As much as I love baking new recipes, more often than not, I find myself returning to tried-and-true classics, the ones I can practically make in my sleep, are popular among friends and family, and come together flawlessly each time. I make a lot of desserts, but this is my condensed list of favorites.
Chocolate Chip Cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are funny because while they’re pretty much universally beloved, everyone has an opinion on what makes them truly fantastic. I’m of the mindset that a nice hybrid is ideal: a shatteringly light exterior that gives way to a nearly-gooey center, with at least some (but not too much!) chocolate in each bite. During lockdown, I made it my mission to find the recipe that would get me closest to my ideal cookie and tried dozens of different variations, all of which were good, but one was deemed the very best: Jacques Torres’, adapted by David Leite. I only make one tweak and use chocolate chip versus the discs it calls for since it results in pockets of chocolate that overwhelm the dough, that deserves a moment all its own. While they can be whipped up and baked in a matter of minutes, when you actually let the dough sit for 36 hours, the results are truly magnificent. Some of the things I’ve learned since making these dozens of times are as follows: scoop the dough prior to letting it rest as it’s much easier to scoop when it’s not cold. Use the best ingredients you can since each element makes a big difference (for me that means farmers’ market eggs, Vital Farms’ unsalted butter, King Arthur cake and bread flour). And lastly, while you may be tempted to bake these and give your loved ones fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies, they’re almost more well received when given in their dough ball form so that your recipient can savor the entire batch and bake them off whenever they have a craving.
Blueberry Muffins (here and here). I buy blueberries in excess nearly each week in order to always have an excuse for making blueberry muffins. And while I’ve yet to do a true taste test side by side, I currently have two go-to recipes that I think are neck and neck for first place. The first is the Jordan Marsh version, which are large, fluffy muffins – like an even better take on the Costco ones that are nearly perfect. And when I want something that bakes up in minutes (and in one bowl!), I’ll make the ones by Smitten Kitchen. You can’t go wrong with either and they rarely last more than a day in our house.
Banana Bread. Another Covid-era recipe I nearly perfected: banana bread. The Bon Appetit version, when made with mascarpone, is a treasure – delightfully moist, banana-y, with an ever-so-slightly crunchy crust and soft interior. I find the thought of having chocolate chips listed as an optional ingredient absurd (I’m not a monster!) and find myself stress-baking loaves more often than I’d care to admit.
Big Apple Crumb Cake. This is like the marriage of coffee cake and apple crumble and is so popular amongst my friends that they send me requests to make it anytime it’s been too long. It’s the best thing to make on a crisp fall day, when apples are in their prime, and you want your place to smell unreal. Sloan even declared that it would be what she requested for her birthday instead of a traditional cake and I think she’s honestly onto something.
Key Lime Pie. I’ve become such a purist about this exact key lime pie, that I hardly ever order it when we go out to eat since it’s never quite as good. It’s simple, with an unfussy graham cracker crust, a filling that’s bursting with vibrancy, and a creamy finish that is, quite simply, flawless. And don’t worry about using actual key limes, I find that regular limes work nearly just as well!
Tiramisu. You might as well get rid of all other tiramisu recipes that exist since this is the only one you’ll ever need moving forward. Trust me, as someone who’s not even that big of a tiramisu fan, this one is exquisitely thick without being dense, letting each individual flavor shine through, and tastes so rich that your guests will assume it took you way longer than the several minutes it takes to prepare.
Chocolate Guinness Cake. Oh, the notorious Chocolate Guinness Cake. To give you some context, G and I send each other DMs, texts, and emails pretty much all day long with recipes or meals we’d like to try. And this cake, unknowingly, was one that we passed back and forth some…half a dozen times. I finally made it a couple years ago and was absolutely blown away by the results. It’s by far the best thing I’ve made—almost an entire can of Guinness goes into the batter and while the taste of the beer isn’t one that you can make out, it lends itself to a cake that is moist, fluffy, and ultra chocolatey without going over the top. And the silky cream cheese topping only solidifies this as the best cake, ever.
Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats. If you have 10 minutes, you can whip up the easiest dessert that still gets you homemade credit. They taste like the best variation on the kind you had at bake sales as a kid, but with extra butter that’s been browned so it lends a deep, nutty flavor, and a touch of sea salt to bring out all the flavors. Best of all, there are only a few ingredients needed, which I always keep on hand.
