Fats are an essential ingredient in baking, directly imparting flavor and influencing tenderness and flakiness in pie and tart crusts. Most pie and tart crusts need to be made with a solid fat in order to create their characteristic tender and flaky texture. The role of fats in creating crusts […]
Despite the abundance of pumpkin-flavored foods at every turn, we spend surprisingly little time handling actual pumpkins. After all, as proponents of “homemade is best,” an apple pie starts with apples, a cherry pie starts with cherries. But a pumpkin pie starts with…a can of pumpkin purée? Using prepared pumpkin […]
Ganache, a creamy mixture of chocolate and cream, is an emulsion; that is, it contains both fat and water in a homogeneous mixture. Because fat and water do not mix easily, any emulsion can separate, which simply means that the fat portion and the water portion do not remain homogeneous. When […]
Makes about 24 tuiles The name for these delicate stenciled cookies means “tiles” in French. They are traditionally shaped to look like the terra-cotta tiles used on roofs throughout the Mediterranean. The batter is soft enough to spread in a thin layer. You can spread the batter into simple circles […]
Makes one 8-inch layer cake If you make the cake layers ahead of time, wrap them tight and keep them refrigerated. Wait to soak the cakes with the syrup until you’re ready to ice the cake. Ingredients Cake 3 1/4 cups (1 lb 4 oz) all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons […]
Pie Makes eight double-crust 4 1/2-inch round hand pies or sixteen single-crust 4 1/2-inch half-round hand pies Cream Cheese Dough Makes 2 discs
Sometimes you just need. dessert. NOW. And when that moment strikes, there is one easy solution: Make a fruit crisp! Call it a crisp or a crumble, but the bones are the same. Fresh or frozen fruit baked under a crispy, crumbly, slightly sweet topping made from the most basic baking […]
The technique used to makes biscuits and scones is known as a rubbed dough method. Instead of soft batters that drop easily from the spoon, biscuits, scones, and soda breads are made from a stiff dough that can be rolled and cut. Keep Ingredients Cool Any liquids or fats that […]
Deliciously dense cheesecake is a cross between custard, pie, and cake. It can seem troublesome—from cracking tops to dry crusts—but with a great recipe (we happen to like ours quite a bit!) and some patience, you can make a perfect cheesecake each time. 1. Making a crumb crust Crumb crusts […]
Chocolate shavings and curls are the simplest way to finish a show-stopping cake or other special occasion dessert. To create chocolate shavings and curls, you need a good-sized block of chocolate at room temperature. You can use dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate for your curls. Look for larger […]
Fudge is without question the quintessential homemade candy; it has been made in home kitchens for over 100 years. Mention fudge, and most of us immediately think of chocolate, but chocolate is not the defining ingredient in fudge; it can be made using a wide variety of flavoring ingredients. The […]
Makes one 9-inch pie The complementary flavors of maple and pecan combine in this pie to create an earthy, buttery, robust dessert. Be sure to purchase Grade B maple syrup as the darker amber color and deeper maple flavor are essential to this pie. In the variation that follows, adding […]