This luscious dessert is the best of both worlds: pumpkin pie with a creamy cheesecake layer. This make-ahead dessert is perfect for an autumnal dinner party. Pastry chef extraordinaire Helen Fletcher created this delectable dessert, one of her hundreds of sensational desserts that she has composed and published. Helen is the pastry chef at Tony’s […]

The combination of cake and custard has many names: tiramisu, charlotte, trifle, zuppa inglese, bavarian, or summer pudding. The addition of the custard keeps the cake moist and lengthens the shelf-life. Cake tastes best the day it is made; tiramisu (which uses mascarpone cheese instead of custard) is delicious for days. Traditionally, tiramisu is flavored […]

Crepes are sunshine: round, yellow, and hot. On a dreary February day, think of the sun and eat crepes! My first taste of a crepe au Grand Marnier was taught to me by an eight-year-old French boy, who declared them to be his favorite! Crepes are street food in Paris and the kiosks always have a bottle of […]

“Why would you use such a baby flame when I have a plumber’s torch in the garage?” “Because I don’t want to crack the antique crystal bowl with the blowtorch!” Leave the plumbing tools in the bathroom and put a culinary torch in your favorite cook’s stocking. It’s easy to handle, the flame is just the right […]

Certain food combinations are much more than the sum of their parts: tomatoes and basil; bacon and eggs; chocolate and raspberries. To this list, I must add goat cheese and honey. Just drizzling honey on goat cheese and eating on a cracker is a sensory delight. Inspired by this taste, I created this dessert to showcase goat […]

Phyllo dough seems so simple: buy a box from the freezer case, defrost, brush with butter, and wrap around a filling. But the result tastes like paper, so is homemade phyllo dough worth the effort? Maria Sakellariou, who teaches Greek food classes for Kitchen Conservatory (next one is “Greek Goddess” on June 12), graciously taught […]

Need inspiration for an Easter dessert? Chocolate Strawberry Millefeuille. Buy Dufour all-butter puff pastry at Kitchen Conservatory and bake until crispy. Cut into squares. Sandwich the pastry with chocolate pastry cream and fresh strawberries and garnish with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Make the sauces ahead of time and assemble at dessert time. Millefeuille, which means […]

A customer called and asked, “Do you have alphabet cookie cutters?” “Yes, we have them in two sizes: one-inch and three-inch.” “How big is that?” Another customer called and asked, “How big is a 1 1/2 quart baking dish?” “Huh? What do you mean?” “How many inches wide is it?” “1 1/2 quarts can be […]

Please come to a wonderful event this Sunday, January 18, 2009 for “You Take the Cake.” This party is a celebration of the life of pastry chef Marla Scissors and a fundraiser for research on ALS. Plus, the party is a dessert extravaganza. Lots of delectable desserts made by celebrated local chefs will be available […]

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! […]