So then, we know the first “brownies” (the ones without chocolate) were made in the years just preceding 1900. Fannie Farmer’s original Boston Cooking-School Cook Book contained a recipe for them, and the Sears catalog of 1897 featured them. But then when did chocolate enter the picture? That bit of the story is rather hazy, […]
READ ONHere’s a recipe for brownies that’s not so far off from early brownie recipes, save for the fact that it has a good deal more chocolate. I confess I mostly swiped it from Dorie Greenspan, but if you’re going to steal, why not steal from the best? The woman is deeply serious about brownies. Her […]
READ ONIn an effort to head off a few emails at the digital pass, I’ll tell you right now that yes, the category of (very young) Girl Scouts known as “Brownies” were named for the sprites I described below. But surely, Joe, because they’re helpful, not because they burn buildings down. All I’ll say is, you […]
READ ONWhy, an elf of course. More specifically a house elf, one which, provided it’s treated with respect and given the odd morsel of food, is wont to perform all manner of helpful household tasks. Like what? Oh, tidying up, milking the cows, churning the butter, that sort of thing. Quite the household convenience they are, […]
READ ONGot some good suggestions on the pastry “bat signal” overnight. Most folks seemed to think that either a doughnut, a chocolate chip cookie or a raw egg would show up the best when projected onto a cloud. Pieces of pie, layer cake or single cupcakes were also good ideas. The most unusual one came from […]
READ ONRegular reader Gerhard wrote in from Vienna to tell me of his urgent need to understand this thing we Americans know as the brownie. Never let it be said that I failed to heed the call of a baker in need! Let’s do it! You know, I’m starting to wonder if some sort of big, […]
READ ONReader Chana writes in with a special request/conundrum: I recently made my first batch of puff pastry (following Nick Malgieri’s recipe/technique); it did come out okay, but mostly it was a wonderful learning experience. So now I have several half-pound blocks of puff pastry in the freezer. My overwhelming desire is to ignore them — […]
READ ONReader Derek wrote in on Friday to alert me to the fact that on one of Michael Palin’s exellent travel shows, he enjoyed a bedouin feast in which the bread was not baked on a hot rock, but rather on sand. The transcript of the show reads thusly: “Akide Osman is making bread, kneading the […]
READ ONNow that’s what I call a big ol’ pile of fresh-baked goodness. For a summertime mezze (Middle Eastern appetizer) party, homemade pitas can’t be beat. Sheesh! There I go getting all Martha Stewart on you again. Plain old chicken salad sandwiches work great on them, too. One of the really nifty things about pitas is […]
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