We have another birthday in my office next week. I asked the birthday girl to name her favorite type of cake and her answer was chocolate with chocolate frosting. I decided to take a practice run to make sure I had a good recipe. I hate making something for the first...
A modified version of Alton Brown’s amazing pancakes.
Our refrigerator is about 13 years old. It's a not-so-lovely beige Maytag which still works fairly well. My two complaints are 1) that it's kind of ugly and outdated and 2) that the freezer seems to have a temperature fluctuation causing freezer burn to happen...
Growing up, my idea of making a pie was to buy a Mrs. Smith's frozen pie from the grocery store and put it in the oven. I didn't even do that well. My first pumpkin pie was blackened and burnt on the top. My best friend's mom made the most wonderful apple pie from...
Part of my bread making marathon has been the search for a soft, tasty loaf that would be great for sandwiches. I've always been partial to oatmeal bread and have tried several recipes. All were good, this one is great. I adapted the Cook's Illustrated "Oatmeal...
If you seriously get into baking, you'll likely find yourself lusting after a stand mixer. It's the kind of appliance that seems expensive at first and then you wonder how you ever lived without it. It is so much more efficient at mixing thick cookie doughs and you...
Last September, I decided it would be nice to make birthday cakes for the people in my group. I work in a large department, but my group is only 8 people. It turned out that 3 of those people all have birthdays in September, so I was busy that month. Bob's favorite is...
But maybe it should be. We like pizza, as do most people. Our favorite is Angelo & Vinci's in Fullerton, CA. A Z Pizza just opened up around the corner from our house. The Tuscan Mushroom is divine. However, as I've been on my bread making marathon lately,...
On the Cooks Illustrated Forums, I came across a lively thread about the No-Knead Bread phenomenon that has been sweeping the country. In November of 2006, the New York Times ran an article and video about an ingenious method to make hearth bread at home easily. You...