baroness

Why not substitute a smaller amount of anise oil or extract? The crisps sound wonderful, but I am also not a fan of liqueurs.

Fresh cranberries are firm and quite dry, as you describe. If they are soft, they're too old.

The Italian delis here sell potato and egg heroes.

The Bodum teapots work well here's one model, but are a little annoying to clean. Another workhorse in my house is the Japanese BeeHouse brand here's a bevy of teapots! Do NOT use tea balls; even the largest ones constrain the leaves from unfurling.

Coolness. Is that a plug in or battery powered execution instrument? Sounds honestly humane. ← Click here to Zap those invaders!

I don't think the new iron was at fault; with some irons, you need to press down (with a hot-mitted hand) very quickly after you close it. Some of my irons have handle clamps that achieve the same thing -- a thinner and therefore more crisp cookie. You may need to play with the baking time and temperature a bit, as well. Really humid weather is hard on pizzelles, too.

I have 3 irons: 4-up mini CucinaPro; 2-up standard VillaWare; 2-up in-between-size Salton. All are non-stick, and I'd recommend the first two machines. Salton was less expensive -- and you DO get what you pay for! My mother started out with a 2-up bare metal iron--which worked fine until the sticking started. Then it became less fun...and hard to reliably remedy. The design detail is slightly finer in the bare metal irons, but I prefer non-stick!

Here's an eggless, kid-friendly cookie: Aggression Cookies 1 c brown sugar, packed 1 c margarine 2 c rolled oats 1 c flour 1/4 tsp baking soda Place all in a large bowl; mush together with your fingers to make a firm dough. Form into balls and bake at 350F for about 10 to 12 minutes. You could provide raisins, chocolate chips, etc. for them to decorate their cookies before baking.

Ripe plantains are wonderfully sweet; I've eaten some 'out of hand' as well as sliced and fried, or baked with orange juice. Did the mold penetrate that tough skin? If not, don't fret about it. Plantains ripen at room temp; don't refrigerate.

I've been to Tea Source - both the St. Anthony and St. Paul shops - many times. Educated and pleasant staff; vast array of teas and accessories. They have a mail-order catalog and website, and I have been pleased with that service as well.

There are some wonderful teapots in this thread! Does anyone have experiences - good or bad - with Freud brand teaware? I have fallen in serious like with this pot: Freud Tea Pot, but have only found overseas sources...

What *don't* you like in the finished product? If you are specific, maybe we can help. I find my SC Oats, also made in a micom Sanyo, very similar if not better than stovetop ones.

To me, the quality of performance varies between brands, perhaps more than between gas and electric. Before I replaced my range last year, I researched many brands and models. The dual fuel option not only adds to the range price, but requires special wiring and therefore an electrician. I opted to stay all-gas and am very happy with the results.

For a similar effect without as much guesswork or experimentation: Fiori di Sicilia.

Since chocolate is so high in fat, grease stains may be a problem on vellum --- and I wonder how printer inks would react to grease. Glassine may be your best option; Rona's source has quite a variety. An elegant (but costly) way to add the logo to the liners is embossing; you would need to have a die made and buy the base machine.

There's a chocolate cake that includes (well-rinsed) sauerkraut....the kraut adds texture but no discernable flavor.

Perhaps you could bake them now, and store airtight at room temperature or cooler, but not refrigerated or frozen.

My Mom, who was truly a master cookie baker, kept every variety in its own container. That prevented flavor transfers, as mentioned above, as well as the tendency for mixed cookies to average-out their moisture---making the crisp cookies soggy and moist cookies drier than desirable.

I would mix crisp and moist items on a tray (thinking immediate consumption likely), but NOT in a tin! When I need to present both in a tin or box, the minority items - moisturewise - are sealed in a ziploc bag. Formerly crisp cookies are a sad, sad sight......

Rose hips?

Here's a bunch of choices from Whirley Pop --and they KNOW popcorn! Commercial Poppers

That was fun! 10 out of 11; China tripped me up.

Ammonia! Though the cookies' flavor is not supposed to be affected...I haven't opened my jar from King Arthur yet.

An interesting idea, but watch the region rating on the DVDs; many will not play on European DVD players.

Would crushed saltines/soda crackers work? (preferably those with unsalted tops)