May 8th, 2013 by
Recipe: Banana Fudge Cookies
As many of you know, when you taste test samples here at the King Arthur test kitchen, you’re required to “Bite and Write.” Sure, everyone loves to bite into cakes, cookies, and ice cream. When the email pops up saying “warm brownies in the kitchen” our hallway can resemble that stampede scene from Jurassic Park.
May 6th, 2013 by
Recipe: Double-Vanilla Whoopie Pies
Growing up, I was an inveterate chocolate lover.
Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Oreos. Chocolate cream pie. And, of course, chocolate ice cream.
My brother, on the other hand, was Mr. Vanilla. White-on-white cupcakes. Vienna Fingers. Twinkies. Vanilla ice cream.
On hot summer nights after Little League games, our parents would treat us to a cone at the Kenwood Farms ice cream stand, just over the river from our home in in Glastonbury, CT. Dad would have peach; Mom, butter-almond. My sister, Meagan, was an orange sherbet type gal. No question at all about my choice: chocolate, with chocolate jimmies.
And Mike?
April 12th, 2013 by
Recipes: Whole Wheat Waffles, Bacon-Cheddar-Chive Scones, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Easy Self-Rising Biscuits, Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts, Cape Cod Soft Molasses Cookies, Chocolate Cake Pan Cake, Mocha Madness Ice Cream
What’s the biggest thing that stops you from baking?
Lack of inspiration?
I doubt it. For most of us, the usual mantra is “So many recipes, so little time…”
AH-HA! “So little time.” Between work, keeping the family on schedule, meal prep, and exercise (critical for those of us who love to bake and EAT), there’s barely a spare moment Monday through Friday.
Even weekends seem to disappear in a cloud of laundry, kids’ sports, and errands.
What’s a dedicated baker to do?
When the baking urge hits, and you really, really don’t have even an hour to spare – bake FAST.
Here’s how.
March 5th, 2013 by
I have a new best friend, and his name is Spencer. Want to know how we became BFFs? It’s all about the magical break room upstairs at King Arthur Flour.
February 26th, 2013 by
Recipe: Citrus Stripe Cookies
Oh, my friends, we were in a restaurant the other night and the oddest thing happened…
February 5th, 2013 by
Recipe: None
Did you know the original Toll House cookie was called a Chocolate Crunch Cookie?
Back about 80 years ago, when this signature American cookie first saw the light of day – at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, MA – there was no such thing as chocolate chips.
Legend has it that Ruth Wakefield, the inn’s proprietress and head chef, ran out of chocolate for her chocolate cookie recipe one day, and added a chopped Nestlé’s semisweet chocolate bar to her sugar cookie recipe, hoping it would melt and turn the cookies chocolate.
Well, that didn’t happen; the chopped chocolate remained intact. And thus was born an American classic: the chocolate chip cookie.
February 2nd, 2013 by
Recipe: Animal Cookies
It’s February: Do you know where the kids are?
It’s time to get them into the kitchen for Bake for Family Fun Month!
January 30th, 2013 by
Recipes: Mocha Whoopie Pies and Super-Easy Marshmallow Icing.
WHOOPIE!
Here’s to sheer indulgence: palm-sized rounds of espresso-scented devil’s food cake sandwiched around a subtly flavored coffee/marshmallow/cream filling.
Go on, take a virtual bite. Imagine the moist mocha cake yielding to a soft-yet-dense 3/4″-thick layer of smoooooth, rich filling.
And if I haven’t sold you on these Mocha Whoopie Pies yet, go ahead, click out of here; you’re just not a mocha maven.
December 14th, 2012 by
Recipe: Chocolate Shortbread
What do Genghis Khan and Gandhi have in common? How about Danny Devito and Pablo Picasso?
Oooh, ooh, what about me, and the Marquis de Sade? I bet you are just dying to know, right? Well…
December 4th, 2012 by
I could sense some doubt when I mentioned making a gluten-free shortbread.
I heard, “You can’t do that, it just won’t work” enough times to almost start believing it myself. I was like the kid who was discouraged from doing something dangerously daring and just wanted to do it anyway to prove everyone wrong.
Armed only with a gluten-free butter cookie that crumbled like a dry sandcastle when touched, I was ready for some structure science. This drop cookie was great for a trifle maybe, but not-so-impressive for solo presentation.
True shortbread should be strong enough to be cut in to wedges or squares, but still tender enough to melt in your mouth.