Food

BA Bake Clubs June Recipe Is This Summers Cutest Pastry

Is baking your entire personality? Is The Great British Baking Show your comfort watch? Or maybe you just love eating cookies? Either way, you’re one of us. Come join our Bon pétit Bake Club.

We’re Jesse and Shilpa, senior editors and the resident bakers of the Bon pétit Test Kitchen. We love to bake—some might even call us obsessive—and we love to talk about all the hows and whys and what-didn’t-works that come with it.

Think of the Bon pétit Bake Club as a book club, but for baking. Each month we share a brand-new meticulously tested recipe. Bake along with us, share your wins (or your fails—we’ve all been there), post pictures, ask us your pressing questions. We’re creating a community of confident, curious bakers who find just as much joy in the process of baking as the final results.

Want to join the club? Here’s how:

First, and most important, bake this month’s recipe, which you’ll find below.

Join the Bon pétit Bake Club chat on Substack and we’ll take you behind the scenes of our recipe development process.

Post and share photos of your beautiful bakes on Instagram using the hashtag #BABakeClub.

Share feedback and ask us questions in the Recipe Notes section of the recipe page in the Epicurious p. We read every comment and look forward to talking with you about butter, sugar, and more.

Send your baking questions to [emailprotected] for a chance to be featured on our podcast. Each recipe’s episode goes live at the start of the following month on the Bon pétit podcast feed.

If a tomato sandwich, pizza, and flaky pastry started a band, these tomato galettes would be their first hit single. Start by making a black-pepper-spiked pie dough, which needs no specialty equipment to bake up crisp and layered. Each little round is filled with a dollop of garlicky Parmesan and herb mayo, which acts as a barrier between each little galette’s juicy tomato slice and delicate pleated crust. —Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor

Lemons are a powerful ingredient. So why miss out on their full potential by only using their juice and zest? That was the thesis behind these bars. By blitzing up two whole lemons into the curd, then straining out the pulpy bits, we keep lemon’s most exciting qualities: the bitterness of the pith, the essential oils of the skin, and of course, the acidity of the juice. Think Lemonhead candy. It’s everything I love about classic lemon bars with the volume turned up to a reckless decibel level.

Last year, for deputy food editor Hana Asbrink’s birthday, I made a strawberry roll cake filled with whipped cream and tiny jewel-red strawberries. It was an immediate hit and we decided right then that it belonged in Bon pétit Bake Club. With fluffy cake, vanilla-bean-flecked cream, and juicy berries, it’s a dream dessert, tailored for this joyful season filled with new blooms and tender asparagus. Roll cakes traditionally require a complex series of steps when it comes to shing, but this version utilizes an oil-based chiffon sponge, making it particularly easy to roll with no cracks and no heartbreak.

After last month’s cheesy biscuits, we’re going back to our dessert-loving roots and baking chocolate cake. But not just any old chocolate cake—this is a malty, brawny loaf imbued with Guinness stout. The crumb is tender beyond belief because of how you mix the batter. You’ll combine the dry ingredients, then rub in the butter by hand, until it practically dispears. This mimics a technique called reverse creaming and prevents excess gluten from forming. And there’s no special equipment, like a stand mixer, required.

Food

37 Summer Desserts Thatll Sweeten Even the Hottest Days

Open the summer desserts file, and you’ll find everything from easy no-bake desserts and frozen treats to fruit-packed pies, cobblers, and icebox cakes. Hot summer days call for low-effort sweet treats—but we’ve also included some special-occasion showstoppers for celebratory nights.

These summer desserts make the most of the season’s fleeting pleasures: ripe berries, stone fruit at its peak, bright and sunny citrus, cold cream, and crisp textures meant for hot evenings. Some recipes come together in minutes with little more than a knife and a freezer, while others are built for birthdays, dinner parties, and long holiday weekends. Whatever your pleasure, there’s a dessert here for you that feels distinctly suited to summer.

Jump ahead

Food

The Best Bars in Atlanta Right Now

Don’t Miss: Written in chalk above the bar, the cocktail menu shifts seasonally, but the Watermelon Man (a Negroni-esque tipple featuring the summertime fruit and basil), is a great example of how this new-school Inman Park haunt updates classics.

661 Auburn Ave NE, Ste 280, Atlanta

Brittany Wages

The James Room’s dark, sexy backroom lounge reveals itself through a convincingly simple lobby café front, past a door disguised as a bookshelf. You’re here for the vibrations, and perhs the Beltline location plays a large part as well. But ultimately, the James Room is all about the people, Atlanta’s in-town movers and shakers, who show up stylishly for refined drinks, great music, and the requisite mingling and mixing.

Don’t Miss: Jungle birds, palomas and chili-oiled dirty martinis line the menu of classic cocktails, but consider the Until You See the Cross, essentially a premium spicy margarita but clarified with milk, adding silky sophistication.

99 Krog Street NE, Ste W, Atlanta

You always feel good leaving Ticon’, however you felt coming in notwithstanding. That’s because this supercool, charming cocktail den, dimly lit with string lights, was crafted by a group of partners that include beloved ATL bartenders Greg Best and Paul Calvert, before the let’s open a ’70s-themed bar craze hit ATL a few years ago. The crew here not only serves thoughtfully balanced drinks—including very reasonably priced wines as low as $12 per glass—but delivers outstanding hospitality worthy of a James Beard finalist.

