“I want these hot biscuits and I want them RIGHT NOW!”

If that’s your reaction, you’re in luck. While immediate instant gratification isn’t likely (unless you already know these biscuits’ cold, dark secret), FUTURE instant gratification is a real possibility.

And the secret is…

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Want to have ginger snowmen, fresh-baked and ready to decorate, in just 10 minutes?

Sure you do! Who wouldn’t, given the hectic schedules we all pursue at this time of the year.

Between work and holiday shopping, chores and holiday shopping, errands and holiday shopping – and holiday shopping – who has time for making cookie dough, rolling it out, cutting, carefully transferring cutouts to cookie sheets, baking, cooling…

You do!

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Wouldn’t you love to pull this stunning apple pie out of your oven in less than an hour, start to finish?

Impossible, you say?

Au contraire – your grandma could have done it. That is, if you had a grandma like mine, with a big chest freezer full of unbaked pies.

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So what’s up with this enormous baking sheet of unbaked chocolate chip cookies?

“Surely you’re not going to bake them like THAT,” you say.

You’re right. I’m not going to bake them like THAT. (more…)

The sun sets early these days. When I leave work at 5 p.m. I step into a world of inky darkness broken only by the row of lights in the parking lot, and maybe the cold glow of a distant crescent moon.

Cold and darkness may be unwelcome to some of you, but to me, they signal the real heart of the baking season. In July, spending hours in a hot kitchen is something to be avoided; in December, it’s comforting. I turn on the oven, (more…)