BAKE SHOP — Journal — Edible Living

MORTADELLA AND FONTINA SLAB PIE || FOR THE NEW YEAR

Have you ever made a slab pie? Like a giant pop tart, or an epic hand-pie? It’s something I grew up with—my grandmother was an amazing heirloom baker with the recipes for cobbler and sour cherry slab pies all sealed in her head. But even if yours wasn’t, you’ll find tons of recipes for slab pies floating around these days. They’re simpler to make than most round, deep-dish pies and perfect for serving a crowd.

This one, above, comes from my friend Stacey Adimando, author of the book PIATTI, and creator of many other amazing things (including many magazine articles, a darling daughter and a future business I can’t wait to get a peek at.) Stacey and I have worked together for years off an on, crossing paths at Saveur, Everyday with Rachel Ray, and Sunday Suppers. We are both NYC transplants to the Hudson Valley (her several years after me…we all find our way eventually). As importantly, we share a love of unfussy good living, the work that goes into sustaining a thriving kitchen garden, effortless entertaining, and— savory slab pies.

BAKE SHOP, RECIPESSarah CopelandDecember 30, 2021SPINACH, PHYLLO, EASYSPINACHRECIPES, QUARANTINERECIPES

TRIPLE GINGER-CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

Do you ever have a cookie that you just can’t get out of your mind? Maybe it’s the first taste of a Levain bakery cookie on a visit to NYC. Maybe it’s your grandmother’s ginger-molasses…or the very first bit of the simple Tollhouse cookie of your youth, fresh from your mother’s oven.

For me, there are a few ultimate cookies. Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies (any version—her latest 2.0 appears in her latest book, Baking with Dorie) is one of them. This cookie—-A Triple-Ginger Chocolate Chunk Cookie, in Susan Spungen’s excellent book Open Table that came out right as the pandemic hit, is another. Just looking at these photos can warm me head to toe. I can feel the melt of that chocolate, the crisp edge the dusting of sugar gives the edges. And that’s just the photo. Wait until you make them.

ICED SNICKERDOODLES + (A SNICKERDOODLE CAPPUCCINO)

Iced cookies. Every child’s dream—according to the rate at which my kids put back every frosted cookie they’ve ever seen. I don’t make iced cookies very often. Usually, we like our cookies just shy of indulgent; you can justify eating more of them that way (yes?). Come the holidays, though, all bets are off. What’s a cookie box without a little frosting?

I didn’t grow up with snickerdoodles. My mom was a chocolate chip purist, with crispy iced sugar cookies in perfect shapes thrown in for holidays—-but a good snickerdoodle reminds me so much of the chew of my grandmother’s soft sugar cookies, which she kept in a red-ear-tipped kitty cookie jar on her kitchen counter (which now sits on mine).

By definition, a snickerdoodle’s “flourish” is it’s cinnamon sugar coating, so there’s little need for more. Snickerdoodles tend to loose their luster on holiday spreads, though; they’re a bit, brown, ya know? Why not frost them? And then add more cinnamon sugar? After all, many of us have elves to feed.

ENTERTAINING, BAKE SHOP, HANDMADE, HOLIDAY, GIFTS, RECIPESSarah CopelandDecember 9, 2021holiday menu, holiday, easy baking, bake shop, Gluten Free

HONEY GRAHAM CRACKER SQUARES

Let’s get this right out in the open: Some people’s aggressive (public) holidaying has had me in hiding the last few weeks. Well, not hiding exactly, but hunkering inside, holidaying with my own people—privately (ie. off the ‘gram and other social). It’s not that I’m a scrooge or Bah! Humbug! Far from it. I live for Christmas. We got our tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving (a real beaut), it’s officially trimmed (this year, I hunted down charming old vintage ornaments that make me happy every time at look at them) and All I Want for Christmas radio on Pandora (yes, still Pandora!) is playing around the clock.

Also, there have been cookies: lots of cookies, and it’s only just beginning.

But, when other people’s tinsel-dripping twelve-foot trees and perfectly gilded mantles have you feeling envy, instead of inspiration, it’s time to tun out. Is the point of holiday-ing to spread joy, or to show off how much you have it together in life?

