“Kill your darlings.” Writing teachers regularly dole out this (rather harsh) piece of advice — or some version of it. It tells beginner writers to cut anything from piece of work that doesn’t serve the larger story, no matter how proud it makes them or how hard they worked on it. I first encountered the phrase during an assignment in my AP Composition class, reading On Writing by Stephen King — although many writers have been credited with coining it. While I’m admittedly guilty of ignoring this advice in my writing on occasion, it’s a mindset I try to apply to my recipe development.
My fellow food creator
of Snacks fame says she only posts recipes that are bangers, and saves the rest. It’s hard to say I operate the exact same way. I definitely get more excited about some recipes than others, but sometimes I’m shocked by the recipes that do pop off and really resonate with people. It’s hard to know what will take off before I hit publish. My approach is more like, Would I, Eric, make this again? Knowing how many great recipes are out there on Chappell Roan’s internet, even though you have to sift through loads of terrible ones, sometimes the answer is still no!Last week was almost entirely devoted to making a recipe, blue masa corn cookies, work. I tried them with half masa and half all-purpose flour; I tried them with 100% masa; I tried to swirl yellow and blue corn doughs together. The blue masa ended up turning the cookies an unappealing grayish blue-green color, so I tried to color them with pulverized freeze dried blueberries and stud them with chewy dried blueberries. That really didn’t work. I tried them with honey; I tried them with browned butter! This was days of testing. I would give up, get a second wind, change my approach and rewrite the recipe, only to be disappointed … and give up again.
And some test batches were pretty good! The flavor was interesting: subtle and smokey, but not really different enough from a regular corn cookie, or a sugar cookie, to warrant going out and buying a bag of blue masa. And you all people, especially if you support this newsletter financially, are paying for great recipes, not okay recipes.
It’s so hard to accept that days of work, and tens of dollars of ingredients, just won’t turn into anything usable. But, in reality, I should have cut my losses after the second or third test. I should have stopped to rethink; swallowed my pride instead of white-knuckling it through multiple mediocre batches. This was a darling I should have killed way earlier.
But now, you get this week’s recipe instead. Which actually is a banger.
EGO Recommends
🎧 Music: Charm, Clairo
If you’re a big scrolling girlie then you may have heard a few of this album’s tracks, as they are starting to trend on certain short form video apps. I haven’t historically been into this artist, but on my flight to Ireland I conked out several times to Charm, which I probably listened to three times in a row. (And I’m not a “press play and let it go” type of listener.) Now? I am full-send on Clairo. Clairo is my new best friend. “Add Up My Love,” “Juna,” and “Nomad” are all standouts for me. Her dreamy, muffled vocals give major coffee-shop vibes and her 70s and R&B inspired sound avoids feeling cornily nostalgic or inauthentic. It is the perfect holdover for people who want to have their Norah Jones fall moment but aren’t ready to fully go there.
Recipe 🍝 : 10 Bakes You Should Make Before Summer Ends
I thought it would be helpful to just put all the links for the corresponding images/recipes in the below post in one place:
1) Brown Butter Peach Crumble Bars
2) Watermelon Strawberry Jello Bars
3) Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble
4) No-churn s’mores ice cream
5) Olive Oil Ricotta Lemon Cake
6) Plum Frangipane Galette
7) Olive Oil Zucchini Bread
8) Raspberry Oat Bars
9) Strawberry Cheddar Scones
10) Apricot Almond Yogurt Cake
This Week’s Recipe
As the East Coast enters “fake fall,” this recipe feels like a transition out of summer and into fall, thanks to the caramel and warm spices. I think our ever earlier fast-forward to fall is disturbing, but if this recipe is feels summery-yet-cozy enough to take you all the way through September, I’ll be happy.
In this recipe, slightly sweet, mellow white miso is added to a simple caramel sauce, which transcends into something greater than its parts. The saltiness from the miso means no additional salt is needed to balance things out and you get a more complex, less cloying caramel. This gets mixed in with the peaches and drizzled over the top post-bake, if you know what’s good for you.
I know making caramel intimidates some folks. If you want to skip that step, but keep the miso flavor, you can. I’ll leave a note below the recipe with instructions.
Miso Caramel Peach Crisp
Makes 6-8 servings
Ingredients
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