RuthWells

I have just recently gotten interested in home made ice cream (and gelato, and sorbet....) and have noticed that when I use a recipe that's porportionately heavy on the cream, I often end up with discrete slivers and chunks of fat in the ice cream post-churning, once it has rested in the freezer overnight. Is there any way to combat this tendancy?

Very nice, David!

When I did the whoppers at 375 the Whoppers melted -- go with 350!

I made the basic sable recipe for the first time last week, using the lemon variation (rubbing lemon zest into the sugar). These were sublime -- perfect flavor and texture. I made up little gift baggies containing 6 cookies each for a get-together, and everyone swooned!

Oooh, those are temptingly inexpensive. Thanks, ChefPeon & Mette!

I want to play around a bit with colored chocolate effects, but don't want to invest in colored cocoa butter. Can I use some oil-based candy colors to color white chocolate without killing the texture and temperability?

Oops, I didn't notice this reply until today! (Actually I didn't even know to post here, someone else moved it for me!) Thanks for the compliment, your bread looks great. I wish I could manage to get them to rise properly like yours, but mine never seem to do well on the second rise... ← We were having a very cold weekend; this loaf had its second rise in the living room, near the fireplace. !!

I think your main problem is you tried to work the buttercream while it was still cold. It really needs to come back to room temp before rebeating. You did indeed break the emulsion, as you suspected. Next time take the buttercream out of the fridge the night before you need to use it, or cut the mass into smaller chunks into your mixing bowl to speed the warming process. When it is back to room temp, rebeat in your mixer.

I'd love to see the interior of one. I'd also love a quick description of your method! Those are very cool.

Underfoot: YUM. I made bread the other weekend -- Rose's basic whole wheat hearth loaf. It didn't last long.

He moves *very* fast in person!

And here's a great source for beans of all types at very reasonable prices -- shipping in the U.S. is free. http://www.organic-vanilla.com/servlet/Cat...815-17%2C5cm%29

David, these are stunning. You have some very lucky friends this year!

Congrats! It does get easier with repetition.

Yes, exactly. After baking, you reinforce the hole that you made previously, making it deeper. And do this very soon after the cookies come out of the oven, while they are still soft. You can see my version of the thumbprint cookies here (scroll down a bit) -- note the nice deep cavities!

Stunning!

Very cool, Rob. That is so many flavors, I'm having trouble "tasting" it in my mind's eye. Which flavor dominates, the lemon?

Stunning! Could you walk us through the various elements of this one?

Gorgeous!

What I find is that the pre-baking depressions I make get shallower during baking due to the puffing up of the cookie. So what I do is as soon as the cookies come out of the oven, I reinforce the depression with a clean finger. That way I get a nice, deep divot for the filling without fussing too much.

If you only let the meringue sit for a few minutes, I don't think that's the culprit. Otherwise, when piping large batches of meringue, the last tray piped would always be "off" as the batter would be then have been sitting for a few (or more) minutes, and my experience does not bear this out. To me, this looks like an issue of un-dissolved sugar in the meringue batter. Either that, or when folding in the flavorings and chips, you knocked too much air out of the meringue. Lastly, humidity can always wreak havoc with meringues. Are you in high humidity currently?

If I have the time and energy, I'd like to christen my new tree ornament-shaped cookie cutters and do very elaborate, ornate piped decor on them. Wrapped individually as gifts, I think they'll be a bit special. I'm also thinking homemade dulche de leche in pretty little jars.

I like Lindt's 72% special bittersweet, but it's not really an all-purpose chocolate (at least, not in my kitchen!).

Isn't gianduja hazelnut, not almond?

Gorgeous! Color me green with envy.