If you're interested in learning about baked goods from around the world, check out NPR's interview with Greg Patent, author of A Baker's Odyssey, his cookbook that features the recipes of immigrants from over 30 countries. During the interview he makes his grandma's recipe for cheese sambouseks, "the Iraqi version of empanaditas." [Thanks to Jeffrey for the heads up.]... More
Ceramic cookie stamps Making sweets for your sweet this Valentine’s Day? Consider cookie stamps. As their name suggests, cookie stamps are usually employed to make imprinted cookies. However, they can also be used with marzipan, firm fondants (think peppermint patty-type filling or wedding cake covering), edible modeling chocolate, even tootsie rolls—anything plastic enough to take and hold an impression—turning simple sweets into beautifully filigreed mignons with the barest commitment of time and effort. For those less inclined to make their gifts, the stamps, which make lovely kitchen display objects as much as useful decorating tools, make for thoughtful gifts in their own right. Available in a staggering array of designs and motifs—from florid hearts to fire breathing dragons, austere initials... More
Instead of making traditional cutout cookies, try Elise Bauer's recipe for stained glass cookies whose centers are filled with melted hard candies.... More
I don’t have solid research data to back me up on this, but I’ve always thought that when the holidays roll around even people who haven’t seen the inside of their ovens all year pull down the flour bin and bake. It’s part of what makes the holidays so jolly—and so surprising. If you’re looking to surprise a baker on your list, here are a few gift suggestions. This isn’t a complete build-your-baking-batterie-de-cuisine list; it’s not just for beginners; and it’s not in any special order. Mostly it’s a sampling of some things I really like and think you and yours might like, too. More
While most of these items are more likely to be found enjoying something like their tenth year of uninterrupted slumber in the bottom of a drawer than drying in my dish rack, there are a few that I turn to time and time again. Give these gizmos a try this cookie-baking season and you’ll be singing their praises, too. More
Find out answers to baking-related questions you didn't even know you had by reading British bread master Dan Lepard's Q&A with readers at Guardian Unlimited.... More
Want to bake fresh bread for Thanksgiving without expending much effort? Try this simple crusty bread recipe, which may be "the world's easiest yeast bread" according to The New York Times.... More
Thinking about Thanksgiving, my mind makes its first stop at turkey but invariably forges on to pie, where it lingers, meditating on silken pumpkin, lightly spiced apple and sticky, sweet pecan, among others. Considering topics for this week’s piece, I took the progression one step further: bird to pie to pie bird. When I was a child, a small, bird-shaped tchotchke perched on my mother’s kitchen windowsill, silhouetted against the sunlight beyond. I recall being told that it was a pie bird, that you stuck it in the center of a pie before baking and that it whistled when the pie was ready. I had all but forgotten it until I received one, almost identical to my mother’s, for my... More
Sara Rosso of Ms. Adventures in Italy visited her favorite breadmaker in Puglia and took lots of mouthwatering photos of giant, perfectly formed dough balls to educate us on the art of baking. And to make us feel jealous.... More
Photograph from VROG in Bristol on Flickr There are more than 1,500 results for "pi pie" on Flickr. My search for "pi pie" turned up today's Photo of the Day and also led me to this excellent pi pie dish, the perfect thing for your favorite geek baker.... More
