Going ‘green’ with an invisible ingredient

I’d read the recipes, been intrigued by the videos and even heard out the positive proclamations by a co-worker, but there was still no real way I could be sure that any avocado, of any kind, could be turned into chocolate pudding.

A chocolate-y paste maybe, but certainly nothing to match the chocolate . . . → Read More: Going ‘green’ with an invisible ingredient

Waiting out a summer pudding

Summer pudding has long been on my “to-make” list. A well-known dessert among the British, I don’t know that too many are aware of it here, although it has been featured on cooking shows and in magazines. I’ve seen just enough about this simple, but unique dessert that I knew I wanted to . . . → Read More: Waiting out a summer pudding

Steeping in the recipes beloved by Vincent Price

The name Vincent Price, to most people ,immediately conjures something at the minimal spooky or sinister, at the most the stuff of nightmares. For decades, Price (who died in 1993), with his moody ominous presence (in the characters he portrayed) and THAT VOICE that was at once irresistible and shiver-inducing, made him somewhat . . . → Read More: Steeping in the recipes beloved by Vincent Price

Baked Sunday Mornings: Recalling ‘butterscotch days’ through tarts

I love my first paging through a cookbook, particularly one as visually and deliciously stunning as “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito (2008). Usually, this initial “walkthrough” establishes my “must-make” list. Without question, the Butterscotch Pudding Tarts in the book has always been number one.

It’s easy to understand why, . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Recalling ‘butterscotch days’ through tarts

Gathering a bouquet of floral flavors

If something has a flower flavor, I’m on it….like a bee. Recently I was exposed to some delightful imported Italian sodas flavored with, of all things, elderflower! I could not resist. It was a beautiful taste, slightly peachy and as soon as my little fingers could do their walking, I was looking for this . . . → Read More: Gathering a bouquet of floral flavors

Bread of the Month: Waiting out a storied Panettone

This blog is devoted to certain recipes, tried and true; others, brand new. I love to try something I’ve never done before. The bread-of-the-month adventure reflects this, and with the end of 2013, I approached making a holiday bread I’d eaten many times but never made myself. Each holiday season and in fact, in certain . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Waiting out a storied Panettone

Keeping it clean with quinoa

It dawned on me recently (dawning can often come surprisingly late): I grew up surrounded by grains. Living in the rural Midwest, our farm was a cluster of trees centered in vast open fields that yielded oceans of golden wheat. Sometimes, the fields were planted with sorghum (we called it milo), whose bristly rust-colored heads . . . → Read More: Keeping it clean with quinoa

Nogging with neither eggs nor booze

Well, it’s the holiday season, a time when peppermint rears its noxious and sometimes incongruous head in everything from chocolates to milkshakes to pancakes. But before I let you think I’m sounding somewhat humbug, know that AWS really does know how to celebrate the holidays.

After all, I am the genius (well, I . . . → Read More: Nogging with neither eggs nor booze