GLAZED APPLE CIDER DONUT CAKE

Last month, we took our kiddos up the mountain to fish and shoot bows. It was a sparkling fall day, crunchy leaves and just enough breeze to make it feel like legitimate sweater weather. Matyas caught a fish. Greta got a bullseye. I got my feet wet. As in, really wet. In all the excitement of trying to help Matyas reel in his first ever fish (read: BIG excitement!), I walked right into the pond.

We had planned to go out for cider donuts afterward, but wet feet foiled our after-party. We detoured straight for home, everyone’s sweet tooth still kicked into high gear. There were words. Some boys (and grown men) don’t deal well with disappointment.

You shouldn’t feel too bad for them—we’ve had our fair share of excellent apple cider donuts this season. But when I ran into a Bourbon Bundt Cake recipe that looked wildly tender, it struck me as an easy remake: cider donut vibes, but with tender chunks of apple baked in. Good news—it worked (!), maybe a little too well. We ate the whole cake in one sitting.

ENTERTAINING, BAKE SHOP, HANDMADE, HOLIDAY, GIFTS, RECIPESSarah CopelandNovember 19, 2021holiday menu, holiday, easy baking, bake shop, Gluten Free

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BUCKWHEAT-FENNEL CRINKLE COOKIES

One of the first truly remarkable cookies I learned to bake when I became a professional cook was a chocolate crinkle cookie, which we made in the tiny pastry kitchen at Savoy restaurant, a then New York Times three-star restaurant where I cooked and baked under Peter Hoffman. We made 2 perfect cookies which appeared on the pastry menu night after night, along with a seasonal pastry and three delicate sorbets. Later, at Cafe Boulud, where I worked the pastry line, I learned the recipe for two more perfect cookies—the recipes for which I jotted down in a tiny notebook that I now keep in a safe, like a brick of gold.

Bad cookies are a dime a dozen, but truly great ones come from truly great, thoughtful bakers. Bakers who don’t want to eat sugar just because. Bakers who want you to feel treated without tipping the scales. Bakers who know your time and ingredients are precious and when they give you a cookie recipe, it’s going to be truly worth it.

My friend Aran Goyoaga is such a baker.

MISO DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

In the previous several years of having school-aged kids, my kiddos have had babysitters, after-school clubs or play groups to entertain them after hours many days of the week, while I worked. Now that they’re bigger, it’s strangely possible to pick them up from school, buzz them home for a snack and set them loose to run in the yard, while I aim (key word: aim) to get a few more things done at my desk, in earshot of where they play. It’s a system I’m slowly adjusting to: our new After School. Mostly, I like it.

Some days, After School comes hard and fast. On those days, cookies help, especially a week out from halloween, when we’ve got chocolate on the brain. This mama especially likes it if the cookies have an element of intrigue, like MISO.

SAVORY GRANOLA BOWL

We are back from our first (airplane) trip this side of the pandemic, and I have to say, I feel so alive. Yes, it was scary getting on a plane with so many people (all masked, and impressively respectful). Yes, it felt like a risk to take my un-vaccinated kids along. But there is no life without risk. And on the other side of the flight was a wedding for my oldest and dearest friend Heather, and four days with my parents, my sister, and Heather’s whole extended family—who are family to me, too. Those hugs felt incredible.

What was also wildly incredible was not cooking for five solid days. Five days of restaurant meals (mostly outdoors)—with zero prep, cooking or cleaning by me. What a gift. We ate blueberry pancakes and fish tacos, saag paneer and papadum, plus piles of sushi, eggplant parm and luscious, tender BBQ’d brisket. I feel utterly nourished, by the friendship, the meals, and the newness of being somewhere other than home again (bonus: Colorado’s dining scene has wildly exploded since my last trip!).

Somewhere between Tibetan dumplings and slurpy, decadent udon soup, a fire lit inside of me—I want to cook! bake! shoot! In short, I am ready to create for you, again. First up, this Savory Granola Bowl—alive with flavor and texture—and all the nourishing things spring has on offer: from snap peas and radishes to (finally!) fresh herbs from the garden again.

