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41 recipes

Blueberry muffins

Blueberry muffins are the morning bake of New England, where wild blueberries grow across Maine in late summer, and they sit by the till of every American coffee shop. This bakery-style version starts in a hot oven so the tops dome high, with a soft, lemony crumb, pockets of jammy berries and a crunchy sugar crust. They contain wheat, egg and milk. Eat them warm for breakfast or with coffee mid-morning. The common mistake is stirring the batter smooth, which makes muffins tough and full of tunnels; fold just until the flour disappears, lumps and all. Doneness: they are ready when the tops spring back and a skewer comes out clean apart from berry juice. Chef's tip: toss the blueberries in a spoonful of the flour before folding them in, so they stay suspended instead of sinking to the bottom.

37 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sweet potato casserole

Sweet potato casserole is a Southern Thanksgiving side dish from Georgia to Louisiana, and it now sits beside the turkey on tables right across the United States, as well as at Christmas dinner. Roasted sweet potatoes are whipped with butter, a little brown sugar, egg and warm spices, then baked under a crisp pecan streusel. Some families top it with marshmallows instead; if you do, buy vegetarian ones made without gelatine. It contains tree nuts (pecans), milk, egg and wheat. The common mistake is boiling the potatoes, which makes the mash watery and bland; roasting them in their skins concentrates the sweetness and colour. Doneness: the filling should be set and hot right through and the topping golden and crunchy. Chef's tip: roast the potatoes a day ahead and keep them in the fridge; cold, peeled flesh whips smoothly and saves time on the big day.

105 minAmericanSides
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon rolls came to the American Midwest with Scandinavian and German settlers, and today they are the Christmas-morning and lazy-Sunday bake of the whole country, as well as the smell that pulls people into shopping-mall bakeries. A soft, rich yeast dough is rolled around brown sugar, butter and cinnamon, baked until golden and spread with tangy cream cheese icing while still warm, so it melts into every swirl. They contain wheat, milk and egg. The usual mistake is baking them until deep brown and firm: the centres turn dry. Take them out when golden on top and the middle roll feels soft and springy, or a thermometer in the centre reads about 88 °C. Chef's tip: cut the log with a length of unflavoured dental floss slid underneath and crossed over the top; it slices cleanly without squashing the spiral.

65 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Waldorf saladApple, celery and walnut salad

The Waldorf salad was first served in the 1890s at a grand hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York, and it has stayed on American tables ever since, especially at Thanksgiving buffets, Easter lunches and summer picnics. Crunchy apple and celery, juicy grapes and toasted walnuts are folded into a creamy dressing that is part mayonnaise, part yoghurt, sharpened with lemon. It contains tree nuts (walnuts), egg (mayonnaise) and milk. Serve it on lettuce leaves as a starter or beside a roast. The usual mistake is dressing it hours ahead: the apples weep, the walnuts go soft and the salad turns watery. Dress it no more than 30 minutes before eating. Chef's tip: toss the cut apple in the lemon juice the moment you chop it; it stops browning and seasons the apple from inside.

21 minAmericanSalads
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fudgy chocolate brownies

Brownies are said to have started in a Chicago hotel kitchen in the 1890s, and today they turn up at every American bake sale, school fundraiser, office birthday and late-night craving. This fudgy style uses lots of melted dark chocolate and butter with very little flour, so the middle is dense and almost truffle-like under a thin, shiny, crackled top. They contain egg, milk (butter) and wheat. Serve them just warm with vanilla ice cream, or cold from the tin with a glass of milk. The common mistake is baking until a skewer comes out clean: by then they are cakey and dry, because they keep cooking in the hot tin. Pull them when a skewer pushed in 5 cm from the edge shows moist, sticky crumbs. Chef's tip: beat the eggs and sugar hard for a full 3 minutes before adding the chocolate; the dissolved sugar is what forms that paper-thin crackly crust.

40 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Chocolate chip cookies

The chocolate chip cookie was invented in a Massachusetts roadside inn kitchen in the 1930s, when a cook stirred chopped chocolate into butter cookie dough, and it has been the cookie of American cookie jars, school lunches and after-school snacks ever since. This version uses more brown sugar than white, so the edges crisp up and caramelise while the centre stays soft and chewy, with pools of melted chocolate. They contain wheat, egg and milk. Eat them warm with cold milk. The usual mistake is baking until they look done in the middle: take them out when the edges are golden and the centres still look pale and puffy, because they firm up on the hot tray. Chef's tip: chill the dough for at least 2 hours, or overnight; the flour soaks up moisture, the cookies spread less and taste more of toffee.

