When it comes to pie crusts, I am a firm believer in making my own when I can. They’re really not that difficult to make by hand, and you can also blend the dough in a food processor. The more you practice, the better you’ll get - and you also have a great excuse to bake more pies this way. Still, there are plenty of times when a premade pie crust can come in handy. I really like using premade graham cracker crusts for convenience and I’ve had some success with frozen pie dough, although homemade tends to taste better. I decided to give Trader Joe’s Frozen Pie Crusts a try because they’re made with real butter and I hoped that the finished product would have a good flavor.

These pie crusts come two in a package in the frozen foods section. They’re flat, so you’ll need your own pie plate to fit them two. You simply defrost the crusts, transfer them to your pie plate and bake as you would with homemade crust. Do not defrost them all the way to room temperature or they’ll be too soft to handle; aim for a chilled but flexible texture with these crusts. These will definitely not fit in a deep dish pie plate, as they just barely fill a regular 9-inch plate. You can roll them out slightly if you want more of a crust overhang on the edge of your pie, but that kind of defeats the purpose of using a ready-made crust.

After baking, I was really pleased with the flavor of the crust. It was light and had a nice butter flavor to it. I noticed that it was a tiny bit saltier than my usual crusts, but that is not necessarily a bad thing since most pie fillings are nice and sweet to start with. So, I’d have to say that these are a good, flavorful bet as far as ready-made crusts go, although they’re not as easy to use as pie crusts that come already shaped to a pie plate and do require prep time because they must be defrosted before using. The packaging doesn’t take up much room, however, so this might be just the thing to keep in your freezer as a backup when you just don’t want to do it yourself.

Ad Hoc is one of Chef Thomas Keller’s restaurants in Yountville, California. The restaurant has an interesting story behind it, but even more interesting is the food, which is high quality, family style fare. They actually have just one menu each day - just like Mom might make (assuming that she is a truly excellent cook) for dinner. Since the food is homestyle, it’s not too much of a stretch to take their food from the Northern California restaurant into actual home kitchens. There is now a line of Ad Hoc food products to choose from, from a Fried Chicken Kit to gourmet cake frostings.

I don’t usually think of canned or jarred cake frosting as being a gourmet ingredient, but Ad Hoc’s Milk and Dark Chocolate Frostings certainly are that. These frostings are made with premium ingredients and are definitely a cut above your average grocery story frosting. Of course, at about $20 per jar - enough jar is enough to frost a 9 inch layer cake - they had better be a big cut above! Both frostings are rich tasting and creamy. I’ve had other dark chocolate frostings with a similar bittersweet flavor, so I wasn’t as impressed with it as I was with the milk chocolate option. The milk chocolate frosting really did have a great milk chocolate flavor to it, like hot chocolate or an actual chocolate bar. I haven’t had too many milk chocolate frostings with a similar flavor, and I know that I haven’t had a premade milk chocolate frosting that was anywhere near as tasty.

Both frostings were easy to spread and there was plenty in each jar to cover a cake well, assuming that you don’t eat a couple of spoonfuls straight from the jar (recommended on the label) before you finish off your cake! I don’t know that it’s worth the price tag when you could make your own frosting much less expensively, but because they are very good, they might be worth a splurge for yourself and would make a nice gourmet gift for a baking friend.

Since it’s Girl Scout cookie season again - whether you’re buying from a local troop or using it as an excuse to make some Homemade Girl Scout Cookies - it also means that Dreyer’s has put its seasonally available Girl Scout cookie ice creams back in grocery store freezer cases. These limited edition ice creams feature some of the most popular Girl Scout cookie flavors, like Samoas and, in this case, Tagalongs. Tagalongs are shortbread cookies topped with a layer of peanut butter and then coated in chocolate, a bit like a peanut butter cup with a cookie base. This Dreyer’s (Edy’s on the East coast) flavor has a vanilla ice cream base, along with swirls of peanut butter and fudge, and some Tagalong cookie bits.

The ice cream is good, it has a nice vanilla flavor to it and is both creamy and light, along the lines of other Dreyer’s Grand ice creams. The fudge and peanut butter swirls really make it taste like a peanut butter cup, too, and there are plenty of each mixed into the ice cream. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the cookie content. While I found plenty of recognizable cookie chunks in the Samoas ice cream, the cookie pieces were few and far between - and they tended to be so small that they really didn’t contribute much. So, while it was good, I might stick to mixing in some Tagalong cookies that I’ve crunched up myself to make sure that I get a lot of crunchy cookie pieces along with all that fudge and peanut butter.