BAKE SHOP, RECIPESSarah CopelandMay 13, 2021SPINACH, PHYLLO, EASYSPINACHRECIPES, QUARANTINERECIPES

JOHNNY CAKES WITH RHUBARB AND SOUR CHERRIES

Hello, there. I have to admit I nearly forgot about this space in the months that have passed. Things are starting to open up—schools and shops and a life we once knew, and with it, all the feelings. So many feelings. I have a lot to say about that, but for now, mostly the feeling that is sticking with me is hope: a hope to preserve some of what we’ve had in these times, some of what we’ve learned. The slowness and still. Silver linings.

On the other side of a pandemic (nearly, though not yet..) my kids feel gigantic. Still always hungry, but with the opportunity to head to restaurant every now and again, to play with a friend in the neighbor’s yard, who might feed them a grilled cheese while they’re there—the chore of feeding my people three meals a day around the clock forever and ever amen feels suddenly lighter. It’s spring, too, of course. Spring has a way of bringing new energy—this year more than ever. The garden feels like a literal miracle, after months of hibernation and snow. And every green—or sometimes pink (Swiss chard! Rhubarb!) —thing that is popping up feels more like gold than something we will merely harvest and consume. I spend hours looking at every new bud longingly, this year through new eyes.

BAKE SHOP, RECIPESSarah CopelandApril 13, 2021SPINACH, PHYLLO, EASYSPINACHRECIPES, QUARANTINERECIPES

POZOLE VERDE // MEXICO’S SACRED, SATISFYING STEW

Last night I made fish tacos with my dear friend Anna, (who we’re safely podded with)—a celebration of her finishing her first solo cookbook just this week. We both had half a fridge worth of food and six mouths to feed, and, as she pointed out—two half fridges are far better than one. It forced us to get creative and mix textures and flavors in a way that is almost certainly interesting, if not completely delicious (it was!).

We threw in all the things—cilantro, scallion, radish and lime into an herb salsa; then: cabbage and grapefruit and pea shoots into a zingy slaw. Pickled onions, and beautiful, flaky chunks of line-caught cod and wild shrimp, smothered in paprika, chile and lime were layered into tortilla—soft and crispy—with beans and one sole avocado. My palate came alive again, and this morning I woke up with a distinct craving for another big-flavor favorite: POZOLE.

BAKE SHOP, RECIPESSarah CopelandFebruary 19, 2021SPINACH, PHYLLO, EASYSPINACHRECIPES, QUARANTINERECIPES

BEST (TIMELESS) LINZER COOKIES

We had a snowy today, a no school (even remote school), excuse-myself-from-all-non-essential-work snow day, and let me tell you, we really, really needed it. Is anyone else tired of being all the things, all the time?

A snow day is a perfect time to bake, but we’ve been baking nonstop for three solid weeks, so instead, we pulled out all the bits and bobs of our recent baking extravaganza, including the tidy linzer layers I’d tucked away in the freezer—and filled them with jam to eat alongside double-thick hot cocoa, sausages, cheese and snappy radishes—a perfect winter snack moment.

CRANBERRY SNACKING LOAF

We’re cranberry crazy over here. It’s partly because I signed up for a huge shipment of organic cranberries, direct from Maine, many months ago, and have been dolling them into muffins and cakes, bundt and loaves ever since. But mostly because cranberries remind me of my grandmother, who always stood, steadfast, quietly grinding cranberries with oranges and orange peel, apples and sugar through her own cast-iron meat grinder, making the sauce at every holiday meal.

I’m missing her, and my own mother, this year. Missing the smell of zest and tart cranberry filling the air, mingling alongside carols from my parent’s retro stereo, on morning till night, from Thanksgiving till New Year’s Day.

OLIVE OIL AND MANDARIN CAKE

The holidays will look different this year, but I can’t help but want to keep it magical —inspiring me to put on the ritz a little more, even if it’s just for my own family, at home — like serving one or two beautiful home-baked cakes, with a pot of cinnamon tea or wine for the grown-ups, and a simple spread of cheese and nuts and winter fruits.

For the sweets, I want something that doesn’t feel every day--something that screams holiday, without a lot of fuss. There is an elegance to an olive oil cake, especially one layered in shingles of shiny rounds of citrus that makes it an instant holiday centerpiece. But good looks are only part of the story. I only want a pretty cake that has the texture and flavor to back it up.

This cake wins in all categories.

