Today is my friend Otto’s birthday. His mother is in town for the holiday and, since they are Dutch, I arranged with the missus to make my Dutch great-grandmother’s recipe for Dutch potato cake as my contribution to the festivities and as a surprise for his mother. I don’t know if she’ll be familiar, but … More Van Harte Gefeliciteerd Otto, heartfelt congratulations & Dutch Potato Cake
As a baker who doesn’t like to make or eat pie crust but is fond of the fillings which go into the shell, and as I will not be preparing Thanksgiving dinner again this year but am making a couple Dutch apple pies for gifts today, I decided to chop some additional apples and make … More Who doesn’t like Dutch Spiced Apple Birthday Pie? My recipe.
If you’ve made a German chocolate cake, then you know it takes 8 egg yolks and 4 egg whites with 4 egg whites left over, leaving a decision to be made for using the extra whites. I decided to substitute half of them for an egg in each of two batches of Super speedy baking … More Chemistry? Egg whites, canned milk, baking powder biscuits & Cranberry Lolly scones.
My friend Sylvia’s 90th birthday is just a few days away, but since it is during the same week as Thanksgiving and some in the neighborhood will be away, the hostess made a the decision to have the block party for her tonight. I baked her favorite cake, the German chocolate model using better than … More 2 Cakes for Sylvia’s Pre-birthday Party
When my family lived in Tacoma on my grandmother’s little farm from the time I was in 2nd grade through 9th grade, my mother — with the aid of Velda and her kennel across the street — raised apricot poodles with black points. (We also had German shepherds, but that’s another story.) Lots of folks … More Apricot Poodles & Date-Walnut Chews
Man oh man. Today I quickly baked a batch of Gratitude cookies* for the two maintenance men who arrived this morning to repair a broken U pipe under the kitchen sink, replace and hook up two broken elements on the old stove and install weather-stripping around the door. I put all three of the requests … More I pulled an “Alexa” for quick peanut butter frosting for 2 cupcakes.
“Why don’t you simply make half a batch of raspberry sauce if you don’t need the whole thing?” asked Sylvia after I’d told her that I’d only used 1/4 cup of it in the frosting for the Raspberry Joneses* made a few days ago. Answer: because it takes as long to make a half batch … More juliyya’s Chocolate & Raspberry Surprise Cupcakes. Maybe Cupcake Joneses?
I had a first go at this cookie a number of years ago for Mother and the Old Buck’s 50th wedding anniversary, along with the huge Mexican chocolate cake I made for the same occasion. Then, last week a package of freeze-dried, unsweetened, unsulfured raspberries in Trader Joe’s caught my eye and I decided to … More Revised & New! Raspberry Jones for a Birthday
The last of the can of sweetened condensed milk — around 2 Tablespoons used in substitution for sugar and part of the milk — has helped to turn the apartment into a lovely, fragrant morning space. I went to the store yesterday to acquire the orange, then reached into the fridge this morning for a … More Cranberry Lolly & Orange Scones, Now with Sweetened Condensed Milk
There’s a half can of sweetened condensed milk left over from Emergency Brownies* a couple days ago, and unlike the days when I stirred it into cups of coffee in an early upscale coffee shop in Bahrain from behind the counter as a 16-year old, I lost my taste for coffee sweetened in that fashion, … More Speedy Baking Powder Biscuits Made with Sweetened Condensed Milk & Full Moon
Ms Chef in Seattle 