Quite a few, but by no means all. Some are actually poisonous, so it’s important to take care when selecting your blooms. Happily, quite a number of common varieties can be eaten, among them lilacs (one of my personal favorites), pansies, petunias, daisies (English), hollyhocks, nasturtiums, roses, tulips, honeysuckles, violets, hibiscus, orange and apple blossoms. […]
READ ONIf you want a dessert garnish that’s sure to knock your guests’ socks off this spring or summer, nothing does it better than candied flowers. Not only do they taste amazing (like flowers, only candy), they give anything they’re applied to a kind of elegant, homey, fussed-over touch. They take a little time of course, […]
READ ONHere’s a skill that every aspiring baker needs to master. The good news is it isn’t difficult, especially if you work with pre-made and pre-frozen layers. Take the crumbles and tears out of the process and it becomes, well, a cake-walk (sorry). So then, armed with two frozen 9-inch layers, begin by trimming them to […]
READ ONEvery laminated dough, be it puff pastry, croissant or Danish, begins its life as a thick slab of butter encased in a dough “envelope”. This 3-layer dough-butter-dough package is then flattened and folded however many times it takes to get the number of layers the maker is after. A folded flaky pastry for say, a […]
READ ONFolding is a critical skill where the Egg Foam Method is concerned. Sadly, it is also one of the most misunderstood techniques in all of cookingdom. For most people it simply means “stirring with a spatula”. In fact folding is a far more delicate thing than that, since very often the intent behind it is […]
READ ONIt’s my opinion that if only a few people understood how easy it really was to roll a 2-ounce piece of dough, we’d have far fewer inferior buns in this country. Yet bun rolling and shaping continues to intimidate people. Well brothers and sisters, let me tell you I’m here to put an end to […]
READ ONFor big, thick decorative curls, you need to melt your chocolate completely, spread it evenly on the back of a sheet pan with an icing spatula, then gently scrape it up into ribbons when it’s partially set. I usually harden the chocolate in the fridge once it’s spread, then let it sit at room temperature […]
READ ON…is a task that’s dreaded among bakers. Probably why we tend to save hazelnut desserts for really really special occasions. I myself remember my twin sister making a hezelnut torte when we were high schoolers. She peeled each individual toasted nut by hand. Ouch. Happily we’re older and wiser now, and much better at peeling […]
READ ON