#baking

#baking

These delicate espresso shortbread cookies - a simple recipe with not too many ingredients - strike the perfect balance of coffee and brown butter. The brown butter has just enough caramel-y oomph to stand up to the espresso. Fiona Zhang says she bakes them so that they're fairly soft - 12 minutes in her oven - but for a snappier, crunchier cookie, they could stay in the oven for a couple minutes longer.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the flour and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Cut the butter and cream cheese into several pieces about 1" square. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour mixture. When the butter and cream cheese are well distributed, mix in the sour cream and water. Gather the dough into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

These new titles? They helped us get dinner on the table in so many ways. Books for those willing to explore the wonders waiting in their pantry or those who want to wander around other countries for inspiration. Books that celebrate vegetarian cooking, baked goods, and "good things." There were deep dives into diasporic Pakistani, Ghanaian, Middle Eastern, and Latinx cuisine. With so many excellent titles, how does one go about chronicling the best? By enlisting a group of tastemakers to evaluate and select their favorites.

I'm sorry to say, but it looks like winter has officially landed. Temps are dropping, and my neck of the woods has already gotten a few flurries, which means it's time for comfort food and planning that holiday menu. I personally love winter and the opportunity to slow down and put my oven to work. Whether you're like me or are just trying to survive the cold weather and short days, you'll love these 31 cozy recipes that are sure to warm you up.

FOOL PROOF PIE CRUST 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 3/4 cups shortening 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 large egg 1/2 cup ice water Add all ingredients except egg and water to a large bowl. Mix with a pastry cutter or fork until it looks like gravel. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, beat together the egg and water. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork.

Professional baker here: believing the baking times on the recipe. Every oven is different, every time you use that oven is different, etc. Timers are useful for reminding you that you have something in the oven, but beyond that, you have to know what done looks/feels like. Probe thermometers are your friend.

Our taste tester found that the tart crust baked up perfectly flaky and golden, without that frustrating sogginess that can plague pie doughs, especially frozen versions. Infused with cream cheese and cinnamon, the apple filling is rich in taste and texture, and a sliced almond topping adds crunch and an extra dash of visual appeal. The overall flavor profile is buttery and fruity with just the right amount of sweetness.

"Start from the short end, roll forward with your fingertips, and press lightly as you go to remove air pockets," she instructs. "If you tug or pull the dough, you risk overstretching the gluten; instead, let the dough naturally roll onto itself." In the in-person classes held at Wilton Sweet Studio, students are shown how to place rolling pins behind the rolled part of the dough to help shape it.

[It] makes an incredibly flavorful, tender, and flaky crust,

While these cookies invert the classic ratio of crust to custardy filling (these are for you, crust lovers), they're an affectionate homage to the dessert I associate most with the holiday season, and my lovingly stubborn grandpa. Blitzed graham crackers and all-purpose flour come together in a buttery, brown-sugar-sweetened dough that stays soft and chewy after baking. In the center of each thumbprint, a dollop of silky, tart lime filling sets during the cookies' brief stint in the oven, just like their full-size namesake.

2 pounds whole sweet potatoes, washed and patted dry 1 9-inch pie crust 1 cup evaporated milk 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, cooled 3 large free-range eggs, yolks and whites separated 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 2 pinches ground Himalayan pink salt 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest whipped cream, for serving

Humans may have invented telescopes that can glimpse outer space, but squirrels gather nuts when they sense winter coming on, and more nuts indicate a harsher season ahead. Such is the ancient wisdom packed into the pages of The Old Farmer's Almanac, which has been in print since 1792 - when George Washington was still President and almost 100 years before Edison patented the light bulb - and today remains the best-selling and longest continuously published periodical in America.

If you're ready to bake a batch of cookies but notice you only have salted butter in the fridge, don't fret. Go ahead and use salted butter to bake. The salt content in salted butter will not drastically change the texture and crumb structure of your cookies. After all, salt is merely a mineral that enhances flavor. It does not contain moisture, like sugar does, or protein like flour.

There's no wrong way to make a chocolate chip cookie. Let's get that part out of the way so that we don't get into a whole big fight about whose cuisine reigns supreme. You put a chocolate chip cookie in front of me, I'll eat it and be happy. That's a lock. That said, I have been monkeying around with chocolate chip cookie recipes for as long as I've been a homemaker (nearly 20 years!).

From cool concerts and shows to delightful animation and apple tart deliciousness, there is a lot to do and eat this weekend. So let's get to it, shall we? (As always, be sure to double check event and venue websites for any last-minute changes in health guidelines or other details.) Meanwhile, if you'd like to have this Weekender lineup delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning for free, just sign up at www.mercurynews.com/newsletters or w.eastbaytimes.com/newsletters .

The smoke from the bombing blinded me completely, she said.

Home bakers (and particularly Americans) are so terrified of over-baking things that they wildly, tragically underbake them. Some things (brownies, snicker doodles) are best if you just barely bake them, but a lot of things (particularly breads, viennoiserie, some cookies, etc) need to get properly, richly browned. Colour is flavour! Raw flour doesn't taste good! Gelatinise your starches, caramelise some sugars, and crisp up that crust, people!

