Just Baking

 
Focaccia bread is wonderful as an appetizer, an addition to a meal, or used for a favorite sandwich bread. If you’ve never made it before, this recipe is really easy and comes out nice used with some tips* I found to be helpful. Unlike a traditional Focaccia that is flat, I decided to make it […]

I was recently engaged with my parents in a discussion about traditional desserts in Algeria and North Africa in general. If you were here, although you wouldn’t understand a word of what we were saying, you would hear my father say, in a very serious manner, that Algerian desserts are very simple and tend to […]

There was a time in my life when I used to buy all of my intimate apparel at Victoria’s Secret. I would not be caught dead without a matching bra and pantie ensemble on, and that matching ensemble had to have the same colors in it as my outfit did. Even though people would not […]

I’m not one of those people who relegate certain recipes to specific seasons.  Fruits and vegetables eaten within their season, for sure, but soup in the summer?  Yes!  Apples too?  Absolutely.
I was doing some research for an article I’m writing, and stumbled upon a recipe for Frosted Apple Cinnamon Bars from Land o’ Lakes. I quickly scanned […]

Somehow every Wednesday, and sometimes Friday, I find myself in the kitchen baking. I love baking. I really do. When my mother would entertain a crowd, I was the one in charge of baking dessert, setting the table and frying Dauphine cheese. My brother always teases her about her redundant dauphine cheese and how he […]

Let’s talk about working with nuts. And no, we’re not talking about family or coworkers.
Anyway, what many novice bakers do not realize is that toasting nuts before using them in a recipe really brings out their flavor. It also helps extend their shelf life because raw nuts can spoil relatively quickly at room temperature.
In the picture you can see coconut, […]

When I first saw Orka oven mitts, in my parents’ kitchen a couple of years ago, I was pretty taken with the rubbery silicone mitts that can handle temps reaching nearly 500 degrees F. I was definitely intrigued, but it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. When I pulled them on, my dad’s Orkas were big, awkward things. I […]

 
“En Papillote”: A posh denomination for a fun and easy way of cooking. Often applied to fish, it can also be used for chicken or vegetables on their own.
All you have to do is slice the vegetables thinly, wrap all the items in a piece of parchment or tin foil, and cook the parcel in the oven at […]

Madeleine cookies are fairly new to my palate; I’ve never had one before. A fellow blogger sent me some after being a lucky winner in her blog. One taste of them and I was hooked. I set out to find me recipes and a pan so I could make these at home. I was lucky to […]