Don’t Miss: There’s no way to go wrong with the cocktail menu, whether you’re into dry gin and sherry martinis or mint- and amaretto-kissed mai tais, but the power move is the Reserve Ticonderoga Cup, a fancier play on the bar’s regular $15 version of pineple, lemon, and mint with cherry, cognac and aged rum. This choice variation upgrades your spirits, literally and figuratively, to VSOP and select levels, all over pebbled ice in a metallic vessel, for $8 more.

Where to Stay in Atlanta If You Like to Eat

These hotels are the perfect home base while eating your way through the ATL.

931 Monroe Dr NE, Ste C-106, Atlanta

Food

Quick-Pickled Red Onions

Think of this pickled red onion recipe as a versatile blueprint. Crisp, punchy, and ready after about an hour of hands-off time, they’re one of the easiest ways to add bright, tangy flavor to everyday meals.

Keep a jar in the fridge and add them to tacos, breakfast sandwiches, burgers, grain bowls, salads, or just some roasted vegetables. Their sharp bite mellows as they soak in the brine, while their signature crunch remains. The longer they sit, the more deeply flavored and vibrant they become—making them a simple make-ahead condiment you’ll reach for again and again.

Tips for making quick-pickled red onions

Yes. Warming the brine before pouring it over the onions speeds up the pickling process (heat over medium-high just until the sugar is dissolved). The finished pickled onions will be slightly softer than if you brine them at room temperature, but they’ll be ready to eat in just about 15 minutes.

Can I use a different vinegar?

Can I add spices or aromatics?

Absolutely. Try whole black peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaves, garlic cloves, sliced chiles, or fresh herbs for extra flavor.

How long do pickled red onions last in the fridge?

After about an hour at room temperature, the onions will be lightly pickled and still fairly sharp. As they sit in the brine, their flavor becomes more balanced, their color deepens, and their bite mellows. Store them in their pickling liquid in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

The best way to slice onions for pickling →

Slice the onion in half from root to stem. At an angle, trim the ends from both sides, then remove the pery skins. Following the onion’s curve, slice into long strips from pole to pole. Confused? How about a video:

How to Cut an Onion (With Videos, Thank Goodness!)

Food

Which Canned Butter Beans Are Best?

Canned beans are a go-to for me, especially during the summer. They’re convenient, ready to eat, and protein-dense. Perfect for a no-cook meal on a hotter-than-hot day.

My new recipe for Big Bean Ceviche is a ripe example of romantically marrying this pantry stle with seasonal produce. Where traditional ceviche is made with raw seafood or fish cooked in the acid of citrus juice, this recipe instead opts for a can of plump white beans. They’ll hpily marinate in the tangy tomato sauce before being scooped up with tortilla chips. Not only do the beans make this dish vegan, meaning more folks are likely to be able to enjoy it, but the absence of seafood means it can sit out for longer, without fears of it spoiling in the sun.

Perhs you’re familiar with cevichocho, a variation on Ecuadorian seafood ceviche, made with an Andean variety of lupini beans, or chochos, cooked from dry (marinated in a citrus juice with chopped vegetables and often served with plantain chips). The vibe here is similar, but with a punchier sauce, and requires no par-cooking, thanks to the canned butter beans.

Depending on where you live, you may also know these meaty white beans as large lima beans. With a creamy texture, dramatic size, and (you guessed it) buttery flavor, they’re a fantastic alternative to smaller white beans like cannellini or navy beans. While it’s relatively simple to find dry butter beans, or similar varieties such as gigantes or corona beans, these options require a lengthy pre-soak and cook time. Luckily, there are a handful of affordable canned options available at most supermarkets. Here are the brands I’d recommend:

A full inch in length, Grace butter beans (made with butter beans, water, salt, and ascorbic acid, an additive used to prevent discoloration and preserve flavor) are the most plump and creamy canned butter bean I’ve tried. They’re sold nationally, though not quite as common as a brand like Goya. The standard can is 14.1 oz., which is a little less than most canned beans, but the high quality is worth it. They’d be my number one choice for the Big Bean Ceviche, even with the smaller can than the recipe calls for.

The biggest butter beans available at the supermarket (most are over 1″ long), Goya’s butter beans are nicely plump. The 15.5-oz. cans are one of the most widely available brands nationally sold. Each can contains butter beans, water, salt, and preservatives calcium chloride and calcium disodium EDTA (which act as firming and color-retention agents). Given the preservatives, they should probably be a little more uniform in quality and texture, but they have a rich flavor and great visual peal. I’d grab them for any recipe that calls for butter beans, including my vegetarian ceviche.

Jarred, if you can find ’em

Though they’re less common than cans, jarred butter beans can be very good. They’re often more firm and creamy, stored in a lighter, less starchy liquid. Some specialty stores will sell brands like Belazu and El Navarrico; in the UK, Bold Bean Co. is a fantastic option.

This thrifty riff hinges on canned butter beans and a juicy grated tomato marinade.

View Recipe

Food

5 New Snacks Bon Appétit Editors Are Most Excited About This June

Purely Elizabeth Protein Granola

Protein is everywhere: on popcorn, in jams and jellies, and even in water. What I preciate most about Purely Elizabeth’s new protein granola, available in three flavors (dark chocolate blueberry, almond butter and berries, and cinnamon toast), is that all the protein comes from nuts and seeds rather than protein powder. There are only 10 grams per serving, but tossed into a bowl of Greek yogurt, that’s more than enough. My favorite is the almond butter and berries, which has both dried cranberries and freeze-dried strawberries. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager