The Perfect Pantry®

Vanilla extract (Recipe: chocolate chip ice cream cookies)

First published in October 2006, this updated pantry ingredient post features new photos, links, and a few tweaks to the recipe. Try this variation with dark chocolate chips, for a deeply satisfying chocolate cookie treat. (Where's the ice cream? It's in the dough.)

Chocolate and vanilla, the culinary Romeo and Juliet: grown in different areas of the world, stored in different parts of the pantry, but they find a way to be together in the end.

All the great chocolate desserts — ice cream, brownies, cakes and cookies — depend on vanilla to enhance the chocolate flavor. The Aztecs may have discovered this synergy, but the first people to spread the word were Spanish conquistadors, who got hooked on a chocolate drink flavored with vanilla at the court of Moctezuma, and sent vanilla pods back to Spain.

Recipe for chocolate Nutella® nut cookies

To be honest, I thought it would be safe to make these chocolate Nutella nut cookies. After all, I'm not one of those people (you know who you are) who can't pass a jar of hazelnutty-chocolaty Nutella without sticking a spoon in it. Temptation? No problem. Or so I thought. Then I made the mistake of tasting one of the cookies, still warm from the oven, and my willpower melted as quickly as that rich, not-too-sweet cookie melted on my tongue. So my advice to you is this: do not make these cookies unless your granddaughters, and your son-in-law, and your friend who comes for afternoon tea promise to stop by that very same day to eat the entire batch. If you do bake these cookies, and you're home alone, please remember that I tried to save you.

Vegetable shortening (Recipe: granola cookies)

First published in July 2006, this updated pantry ingredient post features new photos, links, and tweaks to the recipe. Please enjoy these granola cookies, which I've been making since my college days way back when, and which would be so perfect for a July 4th picnic or barbecue.

I'm a Motown, pre-1975 rock 'n roll, granola kind of girl. I don't bake much -- I've already owned up to keeping store-bought pie crust in my refrigerator -- but oooooh, baby, I love love love granola cookies, and that's why vegetable shortening resides in The Perfect Pantry.

Whole wheat walnut-raisin biscotti recipe

When my friends Donna (Just One Donna) and Stacy (Get Up Off the Couch) came for a day of work-related brainstorming, I took the opportunity to road test some recipe ideas for our lunch. After all, who better to suffer your kitchen experiments than fellow bloggers? A nice quiche, green salad, and molasses spice cookies followed a morning snack of walnut-raisin biscotti. Made with white whole wheat flour and not much sugar, these healthier cookies get their sweetness from golden raisins, which also keeps them just moist enough. We were so deep in conversation that we forgot to dunk, but the next morning I slid a leftover biscotto into my coffee, the perfect way to start the day.