The sort of cake CMOT Dibbler would sell on the streets of Ankh-Morpork In Star Trek, counselor Troi can walk up to a digital wall panel and say “Computer, a slice of cake please.” Ten seconds and a few special effects later she’s got a full fork – no doubt chocolate in her case. Well it seems for tiny cakes of all flavours that future is here now… … Read More →
Keep It Ice Cold From Fridge To Glass A gentle reminder is in order for iced tea drinkers now that summer is upon us yet again. “Sun tea” – namely the tired old trend of leaving tea in a vat of water for the sun to gently percolate – is not only a microbial disaster waiting to happen, it also yields inferior flavour … Read More →
Quick Cobbler For Cold Nights I know, I know. I’ve been lax in writing. The simple truth is that I haven’t had much interesting to say of late and life otherwise has consumed any spare time I would have had in which to communicate such tidbits. I’m still here. It’s still winter and blizzard-ing. And garden thoughts are at least … Read More →
Brownies Without The Brown I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate. Sure I’ll take the odd piece from grand Swiss or French choclatiers and love a cocoa-laced red velvet cake at holiday but other flavours are more apt to tempt me. Vanilla for example. Or butterscotch. When the mood strikes for something like a brownie in texture and … Read More →
Customize Your Own Blend I drink tea. I drink a LOT of tea. Black tea mostly but with green, oolong, and pu-erh tossed in for good measure when the mood hits. A cup of “builder’s Assam” with a touch of cream is on my desk more often than not. I’ve managed to ween myself off sugar there but occasionally … Read More →
Call Them Biscuits or Cookies. Either is Great With Tea. I’m still fairly certain that margarine is the spawn of the devil but I keep hearing about old-fashioned recipes that use it so I thought I’d give it a go where it seems to be most praised, a batch of quick afternoon tea biscuits. I’m aiming for the slightest snap and something that can hold … Read More →
Control Your Sugar Destiny... Deliciously Sugar is a hard monkey to break, or camel to get off your back, or erm… something like that. “Experts” have been banging on about it for years now and politicians have discovered that it’s the perfect addiction upon which to tack another tax and line their coffers with a bit of loosely-veiled social engineering. … Read More →
Definitely Not Pancakes Sometimes a single word triggers a memory. Sure experts tell us that smell and taste are powerful mental alarm bells but my internal dictionary seems to also have a web of recall attached. Today that word was ‘crumpet’. A leftover from Welsh, a language that my brain can barely hear at full speed let alone … Read More →
Same Dough, Three (or more) Flavours Like my fast scones, I make a quick dozen cookies for teatime often. Baked naked or with only a dusting of sugar I call them plain old ‘sugar cookies’… or ‘biscuits’ if your local terminology prefers. When the cinnamon rolling mood strikes, they pass for what North Americans would call ‘snickerdoodles’. If I’m really feeling … Read More →
Me. When I Have a Sore Throat. I’m not a fan of most modern over-the-counter medication. It seems these days many reach for a factory-made pill or potion at the drop of a slightly uncomfortable hat. I’m not talking about serious conditions here but rather the little signals that your body gives you for run-of-the-mill ailments, aches, and pains that crop up, … Read More →
Teatime 1.0 A welcome rainy day here in the wilderness today and I had extra rolled oats on hand. That means cookies. Despite recent cinnamon bun evidence to the contrary, I usually prefer a ‘less-sweet’ baked something with my afternoon tea break. A simple scone or my lightly-sweetened take on oatmeal and cranberry teacake-meets-cookie for examples. However … Read More →
Faster Than Waiting for the Banana Boat to Dock Technique is everything in baking. An abundance of cheap bananas had me making my stock standard banana bread a few different ways this week in an attempt to get the lightest version possible. Not an easy task sometimes thanks to a few factors in the classic recipe. Bananas lift about as well as a lumpy … Read More →
Faster than your morning shower Most mornings I want something with my tea but stale packaged biscuits (“cookies” to the Americans) just aren’t my mood. Full on cookery efforts for something elaborate aren’t always the best idea in my bleary-eyed early hours so I came up with a small batch take on scones to fill the void between buckwheat pancakes … Read More →
Beach not included Quick breads are really just overgrown muffins but they’re so much more convenient to make you can’t help but whip one together around teatime to satisfy a craving. The clue is right there in the name – they’re “quick”. The trick is keeping them light in texture and getting them to cook through properly. After … Read More →
Make lots. They disappear fast. I’ve often been accused of cheating with my answer to the “If you could only have one food on a deserted island…” question and I’m completely at ease with that assessment. I have two answers that meet the technical criteria of the query but each is so wildly diverse in its real-world application that I’ll … Read More →
Better than factory made. Easier than you think. In this dim sum missive, I must confess that I had long been a lazy sod when it came to dumpling wrappers. The convenient path was just to nab a packet of a hundred ready-made for a few bucks. I have now seen the error of my ways thanks to a late night pantry miscalculation … Read More →
Any Port in a Milk-less Storm When a holiday closes all the stores and you’ve run out of cream for your tea, you have to improvise. Since I could find no cooperative cows nearby at teatime on Labour Day, I took to the shelves to test a few ideas. Fresh dairy for my tea is one of the few requirements that … Read More →
I wouldn't come near me today if I were you Some days you know you should just go right back to bed. Some days you don’t realize that fact until it’s too late. Sunday morning started well enough with one of those nearly perfect cups of tea. The sort where you get the brewing time and the cream ratio just right. The temperature rapidly headed … Read More →
