Author Archive

The French Toast Connection

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Ever have one of those conversations when someone absolutely puts their finger on the pulse of a universal experience? Phil Jones did that for me in his email last week: “When using cinnamon, e.g., for French Toast, how do you get it to blend in nicely, instead of floating on top of the mixture, and/or making an unmixed coating on the bowl at the edge of the liquid?”

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My reaction was visceral: “He is SO right!” Is there anything more annoying?

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What’s a Tweedie?

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

Anatomy of a test run, chapter 1.

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People contact us all the time looking for long-lost recipes. Not long ago we fielded an email from a customer who was looking to re-create a collection of family recipes. They’d found sources for everything on their list but a recipe called Tweedies, and wanted to know if we could help. (more…)

Tweedie bar cookies, Chapter 2

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

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After my first attempt at bar Tweedies, I did a little cogitating. I knew I had to back off the baking powder for sure. I also realized it was time to use some common sense about the middle layer, and make a confectioners’ sugar frosting that would just plain behave itself. Finally, I wondered what kind of brownie-like proportions could be brought to bear on the base layers, to get something more moist, that would read more like a bar cookie. (more…)

How crunchy is Vermont?

Friday, February 1st, 2008

If the rest of the country has a picture of as Vermonters, it probably involves Birkenstocks on our feet, flannel on our backs, and traces of cow manure on our shoes.

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What’s for dinner?

Friday, January 25th, 2008

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This afternoon our Listen Center community service team is in full swing. (more…)

Searching for Sweetness, Chapter 3: brownies

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

The last recipe where I tested Granulated Splenda and Clabber Girl Sugar Replacer yielded some of the most dramatic effects. (more…)

Searching for Sweetness, Chapter 2

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

After putting Splenda Granular and Clabber Girl Sugar Replacer through their paces with sugar cookies, it was time to move on to muffins. control scooped

I used our Simplest Muffins recipe, with the addition of some diced apricots and cranberries for an accent.

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Searching for sweetness, Chapter 1

Monday, January 14th, 2008

We’ve all heard how overweight we are as a nation. The incidence of diabetes in this country is disturbingly high and headed upward all the time. It’s not surprising that we get a lot of requests from bakers within days of their last doctor’s visit asking for help.
I hear from Baking Sheet subscribers all the time, looking for ways to make healthier, lower calorie recipes. So I decided to do some homework. (more…)

Birth of a baking mix

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

Time to introduce you to the other two baking wizards in the test kitchen. Sue Gray and Monte Petersen perform a very special kind of alchemy every day. They imagine textures and flavors, then bring a fantastic array of ingredients to bear to make those ideas come true. It happens step by step, with all kinds surprising twists along the way. (more…)

The well-rounded pizza

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

Ever make a batch of pizza dough, tip it out of the mixing bowl or bread machine, and have a semi-rectangular blob that completely refuses to be rearranged to anything resembling a circle? Here’s a tip we taught our line cooks in the restaurants I’ve run. (more…)