Cherry Crumb Pie: One Crust, No Weaving
Margaret Chen · October 25, 2026
Cherry crumb pie with one bottom crust and a buttery crumb top that lets steam escape, so a very juicy filling sets instead of flooding the slice.
Margaret Chen · October 25, 2026
Sweet Cherry Almond Pie: Fixing Flat-Tasting Sweet Cherries
Margaret Chen · October 25, 2026
Sweet cherries bake up flat and one-note. Lemon juice and a little almond extract bring back real cherry flavor in this tested pie, fresh or frozen fruit.
Sour Cherry Pie With a Real Lattice Top
Margaret Chen · October 25, 2026
Sour cherry pie with a woven lattice that holds its shape, plus how to weave it and why tart cherries need less thickener than you’d expect.
Salted Caramel Apple Pie: Caramel That Does Not Flood the Crust
Margaret Chen · October 25, 2026
Salted caramel apple pie with a thick, sliceable filling. Reduce the caramel past where it looks done and cut the added sugar so nothing floods the crust.
Dutch Apple Pie: The Brown Sugar Crumb That Stays Crisp
Margaret Chen · October 25, 2026
Dutch apple pie with a brown sugar crumb built on a tested ratio by weight: 155 g flour, 113 g butter, 150 g brown sugar. Crisp, not pasty.
Classic Double-Crust Apple Pie: No Gap Under the Top Crust
Margaret Chen · October 25, 2026
Classic double-crust apple pie where the apples are cooked down first, so the top crust sits right on the filling instead of floating over a hollow.
Southeast Asian Cookies: 9 Recipes From the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Beyond
Margaret Chen · October 10, 2026
The first time I made nastar, I pulled forty-two tarts out of the oven, let them cool twenty minutes, and watched the bottoms of every single one go translucent and limp. My pineapple jam was too wet. I had cooked it like an American jam — thick enough to spread on toast — when it … Read more
Selling Cookies From Home: Cottage Food Laws, Pricing, and What I Wish I Had Known
Margaret Chen · October 10, 2026
People find this site searching for “filled oatmeal cookie recipe for sale,” and until now they landed on a recipe post that never mentioned the word “sale” again. That is my fault, so let me fix it. Selling cookies from home is legal in every US state under some version of a cottage food law, … Read more
Classic Soft Molasses Ginger Cookies
Margaret Chen · August 14, 2026
I have a confession to make. After fifteen years of developing and testing cookie recipes—after publishing dozens of variations, twists, and deep dives into cookie science on this site—I realized something embarrassing last month: I have never, not once, posted a classic ginger molasses cookie recipe. Not a classic version. Not a creative riff. Not … Read more
Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
Margaret Chen · August 6, 2026
My grandmother’s peanut butter cookie recipe lives on a stained, dog-eared index card in a plastic recipe box—the same one she’s kept since 1978. The handwriting is hers: crisp, practical, unadorned. Butter. Peanut butter. Sugar. Brown sugar. Egg. Vanilla. Flour. Baking soda. Salt. Fourteen words of ingredients, and a set of instructions so spare they … Read more