American Recipes
2885 recipes found
Apple Ombré Pie
This impressive-looking pie is more like a traditional apple tart: Thin slices of apples are tightly arranged, then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. In the oven, the apples soften and create a delicious, jammy base inside a buttery, flaky crust. Grouping the slices by color creates a stunning ombré effect, but the rest of the recipe is simple to make up for the assembly time. The recipe calls for a generous number of apples to be sure you fill the crust; use any leftovers for snacking or to make applesauce. Store any leftovers at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
Lemon Poppy Muffins
From supermarket aisles to those backlight bakery cases in every diner across the country, lemon poppy-seed muffins are ubiquitous, and easy to love. Buttery and soft, tart and sweet, they are soothing in their simplicity, while seeds add just a bit of crunch. This version gets a healthy dose of lemony tang thanks to an ample amount of grated zest and a zippy lemon-juice glaze. It’s important to spring for fresh fruit here, as opposed to anything that comes in a plastic bottle. The bright flavor of real lemon goes a long way.
Banana Oatmeal Almond Smoothie
My bananas were ripening so quickly last summer that every week I froze one or two, knowing I would use them for smoothies at some point. When you freeze bananas, peel them first, then double wrap in plastic. I bulked up this smoothie with oatmeal, which I first soaked until it was softened in just enough water to cover.
Soft White Dinner Rolls
Getting supper on the table quickly makes you feel efficient. Baking a batch of soft dinner rolls makes you feel cozily competent. This may be an unfashionable virtue, but it is also a deeply satisfying one.
Pear Smoothie With Spinach, Celery and Ginger
This began as a “clean out the refrigerator and (aging) fruit bowl” smoothie. I salvaged some spinach that had seen better days and finally used up the last of the pears I’d bought a few weeks ago for another set of recipe tests. I went out to my garden and grabbed some bolting arugula and some mint. I’ve been drinking kefir, a fermented milk product much like yogurt but thinner and tangier, so that went in, giving the smoothie a pleasantly acidic edge. The two ingredients that the drink needs in order for it to taste like something other than a bland green drink are the half banana and the ginger. If you let your bananas ripen completely, then freeze them, they’ll contribute not only flavor, sweetness and texture but also ice to your smoothies.
Date Smoothie With Brown Rice and Almond Milk
This is inspired by Bryant Terry’s recipe for date-sweetened almond milk, which I came across in his wonderful cookbook “Afro-Vegan.” You could use commercial almond milk, but it will taste much richer if you make your own. Blanch and skin almonds (it goes quickly), soak overnight, blend and strain. The smoothie is a simple one, subtly sweetened by the dates, and mildly nutty. If you want to introduce another flavor into the mix add a half banana. I liked it both ways but I think I prefer the simpler version, so I have made the banana optional.
Lemon Shortcakes With Gingered Blueberries
For the best shortcakes, bake them just before serving. To make that an easy prospect, you can prepare and freeze them in advance: Prepare the dough through Step 3, freeze the shortcakes completely, then transfer them to an airtight container for up to one week. Bake the frozen scones whenever the mood strikes. They’ll take a few extra minutes to cook, but will be perfectly tender and fresh. They’re wonderful served straight from the oven, but if you plan to layer them with cream and fruit, let them cool to room temperature first.
Baked Apples
I don’t remember my mother at the stove. When asked what childhood dish was my favorite, I’d stammer and come up empty. And then, walking down the stairs in my Paris apartment, I got to the third floor and said out loud to no one: baked apples! My mother made baked apples. Her apples were big Cortlands or Rome Beauties, and she cored and stuffed them with raisins, because my father loved raisins. I also bake with Cortlands or Romes when I can get them, Fujis or Galas when I can’t. I’ll often stuff them with raisins, but I think they’re especially nice filled with bits of dried apple and candied ginger. And I like to baste them with apple cider and honey. They’re good hot or cold, but best served warm and topped with something creamy. Cinnamon (my mom always used too much) is optional.
