There was Thanksgiving frost on the stairs and driveway this morning at 8:30. I’m thankful that the threatened snow earlier in the week stayed in the mountains where the snow bunnies and water table may benefit. The first scent of the day was, naturally, coffee, but I’ve just saluted the frost with the aroma of … More Thanksgiving, Great Yearly, Made Great Again
Yesterday afternoon, about two and a half hours before dinner with my daughter, the oven on low at 250 degrees, a foil-wrapped package was put in it to slowly warm and meld the flavors of the filling within a partially-hollowed out round loaf of artisan sourdough. I took a shortcut, bought the bread. I’d wanted … More Clam Dip Baked in Boule
Last night, as dinner was on the stove and with an accompaniment in the oven, I mixed a batch of cookie dough for another experiment in fillings, in high hopes that the result would be the third offering of a peppermint-related cookie trio. There are already two unique and well-proven members of that trio, typically … More Peppermint Cream Snicks, Maybe
It’s time to begin preparations for holiday baking and first that means a look in the back of the fridge for remains from last year. There’s almost always going to be jams, jellies, fillings and other sugared foods that easily survive a year. I found a jar with almost one cup of last winter’s date … More Date-Topped Fruity Bran Muffins, Made Great Again
It’s the season for pumpkin, the savory and the sweet. We see pumpkins in big piles at the grocery stores and some of us start jonesing for a familiar taste. I hear about pumpkin this and pumpkin that, pumpkin spice in a latte, pumpkin soup, pumpkin couscous and my inner baker reminds me that it’s … More Pumpkin Spice Joneses, One Variation
One of the purposes of this site is referential, so that my daughter will be able to refer to posts if she entertains the desire to recreate something seen and described here. She thinks that I should put recipes in with the photos and writeups because this is a food blog. Of course I will … More Recipes, Old and New, Maybe, Maybe Not
I have a wonderful family living in the bottom half of this house-turned-duplex. I bake all their birthday cakes because I love them and I love to bake. The oldest child turned 14 this past summer and I made her the Dark Chocolate Caramel Cake in the first photo for her birthday. It was taller … More Making Chocolate Caramel Cake and Scrapbooks Great Again
The homepage cookie photo, taken by my mother, is of Limey Joneses. It’s one of my signature cookies, made for an Englishwoman who had a sudden Jones for a soft lime cookie when I told her that I’d developed a whole line of unique, gourmet, soft, iced and decorated cookies that I call Joneses. Incidentally, … More Limey Joneses
I went to a friendly debate-watching party on October 13th put on by Mari, a member of Bernie Sanders’ local campaign organization in Snohomish County, Washington. There were small house parties in several locations. The one I went to was about a half mile walk, and 16 people of the 25 who RSVP’d showed up. It was … More Make Snickerdoodles and Sourdough Bread Great Again
Five weeks ago I made a batch of the Cinnamon Snicks, those filled with salted caramel, delivered some to Grandma Pat along with some Peanut Butter Snicks also filled with salted caramel, and froze 15 of the filled Cinnamon Snick cookie dough balls. The purpose was to test whether the frozen dough balls, when baked, … More Salted Caramel Filled Cinnamon Snicks, From Frozen State
Ms Chef in Seattle 