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Robust grilled cheese sandwiches for adults, not just kids

Grilled cheese has a kids' menu reputation, but just a few tweaks make it a sophisticated dinner option. To create a sandwich with more robust flavor and personality without going overboard on toppings and additions, we focused on the cheese. Our recipe began by mixing flavorful aged cheddar with a small amount of Brie and some wine in a food processor. Those two ingredients helped the cheddar melt evenly without becoming greasy. A little bit of shallot increased the sandwiches' complexity without detracting from the cheese, and a smear of mustard-butter on the bread added a sharp ...

The secret to deep-dish apple pie? Precooking apples

There's no better way to enjoy fall's abundant apple harvest than in a towering deep-dish pie. Unfortunately, this dessert often yields unevenly cooked, shrunken apples swimming in an ocean of their own exuded juices atop a pale, soggy crust. We wanted each slice to be dense with juicy apples, framed by a buttery, flaky crust. A combination of sweet and tart apples, tossed with a little brown sugar, salt, lemon, and cinnamon, promised a perfectly balanced filling. Precooking the apples solved the shrinking problem, helping them hold their shape in the oven while also eliminating any ...

A chicken that’s tender and juicy, thanks to a beer can

A few weeks ago, a new friend of mine asked me to make beer-can chicken. He had never had it before and had always wanted to try it. At first, I was surprised because — to me — beer-can chicken is as common as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But then, I posed the question to the other people invited to dinner, and none of them had ever made beer-can chicken. And, only one of them had tasted it before because he had it at my house! That was when I realized that I needed to re-visit beer-can chicken. It is my go-to main course and my comfort food. It never fails to satisfy. The ...

Adore pumpkin cheesecake? Make a portable version

With a tangy, rich flavor and velvety consistency, cheesecake's characteristic qualities make it well-suited to variation: Lemon cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and berry cheesecake are all common. But our favorite variation might just be pumpkin cheesecake. We love the way the tangy cream cheese offsets the warm-spiced pumpkin, and we set out to create a streamlined version in the form of a pumpkin cheesecake bar. To avoid a soggy, heavy bar, we knew the key would be to remove excess moisture from the canned pumpkin, so we cooked the puree on the stovetop to reduce it. This step ...

A blueberry tart that simply works, so you don’t have to

Before our annual circuit around the sun forces us to kiss off the blueberry season, I urge one and all to try this blueberry tart. Super-tasty and much simpler to make than the standard recipe, it features the usual buttery bottom crust, loaded with gobs of fresh berries and topped off with a crispy sweet streusel crumble. If you happen to be one of those folks who's daunted by the mechanics of pie-making — all that rolling out and crimping! — then this may be the tart of your dreams. The tin used here boasts a fluted edge, which means there's no fancy crimp work required of ...

This Spanish-inspired seafood dish is a simple one-pot meal

This Spanish-inspired seafood dish is a simple one-pot meal. You can substitute halibut, sea bass, or haddock for the cod in this recipe. Other varieties of hard, cured sausage (such as linguica) can be substituted for the Spanish chorizo; we do not recommend using fresh chorizo. When shopping for saffron, look for dark red threads without any interspersion of yellow or orange threads, and be prepared for some sticker shock_they don't call it the most expensive spice in the world for nothing, but its distinctive flavor is worth it. You will need a 12-inch skillet with a ...