The Baking Medic

So, this Sunday is head hancho at the office’s birthday. My boss asked if I wouldn’t mind baking a cake for him. Of course, I said I would do it in an instant.

I pondered briefly the age old question of “chocolate or vanilla?” before deciding on Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake. The cake is a classic, and I’ve made it twice now with success. The first time I made it as cupcakes and this time I baked it in a 9″x13″ pan. The cake cake out a bit flatter than I expected, but I also recall that the cupcakes didn’t rise a whole bunch either. » Read the rest of this entry «

Fudge. Even the name sounds decadent. It’s rich, it’s creamy, and it’s sweet enough to send any kid swinging from the rafters. It’s also one of my favourite confections of all time.

I find it very interesting to see how fudge has evolved, or at least our methods of preparing it. Some recipes take hours to make, as you painstakingly dissolve the sugar and cream, boil it to the soft ball stage, then let it cool, before giving it a thorough beating. This past week, I attempted no less than three different fudge recipes, each one slightly different and with varying results. » Read the rest of this entry «

The combination chocolate and peanut butter is not a new concept. Since the mid-1920s, people have been enjoying the indulgent (but oh so delicious) Reese’s peanut butter cups.

These were a creation inspired the flavours of the famous peanut butter cups — my first baked good recipe made up entirely by myself. It must be said, that I was partly motivated by the sizeable bag of biscuits that my brother had brought home from work. He is a stock boy at a bulk food store, and since the majority of the cookies were broken, his manager was planning on throwing them away. I think he had me in mind when he salvaged the bag of cookies.

So, equipped with a bag of mostly broken biscuits and a craving for chocolate and peanut butter, I came up with these: Krissy’s Chocolate and Peanut Butter Squares. » Read the rest of this entry «

Yes, although these are “Mexican” Chocolate Chip cookies, there is nothing remotely swine flu-esque about them. (Perhaps that joke was a bit in poor taste, but when you work in a lab that deals with swine flu samples daily, the words “Does not contain swine flu extract” might be a little more appropriate. ;) )

In fact, these cookies were delicious. I baked a batch yesterday and brought at least two dozen cookies in with me this morning. When I went to see how many were left, only two lonely cookies remained. Even they found their way into my coworkers’ tummies soon after.

So, a huge resounding success. I found the original recipe whilst browsing the blog, Cookie Madness, a blog with absolutely dozens of decadent, mouthwatering cookie recipes. There is a reason the blog is called cookie madness! » Read the rest of this entry «