or on a clean dish towel. Sterilize jars by placing them in a canning pot, filling it with water, and bringing it to a simmer. Hold jars in water or in a 225° F (107°C) oven until ready to use. (This latter oven trick is not recommended by the USDA, but I’m still alive to give you the option.)
• Filling Jars
• All canned goods need headspace to allow for expansion of the food and to create a vacuum in cooling jars. As a general rule, leave 1/4 inch of headspace on all jams and jellies. When placing lids and rings on canning jars, do not overtighten the rings. Secure just until rings have tension and feel snug. Overtightening will not allow for air to vent from the jars—a crucial step in canning.
• Processing Jars
• Fill a canning pot or a deep stockpot half full of water and bring to a low boil. Hold the liquid at a very low boil until ready to use. If using a canning pot, place prepared jars of food on the rack in the canner. If using a deep stockpot, best only for small-batch preserving, line the bottom of the pot with a dish towel and place jars on top. This helps them from clanging around on the bottom of the pot or tumbling over onto their sides. This form of canning is not universally recommended or endorsed by the USDA, although I have seen plenty of farmers and European country folk use this old-school technique, and I’ve adapted their laissez-faire ways. Do not stack the jars, as you need to allow for the circulation of water for proper sealing. Lower jars into the pot and add enough hot water to cover the jar tops by an inch or more. Cover the pot and return to a boil. Processing times begin once the canning pot water is brought back to the boil. This can take as long as 15 minutes, so be sure to keep an eye on your pot and a timer nearby.
• Removing Jars
• Using a jar lifer or a set of kitchen tongs, remove jars from the canner when the processing time has elapsed. Set them aside on a folded towel to cool. Make sure you do not press on the tops and create an artificial seal.
• Knowing When Jars are Properly Sealed
• You’ll hear the sound of can tops popping shortly—a sign that a secure seal has been made. Once the jars are cool, check the seal by removing the outer ring an lifting the jar by holding only the lid. If it stays intact, you have successfully canned your food. If the seal is loose or broken, you may reprocess in the water bath within 24 hours. Be sure to replace the lid and check the jar rim for cracks or nicks and replace if necessary. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the jar immediately and use within three weeks.

The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook | Oxmoor House, 2012 | Makes 6 to 8

This very simple, very old-fashioned recipe from Marilyn Geraldson works only with cast iron and is for all Southerners who love their biscuits.–The Lodge Company

LC (Almost) Instant Gratification Note: The search stops here. That’s what we’re hearing from folks who’ve spent the better portion of their lives seeking a tender, buttery, quick drop biscuit recipe.
And is it just us, or did we detect a measure of skillet snobbery in the above note from the otherwise kind folks at Lodge? We’re no strangers to the charms of those blackened and wizened skillets, thank you. But the part about how this recipe works only with one sort of precious metal seems a little presumptuous. While we find there’s no substitute for a cast iron skillet when there’s a ribeye to be seared, when it comes to these biscuits, we found that you can get by just dandy by dropping blobs of this batter on a baking sheet.

Active time: 15 minutes | Total time: 35 minutes

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits Recipe

Directions

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The Newlywed Cookbook | Chronicle, 2011 | Serves 2 to 4

I grew up thinking strata was my mom’s signature dish, until I realized every mother has her own version. You should know how to make it too, but just between us, yours can be much more elegant than your mother’s, especially when you make it in a small dish to serve two and pair it with a large salad. Of course, you can double this recipe for a large crowd and bake it instead in a 9-by-13-inch pan for 1 hour–then watch it disappear.–Sarah Copeland

LC Pretty or Practical? Note: In making this strata look pretty, the lovely and talented Sarah Copeland chose to leave the asparagus spears whole. While this does, indeed, make for a pretty presentation, it also creates something of a not-so-practical eating experience. (Attempting to politely cut through an asparagus spear that’s irrevocably intertwined with melted cheese and bread using nothing but a fork? Not something we’d like to inflict on our loved ones.) So while we leave this decision to your discretion, we’re thinking that slicing those spears into 11/2-inch lengths isn’t such a terrible thing. Tastes just the same.

Active time: 20 minutes | Total time: 1 hour

Overnight Egg and Cheese Strata Recipe

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Esquire's Eat Like a Man | Chronicle, 2011 | Serves 1

Breakfast at home can be special without being complicated. I came up with this twist on French toast for a diner that I helped open outside Denver. The cool tartness of the lemon-infused sour cream balances the sugar.–Ryan D’Agostino

LC The Bigger The Better Note: Guys like things BIG. Which is exactly why we bring you this behemoth stack of French toast made from thick-sliced banana bread. Guys also likes things to be quick. Which is exactly why author Ryan D’Agostino brings you this quickie take on the accompanying vanilla-infused maple syrup, which ably accommodates last-minute cravings. (If you’re the lazy or uber efficient sort, you can make a bigger batch of syrup to keep on hand at all times. Simply split an entire vanilla bean, scrape the seeds into a bottle of maple syrup, close it, and shake it up a bit. It’ll be ready in a matter of hours or, for a more intense flavor, days. Keep it on hand for last-minute emergencies.) As for that blob of lemony sour cream, it’s just as quick.

