Just Baking

I love baking from scratch.  There is something so fun and rewarding about transforming ordinary ingredients into a delicious dessert.  But lets face it; sometimes we have a sweet tooth with no time or energy to play Rachael Ray.  In our household, the cravings come most often from my husband.  Sudden bursts of “I need […]

You would think that a breakfast staple so common that it can be found in every bakery, grocery store, and even gas station that can boast a minimum of competency, would be as simple to make as rousing yourself from bed in order to chow down on it. In the case of the deceptively […]

Who wouldn’t love to merge health and dessert?  Recently I had the luck to stumble across a well known pastry chef, Fran Costigan, who specializes in this very concept.  In fact, Fran’s extensive culinary experience combined with her desire to have her cake and eat it too, has resulted in too many ‘healthy’ dessert recipes […]

Last week a delightful shipment landed on my doorstep.  It contained four attractively designed packages of the latest non-dairy cheese to hit North America, Sheese.  Produced in Scotland, this stuff has been all the rage among the vegan community.  As someone who’s writing and baking revolves around all things dairy-free, I was insanely eager to […]

Granola is perhaps one of the best food innovations to have been borne from the easy-going days of the 60’s era. Combining hearty oats, sweet fruits, and crunchy seeds and/or nuts, such a staple is a cheap and tasty way to nourish your body – A huge payoff for such a small amount of work. […]

It is true, I recently discovered a wonderful woman who makes gluten-Free bread mixes that easily rival their wheat-based cousins.  This gluten-free maven, otherwise known as Anna Sobaski, has developed five wonderful creations, aptly named “Breads From Anna™.”  I had the pleasure of trialing each of the four dairy-free selections, but it was her Gluten, Corn, […]

Waffles and chocolate. What could be better except maybe chocolate waffles?
That was my thought when I tried King Arthur’s Flour Whole-Grain Chocolate Fudge Waffle mix (which now comes packaged as a pancake and waffle mix).
The mix was quick and easy to prepare. It calls for melted butter or vegetable oil, eggs and milk. Everything else […]

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 […]

This past weekend was really busy.  With the holidays approaching, my wife and I had parties Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and I had to smoke meats for a lunch this coming Wednesday.  While brisket, turkey and pulled pork were absorbing flavors from the cherry wood that was burning, I decided to make some more […]

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 […]