CHOCOLATE BANOFFEE PIE

Years ago my friend Robert gave me a stack of two slim French baking books that are just divine—one called Caramel and the other, Chocolate. They are the kind of books with simple recipes and even simpler list of instructions, the kind where the photographs look mouthwateringly dreamy, but the recipes more of sketch, than a list of actual instructions for how to achieve such results.

It’s been nearly ten years since I had looked at them, but one day recently, I flipped through the book and landed on the same page I’d marked all those years ago—BANOFFEE PIE.

THE EASIEST APPLE TART (PROMISE!)

Every time I make or post this Easier-Than-Pie-Warm-Apple-Tart, from my book, Every Day is Saturday, people who don’t believe they are good bakers sigh and say—that’s so beautiful! If only I could make a tart that beautiful.

Oh, but you can! When I tell you this is the easiest dessert I make all year long, I am not exaggerating!

BAKE SHOP, RECIPESSarah CopelandNovember 19, 2020SPINACH, PHYLLO, EASYSPINACHRECIPES, QUARANTINERECIPES

STRACCIATELLA PAVLOVA WITH SUMMER BERRIES

This time last year, we were planning for a summer trip to Rome, and all I could think about was piles of stracciatella gelato nudged up with seedy strawberry sorbetto on long thin, narrow cones. Stracciatella was one of the first words I learned in Italian, during my first trip to Italy 20 years ago. The gelato of the same name is made up of a milky base with irregular shavings of chocolate that results in a quick melt on the tongue. It’s heaven.

BAKE SHOP, RECIPESSarah CopelandJune 20, 2020PAVLOVA, CHOCOLATERECIPES

SAVE THE DAY SPINACH PIE

I don’t know why, but I just keep buying spinach. Every single time the notice from our local farm comes into my inbox “Spinach, back in stock” I click—a knee-jerk reaction to the constant fear of running out of fresh foods.

Greens, especially are a lifeblood for me—my daily green juice, big green salads, stewed greens in coconut milk—I crave them all, especially now, 8 weeks into quarantine when I’ve long since filled my cup on baking projects (all the breads, cookies and skillet cakes have been made—and consumed, at rapid speed).

On the other end of the baking spectrum is project baking—something a bit slower, with a result that lasts. This spinach pie is perfect for that.

BAKE SHOP, RECIPESSarah CopelandMay 8, 2020SPINACH, PHYLLO, EASYSPINACHRECIPES, QUARANTINERECIPES

SPRING ONION + FENNEL FLATBREAD

In many states, governors just announced that school will be closed for the rest of the year. Our district is stil saying mid-May, for now, but I think we all know what’s coming.

There are a few ways to get through this, but the best path forward I know is optimism, and lots of baking. Yes, more baking. It keeps little hands busy and hungry mouths fed. Baked goods are easy to make, bake and share (from front stoop to front stoop) or donate to those on the frontlines, who are risking their lives daily at at the very least, need fed something warm, soothing and a bit inspiring.

LEMON POLENTA SHEET CAKE

If your pantry stash of flour is getting a good work out, as ours is, it might be time for a little detour. As exciting as warm buttered rolls, homemade sourdough and pillowy focaccia have been for the last four weeks, I woke up this morning craving something different.

Polenta, or cornmeal—is my favorite pantry staple—one that delivers on toothsome satisfaction. It’s a headliner in this lemony and bright cake, which is easy to make, store and serve up in that stretch between lunch and dinner when the kids are asking for snacks, again. Polenta cakes have an understated loveliness. They are tender, delicately hearty, and such a great canvas for flavor….

SEMOLINA ALMOND LEMON CAKE

Just about everyone I know loves a bright, lemony sweet for spring. Though the deep, puckery lemon finish of, say, a lemon bar, can’t be ignored, they’re a bit fussy for me these days.

This cake, on the other hand, which I adapted from dessert queen Maida Heatter, delivers the same overtly lemony flavor but without the cloying sweetness, and with much less work. It’s also beautiful, but that kind of easy beautiful I love most.

Here I mix gluten-free or regular all-purpose flour with almond flour and fine cornmeal or semolina for a texture that’s irresistibly tender. Make sure to brush on the glaze while the cake is still warm, which helps it absorb. You can serve this cake unadorned—it’s delicious all on its own—but if you have the time, add on the shingled lemons for a spectacular finish.

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