Where’s The Statler Cake?

The scene: our local grocery store, after work the Tuesday after Labor Day. It was a long day, and I wasn’t terrifically engaged with the task of meal planning for the week. As I wandered the aisles absently, out of the blue I was struck by the strangest inspiration. I needed to [...]

Christmas Cookie Test Drive

When I was a kid, making spritz cookies with the ancient cookie press seemed so special. I mean, cookies that required a little machine with all kinds of moving parts? How awesome is that? Somewhere along the line the ancient press kicked the bucket, leaving us without spritz cookies for years and [...]

Wherein We Discover, Again, That Dorie Greenspan Is A Genius

Okay, if you like baking, or just looking at recipes for baking, or just looking at pretty pictures of baked goods, then you should own a copy of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home To Yours. If you don’t already, you should zip down to your local public library to at least take a [...]

Faux-caccia, Or: I Might Be A Crazy, Crazy Bitch, But At Least I’m Not Sandra Lee

Okay, the other night I got all creative with my farm share and winged-it with my first-ever attempt at stuffed peppers.

I had four beautiful, perfectly-shaped, giant green peppers and a fridge full of chili leftovers, so there was nothing else to be done with them. When I couldn’t find a recipe that sounded like [...]

And I Get To Take All The Credit!

Within the last week I’ve had two separate people suggest cookie recipes to me (Patty suggested lemon-clove sandwich cookies, and Sarah wrote a post about chocolate cookies) but I’m still months behind on my cookie plans! Ages ago I saw a recipe for something called Pine Nut Tassies. I’d never made tassies before. [...]

Unicorn Kisses, Or Adventures In Cookie Baking

To celebrate that the final piece of the Unicorn Kitchen was put into place on Friday morning — only 14 months after the actual work on the project started — we decided to make something special. Something special that could also serve to kick-off a new series that we’re very excited about here at [...]

Revisting the Chewy Ginger Oatmeal Cookie

It’s no secret that around here that we’re all getting more than a little antsy for Autumn. I decided to contribute to that Fall-longing by baking one of the most “Fall-y” cookies in my (limited) repertoire — Chewy Ginger Oatmeal cookies. The oatmeal makes for a wholesome touch, the taste equivalent of buying [...]

Wherein We Discover That Dorie Greenspan Is A GENIUS

Yesterday was a Summer Friday, which means I only have to work a half day. I get to go home at lunchtime and spend the afternoon feeling guilty that Pookie’s stuck at work. So I decided that I should use my afternoon for good instead of evil this week, and, after discussing with [...]

Cookies by Martha Stewart… or Craig Biggio?

Last Christmas I went on a gingerbread cookie binge after finding a surprisingly good recipe in Baking Illustrated. The only problem was the only cookie cutters I had were circles and hearts. There are few sights sadder than a tray of gingerbread cookies cut into circles and hearts, believe you me. Adding [...]

Hey! Wasn’t That The Name Of Those Scented Dolls When We Were Kids?

So this week we had a terrible convergence: a staggering, late-August-esque heat wave (temperatures up near 100, humidity right up there with it) and the bulk of the strawberry crop at the farm. So yesterday Boomer and I went out to pick six quarts of strawberries, and ended up with a gazillion berries that [...]