cavebutter

Oh excellent ideas! I particularly like McAuliflower's suggestion, as one of the reasons I was thinking puree was to be able to keep a couple of the seeds around-- or something a little crunchy at least. I will report back with results. BTW, Alton Brown is very against storing fudge in the freezer. Why is that? The texture of mine seems to improve when eaten straight out of the freezer.

It's that time of year again...curds and fudges for friends and coworkers. I've been using the same fudge recipe for years and now that I am on my fourth batch of the holiday season, I'm looking to break up the monotony a bit. My recipe is your standard marshmallow-less one: 1 c cream 4 oz unsweetened chocolate 2.75 c sugar 1 T corn syrup 3 T butter splash of vanilla I love the idea of raspberry fudge, but I'm trying to figure out how to do it. I'd like to avoid extracts and fake stuff. I'm leaning towards a puree, but I have a feeling that it will mess up the consistency. Anyone have any thoughts on technique or other yummy flavors?

Fantastic cake! And you know...I've been wondering for years about the relative sizes of the turtle and the elephants. Aside from the craftsmanship, that was the big "Aha!" for me.

Quite welcome! Glad I could help spread the word. The ones my bartender makes *really* taste like pickle.

I will try the ww pastry flour, but Alan's Ultimate look really good. I like how little oil it uses. Patricia's uses a bit more and, in my head, that takes away a little bit from the healthfulness of bran muffins. Thanks for the tip, I'll try them out as soon as I run out of my current batch.

In reference to original question: buttermilk. Ick!!!! In baked goods, biscuits, fried chicken, etc. it's divine. On it's own, the smell alone makes me want to stop making whatever recipe calls for it. BTW, growing up I hated tomatoes, cilantro and dill. Now, I love them all.

My regular bartender makes something he calls the Pickle-tini. Basically vodka, kosher dill pickle brine, garnished with a slice of kosher dill. Surprisingly un-nasty, but not my cup of tea. A friend and I make a "thai-tini," with cilantro and fresh ginger muddled on ice, gin, lime juice, shaken, strained, garnished with lime wedge. Not sure if it counts as savory, but it's delicious.

Toasted paper-thin rye bread with gruyere and cornichons wasabi rice crackers --Shameful-- Chex Mix (Hot 'n' Spicy) Munchies (those bags full of Sun Chips, Doritos, Pretzels, Cheetos, etc.)

I would love to find one too. I've been doctoring a bran muffin recipe I found here (In this thread) by substituting between 1/3 and 1/2 of the AP flour with whole wheat. The results have been mixed. They've been too dry, so I've added a bit of apple juice or pinapple juice to make up for the extra absorbing power of whole wheat, but...well, the recipe is beginning to run away from me. Edited to add link.

First off, this is my very first post on eGullet, though I've been lurking for a year or two. Second, I'm about 6 months into baking lots of bread for friends and family-- I still consider myself a total beginner, but here's a few things that have helped me out: - SweetSide's book recommendations are spot on. I also use Rose Levy Beranbaum's Bread Bible. Reinhart and Beranbaum have been my constant companions. - Get a baking stone. It's mellowed out my oven considerably, and is really useful in making more rustic breads. - I tend to be very brand loyal, I started off with King Arthur, love it, don't see myself switching. - To get a little more poof in your breads, even sandwich loaves, try steaming the oven at the very beginning when you put the bread in the oven. You can do this by dumping about 6 icecubes into a sheetpan that's been preheating with the oven, or by spritzing the oven walls with a spray bottle 2 or 3 times at 30 second intervals when you first put the bread in. Jay