Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Feb 4, 2012, 8:28 pm
Weeks before the Superbowl, Americans across the country begin to obsess about their Superbowl menus. Buffalo chicken wings? Chili? Foot-long heros, perhaps? That old standby, guacamole and tortilla chips? Whatever the choice, the common denominator for Superbowl food is that it should be down-home...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 28, 2012, 3:28 pm
My husband has a sterling pedigree, and claims that his family landed in America sometime before the Mohegans. I am a bit dubious, of course, and the truth is, I would’ve married him if he had been a plumber named Manny, because I’m crazy about  him (and plumbers are so expensive), but that�...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 21, 2012, 4:57 pm
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of roasting. Roasting is a good way to concentrate and intensify flavors in vegetables and fruits. I like to roast my carrots when making carrot soup, for example, and sliced  mushrooms for mushroom soup. And beets, of course, are lovely when roasted. Though most peo...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 15, 2012, 2:29 pm
There are times when I want to make something really indulgent, and really simple. You know, a dessert that won’t mess up every pot, pan, bowl and whisk in my kitchen and leave me with bits of  meringue and melted chocolate in my hair. This warm chocolate tart, created by pastry chef François�...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 8, 2012, 2:00 pm
There’s good reason that the classic Tarte Tatin is one of the most popular desserts in France, a country that is known for its great desserts: it’s really, really good. And it also happens to be pretty easy to prepare, as long as you’re not queasy about intimate action with a little hot cara...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 3, 2012, 1:17 pm
It’s a new year, and with it comes lots of good intentions and new resolutions. I usually make one or two, half-heartedly, but never seem to keep them. So this year, I’m going to be a realist. My 2012 resolutions are: 1) gain 15 pounds and 2) take up smoking. Okay, so  I’m not serious, but I...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Dec 16, 2011, 8:12 pm
The cookie baking season is upon is. Between the parties, cookie swaps and giving of homemade gifts, the opportunities to show off one’s cookie baking skills are ample. My own favorite Christmas recipes include jam-filled Linzer cookies, snowy almond crescents, chocolate sandwiched butter cookies...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Dec 4, 2011, 1:01 pm
In my younger days, when I had more time, I baked bread quite a bit. I love the process – the slightly sour smell of the yeast, the physical mixing and kneading of the dough, waiting for the dough to puff up, and finally, finally, that beautiful, fragrant golden brown  loaf of crusty fresh-baked...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Nov 29, 2011, 9:31 pm
No doubt about it, soufflés get a bad rap. They are generally regarded as fussy, temperamental and prone to failure, and home cooks avoid them like the plague. Most people wouldn’t dream of  making them for, say, an intimate dinner party for eight. In my mind, though, they are the ultimate dinn...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Nov 23, 2011, 9:04 am
Ordinarily, I exercise restraint in self-promotion. Yesterday, however, I was honored by Cooking Light magazine (ironic, non?), and I feel compelled to share this exciting news. The Cake Book was included in Cooking Light’s top seven baking books of the past 25 years! Gads! Knowing there are so ma...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Nov 19, 2011, 5:42 pm
Though it might insult my Italian friends to say it, I’ve never been a huge fan of panettone, the sweet yeast bread from Milan that's so popular at Christmastime. It might have something to do with a press trip to Italy I went on years ago that was filled with endless  tours of panettone and bis...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Nov 13, 2011, 3:59 pm
The Chocolate Show has been in New York for the past few days, so I thought it fitting to dedicate this week’s blog post to something that even chocolate purists would love: classic chocolate macarons. I don’t claim to be a macaron expert – I haven’t exactly  perfected my technique, and ch...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Oct 30, 2011, 12:58 pm
When it comes to Thanksgiving dessert, I'm firmly in the pecan pie camp. And the pumpkin pie camp. And the lemon meringue and apple pie camp. A chocolate cream pie wouldn’t hurt, either – the  more, the merrier, I say. When I am cooking for Thanksgiving, I always offer a selection of several d...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Oct 22, 2011, 6:04 pm
I generally don’t buy cookies – store- or bakery-bought ones almost always disappoint me, as homemade ones are so much better. Unless, of course, you are talking about cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar, where baking genius Christine Tosi whips up some pretty amazing treats. She has developed a  ...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Oct 15, 2011, 7:53 pm
Having been to my share of olive oil tastings, I have come to appreciate the varying flavor characteristics of different extra-virgin olive oils, which can be as complex as the nuances in fine wines. They can range from peppery to pungent, or from bitter to fruity.  Like wine, they can also be des...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Oct 8, 2011, 4:41 pm
I know it’s predictable and perhaps a little boring, but the fact is that The Joy of Cooking – the 1997 version, that is – is one of my favorite and most used cookbooks. You can find just about everything in it, the recipes always work (though there are a few  typos here and there) and they ...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Oct 1, 2011, 5:29 pm
There are times when a quick, no-fuss-no-muss chocolate cake is just the ticket. My version, what I like to call a Chocolate “Pan” Cake, is frosted and served right from the pan. You can’t get much  simpler than that (unless you use a mix, and that’s obviously to be avoided at all costs). ...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Sep 24, 2011, 5:37 pm
