Spiced pumpkin muffins
“How can you eat that so early in the morning?” asked my friend. She gestured with a fork at the plate in front of me, which contained a softball-sized muffin…
Bread recipes
Lemon yogurt poppy seed muffins
In 1975, my grandma baked a loaf of poppy seed bread. While this may not seem worthy of mention, it was an unusual act in that she never repeated this…
Granola bread
Every Christmas, my Uncle Austin gives the family homemade granola. During a recent survey of my refrigerator, I found a bag from the previous year. Because his ingredients are all…
Black-eyed pea cornbread
When my uncle gave me a bag of dried black-eyed peas he’d grown this summer, I mentioned that last year I’d made black-eyed pea tamales. Intrigued, he peppered me with…
Jalapeño popper kolaches
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Tallow flour tortillas
When life gives you too much tallow, perhaps it’s time to make flour tortillas. At least that was my conclusion, after successfully using this rendered beef fat in bread and…
Sopapillas with a side of honey
Sopapillas are total decadence for me. You’d think after concluding a stomach-swelling multi-course meal of chips and salsa, queso, guacamole, tamales, rice, refried beans. and enchiladas that it would be impossible to find room for just one…
Jalapeño Cheddar cornbread
In 1964, Frank X. Tolbert, the Dallas Morning News columnist who was passionate about chili and other Texan dishes involving peppers, shared a recipe for jalapeño cornbread. He wrote: “It’s…
Apple cider doughnut muffins
When I lived in New York City, I noticed that when the leaves began to change and the temperatures required a jacket, the farmer’s markets started offering hot apple cider…
Half-and-half tortillas
A few years ago, I sent out a taco recipe for testing. When the tester replied, she mentioned that she had served the dish with half-and-half tortillas. This style was…