Active time: 20 minutes | Total time: 20 minutes

Banana Bread French Toast Recipe

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American Flavor | Ecco, 2011 | Serves 2 (maybe more)

When I was a kid, my dad would sometimes work in Toledo, Ohio. That was about two hours away from home, so he would stay out there most nights. On Fridays after school, my mom would drive my brother and me out to Toledo to visit him. In the morning we’d go to this place called The Original Pancake House, where the specialty was a German pancake, also called a Dutch Baby. I thought about that Dutch Baby all the time. It was crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, airy and puffy; you could put butter or syrup on it or squeeze a lemon over it. When I was eight years old, it was about as big as my head. It was the coolest thing ever.

The key to a good Dutch Baby is making the batter the night before. It needs to rest in the fridge for at least 6 hours; otherwise, it will be too eggy. That’s good news for your Sunday morning, as you can simply bake off your Dutch Baby while you’re making coffee.–Andrew Carmellini

LC Not Gonna Share Note: Two servings not enough for your breakfast table? We’d never dream of suggesting you skimp and dish up paltry portions, not when everyone who’s tried this pancake is lauding and applauding it as the best Dutch baby recipe they’ve ever experienced. Instead, just double the ingredients and divvy the batter between two skillets. Crisis averted.

Active time: 5 minutes | Total time: 30 minutes, not including resting

Dutch Baby Recipe

Directions

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Waffles: Fun Recipes for Every Meal | Weldon Owen, 2012 | Makes 4 to 8 waffles

Cornmeal waffles dotted with smoky bacon bits are reminiscent of cornbread hot out of the oven. Top them with slightly savory maple syrup perfumed with fresh thyme and black peppercorns, and you may just get requests for extras.–Tara Duggan

LC Face-Plant in a Plate of Waffles Note: Ever done a face-plant in a stack of waffles? Neither had we–until we encountered this waffle recipe with thyme-infused maple syrup. We have a hunch you’ll want to get to know them up close and personal, too.

Active time: 40 minutes | Total time: 1 hour

Cornmeal-Bacon Waffles Recipe

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Sarabeth's Bakery | Rizzoli, 2010 | Makes 28

At the bakery, we combine the half-triangle scraps of croissant dough with trimmings from the Danish dough to make pains de matin, which are sweet breakfast rolls. However, it’s unlikely that a home baker will collect enough scraps to make undertaking these rolls practical. I don’t want to waste croissant trimmings, so you’ll find instructions for piecing the scraps together to make croissants. [Editor's Note: Actually, you don't literally reroll the scraps. Instead, Sarabeth relies on a clever way of cutting the dough to minimize scraps.] They won’t be perfect, but it’s quite possible that no one will notice.–Sarabeth Levine and Rick Rodgers

LC Not Complicated Croissants Note: We’re grateful beyond words to Sarabeth, of the famed Sarabeth’s Bakery in Manhattan, for divulging her recipe for these Frenchy, flaky croissants whose exterior seems to shatter at the merest glance and whose interior comprises layer after layer after layer of moist, buttery goodness. Although baking your own croissants may seem relatively fussy compared to running to the corner bakery, since most of us aren’t fortunate to live in France (or around the corner from Sarabeth’s Bakery), we feel pretty confident in saying you’re much better off making your own. Though the recipe may appear quite long, it’s not complicated. It’s just precise. Trust us, when you’re standing at the counter with your sleeves rolled up, your cheeks smudged with flour, and this ridiculously, obscenely, ineffably buttery loveliness before you, you’ll understand.

Special Equipment:

Active time: 45 minutes | Total time: 3 hours

Flaky Croissants Recipe

Directions

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Mes Confitures | Michigan State University Press, 2002 | Makes about 12 cups

When I first opened Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures nearly a decade ago, I was surprised–étonnée, one might say–to find the book filled with fussy measures and overly precise instructions. This was a cookbook written by a home cook from France, a country where an ability to summon something from nothing by playing fast and loose with pantry ingredients is considered a birthright and where summoning elegant menus without mindlessly mimicking recipes to the letter has long been lauded as art.

Yet this lovely book’s uncharacteristic exactness never fails to turn out preserves of the most pristine flavors imaginable. It took only a single batch for me to appreciate Ferber’s less-than-lyrical wording, her unerringly precise amounts, her sweet tooth in terms of preserves, and her knack for selecting substance over style, all of which ensure that my kitchen epiphanies were as memorable as hers. The recipes I cherish most are those whose ingredients have an especially fleeting season, recipes which enable the reader to extend the ephemeral. Clearly, this is an author who knows her audience–perhaps better than they know themselves.–Renee Schettler Rossi

LC Delayed Gratification Note: This gem of a winter recipe necessitates patience–and not just in terms of waiting for blood orange season to come around again. It requires resting time on the part of the ingredients. It’s perhaps best undertaken on a weekend, when you have a spare moment to actually slow down and revel in what’s perhaps best described as the opposite of immediate gratification–in the best possible way.

Active time: 45 minutes | Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes, not including chilling and setting

Blood Orange Marmalade Recipe

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