Blueberry Kefir Smoothie With Greens
This green smoothie is really more blue than green, as the color of the blueberries predominates. But the greens are there, so in my mind it’s still a green drink. Half a banana wasn’t quite enough to punch up the flavor of the drink, but I found that a whole banana did the trick. I used a baby greens mix that included baby kale, chard (red and green), and spinach.
Peach Almond Smoothie
Peaches and almonds are closely related and make a great match in this not-too-sweet smoothie. Peaches and almonds are closely related botanically, one reason why they have always made a good match in desserts and baked goods. I combined ripe summer peaches with almond milk and soaked almonds here, and also added some almond extract for additional flavor. The smoothie is further enriched with oatmeal, and only slightly sweet. You can add more agave syrup, or honey if you eat honey, if you wish. If delicious fresh peaches are no longer available, use frozen peaches.
Classic Diner Breakfast
The beauty of a diner breakfast is that it’s different for everybody, but many consider this the most classic incarnation: eggs, bacon (or sausage) and crisp, salty hash browns. The trick to good hash browns at home: use a very hot, well-seasoned skillet or griddle, since potatoes have a tendency to stick if using stainless steel. Do not worry or fuss over trying to make them too perfect; good hash browns should always look a little unruly — it’s part of their charm. Here, the eggs here are prepared sunnyside up, but over easy, scrambled or poached would be great, too.
Joanne Chang’s Maple-Blueberry Scones
These scones, created by Joanne Chang for her Flour Bakery & Cafe in Boston, are studded with fresh blueberries, sweetened with maple syrup and made with a blend of whole-wheat and all-purpose flours — but don’t think of them as health food. They’ve also got crème fraîche and plenty of butter. They’re big. They’re glazed. And they’ve got a singular texture: tender, like a layer cake, but also flaky, like a traditional scone. It wasn’t until I made them myself that I realized that their texture is different because the technique is different: Most scone recipes call for the butter to be rubbed into the flour mixture until it’s coated with flour. In Ms. Chang’s recipe, half the butter gets this treatment, which makes the scones characteristically flaky. The other half of the butter is beaten into the dry ingredients so that it becomes the coating for the flour, making the scones tender.
The Original Waldorf Salad
"Millions who never visited the Waldorf owe him a debt," The New York Times wrote in 1950, upon Oscar Tschirky's death. Mr. Tschirky, a Swiss immigrant who became known as "Oscar of the Waldorf," is credited with creating this piece of Americana in 1893, a timeless dish whose popularity has spread far past the Waldorf's exclusive doors and into home kitchens. Over time, variations would include blue cheese, raisins and chopped walnuts, which can be added here alongside the celery and apples. But the original is an exercise in simplicity: four ingredients that have lived on for over a century.
Deep-Dish Apple Pie
If you’re going to the trouble of making a pie, why not make it a blockbuster? This pie, adapted from the professional pie coach Kate McDermott, is both deeper and wider than the traditional nine-inch version. The thicker rim is especially satisfying, like a buttery, crumbly slab of shortbread. You can use a 10-inch deep-dish pie pan, or a deep nine- or 10-inch square, or another 2 1/2- to 3-quart baking dish of your choice. A mix of apple types always makes the best filling.
Strawberry Granola
Studded with pink freeze-dried strawberries and lightly spiced, this strawberry granola makes for a perky start to the day or a fruity afternoon snack, especially when paired with yogurt or milk. First, roast oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and coconut chips in a sweet syrup before mixing with crisp freeze-dried strawberries. Optional red-pepper flakes add a pleasant whisper of warmth, and play well with the strawberries and coconut. Feel free to substitute cashews or hazelnuts for the almonds, and omit the coconut chips if you don’t have them in the pantry. The resulting granola will still be full of flavor and crunch.
