Root beer is one of my favorite soda flavors, so I couldn’t walk by the bottles of Sonoma Syrup Co.’s Root Beer Soda Syrup in Williams Sonoma without picking one up to try (they had cola and lemon-lime, too). I like a lot of the other products from Sonoma Syrup Co, including their vanilla bean crush, so I had fairly high hopes for the root ... Read More »
Vanilla extract appears in so many sweet recipes that it’s almost automatic to add it in when you’re making cookies or cakes, so when you see the words “vanilla extract” replaced with “vanilla bean paste” you might have to do a double take before you realize that these are quite the same thing. Vanilla extract is made by infusing vanilla into alcohol , which bakes ... Read More »
The only way to get those classic Girl Scout Samoas (a.k.a. Caramel de Lites) is to wait for another Girl Scout selling season to roll around – or to set aside some time in the kitchen to make your own homemade Girl Scout cookies. Although I can and do make them at home, I still look forward to “cookie season” and when I saw a ... Read More »
One last product from the Duff Goldman line that I wanted to review was the Duff Goldman Chocolate Cake Mix. The brightly-boxed cake mix is one of the products from his new line of cake-decorating supplies and sells for a little more than what boxed cake mixes go for in the grocery store. I couldn’t resist trying it after I tried the ultra-expensive Ad Hoc ... Read More »
Fondant is a really neat product to work with when you’re decorating a cake because it allows you to do things that you can’t quite do with regular frosting. For instance, you can create a perfectly smooth and firm surface that is not only a good canvas for even more decorations, but it helps keep the cake moist underneath. There are downsides, however, and the ... Read More »
Just as not all chocolates are created equal, neither are all white chocolates. White chocolate chips should be made with cocoa butter to give them that creamy, melt-in-your-mouth texture that all chocolates should have and they should also be made with a good amount of milk and vanilla for flavoring. A good white chocolate chip should taste like cream and vanilla, should melt smoothly and ... Read More »
Pomegranates are delicious fruits, but they are a little bit trickier to eat than, for instance, an apple, due to all of their jewel-like seeds. They’re not that easy to incorporate into recipes – particularly recipes for baked goods – unless you’re looking to use just the juice. Once, I bought a big bag of dried pomegranate seeds, planning to put them into some cookies ... Read More »
I really like the idea of a birthday cake that doesn’t need any frosting to say “happy birthday” and is still clearly a birthday cake, as opposed to your average, everyday cake. After all, it’s nice when birthday cakes are a little bit special for the occasion. So, this silicone Birthday Cake Pan really appealed to me when I first heard about the design. It ... Read More »
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