The last of the Michigan blueberries inspired me to rediscover a favorite breakfast treat. Cherry-Berry Coffee Cake 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans Mix together the flour, salt, cinnamon, sugar, and oil. Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture […]

A couple of brown bananas are sitting on the windowsill. “How about banana bread?” Banana bread takes an hour to bake. It’s after 8 pm. “How about banana muffins?” So I collect my supplies for banana muffins: muffin pan, butter, sugar, egg, flour, leavening, disher, but wait, we are out of muffin papers. “Couldn’t you […]

When a recipe does not turn out as expected, do not pronounce failure, but rename the recipe! Thus a fallen souffle becomes a timbale. As Julia Child said, never apologize for the food you have cooked. Here, an underbaked chocolate cake becomes a warm chocolate cake with a liquid center, a.k.a chocolate molten cake. It’s […]

The end of February is traditionally a time of feasting and rich foods leading up to Mardi Gras. Save the diet for Lent and indulge in this delicious and seasonal dessert.  Caramelized Pear Cake 4 ripe Bartlett pears, peeled and diced (about 3 cups) 1 tablespoon sugar 3 large eggs 2 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups […]

This simple and old-fashioned dessert recipe is easy to make and very satisfying.  Lemon Pudding Cake  3/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest using the microplane grater) 1 cup milk 2 eggs, separated 2 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon butter 1/4 cup lemon juice  Mix together the butter and sugar until creamy, then add the lemon zest and flour. […]

In redoing and then posting our new website, I learned what customers really liked about the old website. So by popular demand, here are the two most requested recipes. No surprise that they are all about the butter! At Kitchen Conservatory, we use unsalted Plugra Butter in all of our recipes. Why? Because Plugra tastes delicious! […]

Marla’s vanilla cake with chocolate icing

hot cross buns

smoked pork tenderloin, pear marmalade, spaetzle, angel food cake

The party yesterday for Marla Scissors was a huge success, with over 500 people in attendance, and the event raised over $32,000 for fighting ALS! Wow! There were many beautiful and delicious desserts; one dessert (baked by Barry Marcus) was so sought after that after the auction closed, a little old lady elbowed her way […]