With February comes thoughts of chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. Take one look around and you’ll see that chocolate means love and love means chocolate. One of my favorite things to do is experiment with dipping my favorite foods in chocolate to create new combinations of chocolate-y bliss. It’s easier than you think and oh so fun. [...]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year because it seems that everybody is baking! I love spending extra time in the kitchen during the holidays, baking up a variety of my favorite cookies—some old favorites and some new discoveries. I also love swapping recipes with friends, or tasting something wonderful and trying to crack [...]

It happens to the best of us. One day you open your pantry and find uninvited guests—ants, weevils, and other sorts of creepy crawlies. If you’re like me, you hesitate to treat the problem with dangerous sprays and pesticides that may seep into the food you eat. That’s why today I’m sharing a couple of [...]

Ah, to brine or not to brine? That is the question. And the answer, my friends, is definitely to brine.
Say goodbye to dry turkey on Thanksgiving and hello to juicy, flavorful bites of the most delicious meat you’ve ever tasted, all through the process of brining. How does brining work, exactly? The cells of the [...]

Thanksgiving just isn’t the same without a giant basket of warm rolls, with the keyword being “giant.” I’m sharing a favorite, passed-down-for-generations recipe for fluffy rolls and creamy, sweet honey butter to slather all over them. Even if you’ve never made rolls before, you can master this recipe. It’s simple and delicious and can be [...]

Depending on which region of the country you hail from, you may or may not be familiar with the delicious joy that is the whoopie pie. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then welcome to your lucky day. Whoopie pies are cake-y sandwiches with silky, fluffy frosting middles. Wrap your hands around one [...]

Here’s a quick tip to make your cooking and baking easier: Before you measure out oil, syrup, peanut butter, or any other sticky substance for a recipe, rinse your measuring cup under hot water for about 30 seconds or so. The heat (and even a few drops of water) will keep the substance from sticking [...]

There are a few questions about butter that come up from time to time, so let’s set the record straight with a quick Q & A.
If the recipe doesn’t say unsalted or salted butter, which do I use? Bakers and chefs usually choose unsalted butter in their recipes because it’s easier to manage the salt [...]

One of the secrets to my cookies is a commitment to using the best available products in them, including–and especially–fresh eggs. If you haven’t tasted a farm fresh egg before, put it on your to-do list. Fresh eggs from free-range, quality fed chickens are a taste experience in themselves. Plus, they are higher in folic [...]

Today I’m sharing another cookie recipe that can be adapted a zillion different ways. (Really, I counted.) The backbone of the recipe is a simple oatmeal cookie; it’s up to you to accessorize it however you like with any type of dried fruit (mango is amazing!), chocolate, and nut. Make them regular size or oversized–they [...]