From the category archives:

Desserts and Pastry

~ Merry Christmas to All ~

December 24, 2011

Gingerbread with Apple Cider Sabayon

December 4, 2011

Warm Gingerbread, scented with molasses, ginger, cinnamon and cloves, with sweet cold Cider Sabayon gracefully flowing down its side, was what I made for our Thanksgiving dessert this year. It was a not-too-heavy, but lovely end to our feast. Our groaning board held the traditional turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, plus my [...]

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White Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Cookies

November 30, 2011

Hi everybody! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and your waistband is still the same size. My holiday was fantastic because I got to see my brother, who lives in San Francisco, and my older son, who lives in Davis, California. They came to our feast with their wives and it was so much [...]

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Sangria Glazed Pears & Honey Almond Cream From Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms

November 6, 2011

In September I attended Grace-Marie’s Sizzlin’ Spanish Paella cooking class, which culminated with this Sangria Glazed Caramelized Pear & Honey Almond Cream dessert. I love to go to her classes because the food is so beautiful and I get to take marvelous photographs. It helps that my camera is a wizard, I realize. I am [...]

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Orange Marmalade and Almond Crostate from The Mozza Cookbook

October 18, 2011

The last time I was at my book store, I was so delighted to discover Nancy Silverton’s fabulous new creation, The Mozza Cookbook, was now on the shelf. When I paged through it, I found that there were recipes for each of the dishes my friend Michele and I had eaten at Osteria Mozza a [...]

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Maple Pecan Pie Bar Cookies

September 11, 2011

The 2011 Holiday Season is upon us and it is time to start thinking about what desserts we are going to be serving at our feasts, buffets and cookie exchanges, and to give as gifts. That is why I love these cookies, because they can be make 3 days ahead and kept at room temperature. [...]

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Plum Kuchen…or Peach…or Pear

July 30, 2011

Cookies are nice. Cake is good. So is ice cream. But sometimes I want something really rich and intense, where only a small piece is enough to satisfy my craving. Well, this plum tart is the perfect antidote. A buttery crust, rich custard, intensely sweet fruit and crunchy brown sugar crumb topping. Oh yes. This [...]

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Peanut Butter Cookies & the Gum in Hair Dilemma

July 18, 2011

Ok, ok, I know everybody and their brother has a recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies on their blog, and they’re all pretty much the same recipe, but I want to have it here for myself. My go-to place, you know. Peanut Butter Cookies are one of the four cookie recipes I brought from my childhood, [...]

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Black and White Checkerboard Cookies

July 10, 2011

I have been thinking about making cookies for about a week, because I have been craving a sweet little treat and we had nothing dessert-like in the house. I didn’t feel like making your standard drop cookies either. I wanted to make something special, something different, intriguing and unusual. Something that would elicit a “How [...]

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Blueberry Pudding Cake for My 4th of July BBQ

July 5, 2011

I was so happy for the 4th of July to roll around, because we were having our first holiday feast in our new house. I actually cooked in my new kitchen and our guests got to see the new place for the first time. It’s so much fun to give the grand tour. It was [...]

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Strawberry Glazed Italian Ricotta Cheesecake from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms

April 12, 2011

The theme for my recent visit to Grace-Marie’s Kitchen Cooking School was Italian Cucina Sunday Supper, which I was looking forward to very much, because Grace-Marie grew up in an Italian American family and has been to Italy five times eating her way through the Northern half of the country, so she knows her Italian [...]

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Mascarpone Tarts with Plum Sauce

February 4, 2011

From the time I learned to cook as a kid until I started culinary school, all my food was cooked and served family style, in big bowls and on big platters. No matter how many I was feeding, that is how it was done. That was how my Mom did it, and thus, so did [...]

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Banana Cream Tartlets with Chocolate Gewgaws

November 4, 2010

A few posts back we made these terrific little tartlet shells, and proceeded to fill them with lemon curd with little bee decorations. I had quite a few tart shells left over that I froze, so they were already made and waiting expectantly for their next incarnation.

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Linzer Cookies with Raspberry Jam

October 25, 2010

Now that the Holidays are coming, I’m getting out all of my recipes that I only make at this time of year, such as these Linzer cookies. I love having these baking traditions that mean so much to me and my family. When they come for our Holiday gatherings, they can count on finding these [...]

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Mini Lemon Tartlets & A Culinary School Banquet

October 15, 2010

By the end of March 1995 I had completed eight out of ten quarter classes required to receive my Certificate in Professional Cooking and my Certificate for Pastry and Baking at UCLA. I had also completed the nine month 185 hour internship for Cooking at Campanile and another 150 hours internship at another restaurant [...]

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Welcome to Cook & Be Merry

Hello! My name is Lynne Hemer and I am a woman obsessed with food and cooking, in search of new, unusual, exotic and sublime ingredients and recipes. I love reading cookbooks, taking cooking classes, going to restaurants, photographing food, and blogging about it all! I hope you enjoy my website as much as I enjoy creating it.

Feel free to contact me at lynne@cookandbemerry.com