Posted in bread, breakfast, freezer friendly, french, recipe comparisons, yeast bread on Jun 13th, 2010
I worked in a lab for years, but I never absolutely loved it. You’d think I would have, considering that I basically mixed up ingredients and baked them, but I guess without that crucial eating-the-batter – sorry, of course I mean that eating-the-result step, it just wasn’t as fun. Plus I could never get the [...]
Posted in cookies, dessert, recipe comparisons, winter/holidays on Mar 4th, 2010
You know those people who decorate sugar cookies so beautifully it’s hard to believe those works are art are edible? Yeah, I am not one of them. I haven’t made sugar cookies in months, and you know why? It’s a pain in the butt, and the results of my decorating are never up to my [...]
Posted in alcohol, cake, dessert, favorites, recipe comparisons on Dec 9th, 2009
Sometimes it’s the recipes that seem the simplest that can give us the most trouble. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people lamenting about their chocolate chip cookies. We think that because the recipe is ubiquitous that we should all do it well, but truthfully, many cookies are finicky – if your [...]
Posted in freezer friendly, good as leftovers, mexican, pork, recipe comparisons on Nov 18th, 2009
A carne adovada comparison post is a very bad idea because: 1. I don’t love cooking with meat, with the constant hand-washing and being careful not to contaminate cooked meat tools with raw meat tools. 2. My limited counter space makes working with large roasts difficult. 3. The oven was on for four hours – [...]
Posted in bread, freezer friendly, recipe comparisons, yeast bread on Nov 12th, 2009
Hey, remember, uh, a long time ago? When I said I was going to do a series on croissants? Whatever happened to that anyway? I certainly didn’t stop making croissants. I just stopped talking about it. I suck! Part of the problem was that these, the second batch of croissants I made, were just so [...]
Posted in cookies, dessert, recipe comparisons on Oct 10th, 2009
Uh…sorta forgot to write down which cookie is which, but, does it really matter? They’re just about identical. I don’t cook with shortening. I just don’t. Look, I know a tablespoon here or there isn’t going to kill me, but my granola-like reasons go beyond my health. For one thing, it kind of grosses me [...]
Posted in cake, dessert, fall, freezer friendly, recipe comparisons on Sep 25th, 2009
You know what’s totally unfair, considering that I’m in general more interested in food than Dave? He has a more sensitive palate than me. What the hell? I made these cupcakes when he wasn’t around, and I had to do three separate “tastings” (eating all three in one sitting, unfrosted) over a couple of days [...]
Posted in chocolate, cookies, dessert, recipe comparisons on Jul 25th, 2009
clockwise from upper left: #4 (whole wheat) #3 (yeast) #1 (control) #2 (bread) I’m a scientist. I spent years working in labs, and I kid you not that what I did was combine ingredients and bake them. I did not, however, eat the results of those experiments. My cooking lately has become increasingly similar to [...]
Posted in cake, dessert, recipe comparisons, tuesdays with dorie on Jul 1st, 2009
Last year, I compared three white cake recipes, including Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake. I was torn between Dorie’s recipe, which I thought tasted great, and Cooks Illustrated’s, which had the perfect texture. I had an idea for what I would try the next time I made white cake, but at the time, I was white [...]
Posted in cake, dessert, fruit, recipe comparisons, spring on Jun 8th, 2009
I do not like oddball mixing methods. In fact, unless they’re explained, my habit is to ignore them completely. I know that muffins are sometimes mixed like cakes and that there are different types of cookies, but in general, I’m familiar with the normal mixing methods, and if something strays too far from what I [...]
