Just Baking

Chocolate in our household is a staple, not a luxury.  It seems like my husband needs hourly fixes of bite-sized dark chocolate, or simply a handful of chocolate chips.  In the past I have purchased him an assortment of chocolate for special occasions, but it really isn’t met with much enthusiasm, to him, chocolate is […]

I never made a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, and, really, I still don’t. My wife is just the same way. To us, it’s just a made up holiday, heavily marketed by Hallmark to make people feel guilty for being single. That doesn’t mean I don’t try to do something special for my wife; […]

Did you ever find a recipe that you fell so in love with at first sight that you just had to make it, and then when it didn’t work out, you were determined to make it work?  I had this happen a couple of weeks ago.  I came across a recipe for Jam Crumb Cake […]

The second month of this New Year has kicked in, and we all know that February is the month to celebrate love, as people all around the world have begun to plan for the Valentine’s Day. Love and chocolate go hand in hand, so its natural that I decided to practise my hand at some […]

Impressive centerpiece for dinner parties. Quick and simple to make, this is the perfect recipe for beginners. This is a dish often suggested for pre-Christmas parties, but served with a fresh green salad, we could almost imagine that spring has arrived. In fact, this dish is all about tremors of excitement and anticipation. At […]

While making Sweet Potato Muffins from the Cooking with Jack cookbook, I thought about Jack Daniels and cornbread. It makes so much sense. Jack Daniels is a corn mash whiskey. A couple of tablespoons Jack Daniels whiskey made a normal cornbread something special.

Two boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix call for 1/3 cup of milk for […]

Every grocery store, coffee shop, bakery, diner, and convenience mart in New Jersey and New York sell crumb cake.  Ask any East Coaster about crumb cake and they will begin to swoon and drool.  Being a native Midwestern transplanted on the East Coast, I created my version of the beloved baked good.
Caramel Apple Crumb Cake is […]

Gale Gand is one busy woman.  Besides being the pastry chef at Tramonto’s Steak & Seafood, Osteria di Tramonto, RT Lounge, Gale’s Coffee Bar and Tru (all luckily located in the same town of Wheeling, IL), she is also a popular cookbook author and host of Sweet Dreams on the Food Network.  To say she […]