Do you know what “off the wall recipes” are? Now, don’t get all excited thinking you’re going to read about chocolate papaya muffin tops or fennel sardine apricot bread. No, I’m talking about the stack of recipes I’ve clipped together and hung on the pegboard next to my work station in the King Arthur test kitchen. These are recipes I make over and over again– (more…)

As the year draws to a close

WAIT A MINUTE.

Never mind the nostalgic musing, that “year in review” stuff that everyone’s pushing at you right now. Let’s cut right to the chase: there’s no comfort food quite so comforting as something hot and yeast-doughy. (more…)

Chocolate–for breakfast? Hey, loosen up–it’s the holidays. After all, you used to drink hot chocolate when you were a kid, right? And if you were in Paris right now, you might be standing on the corner outside the local boulangerie, a steaming cup of cafe au lait in one hand and a fresh petit pain au chocolat in the other. Chocolate for breakfast? Go for it. (more…)

Lots of folks who call our bakers’ hotline (802-649-3717) comment that they’d love to work in the King Arthur test kitchen. “Boy, what a great job. I really envy you,” is an oft-heard comment. In truth, it IS a good job. Baking, eating, writing… (more…)

So, here we are, it’s nearly Christmas, and I have yet to mail the annual holiday boxes of candy and cookies I send to my mom, brother, and in-laws, scattered up and down the East coast from Massachusetts to Florida. I feel like an old fogy, saying “Oh, goodness gracious me, where does the time go?”–but it’s true! (more…)

Here we are, less than a week before Christmas (and Kwanzaa); post-Chanukah; and just prior to any solstice-related celebrations. (Bear with me, folks, I’m being politically correct and trying to cover all of the bases here!) This is a frantic time of year, to say the least; (more…)

OK, I’m just going to come right out here and say it: I’m not a crafty person. No, not the “crafty as a fox” kind of crafty; I mean I don’t possess the gene for quilting, or scrapbooking, or decorating cakes. I once knit something, I think; it was probably 40 years ago, and I recall pulling out crooked rows and starting over, endlessly. (more…)

Long ago and far away, in a land where there was no email and your teacher sent a note home from school with you if there was a “problem;” where kids played dodgeball on the playground because it hadn’t yet been ruled dangerously war-like and damaging to a child’s self-esteem; and when your mom (more…)

You know those big, fat, super-sweet cinnamon buns you get at the mall or airport? These ain’t them. BUT for those of you who think those mass-produced buns are just too sweet, too gooey, too big… (more…)

Believe it or not, fruitcake–the butt of so many holiday jokes–has its fans. And I’ve discovered, since working here at King Arthur, that it’s not fruitcake I didn’t like all those years; it’s that icky tasting candied peel and citron people usually throw into it. There are apparently those who love citron… (more…)