27 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Whoopie pies

Whoopie pies are Maine's official state treat and a lunchbox favourite in Pennsylvania Dutch country too; you find them wrapped in cling film by the till at petrol stations and bake sales all over New England. Two domed, soft chocolate cakes hold a thick, fluffy white filling. This filling is a meringue buttercream, so there's no gelatine-based marshmallow. Chef's tip: pipe or scoop the batter in even mounds and leave room, as they spread to 8 cm.

37 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Apple cider doughnuts

On autumn weekends the orchards of Vermont, New Hampshire and the Hudson Valley fry cider doughnuts by the hundred for families who come to pick apples. Fresh, cloudy apple cider (unfiltered apple juice, not the alcoholic kind) is boiled down to a syrup so the tender cake doughnut tastes of apple, then rolled hot in cinnamon sugar. Chef's tip: keep the oil at 180 °C with a thermometer; cooler oil makes greasy doughnuts and hotter oil burns them before the middle cooks.

65 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cajun maque choux

Maque choux (say 'mock shoe') is a Cajun side of fresh corn smothered with the 'holy trinity' of onion, celery and green pepper, made in the bayou country of south-west Louisiana when the corn comes in during June and July. Cooks scrape the cobs for their milk and simmer everything with butter and a splash of cream until sweet and silky. Many add bacon; this version is meat-free. Serve with rice and beans or grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: let the corn catch slightly on the bottom of the pan before stirring; those browned bits are the flavour.

35 minAmericanSidesGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pepper cabbage

Pepper cabbage is the oil-free, vinegar-dressed slaw served alongside chicken pot pie and roast pork dinners in Berks and Lancaster counties, and at fire-hall suppers all over south-eastern Pennsylvania. Finely shredded cabbage is tossed with sweet peppers, celery seed, sugar and vinegar, so it is crisp, cold and sweet-sharp. Chef's tip: shred the cabbage as fine as you can; thick ribbons never soak up the dressing.

15 minAmericanSaladsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

St. Louis gooey butter cake

Gooey butter cake is a St. Louis institution, sold in squares at south-side German bakeries and baked for church coffee hours and Christmas mornings. Legend says a baker in the 1930s got his proportions wrong and the mistake sold out. A thin, chewy yeast-free cake base is covered with a sweet cream cheese and butter layer that bakes into a crackly, shiny top over a gooey middle. Chef's tip: take it out while the centre still jiggles; the goo is the point, and an overbaked one is just a sweet sponge.

55 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Wisconsin kringle

Kringle came to Racine, Wisconsin, with Danish bakers in the 1800s, and the town's bakeries still ship thousands of these flat oval pastry rings at Christmas. Thin layers of buttery laminated dough wrap a pecan and brown sugar filling, and the top is glazed with white icing. It is the official state pastry, eaten with coffee at breakfast. Chef's tip: keep the dough and butter cold at every fold; if the butter melts into the dough you lose the flaky layers.

90 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Philadelphia sticky buns

Philadelphia's sticky buns descend from the 'schnecken' of German bakers, and Reading Terminal Market still sells them warm by the tray, glistening with caramel and pecans. Soft rolls of cinnamon-raisin dough are baked on top of butter and brown sugar, then flipped so the hot caramel runs down over them. Chef's tip: turn them out within 5 minutes of leaving the oven; once the caramel cools it glues the buns to the tin.

70 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pennsylvania Dutch potato filling

In Lehigh and Berks counties no Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner comes without potato filling, sometimes called potato stuffing: buttery mashed potato folded with toasted bread cubes, celery, onion and parsley, then baked until the top crisps. It is soft and savoury, rich enough to stand in for gravy. Chef's tip: dry the bread cubes in the oven first so they hold their shape instead of turning to paste.

