FKitchen archive
family edition

Family Recipe Box

Four keepers
scale before cooking

Golden chocolate chip cookies piled on a cobalt blue plate
01The cookie tin standard

Bake sale / snow day / midnight

Toll House cookies

Crisp at the rim, soft through the middle, and crowded with chocolate.

Back-of-bag legend, kept in the box

Adaptation · Nestlé Toll House back-of-bag classic ↗

375°F oven9–11 minmakes

Check ingredients

Make the recipe

  1. Heat the oven to 375°F and set out ungreased baking sheets.

  2. Whisk () all-purpose flour, baking soda, and fine salt in a small bowl.

  3. Beat () softened unsalted butter with () granulated sugar, () packed brown sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy and a shade lighter.

  4. Beat in , large, one at a time. Fold in the dry bowl just until no dusty streaks remain.

  5. Fold through () semisweet chocolate morsels and, if using, () chopped walnuts. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto the sheets.

  6. Bake until the rims are golden and the centers still look soft, 9–11 minutes. Rest on the sheets for 2 minutes, then move to a rack.

BOX NOTE · Pull them when the middles look a touch underdone; the hot sheet finishes the job.

Brilliant red tomato sauce in a white pan on a yellow tiled counter
02Three-ingredient alchemy

Quiet simmer / loud flavor

Tomato butter sauce

The impossibly simple red sauce: plush, bright, and sweetened by one halved onion.

Marcella knew when to stop adding

Adaptation · Marcella Hazan via NYT Cooking ↗

45 min simmerserves one saucepan

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Make the recipe

  1. Tip ( / ) whole peeled tomatoes with juices into a wide saucepan. Add () unsalted butter, , peeled and halved, and fine salt.

  2. Bring the pan to a gentle bubble over medium heat, then lower the heat and leave it uncovered for about 45 minutes. Stir now and then, pressing any large pieces against the pan.

  3. Lift out , softened. Stir the sauce until glossy, taste, and adjust the seasoning only if it needs it.

  4. Spoon over the waiting dish while hot, making sure every serving gets the rich, velvety emulsion.

BOX NOTE · The low, uncovered simmer is the whole trick. Resist the urge to add anything else.

Deeply browned crisp roast potatoes with herbs in a blue roasting dish
03Maximum crunch protocol

Ragged edges / creamy centers

Crispy roast potatoes

Parboiled alkaline, roughed up on purpose, then roasted until every corner crackles.

The tray everyone picks clean

Adaptation · J. Kenji López-Alt at Serious Eats ↗

450°F ovenabout 90 minserves

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Make the recipe

  1. Heat the oven to 450°F, or 400°F with convection. Bring () water to a full boil in a large pot.

  2. Stir kosher salt and baking soda into () water. Lower in () Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, cut into large chunks, and simmer until a knife slides into a chunk with barely any pushback, about 10 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, warm extra-virgin olive oil with chopped fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped garlic, and freshly ground black pepper, stirring until the chopped pieces just begin to turn gold, about 3 minutes. Strain, saving the infused liquid and the toasted bits separately.

  4. Drain the pot well and let the steam escape. Return everything to the pot, add the infused liquid, and shake hard enough to build a thick, starchy coating around every chunk.

  5. Spread in one layer on a large rimmed tray. Roast for 20 minutes without moving, turn each piece, then continue roasting until deeply brown and audibly crisp, another 30–40 minutes.

  6. Toss the hot tray with the reserved toasted bits and chopped fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

BOX NOTE · The rougher the surface after shaking, the more crisp little ledges the oven can build.

Plum torte with glossy purple fruit on a vivid blue table
04September forever cake

Jammy fruit / buttery crumb

Original Plum Torte

A small batter carrying an impossible crown of plums—the newspaper clipping that became tradition.

Bake now, freeze one for winter

Adaptation · Marian Burros at NYT Cooking ↗

350°F ovenabout 1 hourserves

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Make the recipe

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-, 9-, or 10-inch springform pan; a smaller pan gives a taller torte.

  2. Cream () granulated sugar with () softened unsalted butter until pale and fluffy.

  3. Beat in , large, one at a time. Fold in () all-purpose flour, baking powder, and fine salt just until the batter is smooth.

  4. Spread into the pan and arrange , halved and pitted over the surface, skin-side up, without pressing them down.

  5. Drizzle with fresh lemon juice, then scatter over granulated sugar and ground cinnamon.

  6. Bake until the top is deeply golden and a tester in the cake portion comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool before releasing the pan.

BOX NOTE · This freezes beautifully. Double-wrap it after cooling, then rewarm gently before serving.