... a low temperature. Delicious. Serve this tart warm, with a scoop of ... tablespoons shortening2 tablespoons ice water Tart Filling:¾ cup (150 gr) granulated ... ½ teaspoons vanilla extract Make the tart crust:1. Place the flour, ... , until lightly golden. Transfer the tart pan to a wire...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Sep 18, 2011, 12:55 pm
Sticky Toffee Pudding is a British classic that’s been around for at least 50 years. Its provenance is not clear, but it is often associated with the Sharrow Bay Country House in the Lake District, where it  was being served in 1960. In the past decade, Sticky Toffee Pudding has also become rela...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Sep 9, 2011, 10:51 pm
You can’t judge a book by its cover, right? Right. And when it comes to cookbooks, you can’t necessarily judge them by the pretty pictures inside, either. I’ve come to realize that a talented food stylist and photographer duo can transform a mediocre collection of recipes into an irresistible...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Sep 3, 2011, 1:55 pm
My apologies for neglecting my blog – my excuses include preparing for an over-hyped hurricane, recovering from a bout of food poisoning, and completing an over-due recipe project that has consumed much of my time for the past two months. Sometimes life just gets in the way. But I’m back this w...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Aug 20, 2011, 2:46 pm
Because my childhood neighbors had two big Italian plum trees, our family was gifted a large supply of plums sometime every August. No one really knew what to do with the plums, and so my father inevitably stewed them and ate them on top of ice cream. Not an appealing memory, those plums.  But I�...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Aug 13, 2011, 1:38 pm
August is prime peach season, the time to make that perfect peach pie. But August is also a lazy month, and I tend to take my share of shortcuts in the kitchen to leave more time for reading and relaxing. So instead of making a classic, state fair type of peach pie with  perfectly crimped crust ed...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Aug 6, 2011, 2:25 pm
As a cookbook author and professional recipe developer, my inclination when creating a recipe is to be creative, to try new flavor combinations and, occasionally, new techniques. New twists on old classics, thinking outside the box, blah, blah, blah. But there’s a  reason that some dessert recip...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jul 31, 2011, 11:34 am
I just returned from a wonderful week at a beach in North Carolina—beautiful weather, warm water, soft sand and a chance to forget about just about everything for a while. That’s my kind of vacation, and I loved every second of it. My husband and I rented a house on  the beach, and I mostly co...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jul 16, 2011, 12:52 pm
The other day I had lunch with a friend at a charming country-style restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Square Meal. It’s owned by Yura Mohr, a lovely and incredibly talented woman who has had a take-out shop for the past twenty years and does catering for many high-profile NYC clients...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jul 7, 2011, 5:41 pm
Recently I received an adorable cookbook in the mail, courtesy of Chronicle Books: Miette: Recipes From San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop (Chronicle Books, 2011; $27.50) by Meg Ray. I immediately lusted after the cake on the cover, a tall, really  moist-looking chocolate layer cake with...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jun 29, 2011, 8:59 am
Though chocolate is unquestionably my favorite flavor, lemon is a close second, and I love to create new lemon desserts or variations on old classics. I have a favorite lemon tart that I make throughout  the year, and I simply change-up the crust and topping to suit the season. Since summer provid...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jun 22, 2011, 6:04 pm
Summer has just arrived, but New York has already seen some very hot days. Chances are, we’ll see some more soon. When it’s really hot, even ice cream seems too rich to eat. When the temperature is  over 90 degrees, I usually crave something really refreshing and light. And, needless to say, e...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jun 15, 2011, 11:11 am
Last week, Dessert Professional, the magazine I co-edit, presented the Annual Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America awards, honoring ten pastry chefs for their contributions to the industry. The event took place in the spacious kitchens at ICE (Institute of Culinary Education).  Here’s our list of the ...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jun 11, 2011, 12:51 pm
I came across some handsome Jersey farm blueberries at my local farmers’ market yesterday, and they didn’t disappoint. Small and sweet-tart, they were several cuts above the generic supermarket  breed. At first I thought I’d use them in a batch of blueberry muffins, but then remembered I had...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jun 4, 2011, 6:33 pm
There’s a good reason why you can almost always find tiramisu on a restaurant’s dessert menu. It’s really quite delicious. And it’s especially good on a hot summer night, at the end of a light meal – creamy mascarpone and rum-flavored mousse, paired with  espresso-soaked sponge – it’...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - May 27, 2011, 9:22 am
It’s a sure sign that summer can’t be far away when the first local strawberries of the season show up at farmers’ markets in New York City. What a difference between these and the over-sized, cottony brand-names ones from California! It pains me to buy those plastic- looking berries (though ...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - May 19, 2011, 8:46 pm
