Two chocolate tarts on a plate

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If you like truffles, this is the tart for you. As part of the Dessert Project, we made 3-inch tartlets with two different crusts (almond and chocolate), but this recipe also makes a 9-inch tart; recipes for the […]
Five pictures of small tart shells in various stages of preparation

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As part of the Dessert Project, we tried two variations on tart dough. These are softer doughs, more like cookies than pastry, and require careful handling. The recipes make one 9-inch tart or six 3-inch tartlets. Almond Tart […]
Biscotti on a metal rack

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Another part of the Dessert Project. I thought biscotti were difficult, but this isn’t so, although it does take a few hours to make a batch. Once cooled, the biscotti can be dipped in a chocolate coating! Makes […]
Four photographs showing the steps to make a banana cream pie

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This is part of the Dessert Project. Techniques practiced in this recipe: Basic flaky pie crust, pre-baked Crème patisserie Whipped cream topping Servings: 8 (9-inch pie) 5 ripe bananas4 T unsalted butter, divided2 ½ c half-and-half½ c (3 […]
Six photos that illustrate the steps for making a pre-baked pie shell

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This is the start of the Dessert Project, a cooking exploration into techniques and tastes. It seems fitting that the first entry is the basic crust for pies and tarts. #1 – Pastry for a 9-inch pie shell […]
A book cover with an arrow in a circle against a background of a city

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The Magic Circle by Barry Ryerson takes the reader on a twisty, exciting ride through a post-apocalyptic world. I’d call this a techno-magic-thriller. Is that a genre? If not, I just made it up. The devastation wreaked by […]
Text for a book cover (red on orange): "The Dawn of Everything - A New History of Humanity"

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The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow started out to write a book about the origins of social inequality, according to the authors (an anthropologist and an archeologist). However, they […]
A yellow starburst on a black background

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In the near future, a billionaire businessman aims to change the climate of the planet. What could go wrong? This is the Big Idea tackled in Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. The novel is huge, featuring multiple intertwined […]
A small figure of a person stands at the end of a huge tunnel looking out at a blue sky with clouds and the moon

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Kim Stanley Robinson has written a lot of books, but The Ministry for the Future is the first of his that I’ve read, largely because of the topic. I know quite a bit about climate change and the […]
Two women wearing robes and sitting on a cloud

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Knowledge comes into the world by many paths. The Knowledge Machine (subtitled How Irrationality Created Modern Science) has a lot to say about the process by which scientists since the 17th century have created scientific knowledge. The book […]