Blue corn sugar cookies
A few years ago when I was at a bookstore in West Texas, I met a longtime reader. She asked me what my plans were, and I admitted that for…
Cookie recipes
White chocolate macadamia blueberry bars
For a friend’s birthday last year, I made a batch of my mom’s raspberry bars. The tangy raspberry jam matched with the rich white chocolate and the buttery cake-like foundation…
Margarita bars
A little over a year ago, I decided to stop drinking. The extra pounds and lack of sleep were not worth the few minutes of giddiness that a beer or…
Buñuelos, South Texas style
When I lived in New York, my friends and I would have tamaladas, a tamale-making party. Most of us had grown up eating them in our home states of Texas…
Peach pecan rugelach
When I first moved to New York, I discovered a baked good known as rugelach. It was an Eastern European Jewish treat that was presented as a cookie but had…
Pumpkin spice cookies
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Strawberry Rice Krispies treats
One of the first desserts I ever made was Rice Krispies treats. This combination of puffed cereal, butter, and melted marshmallows is a classic. And for good reason, as it’s…
Mexican coffee shortbread
At the grocery store the other day, I saw a woman in a shirt that said, “Follow the joy.” A timely message, I thought. As we navigate our way through…
Texas banana pudding
In the summer of 1923, Aza-Jean Jones of the Central Texas town of Sidney shared a recipe in a local newspaper. It was for banana pudding, and hers called for…
Cherry Dr Pepper cheesecake bars
A few years ago for his birthday, my uncle asked my grandma to make a cherry pie he’d spied in her collection of recipes. This was an unusual request as…