I first met Tina Casaceli years ago when she was the director of Pastry Studies at the French Culinary Institute in New York. We were judging a pastry competition together, along with a few others, and had to taste over twenty different desserts in a span of a few hour. By the sixth or seventh one, ...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - May 14, 2011, 2:22 pm
It’s a terrible thing when you make a mistake in a recipe and then that recipe is printed somewhere for the whole world to see. In a magazine, for instance or, even worse, a book. It’s happened to me more than once, I must admit, and it’s no good at all. Baking and  dessert ingredients are n...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - May 6, 2011, 4:59 pm
Though deep down I have a sneaking suspicion that the Mother’s Day holiday is a conspiracy dreamed up by greeting card and flower delivery companies to drive business, I accept it for what it is – an opportunity to pay homage and say thanks to my wonderful mother, who’s always been there  fo...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Apr 29, 2011, 9:20 am
The recent bout of rainy weather in New York has me in a British state of mind, which is timely, as there’s been a lot of action on that side of the pond this week. It was almost thirty years ago that more than 30 million people (mostly dewy-eyed women, according to my  woefully unromantic husba...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Apr 22, 2011, 9:22 pm
I love Easter, and always have. Jelly beans, malted eggs, chocolate bunnies—it’s all magic to me. Growing up, my mother would put together elaborate Easter baskets for me and my siblings, complete with solid chocolate bunnies, marshmallow eggs and all the  trimmings. She’d place the baskets ...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Apr 15, 2011, 9:04 pm
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you probably know how much I adore the combination of caramel and chocolate. Add some toasted almonds, and my salivary glands go  into overdrive and my body begins to quiver.  Combining these flavors almost guarantees a successful outco...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Apr 9, 2011, 9:41 am
With all the turmoil that is unfolding in Japan, the Japanese people are much in my thoughts these days. I admire so much about them—their quiet patience and tenacity in the face of catastrophe; their centuries-old customs and rituals; their style and creativity; and, of  course, their incredibl...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Apr 3, 2011, 11:48 am
The combination of zesty lime and spicy ginger is one that I love, especially in this sweet tart. Here the crust is flavored with ginger juice and finely chopped crystallized ginger, which gives it a subtle  spiciness. It’s topped with a layer of tangy lime curd, which, in turn, is topped with a...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Mar 20, 2011, 1:10 pm
In Brooklyn, the Blackout Cake is legendary. It doesn’t look like anything special—three layers of devil’s food cake sandwiching a dark chocolate pudding with chocolate frosting, all sprinkled with devil’s food cake crumbs—but old-time Brooklynites quiver at the  mere mention of the cake...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Mar 13, 2011, 5:33 pm
I know that St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner and I should probably be posting about that, but the thought of making some green-frosted cupcakes or Irish soda bread or shamrock cookies just didn’t inspire me, despite the fact that I’m a ‘Boyle’.  Yes, I’m told there’s even...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Mar 5, 2011, 7:30 pm
Boston Cream Pie is an iconic American dessert created by a German-born pastry chef at Boston’s Parker House Hotel in 1855. The cake consists of sponge layers filled with vanilla pastry cream, topped off with a rich dark chocolate glaze. What a combo! These  filled doughnuts were inspired by the...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Feb 25, 2011, 5:10 pm
Winter is a dark time, and this winter, with its numerous snowstorms and cold, damp weather, has been particularly gloomy. Random thoughts about moving to the Caribbean and opening up an exotic fruit-focused popsicle stand frequently found their way  into my head.  So did thoughts of investing in...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Feb 19, 2011, 3:23 pm
Ever wonder who’s making the desserts at The White House these days? The Executive Pastry Chef of the Executive branch is Bill Yosses, a talented guy who has been in the pastry biz for over 30 years. He apprenticed in France, and then worked under chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller and was Past...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Feb 3, 2011, 2:12 pm
Chocolate, which says indulgence and luxury, is the clear flavor of choice for Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day celebrates romance, and this sentiment is usually exhibited by the exchange of small luxuries between couples, a tradition that has been around since the  eighteenth century. Since t...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 26, 2011, 6:00 pm
Though I love the challenge of making overly-complicated, fussy, restaurant-style desserts, there are times when I crave the simple comforts of a home-baked cookie and a big old glass of ice-cold  whole milk. Classic chocolate chip cookies are probably my favorites, but they are a bit over-exposed...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 19, 2011, 10:06 am
I first learned to make chocolate mousse in France, where the recipe was always the same: melt dark chocolate, whisk in egg yolks, fold in meringue, fold in whipped cream. Voila, chocolate mousse! That’s how I made it for a long time; if it was good enough for the French, it was good enough for...
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Tish Boyle posted an article on Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams - Jan 11, 2011, 5:19 pm
Palm-sized and portable, sweet tartlets are also an elegant and versatile dessert. You can fill them with anything from pastry cream, citrus curd, ganache or mousse, and top them off with fresh berries, fruit, cream or swirls of meringue—whatever suits your  fancy. Make an assortment and your g...
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