Cakes & Pies

Last fall, I made a double batch of pumpkin muffins for my daughter’s bake sale, thinking I’d stash a few for breakfast the next morning. Big mistake. By the time they’d cooled, half the tray had mysteriously vanished — apparently “taste testing” is a family sport now. Pumpkin muffin recipes have become my not-so-secret weapon…

I’ll never forget the time I scrambled to pull together appetizers minutes before friends showed up for a holiday party—puff pastry came to the rescue, and the flaky, buttery bites disappeared before the wine was even poured. That’s the beauty of puff pastry: it feels gourmet but takes almost no effort, and it’s versatile enough…