Alright, let me tell you what I did the other day. I had this bag of store-bought mini cream puffs sitting in the freezer, you know? And they were… okay. But it got me thinking, I could probably make better ones myself and freeze them. So, I decided to give it a shot. Making the Puff Shells First thing, I got out a saucepan. Put...

So, I got my hands on one of those electronic spoon scales the other day. Been seeing them around and thought, why not give it a try? Seemed potentially useful for small stuff in the kitchen. First thing, getting it out of the box. Pretty straightforward, no complex assembly required, thankfully. It needed a battery, one of those small coin cell types, which I had...

Getting Started with Those Fancy Molds So, I finally got my hands on some of those shortbread molds. Saw them online, thought they looked pretty neat, maybe make the cookies look a bit more special, you know? Mine are the wooden kind, traditional looking. Seemed simple enough. First thing, mixing up the shortbread dough. I just used my usual recipe, nothing fancy. Maybe slightly chilled...

Alright, let’s talk about this Stafford County flour. I’d been seeing the bag around, you know, the simple paper kind. Heard some folks mention it, saying it was decent, no-nonsense stuff. My usual brand was getting kinda pricey, and honestly, sometimes it felt a bit… processed? So, I figured, why not give this Stafford County All Purpose a try. Found it down at the local...

Getting Started with the Banana Bread Okay, so today I felt like baking something comforting, and that Betty Crocker banana nut bread recipe is usually a winner. Pulled out the old cookbook, well, actually, just looked it up again. First things first, gotta get those bananas ready. I had three sitting on the counter, perfectly spotty and soft. Seriously, they need to be ripe, almost...

So, I decided to mess around with low-gluten flour the other week. I’d been making some biscuits and cakes, and honestly, they were coming out a bit… tough? Chewy? Not really what I was going for. I kept hearing folks talk about cake flour or pastry flour, which is basically just lower in protein, lower in gluten. Getting Started First step was actually getting my...

My Journey with the Pastry Spatula Alright, let’s talk about the pastry spatula. For the longest time, I just used regular table knives or those clunky rubber spatulas for everything frosting-related. Seemed fine, right? But then I kept seeing these long, thin metal things in baking videos, and folks were gliding frosting around like magic. So, I finally picked one up. Wasn’t expensive. Just a...

Okay, so I wanted to share something I messed around with in the kitchen recently. Nothing fancy, just this simple plastic dough scraper thing. Getting Started with the Scraper Right, so I was making some bread, you know, the usual sticky mess. I always hate getting the dough out of the bowl, sticks to everything, my hands, the spoon, you name it. I remembered seeing...

Okay, so, I decided to try out shepherd’s grain low gluten flour. Heard some good things, figured I’d give it a whirl. Here’s the lowdown on my baking adventure: First off, I grabbed a bag. You know, the usual – online order, showed up a few days later. Felt kinda lighter than my regular all-purpose, which I guess makes sense since it’s lower in gluten....

Okay, so, matcha cakes, right? I was craving something sweet but not, like, too sweet. And I’ve been obsessed with matcha lately. So, naturally, my brain went “matcha cake near me!” The Hunt Begins: First thing, I whipped out my phone and did the usual Google search. “Matcha cake near me,” duh. Got a bunch of hits, mostly bakeries and cafes. Started clicking through the...