This post marks a couple of firsts for me.  This is the first time I’ve ever used rhubarb and it’s also the first time I’ve ever made homemade turnovers.  You probably won’t be surprised to learn that I now love them both!

I’m not sure how I’ve made it 34 years without ever touching fresh rhubarb.  We just didn’t eat it growing up.  I don’t think there was any particular reason for it, we just didn’t.  I know I’ve probably tasted Strawberry Rhubarb Pie at some point in my life, but I can’t really recall ever knowing what rhubarb even tastes like.

Luckily, my friend Allen suggested that I try making something with rhubarb. If he hadn’t put it in my head, I probably would gone another year without giving it a go.  And once he suggested it, I started noticing rhubarb recipes everywhere.  It seemed like I was the only in the world not eating rhubarb on a daily basis.  I was determined to give it a try. Continue reading →

I really can’t believe I’ve already made it through week four of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge! The fourth bread we tackled from the book is brioche.  Yes, buttery and delicious brioche.  Although I love to eat the stuff, I had never before baked brioche at home so I was really looking forward to this one!

Peter Reinhart gives us a choice between three versions of a basic brioche: Rich Man’s Brioche, Middle Class Brioche, and Poor Man’s Brioche.  Since butter is the most expensive ingredient in this bread, it stands to reason that the Rich Man’s Brioche contains the most amount of butter (a whopping 16 ounces).  The Middle Class Brioche calls for a more moderate amount of butter, while the Poor Man’s Brioche almost seems healthy after reading the butter content of the other two. Continue reading →

Week three of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge has ended and I have to say that I am sad to say goodbye to these bagels!  I would happily make these once a week for the next year if there weren’t so many other tempting breads coming up.

Bagels are one of those things that I always assumed you had to buy from a bagel shop if you wanted the ‘real thing.’  I’m certainly not a connoisseur, but I’ve had wonderful, chewy bagels in both New York and Los Angeles that put every other bagel I’ve tasted to shame. It’s certainly seems to be true that the real deal can’t be found just anywhere.  I’ve had decent bagels in San Diego, but nothing to get overly excited about.  However, I can now tell you that it is possible to make a great bagel at home, even in San Diego, because these babies rivaled anything I’ve eaten before. Continue reading →

Week two of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge has come to an end, and I can now say that I have made my very first Greek Celebration Bread!  While these breads would normally be baked and consumed during religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter, I see no reason why it can’t be made for Memorial Day! Continue reading →

Every time I read a food magazine, I find tons of new recipes I’d like to try.  But very rarely do I get around to making any of them.  Most of the recipes I read in magazines and books just get filed away in my head somewhere and when I’m in the kitchen, I pull bits and pieces of information and inspiration from that jumbled library I call a brain.  But every once in a while, I find a recipe like the Key Lime Coconut Cake in the latest issue of Gourmet that must be made immediately. Continue reading →

Intimidated by baking, assembling, and decorating a homemade red velvet cake for Valentine’s Day?  Give cupcakes a try instead!

As you probably know, I have already written about my husband’s family recipe for a gorgeous Red Velvet Cake.  But when I noticed that lots of readers were asking questions about how to turn the cake recipe into a cupcake recipe, I decided it was time to give it a try myself! Continue reading →

Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas for naming these cookies! Wow, what a turnout!  I never thought I would be able to choose between all the great submissions, but I finally decided on a name that is simple, catchy, and to the point:  Dark Chocolate Cherry Chews.  Thanks to E’Beth Garren for the winning submission!  I’ll be sending out a surprise gift, as promised.

So let me talk a bit about chocolate chip cookies.  I’m not one of those bakers who is on a quest to find the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I generally use the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse bag and I think they’re great.  But as you well know, I do enjoy experimenting with recipes from time to time! Continue reading →

So here’s the deal.  I made these dark chocolate cherry cookies as an experiment over the weekend and they were delicious!  I made them again yesterday, tweaked the recipe a bit, and now they’re even better.  I really want to share the recipe with you, but I need to name them first!  The only thing I’ve come up with is Dark Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cookies.  But, I don’t like that one. Continue reading →