The Chopping Block Cooking Blog

Burnt Basque Cheesecake: A Cheesecake Like No Other

For several months now, I’ve been toying with the idea of baking a Burnt Basque Cheesecake. The idea was first brought to my attention by my partner Fernando, who stumbled upon the recipe and ...

Here Comes the Sunchoke Tart

You know, for a minute there I thought we might never see each other again. It has been over a year since my last blog post was published on The Chopping Blog, and what a year it has been. We’ve ...

Citrus is my Main Squeeze

Most of us are fortunate to be able to enjoy all types of citrus all year long. You may not know this, but citrus season is actually during winter. Citrus is the perfect little pick me up to get ...

Become Sourdough Savvy in our Virtual Class

If you are on any type of social media, you've seen the barrage of sourdough bread images posted since the beginning of the pandemic. Some of these pictures of beautifully baked bread could come ...

Triple Boozy Irish Brownies

What’s better than a delicious fudgy brownie? A triple boozy brownie, of course! When I studied abroad 15 years ago, I spent a weekend in Dublin, Ireland. It was a beautiful place with friendly ...

Mini Cherry Lattice Pies

We are starting to see warmer temps and the snow melting in Chicagoland, and I can smell the spring weather right around the corner. For whatever reason, spring season makes me think of pie!

All Rise for Yeasted Doughnuts

You can’t get very far in America without running into a donut shop. We have embraced the history of this dessert found all over the world and made it into our own. Of course, doughnuts as we know ...

The Best Homemade Pizza I've Ever Made

When a chef friend of mine recently told me about his latest adventures in making homemade pizza thanks to a book called The Elements of Pizza, I knew I had to give this dough with a very long ...

Techniques for Making Challah

Even though I have been working in the food industry for over half of my life, I still have so much to learn about making bread. Other than spending a unit on breads in culinary school (which was ...

The Best Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe

Back in the early days of The Chopping Block 20+ years ago, I was working on holiday curriculum with my fellow Chef Instructor Lisa Futterman. We thought a candy class was a no brainer, after all, ...