Ginger is an incredibly versatile ingredient. Fresh ginger has that unmistakable bite to it and grates easily into sweet and savory dishes. Ground, dried ginger has a warmth to it that is unique, along with a mild flavor. My favorite kind of ginger is easily crystallised ginger, or candied ginger.

Ginger is candied in the same way that orange peels and many other fruits are candied: raw ginger is boiled in a sugar syrup until the flavor of the ginger is concentrated and the ginger is tender. Typically, the ginger is then rolled in sugar (although I’ve seen the same thing sold without a sugary exterior before) before being set out to dry. The size of the ginger varies. Some makers like to turn out huge logs of ginger, while other prefer to cut theirs down into thick rounds. The problem with both of these shapes is that when you chop them up for baking - which is probably one of the most popular uses for candied ginger other than as a straight snack - you get very little of the sugary coating that really adds a nice sweetness and crunch to baked goods.

Problem solved with one of my favorite ginger products: the Ginger People’s Baker’s Cut Crystallized Ginger Chips. The ginger is chopped up into small, chocolate chip-sized bits before it is candied, so if you want to add it into muffins or cookies, all you need to do is open the package and pour them out. It saves a lot of time and the ginger tastes great. I love the extra sugary coating that you get on these and, aside from my personal preference, have found that they’re very helpful when it comes to winning over reluctant ginger-eaters.

When recipes are written, it’s pretty common for the cook or baker to direct you to use “good quality” this or “high quality” that. It’s logical that the better your ingredients are, the better your finished product will be and simply recommending the use of a high quality product is much easier (and makes more sense, since personal tastes vary so widely) than always suggesting a particular name-brand item

I have an easy time finding things like high quality chocolate, an ingredient which is (now) widely available in a huge range of prices. Chocolate has a strong flavor that always really stands out in a recipe, so it is clearly worth seeking out, even to occasional bakers. Some other products are either so difficult to find that I don’t bother or just much too expensive to make it worth my while. Puff pastry is one of these. Most stores only carry one brand and, although the pastry is a major component of some tarts and other recipes, it isn’t usually the focal point of flavor so you can get by with using whatever you can find if you don’t want to put the time into making your own.

That said, it’s nice to have a good quality option available at a reasonable price and Trader Joe’s Artisan Puff Pastry is it. The stores have been stocking this all-butter puff pastry for a couple of months now and I’ve had nothing but success with it. The pastry is very flaky and has a good butter flavor. The sheets, while not large, are still easy to work with and I like the fact that the pastry is not folded up in the box (some brands like to fold theirs for tube-like packaging, which often leads to cracked pastry when you go to defrost it). It’s $4.99 for a pound of pastry and definitely not a bad deal considering the high quality of the product - especially considering that some other high end puff pastry products sell for more than twice that price.

I’ve been using my Baker’s Edge pan for a couple of years with great results. The makers say that the pan “eliminate[s] the problems of undercooked middles and burned edges” in various baked goods. In my experience, it cooks everything very evenly and I really prefer brownies and bars baked in it because of the double edge effect that the pan produces because each portion ends up with a nice edge and a fudgy (or chewy, depending on what type of bar you’re making) center. I also like the way it makes serving and slicing so convenient. The Blackberry Cobbler pictured here ended up much neater than batches baked in larger pans.

This month, the Cook’s Illustrated test kitchen tried out the pan for themselves to see if - in their experienced onion and with a comprehensive analysis - the pan is as good as it promises to be. They tested batches of brownies and of lasagna and were very pleased with the results. The pan delivered all that the testers had hoped for and the brownies and baked pasta came out perfectly cooked and more reliably than those baked in a regular 9×13-inch pan. The test kitchen also noted Baker’s Edge lasagna held its shape much better during serving than a larger casserole version, much as my above-mentioned cobbler did.

Hotel Chocolat’s Engraved Easter Egg is, hands down, the most beautiful chocolate Easter egg I’ve ever had. This particular egg is made of 72% dark chocolate and, while it is hollow, the shell is generously thick. It stands about 6 inches high and ships on its own little display stand. Truth be told, I was tempted just to leave it sitting around so that I could look at it longer, rather than just cutting into it for a taste. The design on the egg is actually a series of cocoa pods, a kind of tribute to the chocolate. It’s incredibly artistic and a nice change from the usual chocolate chicks and bunnies that crop up around Easter.

Getting past the visuals, the chocolate is excellent. It has the satisfying bitterness that you want a good dark chocolate to have, but also a round and slightly fruity sweetness. The chocolate melts well into your mouth and definitely left me wanting a second piece.

Hotel Chocolat has several other types of Easter eggs on offer, as well. They have a 40% cacao milk chocolate egg in the same shape as this dark egg, and a couple of filled eggs, which open to reveal a selection of other dark and milk chocolate goodies. The only drawback with the filled eggs is that you don’t get the beautiful design on the outside - which isn’t saying much, since the assorted chocolates inside of those eggs are probably the best part.

It’s called a potato and it looks like a potato, but you’re not going to find any “real” potato here. Just a potato look-a-like. See’s Candies’ St. Patrick’s Day Potato is a special treat that the candy company puts out every March. The 2.5-oz. potato has a large, irregular mound of nougat at it center. The nougat is soft and not too sweet, despite being made primarily of sugar, and is packed with chopped English walnuts that give it a lot of texture. The center is enrobed in a very thin layer of milk chocolate, not too add flavor, but simply to seal and protect the nougat and give the topping of cocoa powder and cinnamon something to adhere too. Pine nuts inserted randomly into the top stand in as the potato’s eyes.

It’s too bad that they only see these once a year because they’re really tasty - especially if you’re a nougat fan. Of course, it would be slightly odd to eat potato-shaped candies at other times of the year, but any social stigma that results is something to deal with when it actually comes up.

I should probably have given everyone a heads up that there would be a few more chocolate and candy reviews than usual over the next couple of weeks because of Easter. It’s a candy-heavy holiday and I just can’t resist. This collection of chocolates is a premium one: the Ferrero Rocher Prestige Collection. I’ve seen several different packaging variations of this mix, but these particular candies came from a lovely Easter egg-shaped package that is perfect for a grown-up Easter present.

I’m a big fan of the classic Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Pictured in the center of each photo, the milk chocolate and hazelnut combination is very well done, though I must admit that my favorite part is the contrast between the crisp wafer shell that is unique to the brand’s chocolates and the ultra-creamy chocolate filling. Opening the package, I was looking forward to trying the two new (new to me, anyway) flavors included with the original.

I started with Garden Coco (left in photos). The candy has an almond at the center of a truffle-like ball of coconut cream. The center is wrapped in a crisp wafer, enrobed in white chocolate and rolled in shredded coconut. It was delicious - perfectly balanced and very light. The third flavor in the set was the dark chocolate Rondnoir (right in photos). This candy is similar to the original, as it has a hazelnut in the center of a smooth chocolate filling, a crisp wafer shell and is enrobed in chocolate, though all the chocolate is dark, not milk. I found the center to be somewhat more dense than it is in the milk chocolate version, but this only served to highlight the intensity of the flavor.

Coconut might very well be my new favorite flavor in this mix, although it’s a very close race. Overall, it’s a great mix of chocolates and I’m glad that it’s not a seasonal one even if the packaging is. I wouldn’t want to wait another year to pick up another box.