From the monthly archives:

March 2008

The Sweetest Week- Ever.

March 30, 2008

There were some pretty incredible and edible things going on in blog world this week. Here are a few of my favorite sweet treats! Food Rocks Man made the most beautiful Blanc Manger with Strawberries and Sponge Cake. It looks light, delicate and flawless. I love the way he took an great Dorie Greenspan recipe and made [...]

Yes, there’s pie under all that goodness.

March 28, 2008

Ok everyone… take a deep breath. It’s time for pie! This beast of a pie is Peabody’s Grandmother’s Lime Conspiracy Pie with marshmallows. It is a result of the convergence of several things in my mind and in my pantry. A friend mentioned a pie topped with tiny colorful marshmallows. Sounds like a great idea, [...]

Two Bite Chocolate Chunk Muffins

March 26, 2008

Remember those Low Fat Chocolate Muffins I was working on last week? Well I’ve found a winner! These Two Bite Chocolate Chunk Muffins are sure to satisfy that nagging chocolate craving. Now, if you have a craving for something like… I dunno… dark chocolate cheesecake with extra thick hot fudge, then I suggest you kindly decline [...]

What’s the best salt for baking?

March 25, 2008

It’s possible that you’ve never even considered the question of salt, but salt in an essential component in baking. Sure, you may only add 1/2 a teaspoon at a time to your baked goods, but don’t take salt for granted! Salt accentuates the flavor of bakes goods. It particularly enhances the flavors of butter, and [...]

Granola Bar Experiment Turned Ooey Gooey Breakfast Cereal

March 24, 2008

It all started out so beautiful and promising- with diced dried fruit, wholesome nuts and old-fashioned oats. I was my day away from the bakery, and I thought I’d use my kitchen to experiment with homemade granola bars. I seem to have trouble eating normally, standing on my feet all day, working in front of [...]

Strawberry Ricotta Cupcakes

March 23, 2008

This morning I started the day thinking about Easter as a child. It was the holiday as exciting as Christmas. There were personalized Easter baskets filled with candies and chocolates on a bed of fake plastic grass. There was always some sort of delicious ham and potato meal And the Easter egg hunt. Oh… the [...]

Corn and Orange- the muffin

March 22, 2008

Can I get away with calling this an Easter muffin? Easter bunnies eat corn. Don’t they? Well, if they existed, they’d eat corn… right? Didn’t Bugs Bunny eat corn? No, that was carrots. Oh crap. It was carrots, not corn. And here I am with Corn and Orange Muffins on Easter weekend. I’ll admit, this [...]

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

March 20, 2008

I often find myself with several bags of chocolate chips roaming freely in my cabinets. Today I found large milk chocolate chips, mini semi-sweet chips and white chocolate chips. When I bake cookies, I usually chop chocolate from a large bar of good chocolate, so it’s strange that I would find so many varieties of [...]

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

March 19, 2008

I’ll be the first to admit that I have gotten prematurely excited about strawberry season. I’ve already played with strawberry sugar paper, and here I am with strawberry ice cream. It’s not even April! Strawberries aren’t at their peak flavor yet, but I see baskets of them in every market I visit. I just can’t help myself, [...]

Baker’s Day Off

March 18, 2008

I took a day away from the kitchen yesterday, yet still found myself with a cupcake in hand. It figures-I’m never too far away from a sweet treat, whether it’s baked by me or one of my favorite Los Angeles bakeries. This mini chocolate raspberry cupcake is from Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica. It’s a chocolate [...]

Low Fat Chocolate Muffins Bites

March 17, 2008

I know, low fat!? I’m trying something different. I’m trying to make low fat muffins balls for those out of control chocolate cravings. I’ve made these muffins an easy snacking option- 2 muffins balls are 100 calories. Good, right!? These muffins are dressed up with whole wheat flour, part skim ricotta cheese and dark chocolate [...]

Apricot Cornmeal Cookies

March 16, 2008

Slice and bake sugar cookies are so much fun to play around with. If you can dream it up, you can throw it in sugar cookies. This time around I chose sweet dried apricots and cornmeal for crunch. I always have a log of sugar cookie dough stashed in the freezer for those moments when [...]

Cream Cheese Frosting 101

March 15, 2008

These are simple Lemon Scented Buttermilk Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting, decorated with fondant flowers and edible pearls. Cream cheese frosting is one of my favorite toppings for cakes and cupcakes! From citrus scented cakes, to rich chocolate cupcakes, cream cheese frosting is a decadent and versatile cake topping. Cream cheese frosting is [...]

Hello, Spring. Hello, Figs!

March 14, 2008

Spring has sprung and figs are growing! Their season is still a few months away, but I had to get a picture of these budding beauties in my friend’s backyard. It’s possible that you may not understand my deep affection for figs. They are my favorite food, without hesitation. Figs are divine. Cosmic. They can [...]

How to Frost a Cake- in 10 pictures.

March 12, 2008

Frosting a two layer cake doesn’t have to be daunting. You don’t have to be a math genius, or an abundantly creative person. It’s just cake! You’ll just need a plane cake, some frosting, a smile on your face, and a few basic kitchen supplies. Ok, the smile is optional, but it generally helps. Make the [...]

Red Velvet Whopper- the cupcake

March 12, 2008

How do I describe the taste of Red Velvet cake? Well, it’s not vanilla cake, but it’s certainly not all chocolate. Red Velvet cake, for lack of a more creative vocabulary, tastes like sweet red cake. Without rich and decadent frosting, this cake is light, moist, quite tasty and yes, red. My favorite Red Velvet [...]

Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie Cake

March 10, 2008

The title to both this post and this dessert is a little hum drum. Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie Cake… it just doesn’t set off fireworks in my head. And frankly, I always feel a bit off put when apostrophes are in strange places (here I am considering s’ strange). I was an English major in [...]

Honey Pistachio Biscotti

March 9, 2008

With these Honey Pistachio Biscotti, I would like a do-over. Please and thank you. You know what a do-over is: another chance, a big pink eraser for life, apple Z on a Mac. See, this biscotti recipe called for dried cranberries to accompany the pistachios. Cranberries would have been lovely, right? Well I was completely [...]

The Sweetest Week Ever- Cakes

March 9, 2008

The Whopper. The Red Velvet Whopper is a three layer red velvet cake with brown sugar cream cheese frosting. The sides are decorated with dried red velvet cake crumbs and royal blue dots. She’s a beauty. But this post isn’ really about the Whopper, it’s about all of the beautiful cakes in blog land this [...]

Ode to my Bench Knife

March 8, 2008

I’m not a kitchen equipment junkie. I more of a kitchen minimalist. I really couldn’t do without just a few things: stainless steel mixing bowls, my darling Kitchen Aid, a cast iron skillet, and good metal measuring cups, high temperature spatulas and my brilliant bench knife. Don’t have a bench knife? Well you should! A bench knife is a 3-inch by 6- inch smooth [...]

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