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Pumpkin Pie and the Perils of Watching Too Many Cooking Shows

Marcia December 26, 2010 Baking, Cooking, Food shows, Recipes 0

Those are pie weights, not mini marshmallows!

This year Gary and I decided to politely turn down any Thanksgiving day invites and just do our own thing. Though I had wanted to have my Thanksgiving feast at a fine but unpretentious local restaurant, I quickly warmed to Gary’s suggestion of cooking up our own festive dinner.

We discussed entrée and side-dish options, and for desserts we concluded we would each make (or at least choose) a favorite or promising dessert, and there was no question that his was going to be of the pomaceous persuasion and mine was going to be pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin. I was eager to make a perfectly pumpkin something — though something other than my usual goof-proof cookies, breads, and muffins — and do it right this time. Continue reading »

Attempting Cook’s Illustrated Ultimate Banana Bread

Marcia June 24, 2010 Cookbooks, Recipe ratings, Recipes 5

Bunch of bananasOh, how quickly a bunch of perfectly just-a-hair-underripe bananas, purchased with the best of healthy-and-light-eating intentions, can go from fit for snacking or slicing into a bowl of Kashi Crunch to must-freeze-for-pops-and-smoothies to oh-dear-its-time-for-banana-bread. The inevitability of an upcoming banana-bread episode fills me with both glee and guilt—glee because I have an excuse to bake one of my all-time favorite snacks breakfasts nibbles splurges, guilt because most quick breads and muffins—no matter how much good-for-you lowfat yogurt, whole-wheat flour, or unprocessed wheat bran goes in them—are sweet, calorie-dense temptations. You think I’m going to have just one slice? I don’t think so . . .

Two simple criteria make a recipe splurgeworthy. First, the taste, texture, and overall delight must be worth the time and trouble to make it. Second, the experience has to be enjoyable enough to justify the overabundance of fat, sugar, and calories I will end up consuming. Of course, finding splurgeworthy recipes takes considerable trial and error.
Continue reading »