Earlier this summer while walking home from the Ballard Viking Days with some neighbors, I picked up a party cookbook at one of the pick-up/drop-off free book bins. There was a recipe for a chocolate party cake featuring three layers, lots of butter and chocolate, lots of work and plenty of time to get ingredients … More Chocolate Party Cake. No party.
A lovely neighbor gifted me with two bars of Seattle’s own Theo Chocolate, a pure and dark variety, which, in this house, means “Bake something with it.” Some people have suggested a deficit in the planned cookie menu for MsChef in Seattle upcoming shops, namely, a chocolate chip cookie. I’ve resisted because that cookie is … More Whoop-tee-doo Chocolate Shard Cookie, V.1, Seattle’s Theo Chocolate
The first of two expected windstorms in the Pacific Northwest passed yesterday with leaves and branches and plenty of fresh air. The second, more powerful storm, is already hitting the coast and expected here in the Seattle area beginning in a couple hours. While it’s not necessary — at least locally — to fill the … More How to prepare for big storm: Bake! Loaded Frittata, Hard Flour Banana Nut Bread
Last week one of my nieces put up a wee Facebook post about Wednesday cake. It set off my make-cake-bells and I went to the crisper to retrieve some bananas that I’d put there to ripen slowly for some baking purpose. Sadly, overripe, so the banana-nut cake that I had in mind? Nope. Substitute cake? … More Sunday Cake: Banana Nut with Creamy Nut Icing. No nuts.
Having missed an opportunity to provide a friend with birthday goody, I asked what he’d like. Cake? Nah. Pie? Yes, please, real Southern Pecan Pie, dark and gooey, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. As much as I don’t like to make the crust, I did it anyway, making a single butter crust. There … More Southern Pecan Pie for a friend on my birthday, Crispy for me
You look up a recipe online. Another recipe on the side catches your eye, which it would because those sneaky corporate algorithms have enough of your search data to choose and place more appealing items on the periphery of whatever you’re reading. Yesterday such a recipe idea was making naan or pita or flatbread with … More Making Skillet Bread, serving it with marinated cold salmon and avocado
Welcoming the college football season and the three teams that I follow* all televised on channels readily available, I decided to spend the commercials and listening time in the kitchen, slicing onions and stirring them every few minutes as they slowly warmed in olive oil and turned to caramelized goodness in the cast iron frypan. … More Welcoming College Football Season with Caramelized Onions
There was maybe 3/4 cup of leftover chocolate fudge icing in the fridge and last night somebody gifted me with a bag of Washington’s own Bluebird Grain Farms organic whole grain hard white flour while we were discussing acquisition of some good quality chocolate for a cake recipe. So, with chocolate on my mind and … More j’s Hard Flour Brownies with Cocoa, Walnuts & Fudge Icing
What do you do with storebought purple plums and nectarines that are a bit too mushy for snacks? Stew them for breakfast? Make jam? Use them for baking? Since it’s a bit chillier in Seattle following our brief heat wave, I decided in favor of a hot oven and the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg … More Plum, Nectarine and Walnut Crisp
Somewhere and sometime during a recipe search for something, there was a reference to using yogurt to boost the sour power of sourdough bread if one was in a rush. Some large commercial bakeries do it with added ingredients, so why not try it? I wanted fresh sourdough bread in a hurry, didn’t think about … More Sourdough Yogurt Bread, Garden Roses and Tiny Tomatoes on Deck
Ms Chef in Seattle 