What was once old is new again! This recipe was developed by Shaun Touchton who was the pastry chef at Mckendricks Steak House for many years. This raspberry napoleon is a very light dessert made of layers of baked puff pastry, white chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries. The flavor and the lightness of the pastry and rich white chocolate mousse along with sweetness of the fresh fruit makes for a magical and wonderful dessert. Working at Pano’s and Paul’s as the sous chef and pastry chef I learned to work with puff pastry. I understood that there were layers of butter and dough and when...

My friend and former co-worker, Lynn Patti always reminds me of how delicious and memorable these truffles are. When we worked together in Jacksonville, Florida at the University club, I had to hide the truffles from her in order to keep her sneaky little hands out of them. I swear she would put the truffles on banquet menus just for her own pleasure. I have decided to share this simple chocolate truffle recipe in hopes many of you will indulge in this delightful confection.       Use a good chocolate such as a European chocolate, Valrhona, Lindt or Callebaut. These chocolates are available  at...

  As a child, I loved watching my Grandmother baking these delicious brownies. My Grandparents lived in a tiny cottage like summer home across the street from us, on over a hundred acres of a quiet mountaintop. To make extra money I would wake up early on Saturday mornings and head over to my Grandparents house to clean and do handy-work. As I worked on the list she gave me I would watch her in her tiny little kitchen and prepare goodies for her nine Grandchildren. She was an exceptional cook and  had her recipes neatly organized and filed on index cards. Before retiring, she was a school teacher...

     This post actually has two parts. The first part is about my blog, the second is about my grandmothers chocolate brownies and the next post will be about her blond brownies. I started a blog about two months ago with absolutely now knowledge of what I was doing. I even wrote a post on my blog about my first blog.  As I enjoy other food blogs, I noticed how crisp and clear their pictures were and what I was doing was not even close. How can someone have better pictures than me, this can’t happen. As I was reading a blog that I follow daily, I noticed that one blogger talked about...

When I was young my mother would take us to the local farm to pick strawberries and blueberries. Just can’t beat the natural flavor and sweetness of sun ripened strawberries. I think I will add this new recipe to our dessert menu at http://www.mckendricks.com/. Start by macerating fresh strawberries by sprinkling some sugar over the washed strawberries and let sit to release their own juices. Slice one vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Then scrape the center out. Save the shell and the center. Zest 4 lemons. 3 pinches of salt 7 ounces of butter or 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon 1/2 cup sugar. 10...