Speaking of pat answers, have you ever read an article on baking history that didn’t at some point say something like: (dessert X) was only for special occasions, since for most people butter, sugar and spices were rare and expensive and only eaten by the wealthy. It’s one of a handful of go-to phrases that […]
READ ONThat’s the term for wedge-shaped slices of shortbread. As to where it comes from there’s only speculation. Some say it’s because the shape resembles actual garments worn by Scottish noblewomen, which strikes me, frankly, as bull. Other say it’s an English corruption of the French words petites gatelles or possibly petits cotés. I’m not qualified […]
READ ONSupposedly they’re called that because the sandy — or sablé, of which the World Peace Cookie is an example — was invented in the town of Sable-sur-Sarthe toward the end of the 17th Century. However I suspect the crumbly, vaguely gritty mouthfeel of the sandy also plays a part in the name. But what causes […]
READ ONReader Laura asks this about lemon bars: Why can’t you just cook the curd in the pan to 196 degrees and then spread the fully cooked curd on the baked crust? That’s an excellent question that’s going to allow me to get good and geeky. It’s a fair thing to wonder. I mean, if I’m […]
READ ONIt has surprisingly little when you consider that citrus curds have been popular for about 125 years and shortbread for many (many) more than that. You’d have thought that somebody, especially somebody living somewhere in Britain, would have put those two things together in pie form. It seems, however, that this particular somebody never did. […]
READ ONPeople look at you slightly askance when you tell them you make your own marshmallows, but they gather their children and move hastily away when you tell them you make your own graham crackers. Why? I dunno, since not only do homemade graham crackers have both better flavor and texture, they help you get back […]
READ ONI remember my first encounter with a tuile. I was roughly ten. My family had received a box of the delicate little things as a Christmas gift from one of the neighbors. We placed it on the pile of food loot that accumulated in one corner of the kitchen counter each year…a heap of goodies […]
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