I have had my trusty KitchenAid hand mixer for more than a few years. In fact, I actually don’t remember when I first got it, only that it has help up very well and works well. This is a good testament to the longevity of my model, but hand mixers can actually vary a lot in size, power and their ability to get the job done in the kitchen, whether you’re beating egg whites or mixing cookie dough. In their most recent issue (March 2010), Consumer Reports put nine different hand mixers to the test to see which were the best.

The compared the mixers on several features: whipping time (heavy cream), mixing ability (cookie dough), convenience and noise.The top finished was a KitchenAid Architect Series model, with lots of speed, great turning power and a quiet motor, it was easy to use and whipped up cream in less than half the time of some of the low-finishing models. It is also the most expensive mixer tested, so it is worth noting that the second place finisher - a KitchenAid UltraPower 5 - was $30 less and performed just about as well, although it was a touch less powerful.

They also noted that most of these models are available with additional attachments, including whisks and dough hooks, which are well worth looking for if you don’t have a stand mixer and want to get a lot more versatility from your hand mixer! Ratings for all models tested are listed below:

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Instant coffee is a great ingredient to have in the kitchen pantry if you like to bake. Many recipes, especially recipes involving chocolate, call for either a small amount of brewed coffee or simply for a bit of instant coffee to be added to highlight the darker chocolate notes in the recipe. It’s very convenient to be able to whip up a strong cup of coffee with instant coffee, rather than brewing a whole pot to put just half a cup into a cake. Even stronger than instant coffee is instant espresso. Instant espressos have a more intense, and usually much more complex, flavor than regular instant coffee. They can be a better choice for baking because they add a lot more to a recipe than just a vague hint of coffee flavor.

In their most recent issue (March 2010), Cook’s Illustrated included a taste-test of three different instant espresso brands in a batch of brownies (tasters still thought the real thing was best for drinking). Their favorite was Caffe D’Vita Imported Premium Instant Espresso, which had “dark, deep, fruity, toast-y” notes to it. They also liked Cafe Bustelo Espresso Instant Coffee for it’s “rich fruitiness. The brand of instant espresso that I like to bake with, Medaglia D’Oro, was one that they liked although it was not their favorite. Tasters said that it added a “good complexity.” They won’t sell these in all markets (although I have seen them in Target before), but you’ll definitely find some of these brands at stores like Williams-Sonoma and specialty grocery stores.

Perhaps next time they’ll throw some Starbucks Via into the taste test. It’s not instant espresso, but it’s very easy to work with and does have a lot of complexity to it - especially when you compare it to other instant coffee products.

 Aprons are useful tools to have in the kitchen. I say tools because they can do quite a lot: protect your clothes, give you a place to wipe your hands or hang a dishtowel, and even provide you with pockets to hold extra spices, spoons and spatulas that you just don’t have room for. And if the apron is cute and fun to wear, that is even better. Flirty Aprons is a company that specializes in cute and - of course - flirty aprons. They have some great patterns to choose from, all with wide fabric belts that tie into a big bow and a beautiful ruffled trim. I recently got to test out one of their most delightful designs: the Frosted Cupcake apron. The apron is made from soft cotton and has a nice strong feel to it. I like the pockets and I love the cut, because these aprons were designed to be flattering. For instance, the ruffle stopped right at my waist, so there was no bunching of extra fabric, and the wide tie makes your waist look slim, not shapeless. And the adorable cupcakes are a nice finishing touch to the whole thing.

This week, I’m giving away the Frosted Cupcake apron pictured above! To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your favorite frosting flavor - in honor of the frosted cupcakes on the apron. The winner will be chosen randomly on Thursday, January 28th at midnight. Don’t forget to leave your e-mail address when you comment so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

If you don’t win the giveaway, check out some of their other aprons as a gift for yourself or as a fantastic Valentine’s Day gift. Flirty Aprons makes mens and kids aprons, as well. I really like the Cherry Blossom Apron, too, and will be adding that to my own wish list!