Samantha Seneviratne has a sweet tooth. Or maybe it's a spice tooth. To her, sugar and spice go hand in hand.
"If you're going to add sweetness to your baked goods, you can use sugar along with a lot of other things to make a more interesting dessert," explains Seneviratne. That means looking to spices outside the usual suspects—things like cloves, cardamom, ginger, and bay leaves—to add additional layers of flavor beyond what you get with plain old sugar.
Seneviratne has made a name for herself by putting in time at Martha Stewart'sEveryday Food, writing her blogLove, Cake, and, most recently, publishing her baking cookbookThe New Sugar and Spice. She invited us into her New York kitchen to talk librarians (yes, librarians) and bake her adorableDate Nut Cookie Pies.
