BOOKSHELF « A Woman Sconed

Baked Sunday Mornings: Fixing an oven-free ‘slump’

By rahoward, on July 29th, 2018

Sometimes, when you are in a slump (writing/cooking/baking/working/living), the best thing to do is make one. Never heard of a slump? I had, but had not made one until the Baked Sunday Mornings group put a recipe (see here: http://bakedsundaymornings.com/2018/07/20/in-the-oven-sour-cherry-slump/) for Sour Cherry Slump from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Fixing an oven-free ‘slump’

Baked Sunday Mornings: Chilling with granita

By rahoward, on July 15th, 2018

Summer means iced tea — more than any drink — for me. I’ll take a tall glass of a plain black or green tea, but a good flavored iced tea — naturally flavored — like mango, mint, hibiscus or berry adds flavor and variety to the refreshment.

I also love granita. I’ve made a . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Chilling with granita

Baked Sunday Mornings: Doubling up with big biscotti

By rahoward, on June 17th, 2018

Biscotti, by description, seem something that would defy enthusiasm. Their name, derived from the cookie-version of “biscuit” and meaning “twice-baked,” is just an inkling of what they are. This double baking is meant to make them dry and hard (not typically the aim for most baked goods), for a longer shelf-life and desirable (and necessary) . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Doubling up with big biscotti

Baked Sunday Mornings: Tolling up pie’s sweet rewards

By rahoward, on June 3rd, 2018

Nothing matches the satisfaction of making a pie. Cakes are showstoppers. Cookies are always welcome. But they rarely feel as accomplished a feat as setting a humble dish of freshly baked pie, still warm from the oven, on your countertop. The baker’s glow is a different kind here.

Perhaps it is because you follow in . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Tolling up pie’s sweet rewards

Bread of the Month: Brewing up a fruity tea bread

By rahoward, on June 3rd, 2018

Great discoveries can happen in your own backyard, or, in this case, your own bookshelf. I was recently cleaning (gasp!) and re-organizing some books, and I stumbled across a little baking book from Ireland, actually named “The Little Irish Baking Book,” by Ruth Isabel Ross (1995), and, eager to take a break from said cleaning, . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Brewing up a fruity tea bread

Making a fool out of strawberries

By rahoward, on May 31st, 2018

Did you know there is a recipe for fool? And it’s so simple! Almost too simple, so that you almost want to pass it by (as I have, many times). Something that easy (and oddly named) certainly cannot be very good. The first recipes I saw for fools — desserts made up pretty much of . . . → Read More: Making a fool out of strawberries

Baked Sunday Mornings: Changing up biscuits with chipotle and cheddar

By rahoward, on May 20th, 2018

I need no excuse to make biscuits except, perhaps, the word “biscuits.” That’s all it takes to get me going. Making these simple quick breads is one of my favorite things. From blending the cold butter (or whatever fat) into the dry ingredients to doling out the dough, either in rolled-and-cut or drop versions, I’m . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Changing up biscuits with chipotle and cheddar

Baked Sunday Mornings: Jamming with a breakfast bar

By rahoward, on May 6th, 2018

I have plenty on my plate, but I’ve enjoyed adding trying out the recipes from Baked Sunday Mornings to my “to-do” baking schedule. It gives me a chance to attempt things I might not have otherwise and share with fellow bakers the results! While I cannot commit to making each recipe on the roster, I . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Jamming with a breakfast bar

Merging the tastes of spring in classic soup

By rahoward, on April 17th, 2018

Growing up, we ate lots of homemade soups. All very basic, simple, homey and quite delicious: rich beef stew, flavored with lots of vegetables, including chopped cabbage that cooked to a clear tenderness holding all the rich juices of the chunks of chuck roast; pots of beans that, depending on their liquid proportions, teetered between . . . → Read More: Merging the tastes of spring in classic soup

Baked Sunday Mornings: Deepening a joy for ice cream-making

By rahoward, on April 8th, 2018

I love to make ice cream. But when I bought my first ice cream maker, just several years ago, I had dueling ideas about where things might go from there — would I be making all sorts of the ice creams, gelato and sorbets of my dreams, or would the ice cream maker sit, unused, . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Deepening a joy for ice cream-making

“People ask me: "Why do you write about food, and eating, and drinking? Why don't you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way the others do?" . . . The easiest answer is to say that, like most other humans, I am hungry.”
--M.F.K. Fisher

"It was in a yellow limestone church in Stockdale, Kansas, a crossroads town, that I sat dreaming during summer Sunday sermons, not of heaven or hell, but of the good dinner to come."
--Clementine Paddleford