Instructions on how to make brown sugar in your own kitchen, and 3 tips for softening that brick of brown sugar in your pantry. Brown sugar is essential to a lot of baked goods. It gives them a distinctive caramel flavor that elevates the treat. For example, in cookies, like these Figgy Snickerdoodle Cookies. Or cookie bars, like these Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. Or in breads. Like this Brown Sugar and Plum Pull-Apart Bread. But sometimes we run out, just when we ...
Simplify Meals with Essential Kitchen Tools
Having dependable, essential kitchen tools simplifies meal preparation. They can dramatically speed up the time to when dinner is on the table, and make it easier on you. But it can be overwhelming to decide which ones to purchase when you're first starting out. Seriously, I'm going through that right now with deciding which air fryer to buy! As a note, you don't need to run out and get all of these right away, and it's not intended to be a complete, exhaustive list. For example, I ...
Perfect Buttery Flaky Pie Crust (Step-by-Step Photos)
Yes, you can always purchase a frozen pie crust at the market. Or use frozen puff pastry for a tart, but sometimes it's gratifying to know exactly how to make a fabulous buttery flaky pie crust all by ourselves. The type that makes friends and family ask in stunned disbelief, " You made this pie crust yourself? It's fabulous!". And you know what? It's not at all difficult. And it takes very little real effort on your part - most of the time is either chill time in the refrigerator, or bake time ...
How To Make Perfect Strawberry Oat Scones
Tips for making perfect Strawberry Oat Scones (or any other kind of scone!!). There are a few things you need to know about making these Strawberry Oat Scones, or really any scones. First of all, they're easy and quick to make - once you know the tricks. And second, they're very flexible. Feel free to substitute other kinds of berries for the strawberries in this recipe. Add orange or lemon zest, or go wild with some herbs. Next time around, I've decided to add small sugared ginger ...
How to Make Stevia Extract
Detailed instructions on how to make stevia extract from leaves. I recently began an experiment with making my own stevia. I nurtured plants on our deck for months, harvested the leaves, and dried them to make stevia powder. This whole experiment with stevia began because of my addiction to all things sugar. And I’m equal opportunity. Molasses, coconut sugar, date sugar, honey, maple and agave syrup. I love them all. In fact, have an entire shelf dedicated to sugar. Let face it, it's not ...
Step-by-Step Homemade Pasta
Learn how to make pasta with these detailed instructions for homemade pasta with photos of each step. Instructions cover spaghetti, fettucini, and ravioli. It’s hard to believe I was in Italy just a few weeks ago; it seems so long ago now. I’ve allowed myself to be swept up into the busyness of day-to-day life, and Italy feels further and further away. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like my life, to the contrary I like it very much, but I wasn’t quite ready to let go of Italy. Old ...
Roasting a Pumpkin
How to roast a pumpkin. Who knew this would be so easy and so rewarding? I've used canned pumpkin for years without a trace of guilt. But this year, motivated by this blog posting by BakerStreet, I decided to try my hand at roasting my own. So off to the farmer's market I went to get a nice Sugar Pie Pumpkin to work with. I've seen them in the stores for years, but have mostly used them for table decorations that get tossed after Thanksgiving. I do feel a little guilty about that, I ...