Frozen Strawberry-Coconut Smoothie With Pomegranate Molasses
Fruity pomegranate molasses is the perfect sweetener for this thick strawberry smoothie. This summer I bought a flat of strawberries, and soon afterward realized that they were going to go off before I had a chance to use them. So I hulled them and froze them in small freezer bags (a heaping cup, or 6 ounces, per bag), and now I’m using them for smoothies. When I was working on this smoothie I felt that it needed something to sweeten it, but what? I looked in my cupboard and saw a bottle of pomegranate molasses, and voilà! Now I know that pomegranate molasses, with its fruity, tangy yet sweet flavor, is perfect for red fruit smoothies of all kinds. This one is enriched with cashews, soaked in water for a few hours or overnight, chia seeds (also soaked), and oatmeal.
Shirley Temple
This beloved kids’ drink was named after the late child star Shirley Temple Black, although she had no involvement in its invention in the 1930s. Saccharine to many adult palates, the grenadine-and-soda mocktail feels grown-up to kids, who delight at its bright red color, cherry garnish and hefty sugar content. (An adult version named the Dirty Shirley tempers its sweetness with the addition of vodka.) There’s no right answer to the debate surrounding lemon-lime soda (like Sprite or 7Up) versus ginger ale. Haley Traub, the general manager of the cocktail bar Attaboy on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, suspects the divergence is regional. Growing up in Minnesota, she says “it was always Sprite. It wasn’t until I moved to the East Coast that I’d ever heard it being made with ginger ale.” Soda options vary, but there is one nonnegotiable here: a cherry on top.
"Gnocchi" of Hass Avocado with Apples and Shaved Walnuts
This recipe is from the French Laundry, the chef Thomas Keller's restaurant in Yountville, Calif. It was published as part of a 2001 story about the raw food movement, in which every element of every dish is raw, organic and vegan.
Egg-in-a-Hole
Unsalted butter, a thick slice of really good white or whole wheat country bread, and a sunflower-yellow, pastured egg is all you need for this utterly perfect meal.
Green Smoothie With Pineapple, Arugula, Greens and Cashews
Pineapple can stand alone as a fruit to combine with greens in a smoothie. No bananas are required. I did add a piece of ginger to this smoothie and loved the way it pumped up the flavor. I didn’t use any dairy in this one, just orange juice. And I found that it required no additional sweetener, though you could add a teaspoon of agave nectar or honey if you wish. It’s best to use the pungent, feathery wild arugula for this. I used a baby greens mix that included kale, chard and spinach.
Berry Coconut Almond Smoothie
I was inspired to work on smoothie recipes this week when I defrosted a freezer and dredged out a half-filled bag of frozen berries. There was only one place for this lump of frozen berries — a rich smoothie. The key to the drink’s flavor is the cinnamon. I always strain mixed berry smoothies because I don’t like the texture of the little seeds, which don’t blend up.
Mashama Bailey’s Pecan Pesto
This recipe, from the chef Mashama Bailey of the Grey in Savannah, Ga., came to The Times in 2015. The pesto’s roots are Italian, of course, but its flavor and texture nod first to the South, with pecans swapped in to the paste in place of more traditional pine nuts, and then to the wider world, with the inclusion of both Thai and opal basils to the mix. But use whatever basil you can find. Ms. Bailey’s cooking is more about bending the rules than enforcing them.
Whole-Grain Blueberry Buckle
A buckle is an old-fashioned cake that has a crumble topping and fruit that makes the batter buckle, or sink, as it bakes. Or at least that’s what all the recipes I’ve read say is supposed to happen. When I made the cake the blueberries didn’t really cause it to buckle at all, they just formed a layer on top of the cake. This is now a favorite dessert. It’s not traditional at all, as I use whole-wheat flour, and oats and quinoa flour in the topping.
Homemade Pocky
These crunchy cookie sticks are inspired by Pocky, the machine-made Japanese treat. They don’t pretend to be the perfectly straight version from the box, but they're freshly baked and taste far better. They're also fun to make: The dough is forgiving and easy to work with, so shaping it is as simple as rolling a Play-Doh snake. Decorating presents an opportunity to go wild. Mix matcha powder or pulverized freeze-dried berries with white chocolate; pair milk chocolate with hazelnuts; or combine dark chocolate with almonds or pecans. Sprinkles, shredded coconut or sesame seeds add flair.