Just Baking

Leave it to America to come up with the most random times to declare food-centric holidays, and then tell no one about it. A brief search of google revealed that we do indeed have numerous dates designated to specific edible items, be them baked goods, sweets, savory dishes, individual spices… You name it, I’ll […]

Let’s say you’re just starting out baking from scratch for the very first time. You need a tray of cupcakes to bring to work tomorrow and it’s 7 o’clock in the evening. You bought the ingredients and they’re all ready for you to use, you just need to take them out of the […]

This past weekend, I finally got back to trying my hand at artisan style breads instead of regular white bread.  I hadn’t really looked before, but King Arthur Flour, one of my favorite sites, has a slew of online recipes, too.  I have a few books, but thought I’d try their European hearth bread recipe.  […]

Another holiday season has come and gone; another boozy New Year’s Eve nothing but a memory of the fading chords of Auld Lang Syne; and peering into the looking glass at a glum and dreary winter ahead can be downright depressing.  The carols have been turned off.  Presents all unwrapped.  Turkey leftovers recycled into as […]

Looking for ways to use up that leftover eggnog sitting in your fridge?  Here are a few:
Bake up a batch of my favorite new cookie of the holiday season:  Eggnog Cookies.  I haven’t had a chance to test out the recipe myself, but the ratings are high (A sure sign the recipe is a winner!).
Make popovers!  The […]

There is something magical about Christmas morning. The anticipation, the gifts, the time with loved ones, and in my family, the breakfast!  We would always head to my grandma’s house for breakfast, and man alive could she cook.  Fried potatoes and eggs, croissants, bacon, and whatever was left over from her Christmas Eve party she […]

I’m competitive.  And baking is my sport.  I take to the kitchen like an Olympian to a gym, knowing that I must challenge myself each time if I want to sustain that culinary endorphin rush.  So each holiday season, I strive to find a new recipe that will wow and vavoom the dessert socks off […]

Often it’s the flakey crust that really makes a pie.  You can have the best filling in the world, but if the crust is hard or lacks taste that just seems to ruin dessert.  I’m not the most experienced when it comes to scratch-made pie crust.  And I think due to the lack of experience there is a bit of an intimidation […]

While the title Cake Bible is already taken, two new books–Florence Fabricant’s The New York Times Dessert Cookbook and Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours–are substantial enough to be taken as gospel.  These two sweet cookbooks emerged just two weeks apart (Dessert on October 19, Baking on November 1), and they have substantial […]

Cookies.  Who doesn’t love them right?  As a very passionate baker, I’m not sure which I love more eating cookies or baking them.  Probably the latter of the two.  For most of us when we think of the holiday season we also think of all the delicious food that goes along with it.  Or atleast […]