Acclaimed Cookbook Author Dorie Greenspan's Can't-Live-Without-'Em Kitchen Essentials

Everyday Food

Welcome to My Kitchen Pantry, where we glimpse inside the homes of some of our favorite chefs and serious food fans to try and uncover their can't-live-without everyday eats. Today, we're peeking at the shelves of baking genius, author, and all-around sweetheart, Dorie Greenspan. With 10 cookbooks (and a whole bundle of awards) under her belt, Greenspan is recognized as much for her pastry precision as for her seemingly boundless energy. If this is what a 20-year sugar high looks like, please, hand us a cookie.

When not checking-in at one of the locations of her New York-based cookie business, Buerre & Sel, Greenspan shuttles between Connecticut and Paris, continuing to develop sweet new recipes in all three locations. "I keep my chocolate in my wine cellar," she wrote to us from her home in Westbrook, CT. Could this be for a new cookie, we wondered? Unlikely, but both ingredients did make it to Greenspan's list of must-haves pantry essentials.

Read on to learn more about this guru's bakery staples, her love of roast chicken, and why she'd never be caught in a kitchen without lemons.

Related: 15 Kitchen Shortcuts That Will Change the Way You Cook

A dash of Dorie:

  • I know it sounds terribly boring, but when I'm working, I have the same lunch every day: a bowl of cut-up apple, plain yogurt, raisins and sunflower seeds.

  • But I also couldn't live without bread -- especially the bread my husband bakes. And, of course, cheese, wine and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

  • I always stock up on butter … flour, sugar, eggs, great chocolate and vanilla, too. It's the baker's pantry and I'd never be caught short on these. (Ed. Note: Lesson learned!)

  • When I'm looking to give my meal and extra flavor boost, I reach for lemon zest. I think I must have every condiment, oil and vinegar ever crafted, but I always reach for a lemon to finish dishes. Whether it's pasta, a stew or something grilled, adding fresh zest and a squeeze of juice at the last second always picks up a dish.

Related: Fast, One-Pot Meal Ideas To Feed the Whole Family

  • When no one else is home, I make myself a roast chicken. My husband may be the only person in the world immune to the charms of roast chicken, so when I know I've got the house to myself, I roast a chicken and have it to nibble on for days. Happiness!

  • But, for everyone else, I make cookies -- of course! No one ever gets tired of Jammers and World Peace Cookies, but soon it will be time for fruit pies -- and it's always time for tarts and simple loaf cakes that you can leave out and cut to have with coffee, tea or just because they're there.

  • And when I'm too tired to cook anything, I make an open-face sardine sandwich - bread, butter, thin slices of onion (red, if it's in the house; rinsed), tomato and, yes, lemon zest and juice.

More from Everyday Food:
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35 Beyond Delicious No-Bake Dessert Recipes
34 Reasons to Eat a Burger Every Day
Easy, Everyday Meatless Recipes

Dorie loves a good roast chicken. Learn to make our go-to recipe here.