cookies « A Woman Sconed

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: Exploring a Black Forest cookie

By rahoward, on January 28th, 2018

I almost opted out of the Black Forest Chocolate Cookies on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule. I had a number of deadlines and other cooking projects on my docket, and thought I might be too busy. Then, I thought: Too busy to bake cookies? That doesn’t even make sense!

Looking over the recipe, a . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Exploring a Black Forest cookie

Turning out a new fave cookie

By rahoward, on December 20th, 2017

Occasionally (well, perhaps more often than occasionally), I become mesmerized by little cooking videos on the Internet. You know the ones, where an overhead camera view captures the step-by-step process (often sped up to keep the video short) that makes whatever is being made look like a snap. Maybe sometimes it is, but everything just . . . → Read More: Turning out a new fave cookie

Deciding on witch finger cookies

By rahoward, on October 27th, 2017

Every year, I get a kick out of the parade of homemade Halloween treats in magazines, on websites and blog posts. From the most creative (cupcakes topped with “skeletons” made of yogurt pretzels and marshmallows) to the least (a full-sized fake plastic skeleton whose ribcage was merely loaded with sausages and other meaty snack “innards”), . . . → Read More: Deciding on witch finger cookies

In the Mix: Crossing the chai divide

By rahoward, on October 19th, 2017

People talk — and joke — a lot about pumpkin spice, but have you noticed chai spice showing up a-plenty, too, in recent years? It’s been a slow integration, this chai thing, but it now seems to be a part of nearly everything — from tea or coffee to desserts. Apparently, Oprah loves it! And . . . → Read More: In the Mix: Crossing the chai divide

Reliving my cookie period

By rahoward, on December 18th, 2015

I don’t know that everyone goes through a cookie period, but I did. It was extensive, lasting from the ages of 7 to 18 and boy, was I prolific. Like many little girls, the first recipe I asked if I could make was chocolate chip cookies — the Tollhouse recipe on the back of the . . . → Read More: Reliving my cookie period

Lifting the senses with lavender

By rahoward, on June 16th, 2014

We all know of lavender’s aromatherapeutic and cosmetic advantages. Try pulling yourself away from a lavender-scented candle or just dare yourself to be stressed out when you have the soothing fragrance of lavender on your skin. It’s heavenly. But if you have never tried eating lavender in some form, now’s the time, as culinary lavender . . . → Read More: Lifting the senses with lavender

Baking cookies, short and sweet

By rahoward, on December 21st, 2013

One of my earliest kitchen memories is of lying on the linoleum floor, being fanned. Not fanned exactly, but taking full advantage of the warm, sweet wind made by my mother waving a cookie sheet back and forth to cool it before she loaded it with a new batch of dough. The aroma of butter . . . → Read More: Baking cookies, short and sweet

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin

By rahoward, on October 31st, 2012

If you are lucky to live long enough, it gets easier to separate the wheat from the chaff. Over a life, if you pay attention, you will find yourself in the idyllic condition of understanding what matters most. And what means something to you. And what make up your favorite things.

I have a . . . → Read More: Waiting for the Great Pumpkin

“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