emmalish

Richard, I'm sorry, but this particular book only has the imperial measurements. Being Canadian I'm used to working with both. I can do the conversion for you later if you like? The conversions for these amounts is pretty straightforward.

YES! This is one of the reasons I hate rolling out any kind of dough – the clean up afterwards. I used to put down parchment paper, but it would just curl up and tear and make an even bigger mess. Now I have a large silpat mat just for working with doughs. Still needs to be cleaned up, but at least it's localized and I don't need to use a lot of flour on the board to avoid sticking.

I've always hated oatmeal. I wanted to like it – because I love oatmeal in baked goods – but oatmeal? Nasty stuff. A friend of mine insisted that I try steel cut oats. I was skeptical, but finally decided to give it a shot. OMG, they're worlds apart from the glop I'd had in the past. Flavourful and with a good texture. I'm hooked. I have it quite often on the weekends now. My favourite so far is to add frozen cranberries at the beginning of the cooking process so they soften and release some of their juices into the oatmeal. Then I'll stir in a bit of buttermilk or cream towards the end. Once it's done, I add some jam or marmalade, sprinkle some turbinado sugar on top and finish with some pecans. Yum.

Hmm, not an entirely successful attempt. It all went well at first, but I think I should have followed some of Kerry's instructions for warming the pan and letting it cool in the oven. I had just finished baking some cookies so I let it cool on top of the stove with the oven door open. I did not, however, leave the oven on. My bad. At first the foam was sooooo fluffy that it almost overflowed the pan. By the time I got the camera set up, it had already started to collapse a bit in the center, but the dent's really not as deep as it looks in the photo (trick of the light). After a couple hours of cooling, you can see it's collapsed a fair bit. When I cut it, oddly one side seemed okay, but the other side was like trying to hack through concrete. I ended up cutting the top and bottom of the sponge off and just saving the middle bits. These bits are from the side that seemed alright – you can see the top & bottom have lost the foaminess and compressed, but it's still edible... It tastes great, but I feel like I'll have to warn people that they could lose a filling if they're not careful. ;-)

Here you go, Richard... 1/4 tsp gelatin 1 tsp cold water 3 c sugar 1 c light corn syrup 1 c water 2 tbsp honey 2 tbsp baking soda, sifted + approx 2 cups tempered chocolate for dipping Prepare a 9x13 baking pan. Greweling's instructions say to butter & flour it, but I'm planning to just use parchment. Mix the gelatin and cold water together and set aside. In a 4 quart saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water, cover and bring to a boil. Continue boiling covered for 4 minutes. Uncover, and continue to cook until your thermometer reads 280°F. Add the honey and cook to 310°F. Remove from heat and let sit undisturbed until it stops bubbling (approx 2 minutes). Whisk the gelatin into the syrup, ensuring it's been mixed well. Vigorously whisk the baking soda into the mixture, also ensuring it's been mixed well. Return the pot to the heat and continue whisking for about 30 seconds. It will continue to bubble up and rise in the saucepan. Remove from heat and immediately pour it into the prepared pan and leave undisturbed for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. Note dhardy's instruction above to let it cool slowly. Remove from the pan and break into pieces. Dip in chocolate if desired.

If you're just learning, I would say Greweling's Chocolates and Confections At Home. I really wish I'd had this book when I was first starting. All my questions answered in one convenient place, plus lots of fabulous recipes to play with. Here's another link to a discussion here @ egullet. (edited to add links)

Oh my! I don't post here for a few months and look what I missed! Hmmm, I'd promised myself I wouldn't buy any more cookbooks for awhile, but I think I'll have to make an exception for this one. Baking From My Home to Yours hasn't been on my bookshelf since I bought it – it's the only book that lives permanently in my kitchen. I fully expect this one to join it there. Thanks Dorie!

Rolling out cookie dough, or any other dough that needs to be rolled out. I always think it's going to be a much bigger/messier job than it actually is. I will procrastinate as long as possible, and then once I get going I realize it's fine. But still, this is the reason I almost never make pies, and only make cookie cutter cookies a couple times a year.

Thanks dhardy123. That's great advice. When you say "his second book", are you referring to the At Home book? Or is there another I don't know about?

This is timely! I've been looking at both Kerry's recipe and Greweling's (from his At Home book) and trying to decide which to make. I was leaning towards Kerry's because I'd had such good luck with her caramel recipe. I googled to see if anyone else uses gelatin, and this thread popped up in the results. Thanks! Will probably give it a shot tomorrow. CanadianBakin', have you tried it yet? How'd it turn out for you?

I'm not planning on making too much this year. I just baked a batch of gingerbread snowflakes that I now have to decorate. I'm also planning on making ginger chocolate crackle cookies, fudge, and marshmallows. I'll probably be adding to that list, but I'm still browsing recipes.

Oooh, I hadn't seen his new book yet. What's the verdict? Worth buying?

Oh that's so sad. But I'm sure a lot of people will buy it. I'm thinking that for people who usually cook with things like Hamburger Helper, this is one step closer to cooking "from scratch"!

Kim, thanks! You rock! And I loooove the name of the recipe.

Huh. I've never seen them, but I followed the link to the Callebaut site and they have a big "NEW" tag on them.

Kim, I know it's not yours, but I'm intrigued by that corn casserole. And twoshoes is right, that quiche does look like pizza! Delicious delicious quiche-y pizza!

Tonight I made Moosewood's Mole de Olla, a spicy tomato-based stew with potatoes, green beans, zucchini & corn. It starts with onion, chilis, garlic, cinnamon & cloves and smells amAZing. Served with some grated cheese (of course )

Wow. I'm not a big porridge fan, but that looks like a breakfast I can get behind!

Tonight was a very simple meal of beautiful new potatoes and blanched green beans with goat feta.

Good to know about this one too. It's actually only a few blocks from my apartment, but for whatever reason I don't often venture up Arbutus. I'll try to check it out this weekend.

If you have the space, I don't see a problem with unitaskers. I believe in using the best tool for a given job and I can't stand struggling to make do when there's a perfectly good tool out there I could buy for the job! (yes, I'm a gadget addict) That said, I have a teeny tiny kitchen with no storage space whatsoever, and yes it's loaded with unitaskers. Waffle iron, tea kettle, pepper mill, french press, panini press, 3 different styles of citrus juicers, madeleine pans, various baking pans... each a joy to use and I'm so glad I have them. But then, I'm not a true chef either.

Wow, I don't remember typing this, but it sounds exactly like something I would say.

Oh wow, I'm having serious kitchen-envy. I already have plans for all those cupboards!

I am SO craving hummus right now. I may have to pick up some pita on my way home tonight.

One of my coworkers just came back from vacation with a huge supply of Trader Joe's products for the office. I'm finally going to get to try some! It's all sugary treat-type stuff. Chocolate mints, chocolate pistachio brittle, chocolate peanut butter cups, various chocolate coated fruit-type things. edited for spelling