Recipes

Creamy tomato soup

Canned tomatoes cooked down with onion and garlic, blended smooth, then finished with cream and a slug of olive oil once the pot is off the burner. Ladling measured bowls is what keeps the servings honest.

Contains heavy cream

Vanilla ice cream

Custard base, which means egg yolks, and the yolks are what make an infused fat workable here at all. Their lecithin breaks the fat into droplets small enough to freeze smooth instead of in waxy specks.

Contains heavy cream

Brown butter chocolate chip cookies

The standard creamed-butter drop cookie, with the butter browned first. Browning drives off water and deepens the flavor enough to cover any grassiness in the infusion.

Carrot cake cupcakes

Cupcakes solve the portioning problem a layer cake creates, and putting the infusion in the cream cheese frosting solves the heat problem — frosting is never cooked, so nothing is lost on the way.

Contains full-fat cream cheese

Chocolate truffles

Ganache is an emulsion of cream into chocolate, and it breaks for the same reasons mayonnaise does. Warm cream, finely chopped chocolate and stirring from the center out are what keep it together.

Contains heavy cream

Olive oil banana bread

An oil-based loaf rather than a creamed-butter one, which makes it forgiving, one-bowl, and easy to slice into even portions.

Snickerdoodles

Cream of tartar is what separates a snickerdoodle from a cinnamon sugar cookie. It gives the tang, reacts with the baking soda for lift, and keeps the sugar from setting up grainy as the cookie cools.

Contains cream of tartar

Blueberry scones

Cold butter, a light hand and two folds are what separate a flaky scone from a sweet biscuit. Infused butter straight from the refrigerator behaves like any other cold butter here.

Contains heavy cream

Buckeyes

Peanut butter fudge rolled into balls and dipped so a bare circle shows on top, the way the nut does. Cold, firm centers are what keep the filling out of the chocolate bowl.

Contains creamy peanut butter

Cinnamon french toast

Thick-cut bread in a cinnamon custard, with the infused butter worked into a topping rather than cooked into the pan. The skillet gets plain butter; the dose goes on afterward.

Contains heavy cream

Cinnamon rolls

Soft enriched rolls where the infusion lives in the cinnamon filling instead of the dough. The filling is shielded by the dough around it, and rolling a spiral spreads it across every roll evenly.

Contains cream cheese

Mexican street corn

Charred corn rolled in a mayonnaise and crema coating, then cotija and chili. The infusion lives in the coating and never goes near the fire, which keeps the whole thing simple and predictable.

New York cheesecake

Water bath, low oven and a slow cool-down are the three things standing between you and a cracked top. The infusion sits in the graham crust, where it spreads flat and portions with the slice.

Contains full-fat cream cheese, sour cream

Pecan caramel turtles

Clusters of toasted pecans under a spoonful of caramel and a cap of chocolate. Caramel taken to 245 °F stays where you put it instead of creeping out from under the chocolate a day later.

Contains heavy cream

Soft vanilla caramels

Chewy caramels cut from a slab and wrapped in wax paper. The finishing temperature decides everything: 245 °F gives a piece that holds its shape on the counter and still gives under a bite.

Contains heavy cream