So here you have Dorie Greenspan’s French Chocolate Brownie, a little (or a lot) of homemade banana ice cream, and what Saveur magazine might call “a touch of whimsy” (i.e. a few chocolate curls). It’s definitely an uptown version of the classic American brownie I did last week for the 4th. What’s the difference? First, […]

What with all the safety problems the Chinese have been having with their food exports, a new “get tough policy” has just been announced. Just how tough is the new policy? Pretty tough.

I can sense it in the ether…so many of you out there looking askance at the Dorie Greenspan book I’ve been pushing the last several days thinking: So what’s the big deal? There’s a new baking book released about every other minute these days. What makes this thing so special? Well, for those of you […]

I know, I know…I left without saying goodbye. What can I say? I was called out of town on business suddenly this past Friday, just got back last night. I’ll be picking up where I left off (more or less) in a little while.

Butter-greased pans, oil-greased pans, foil-lined pans, flour-dusted pans, non-stick pans…none are as reliable for turning out perfect cakes, bars or brownies as good old-fashioned parchment. Yet you almost never see a recipe calling for a parchment-lined pan, probably because your average recipe writer thinks the process is too involved for your average home cook. Balderdash. […]

A rather cynical article came out in the New York Times dining section a few months ago, which posited that brownies are “one of the few truly American baking creations ever to enter the canon.” Exactly where the author (one Julia Moskin) ever got such a cracked idea is beyond me. If by “the canon” […]

I could keep going and going on this topic, but I’d better put it to a stop for the moment (I’ve noticed that after about ten days even the best topic begins to lose its fresh, lemony scent). There’s really not much to say here that I haven’t already said except for something very obvious, […]

Spoke to one of Chicago’s premier pastry chefs (and ice cream fanatics) Friday afternoon on business. Her pick for ultimate contemporary ice cream book was this: last year’s A Passion for Ice Cream by the legendary Emily Luchetti. Not having worked with either book I can’t offer an opinion, yet I have heard that A […]

Due to a very welcome increase in my work flow this week (hey, that mortgage has to get paid somehow), I won’t have time to do much writing today. But I’ll be back with bells on this coming Monday with some serious deep chocolate goodies in mind. If I don’t return before the end of […]