75 minAmericanSides
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Appalachian apple stack cake

Apple stack cake is the old mountain wedding cake of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee: legend has it neighbours each brought a layer, and the bride's popularity was judged by the height. Six thin, biscuit-like layers flavoured with sorghum or molasses and ginger are stacked with a thick filling of cooked dried apples, then left for two days so the layers soften into a moist, spiced cake. Chef's tip: don't cut it the day you make it; the resting time is part of the recipe.

105 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Texas sheet cake

Texas sheet cake is the big, thin chocolate cake that turns up at church potlucks, funerals and family reunions all over Texas, cut into squares straight from the tray. It is made with buttermilk and boiled cocoa butter, so it is moist and light, and the icing is poured over while the cake is still hot so it sets into a fudgy layer studded with pecans. Chef's tip: have the icing ready the moment the cake leaves the oven; warm cake plus warm icing is the whole secret.

42 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Texas fruit kolaches

Kolaches came to central Texas with Czech settlers in the 1800s, and the bakeries along the highway through West, Caldwell and Hallettsville now sell them by the dozen for breakfast. They are soft, sweet yeast buns with a well pressed into the top, filled with apricot, cherry, prune or sweetened cream cheese and dusted with a crumbly posypka topping. Chef's tip: press the well deep and wide, nearly to the base, or the buns rise and push the filling out.

63 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

New Mexico red chile sauce

Ask for 'red or green?' in any New Mexico café and red means this sauce, made from the sun-dried chile pods that hang in long ristras outside adobe houses in Chimayó and Hatch every autumn. The pods are toasted, soaked and blended into a smooth, brick-red sauce that is earthy and gently sweet rather than smoky, poured over enchiladas, eggs, beans and burritos. Chef's tip: toast the pods for only a few seconds a side; burnt chile makes the sauce bitter.

45 minAmericanBasicsVeganGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sorghum molasses cookies

Every autumn, small farms across Kentucky and Tennessee still press sorghum cane and boil the juice into a thin, tangy syrup, and these soft spice cookies are how many mountain families use it at Christmas. Rolled in sugar, they bake with crackled tops and chewy middles, tasting of ginger and that distinctive earthy sweetness. Molasses works if you can't find sorghum. Chef's tip: chill the dough so the balls hold their shape and crack rather than spreading flat.

32 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Red velvet cake

Red velvet is the Southern celebration cake of weddings, Juneteenth gatherings and Christmas in Texas and the Carolinas: soft, faintly chocolatey layers with a tang of buttermilk and vinegar, a deep red colour and thick, white cream cheese frosting. The colour once came partly from cocoa reacting with acid; today a little food colouring is usual. Chef's tip: use natural (not Dutch-process) cocoa, which keeps the colour brighter and the crumb lighter.

70 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hummingbird cake

Hummingbird cake arrived in the South from Jamaica in the late 1960s and became famous after a Greensboro, North Carolina reader sent the recipe to a Southern magazine; it has been a church bake-sale and birthday favourite ever since. Mashed banana, crushed pineapple and toasted pecans make a moist, spiced oil cake under cream cheese frosting. Chef's tip: use very ripe, black-spotted bananas for sweetness and moisture.

65 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Southern fried okra

In Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, fried okra is served in bowls on every meat-and-three counter and eaten like popcorn in summer, when okra pods are young and tender. Sliced into coins, dipped in buttermilk and tossed in seasoned cornmeal, they fry crisp and nutty with none of the slipperiness okra is known for. Chef's tip: choose pods no longer than your finger; big ones are woody.

30 minAmericanSides
by KrazyBadal 0 views

New Orleans king cake

From Twelfth Night on 6 January until Mardi Gras, every office, school and party in New Orleans has a king cake: a ring of soft, cinnamon-swirled brioche, glazed and covered in sugar in the Carnival colours of purple, green and gold. A small trinket or bean is hidden inside, and whoever finds it buys the next cake. Chef's tip: push the trinket in from underneath after baking, and warn your guests, so nobody bites on it.

80 minAmericanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Texas caviar

Texas caviar is a bright, chunky salad of black-eyed peas, peppers, corn and jalapeño soaked in a sharp vinaigrette, created in Dallas in the 1940s and now a fixture at Texas tailgates, barbecues and New Year's Day parties, where black-eyed peas are eaten for luck. Scoop it with tortilla chips or serve as a side. Chef's tip: dress it at least an hour ahead; the peas soak up the dressing and get much tastier.

15 minAmericanSaladsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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