Continuing for several weeks more, the peak of a fresh apple season is upon us making this an especially good time for trying new apple recipes. I’ve made apple tarte tatin for you before, but not one as authentically prepared as the one created by quality ceramic ovenware/bakeware maker Emile Henry, of France. And, while I’ve presented apple cakes in the past, none were as simply combined as the Apple Cider Pound Cake from the famed Junior League of Baton Rouge’s “River Road II: A Second Helping” cookbook. Then there’s the apple cider.

Ever since Bluffton Today ran last month’s  five-star review of  The Cottage Café, Bakery & Tea Room, in Old Town, Bluffton, S.C. I’ve been deluged with requests (more like pleas) for the restaurant’s recipe for homemade Pistachio Cream Cake, dubbed as “stellar,” by the newspaper’s Undercover Eater.

If you’re lucky enough to live in an area with a large supermarket that stocks a good supply of ethnic food products, you may be able to find all the ingredients needed to make this authentic tasting (and looking) Japanese meal at home. I found all that I required in my area’s Kroger market, with the exception of the matcha (green tea powder) needed for making green tea ice cream, which was finally located inexpensively at my favorite Asian mega-store (Hang Lung), in north Charleston.

“Sugar Mommas” Kimberly “Momma” Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero, authors of “Sugar, Sugar: Every Recipe Has a Story,” were quick to alleviate the fears expressed by recipe submitter, Kevin Listen, that his mother’s recipe for Magic Marshmallow Puffs weren’t “highbrow” enough for their cookbook. Wrote the authors, “What? Oh, you are so wrong, Mr. Listen! Magic Marshmallow Puffs are a fabulous recipe created by a mom to serve to her babes after a long, cold day snowed in at the ranch. If it makes our eyebrows pop up, it’s highbrow enough for us!