Last Minute Valentine's Day Dessert

We all know Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday. But it's also a great excuse to indulge in a sweet treat, so why not celebrate? If you get in the Valentine's mood at the eleventh hour, here's a last-minute dessert idea that is just special enough to impress your sweetheart.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

First, bake up some sugar cookies (there's a great recipe here). Cut the dough using a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Or, if you're short on time, buy medium to large-sized round cookies, such as peanut butter or chocolate chip. Pair the cookie with an appropriate ice cream, or go wild and come up with a crazy combination (peanut butter and Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey?). Scoop a large round of ice cream in the middle of a cookie then place a second cookie on top to make a sandwich. Wrap each ice cream sandwich with parchment paper and store in the freezer until you're ready for dessert.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Exploring Cocoa in Ghana

I just returned from an amazing trip to Ghana, where I visited cocoa plantations, toured cocoa factories and met with the people who make up fair trade cooperatives. Cissé, my new business venture, is what prompted this journey. Instead of buying cocoa powder from an intermediary, we are buying directly from the source. Which means I had the opportunity to meet the families that grow the cocoa beans at Aponoapo Cooperative, and negotiate with the people who process those beans into cocoa powder.

Cocoa is not just an exotic luxury product. It is the lifeblood of the community I visited, as Ghana is the world's second largest cocoa bean-producing country. Here, profits from cocoa beans result in new schools, roads, and improved healthcare. This trip gave me a deeper understanding of how special cocoa beans really are. And how meaningful it is to have a personal connection to your food source. The next bite I take out of a chocolate bar is going to be completely different!

Cookbook Photo Shoot: Behind the Scenes

Last week I drove into the wilds of the upper Delaware River for my third cookbook photo shoot. My photographer, Pernille Pedersen, graciously offered her gorgeous modern home in the woods as our location. Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes? A lot.

It all starts with a concrete plan of what to photograph. During this session, we produced specific "how-to" shots, such as assembling peach hand pies and piping meringue for individual Baked Alaskas. We also created a spectacular table, fit for a swanky soiree, featuring several desserts from my book.

Almost a week before the shoot, I started prepping like a madwoman. With my oven cranked and a fridge full of an obscene amount of ingredients, I took each recipe as far as I could. The key to prepping for a shoot is to prepare as much as possible in advance. And to make extra portions, in case anything should go wrong on-site. Other important details:

Timing

The biggest challenge of this shoot was the timing. Midwinter daylight is fleeting, so we hit the ground running the moment we arrived at Pernille's. With nine shots and just eight hours of natural light, we had to work fast.

Props

What's a cake without a gorgeous cake stand? What's an assortment of truffles without the perfect plate to display them? It may not be the first thing you notice, but a prop can make or break a photo. Thanks to my prop stylist, Michelle Wong, my desserts looked perfectly delectable.

Food Styling

For every delicious-looking dish, there is a food stylist behind the scenes preparing the food and ensuring it looks it's photo-ready best. For this shoot, I received tremendous styling help from Junita Bognanni and Amy Wilkinson.

Personality

Unlike our previous shoots that focused solely on the food, this session featured me! There were four sets of "how-to" shots, one for each seasonal chapter in the book. With the help of Amy Wilkinson, who is also a make-up artist extraordinaire, I looked appropriately wintry, spring-like, summery, or ready for fall.

Behind any beautiful photograph you see in a cookbook, there's a skilled team of photographers and stylists. I'm lucky that my team is not only talented, but a lot of fun. Three shoots down; two more to go!