​My son’s birthday was in January and he loves chocolate éclairs.  I found a recipe for Classic Chocolate Éclairs by Samantha Senevirate in The New York Times. In my first attempt, I used a stainless-steel cake decorating tool with poor results. Now, my granddaughter was turning two and I thought this was the perfect time for a second attempt. I was off to Shore Cake Supply in Ocean Township, NJ to select better tools, disposable piping bags and a large star piping tip.
 
For the recipe you’ll need:
 
Custard: eggs, granulated sugar, cornstarch, kosher salt, whole milk, heavy cream, a vanilla bean and unsalted butter.
 
 
 Pâte à Choux: unsalted butter, granulated sugar, salt, all-purpose flour and eggs.
 
Chocolate Glaze: heavy cream, kosher salt, bittersweet chocolate and corn syrup.

​I don’t care how hot the weather may be; I still bake a batch of cookies each week. In fact, this week, I baked two batches. On a recent episode of America’s Test Kitchen, Bridget Lancaster did a demonstration of a cookie called Baci di Dama, Lady’s Kisses. These hazelnut sandwich cookies have just a smidge of dark chocolate holding the two halves together.
 
For the recipe you’ll need hazelnuts, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, unsalted butter, vanilla extract and bittersweet chocolate chips. I did find a recipe on pastry chef David Lebovitz’s website for Baci di Dama. Mr. Lebovitz got his recipe from Terresa Murphy. Her recipe calls for rice flour or white flour. The rice flour he says, makes for a crispier cookie. 

The inevitable summer dilemma is what to cook when the weather turns unbearable. Whether your house is air conditioned or not, cooking during heat kitchen isn’t very motivating. Let me share with you some recipes that may inspire you and keep your kitchen cool.
 
Back in May I shared with you a recipe I found at Southern Living Magazine for Sesame Shrimp Stir-Fry. Two Ali Slagle recipes are great one pot meals such as Shrimp Scampi with Orzo or Summer Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes and Corn. While shrimp requires a short time to cook, so does pork tenderloin. Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Onions. Moving from on from shrimp and pork, how about Quick Jambalaya from Vallery Lomas of The New York Times. 
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As you may recall, I have a wide variety of herbs in my yard this summer. My husband purchased four lemon scented herbs i.e., lemon grass, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon balm. In the April 2022 issue of Charleston Magazine, they published an article called, “A Tasty Trio, Container Gardens.” Garden editor Joan McDonald had some wonderful ideas on how to use the herbs and some recipes. One recipe that caught my husband’s eye was Spring Citrus Salad Dressing made with a combination of the aforementioned herbs.
 
For the salad dressing you’ll need olive oil, white wine vinegar, fresh herbs (lemon balm, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon grass (with leaves removed from any woody stems), fresh garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, shallots, salt and pepper to taste. What a flavorful dressing. The combination of ingredients made for a lovely creamy dressing, courtesy of the Dijon mustard that created an emulsion. The dressing was bright and had a light citrus taste, refreshing for a summer salad.