Michelle P., Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Michelle P. has tested.

A slice of classic carrot cake--two carrot cake layers filled and frosted with cream cheese frosting; on top are crushed walnuts.

Carrot Cake

“This was beyond the best carrot cake I have ever had.” That’s what we’re hearing about this cake, which ingeniously relies on puréed, rather than grated, carrots.

A cup of easy caramel sauce on a saucer with a spoon resting on top.

Easy Caramel Sauce

This simple caramel sauce was made for weeknight cravings that desperately demand scooping something sweet by the spoonful.

Twelve best oatmeal cookies, each with varied fillings

Our Best Oatmeal Cookies

These oatmeal cookies are like the baking version of those Choose Your Own Adventure books, which means your cookies end up exactly the way you like them.

A cast-iron skillet filled with a cooked sweet potato cornbread with two pats of butter on top and a dish of butter pats beside it.

Sweet Potato Cornbread

We could blather on and on about this surprising (and stealthy healthy) riff on a Southern classic that everyone is swearing is the best cornbread they’ve ever had.

An oval platter filled with homemade spaetzle.

Homemade Spaetzle

Spaetzle is like homemade pasta but without all that fussy rolling out, which makes it as easy as it is satisfying. Not to mention cheap as can be.

A jar of homemade dish soap in a bowl with a spoon resting inside it.

How to Make Homemade Dish Soap

This natural alternative to overpriced, chemical-laden liquid dish soap is inexpensive, effective, and gentle on hands. Doesn’t get much more practical than that.

Three homemade Larabars.

Homemade Larabars

We got nothing against the Larabars we’ve been noshing for years. Save for the crazy price tag. Here’s a less expensive, more customizable alternative.

A partially crimped perfect flaky pie crust in a pie plate with a knife, rolling pin, and bowl of crust scraps beside it.

Perfect Flaky Pie Crust

Quick, easy, flaky, buttery, and basically foolproof. That’s how we like our pie crust. Here’s how to make it.

Homemade hummus sprinkled with paprika and drizzled with oil swirled on a grey plate.

Homemade Hummus

Let’s get clear about what hummus is and what it ain’t. Real hummus tastes like nothing but hummus. Not fancy. Just perfect.

A glass filled with ouzo sorbet in a small china dish with a spoon resting beside it.

Ouzo Sorbet

This brash and boozy sorbet is just what we crave come summer. It’s sorta the sorbet equivalent of an after-dinner digestif. Opa!

A saucepan filled with lettuce soup on a wooden table, with a dish cloth and a pile of toasted croutons beside it.

Lettuce Soup

Never has an overabundance of garden lettuces and herbs been so easily remedied—or made so memorable—as this soup.

Homemade Muesli

Homemade Muesli

This lovely homemade muesli number, with nary any cardboard-like, dusty-tasting grains or too many raisins, will upend your notion of morning cereal.