Back to Baking…
After over 40 years of owning and running bakeries in Boston, Cambridge and Chestnut Hill, as well as authoring 3 baking books, I thought I was surely done with baking (and eating sweets). Fast forward… 7 years of retirement, now grandma to my darling Layla Rose and having just celebrated my 75th birthday, the urge to bake has come over me again. I look forward to first sharing recipes that were happily devoured by my customers for years; These will be in the earlier dated blogs below. In addition I will strive to create new recipes. I have found that having taken a break from baking, I am approaching the process with more awareness; It’s kind of like when you get some distance from a relationship, you come back to it with a new perspective. I am so looking forward to answering your questions and receiving your feedback on my recipes. Before you embark on baking any of the recipes on this site, please, please read my Suggestions For An Enhanced Baking Experience, below which offers you some extremely important insight into how to become a more confident baker.
Back in the beginning…
More Delectable Desserts
Classic Streusel Topped Bundt Coffee Cake
Allo I can say is SCRUMPTIOUS!!!
1-2-3 Poundcake
Tart, sweet and lemony all in one…good cold or room temp and perfect for summer
Apricot Rugalah
This is literally a miraculous dessert, but if you are looking for something simple to put together this is not for you. Definitely labor intensive but, in my opinion, worth every ounce of effort. If you embrace a Zen attitude and follow the instructions, you will be rewarded.
Congo Bars
Don’t ask me why these were ever named Congo Bars, but this name exists in the annals of American history;
I figured I may as well carry on the tradition; maybe when you make these for your kids or your significant other you can ask them what their theory is. Extremely fast selling dessert Rosies!
Florida Lime Pie
Snow Queen/Coconut Layer Cake
This was our bestselling golden cake at Rosie’s. I had modeled it after a cake my Mother had for almost all my birthdays as a child, because I loved it so much. …Of course it was topped with the most gorgeous frosting flowers imaginable, which, regrettably, I never learned to make, but which very fact led me to do fresh flower decoration at Rosie’s which was equally gorgeous (making sure never to use poisonous flowers, of which there are a few).
Creamy Vanilla Butter Cream…easy peasy
Easy and delicious frosting for any cake.
Strawberry Whipped Cream Cake
Love ,love this cake! Once you have your layers made, the rest is easy. Delicious as well with fresh raspberries which add a bit more contrast to the sweetest of the whipped cream if that is your thing…
Golden Layers
Years ago, when working on my cookbook and trying to reduce my large bakery recipe for golden cake (which had gotten larger and larger as the demand grew) to an 8 inch standard layer cake size, I must have tried at least 30 times and NEVER felt 100% that it quite measured up to my bakery version.
Finally I settled on a version that I liked. Although I do like the one in my book, I have now come up with a version that I like even more… maybe I needed a 7 year hiatus to get some distance and greater insight.
Chocolate Covered Matzoh Crunch
Flourless Chocolate Coconut Macaroons for Passover or anytime…
These cookies were a GIANT hit at Rosie’s. We made them for Passover when those who observe the holiday must refrain from eating flour (at least on the nights of the seder when families and friends sit down to commemorate the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt).
Suggestions For An Enhanced Baking Experience
Spare yourself the pain!
Ginger Molasses Cookies
A perfect cookie for Fall and Winter holidays although, in my opinion, good throughout the year…chewy in the center with crunchy edges!
Chocolate Orgasms and Award Winning Brownies
As a child I had a very special relationship to brownies. They were one thing that my Mother, a very busy professional, would throw together from scratch from time to time as it was such an easy recipe with very few ingredients. I do remember on occasion using a brownie mix to make things easier when having a friend over for movie night or a sleepover, but in this case, I ALWAYS added extra butter and melted chocolate because I understood the value of richness. Ironically enough when I was trying to make a bit of extra money while in graduate school, I started baking brownies for the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge… Brownies and I have had a strong and enduring relationship but never in a million years did I think I would end up in the baking business!
Raspberry Thumbprints
A part of everyone’s heritage, these cookies remind everyone of some family member who baked them. I never tire of them and they seem to be a sure pleaser at every holiday and event.
Pretty Perfect (in my humble opinion) Chocolate Chip Cookies
If we were to try to think of the top American foods, I would put chocolate chip cookies in the same category as Apple Pie and hot dogs. There are many configurations of the chocolate chip cookie, but I consider this one to be the classic Toll House style that most of us grew up on. These have won numerous awards throughout the years!
Oatmeal White Raisin Cookies
The addition of golden raisins and coconut make this cookie uniquely different from other oatmeal cookies and utterly succulent and dee-lish.
Soho Globs
At some point in my career, on a trip to Soho in my home town of New York City, I came across a store called the Soho Charcuterie, and I remember sitting outside at a little table eating what they called a Soho Glob and thinking that it was one of the best cookies I had ever had in my life.
Before Dessert…
Luscious Chocolate Layer Cake
Chocolate cake that dreams are made of…