Recipes By Melissa Clark
1478 recipes found
Saffron Honey Marshmallows
Of all the D.I.Y. projects I’ve contemplated, nothing could be more apropos than making my own Easter chicks. The recipe for homemade marshmallows has a complex flavor from substituting good, fragrant honey for bland corn syrup. A small pinch of ground saffron gives a faint yellow cast while adding an earthy, spicy note to the chicks.
Butterscotch Bourbon Ice Cream
Add reddish-brown caramel and a splash of bourbon to a classic custard ice cream base, then top it off with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
Buckwheat Berry Striped Cake
A combination of buckwheat and whole wheat flour gives this deeply buttery cake a character that is nutty, rich and complex, while a little almond flour adds tenderness. Baking it in a shallow tart pan instead of a cake pan allows the colorful berries to rest on top of the batter rather than sink to the bottom. It’s prettiest in a 10-inch tart pan, where the pattern will be at its most striking. But if you don’t have one, a 9-inch pan also works. We arranged the berries into stripes here, but feel free to create any design you like. Serve this on the same day as you bake it, preferably within 6 hours of baking. It doesn’t keep well overnight.
Banana Ice Cream
Chocolate Coconut Pecan Tart
This dessert adds coconut and pecans to a buttery chocolate shortbread crust, which is baked it until the whole thing is glossy and crisp on top. It tastes a little like pecan pie and a little like a candy bar — which is to say perfect.
Maple Spice Ice Cream
Here is an egg-free ice cream with a light, sophisticated flavor. Often called Philadelphia-style or American-style ice cream, this is a traditional method that can yield phenomenal results if superior ingredients are used, so make sure to use good heavy cream and fresh spices. The results, achieved in just a couple of hours, are a perfect end of summer treat that hints of fall.
Spicy Fried Fish Balls
While eating in Kuala Lumpur food stalls, Zak Pelaccio, chef of Fatty Crab and 5 Ninth restaurants in Manhattan, first tried otak-otak, an intense, spicy mackerel paste. Although in Malaysia you’d usually find otak-otak steamed, he rolls it into balls and deep-fries them as a cocktail snack for 230 Fifth, a rooftop bar where he consults on the menu.
Thanksgiving Sandwich
Like many restaurant workers toiling in Las Vegas, Eric Klein, the executive chef at Spago, spends Thanksgiving Day on the line, dishing out turkey and trimmings to vacationing high rollers. Time with family and friends comes after the holiday. While the rest of the city combs shopping arcades for Black Friday deals, he’s making magic with the leftovers. One of his favorites is this play on a French dip sandwich. Shredded turkey stands in for the usual beef, while gravy, thinned out to make it brothlike, replaces the jus for dipping. To this he adds the requisite leftover stuffing, and he folds the cranberry sauce into a fragrant and creamy aioli. He likes to crumble mild blue cheese over the top of his sandwich for extra pizazz, but feel free to leave it out if you’re feeling more traditional.
Pear Crumb Cake
When it comes to crumb cake, the cake itself is often an afterthought, with all the attention going to the moist brown-sugar crumbles on top. Not so here. This recipe, based on a sour cream pound cake, has a velvety texture and buttery flavor that’s good enough to stand on its own. Of course, the thick pile of large crumbs only sweetens the deal, as does the juicy layer of honey and lemon-spiked pears in between the cake and crumbs. You can bake this cake a day or two ahead; keep it loosely wrapped at room temperature (the refrigerator will make the crumbs soggy). And if you don’t like pears, feel free to substitute about a cup of any gently cooked fruit you do like – apples, fuyu persimmon, pineapple, blueberries, grapes, even leftover cranberry sauce – will all work nicely.
Broccoli Salad With Hazelnut Romesco
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches
For a modern grown-up version of the chocolate-chip cookie ice cream sandwich, I scooped ice cream into sliced baguettes, then drizzled it with sea-salt-strewn chocolate nut spread. The result is sweet, savory, sophisticated and laughably easy, just like grasshopper pie — even if its color isn’t quite as dramatic.
Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Mint or Basil Ice Cream
Salted Licorice Brigadeiros
Luscious Brazilian-style fudge balls coated thickly with chocolate sprinkles get an upgrade in this marvelous recipe from Melissa Clark that brings salted licorice into the mix to create something that looks a lot like chocolate truffles but tastes even more divine: creamy, smooth and just salty enough, while still remaining firmly planted on the sweet side of the equation. Added bonus: They are extremely easy to throw together, an excellent candy-making project for families or those in search of fast-and-delicious treats.
Spiced Apple-Sausage Stuffing With Cranberries and Brandy
Colcannon With Crispy Leeks
An Irish dish of mashed potatoes and greens, colcannon is one of the most nourishing, comforting dishes you could make. The fried leeks aren’t traditional: Usually, the alliums are stewed more slowly in butter, if they’re used at all. But they lend a deeper flavor, and a crisp, savory finish. For a full meal, crown it with a fried egg or some smoked salmon, or serve a simple green salad on the side. (This recipe is part of the From the Pantry series, started in the days after the coronavirus lockdown.)
Flaming Baba au Rhum
While you can flambé pretty much any confection that’s soaked in a high-proof spirit, a baba au rhum is one of the booziest options. It’s based on an airy but rich yeast dough, which can absorb more liquor than your average cake without falling apart. And, unlike crepes, it’s easy to serve to a crowd. This is an afternoon project with delicious, sophisticated results.
Pistachio Ice Cream
Cocoa Nib Sablés With Flaky Sea Salt
Slightly more tender than shortbread cookies, golden French sablés have a deep buttery flavor and an appealing sandy texture. These are studded with crunchy cocoa nibs (also called cacao nibs), which lend a bittersweet flavor that’s underscored by a drizzle of melted chocolate on top. If you don’t have cocoa nibs, you can substitute mini chocolate chips, which make these cookies even richer.
Cornmeal Lime Shortbread Fans
Buttery and crisp, with an appealing texture from the cornmeal, these shortbread cookies are baked in a round tart or pie tin, then cut into wedges to resemble slim fans. The lime juice in the glaze cuts the sweetness and echoes the zest in the dough. (You can also use lemon, orange or grapefruit — or a combination instead of lime, if you prefer.) The cookies keep for up to two weeks when stored airtight at room temperature, and freeze very well.
Coconut Ice Cream
Cinnamon Ice Cream
Chocolate Ice Cream
Spicy Thai Squid With Chiles and Cilantro
This tangy squid salad has shallot for sweetness, chiles for heat, lime juice and zest for tang, and peanuts for crunch. Combined they make for a deeply flavored and utterly refreshing dish. Here the salad is served as an hors d'oeuvres, either piled on cucumber rounds or scooped into shot glasses and served with a fork. But it's also excellent as a first course served over Boston lettuce leaves.