easygayoven

Every year around this time I decide I need to publish a fig recipe even though I’m not really crazy about figs. But I know you all are! The figs are accessory to this recipe, though, so it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. That being said, this recipe could work with many fruits: raspberries, strawberries, bruléed bananas, even passionfruit (if ya got it.) Adding cocoa to any kind of biscuit or scone or shortcake is tricky.

I love Labor Day because it doesn’t engender that icky discomfort that creeps up on me when the Fourth of July, Columbus Day … Thanksgiving … roll around.

We are trying something new and that new thing is I saved up a bunch of EGO Recommends recommendations for one newsletter. I don’t even know if you guys want these or if you just skip over them to get to the recipe, but let’s try this out and see if it sticks! What else do you all want recommendations from me about? Kitchen stuff? Baking stuff? God forbid someone asks me about all my cool clothes or skincare routine! easygayoven is a reader-supported publication.

I am back in God’s Country after my trip to Los Angeles! When my pal Sara Tane and I got together for our recipes collab in April (the coconut caramel ccc’s and the steak tostadas) I had mentioned my plan to visit LA this summer. She, being the giving queen that she is, said I should just stay at her place while she was in Copenhagen! Reader, I gave her five minutes to take it back before buying my plane tickets. And of course, I insisted she let me look after her dog Pepper while I was there.

I’m thrilled to tell you… this past week, easygayoven crossed the 20,000-subscriber mark! This newsletter and community has completely changed my operation at EGO for the better and I cannot thank you all enough for being here and supporting. I also want to send out my gratitude to the folks that pay for the newsletter. It’s because of you all that I can spend more time in the kitchen developing new recipes and less time…. doing other stuff, lol.

I’ve clearly got mango on the brain. I just did a collab where I made a mango chamoy granita (which was awesome.) And I’ve had this mango macadamia nut (and white chocolate — but that would make the title too long) sitting in my “to-develop” notes app list for too long! I wanted to wait til we before I asked you to turn your ovens on for this very tropical, very summery cookie.

Well, it’s Pride. The federal government is siccing the military on civilians in California, whether they’re protesting or picking strawberries. Yesterday, a sitting senator was tackled and detained by Trump administration agents for asking a question. Tomorrow, the president will throw a North Korea-style, $45-million military parade that just so happens to also be his 79th birthday party.

In early May, I hosted my very first dinner party ever. Granted, I’ve hosted (fabulous) birthday, housewarming and Halloween parties in the past for sometimes more than 50 guests. But this was a different undertaking, and one I was nervous about pulling off. I rejected most offers to bring food because I wanted to see if I could do it myself. It was an exercise for the sake of effort, like the Iron Man race.

Before we jump in, I wanted to tease that I’m in the process of updating one of my signature best-ever recipes. I’ll be publishing the redux soon-ish — can you guess what it is? This recipe is for the fabulous community of paid subscribers. <3 Get access to it and the whole archive of recipes by becoming a paid subscriber. Remember two weeks ago when I said I gave up on my dreams of a rhubarb custard situation? Well guess whaaaat? I hunkered down and did the thing.

I’m not doing anything for Memorial Day Weekend (I never even remember holiday weekends now that I work for myself!). But in case you have a brunch to host, a beach picnic to shlep to, or barbecue to guest star at, here are some recipe ideas perfect for the unofficial start of summer. Have a great holiday weekend! Around half of these recipes are for the awesome community of paid subscribers who keep this show on the road! You can access them by upgrading now.