Tom Harte tested the orange-pecan muffins he baked in his kitchen.

In the classroom, Dr. Tom Harte, a professor of speech, teaches Southeast Missouri State University students ways to share information effectively.

In the pages of the Southeast Missourian, Harte hopes readers will help him accomplish that same goal with one of his favorite subjects -- cooking.

Removing toasty orange-pecan muffins from his oven and popping them from bundt-shaped tins one recent morning, Harte, the former co-owner of My Daddy's Cheesecake in downtown Cape Girardeau, talked about plans for his new cooking column.

Joni Adams, managing editor, said the paper is looking forward to bringing back a local food columnist.

"When we had our recent chocolate recipe contest, many readers submitted recipes they had clipped from the Missourian years ago. People said they really missed the recipes, and we responded," said Adams. "Tom has a long background in cooking, both gourmet and otherwise. He's very personable, and we felt he would offer a very readable column that stars recipes from our readers."

The column will be called "A Harte Appetite," chuckled Harte, who pronounces his name with a long e. With the focus on recipe sharing, the column will run every two weeks, beginning next Wednesday.

"I hope to establish a dialogue with the readers, to encourage them to send in their recipes," Harte said. Subjects will run the dining spectrum. "The column will include recipes that are challenging, but worth it, and some that can be whipped together in a hurry," Harte said.

Harte was reared enjoying good food, but it wasn't until he whipped up several batches of cookies in graduate school that he discovered how much he enjoyed the preparation part.

He continued cooking for himself and his wife, Jane, gleaning information from many sources. Later, the Hartes and some friends formed a local supper club.

"The supper club taught us how to cook," Harte said. "We were adventurous, we would research and investigate."

Harte's cheesecake recipes featured in the company he and his business partners founded, My Daddy's Cheesecake, were results of those supper club get-togethers.

The Hartes and their business partners sold My Daddy's Cheesecake last summer. While those recipes are off-limits, Harte has many other cheesecake recipes he plans to share -- some of them likely in his first column.

While Harte enjoys cooking all types of foods, desserts, he said, remain his truest passion.

"I've always got room for dessert," Harte said. "My real passion is really eating first; cooking is a means to an end."

But achieving those results can be a lot of fun. "Cooking is not really that complicated if the recipe is good," he noted.

Overall, Harte explained, "people are looking for recipes that are tested, the kind of recipes that they might share with a neighbor across the back fence."

That's why reader input will be so important to the column.

It's just that kind of tried and true recipe that Harte likes to use. While he is an avid collector, reader and user of cookbooks, Harte knows the delight that can be found in the clipped recipe.

Rummaging through his voluminous collection of filed recipe clippings is one of his favorite pastimes, especially when planning a special meal.

Cooking is a fun avocation and a great hobby for Harte, and although he doesn't consider himself a gourmet chef, he said, "I'm somebody who likes to cook and who can upon occasion make something that's edible or better."

From start to finish, Harte knows the enjoyment eating well delivers.

"There's nothing more convivial than having people around the table enjoying good food," he said.