Brandt Ranj is a commerce reporter for The Verge, which means, he says, "I spend my time trying to find good deals and the best gear to recommend to our readers." He also keeps The Verge 's wearables buyer's guides up to date, but, he adds, "my role requires me to cover a little bit of everything," including deals on subscriptions. "Products are constantly coming out, so every day it is a little different."

Posts from Australian and British readers showed no alarming results and I quickly realised something had gone awry in the American translation. As it turned out, the recipes had been converted in-house by the publisher, using a straightforward formula to change celsius to fahrenheit. What no one had noticed was that the conversion also needed to take into account the oven setting: fan-forced versus conventional heat. Many American ovens, it seems, still don't have a fan function.

What's Bonfire Night without some toasty, gooey marshmallows? And it's only right to have them in a s'more, the American classic that's also now part of the festivities over on this side of the pond. Digestive biscuits are typically the go-to, but I like to add extra flavour, depth and texture by using ginger oaty biscuits instead. These are quick to put together and don't require any chilling.

For the pie/filling: - Your favorite pie crust recipe (or store-bought pie crust) - 4 cups Concord, Thomcord, Kyoho, or other seeded grape variety (you can use seedless grapes if necessary, with one small adjustment to the recipe outlined below) - 1 cup sugar - ⅓ cup all-purpose flour - ¼ teaspoon salt - 1 tablespoon lemon juice - 2 tablespoons melted butter

This is a rich and tender Bundt cake that uses a whole can of pumpkin purée. A big bowl of pumpkin batter is split in two, one half flavored with a heavy shower of cocoa powder, the rest left bright orange and spiked with a bit of cinnamon. The end result is a cake so beautiful and lofty, it's hard to imagine it was made entirely by hand, no mixer needed.

With recipes that go viral, creator personalities that people fall in love with, and food hacks that will transform your experience in the kitchen, the app not only elicits smiles and joy, but can be extremely informational as well. In the world of baking, TikTokers use their creativity to create many types of videos. Whether they are showing off a unique way to bake your favorite treats, showcasing their

I'm the same way. Whenever I bake cookies, for example, I reach for King Arthur Baking's all-purpose flour, a pantry staple of mine. What sets this unbleached and unbromated all-purpose flour apart is that each bag is reliable and behaves the same, thanks to decades of obsessive testing. That means every batch of my curry peanut butter cookies or ube linzer cookies bakes up exactly the same, time after time. There are no surprises, and this is very important to a baker.

These sweet, lemony rolls are a fresh alternative to classic cinnamon rolls. A little cardamom in the dough and filling enhances the bright citrus flavor without overtaking it. Lemon sweet rolls with cream cheese icing, They have such a bright, delicious flavor. It's something that feels a little bit new, but also familiar. The dough is soft, and tender, and rich.

It starts with a spark of sugary nostalgia, a cake you haven't thought about in years, crossing your mind in a random moment. Lost in memories all this time, it's surprising how much impact it still holds. The passing of time, as it turns out, only elevates forgotten desserts' magic. After that, it won't be long before the cravings come knocking and demand a revival. Such is the case with perok cake, as aptly demonstrated by large baking communities on Reddit.

Avoid plain water and get creative with a bevy of beverages that are well-suited to complement a variety of different cakes. It's a simple and effective way to boost the taste of your cake and add extra moisture for a crave-worthy texture. For example, buttermilk is thicker and known for its sour taste, adding extra fat content and a new layer of depth and complexity to any chocolate cake, pound cake, or similar style of dessert.

The ingredient is a combination of highly-concentrated bitter almond oil, alcohol, and water, yielding a more distinctive taste than vanilla extract. Recipes typically require less than a teaspoon. On the palate, marzipan-y almond extract resembles amaretto liqueur - no mystery considering almonds belong to the same stone fruit family as apricots (amaretto is made from apricot kernels). "I also love the way it pairs with stone fruit, so I often add a dash of almond extract to cherry or peach recipes, like pie fillings," McDowell continues.

According to Guy, there isn't one single answer to the question, but a great deal of nuance. "It depends on the style of cookie you're making and the texture you're looking for," she explains. "Butter is usually the go-to choice (solid or melted) because it adds so much flavor." Outside of flavor, Guy revealed that butter can do one other thing: "Solid butter should be the go-to choice for structure." You see, when it's creamed, it adds air to the dough and forms a stabilizing network with the fats and sugar, giving your cookies their shape and texture.

Technically, you could just chop the herbs and fold them right into the batter, just know that they won't keep their bright pretty color once they're baked,

When baking cakes and brownies, one of the first things that disappears in the oven is moisture. When cooling at room temperature, out in the open, more moisture dissipates from the baked goodies. Beet juice's added moisture helps keep the crumb tender and cakes and brownies softer for longer. My doubanjiang red velvet brownies were still moist and tender two days post-baking.