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Bring On Autumn! Pumpkin Spiced Baked Goods

In another month or two, we'll probably be groaning at the mere mention of a recipe with pumpkin spices...but not now! Right now we're definitely ready for some pumpkin-y treats, warm from the oven an...

How Can I Double A Batch of Cookies?
Good Questions

Q: Any tips on doubling cookie recipe batches? Do I need to add more eggs? I made snickerdoodles and doubled the recipe, but they came out flat and chewy, not puffy. Sent by Joyce...

Is Mexican Vanilla Safe to Use?
Good Questions

Q: A friend just came back from Mexico with a pint of Mexican vanilla. She raved about the flavoring and split the bottle with me but I'm hesitant to use the extract. Isn't it banned in the US for hea...

Baking Lessons: How to Proof Yeast

Call us old-school, but we proof our yeast even if it's not mentioned in the instructions and even if the jar of yeast says it can be added right into the dough. We just don't want to go through all t...

Word of Mouth: PDQ Bread

PDQ Bread, noun: General term for breads that can be quickly made in about an hour by using baking soda and/or baking powder as the leavening. "PDQ" stands for "Pretty Darned Quick"! Quick breads are...

Simple Solutions: How to Make a Quick Sugar Icing

This is one of those cook’s tricks we keep in our back pocket. A simple sugar icing will fancy up some scones for company or add the perfect touch to a batch of cookies. It’s so easy, you don’t ...

Oven-Free Baking: How To Bake Flatbread on the Stovetop

While we love fresh-baked bread, we really don't love turning on the oven and making our hot apartment even hotter! That's why this summer, we've been playing around with making flatbreads like pita a...

Five Things to do with Leftover Bagels

Bagels with cream cheese are a weekend treat for us, and if we're feeling particularly generous toward ourselves, we buy a baker's dozen for munching all weekend long. This inevitably leads to a few s...

Help! What To Do With an Over-Active Starter?
Good Questions

Q: About a month or so ago I decided my bread making skills had improved enough to try keeping a starter. I followed Alton Brown's starter recipe and put the whole thing in a mason jar in my fridge. W...

Food Science: The Best Eggs for Meringue and Why

When we talked about making pavlovas last week, one thing we didn't really get into was the best kind of egg whites to use for the meringue. Fresh or old, room-temperature or cold - does it make a dif...

The Charm of Jacques Pépin & Scharffen Berger Chocolate

What's the Difference? Crumbles, Grunts, Cobblers, and Buckles

When it comes to dessert - especially those involving fresh fruit and pastry! - we're often too busy spooning up another bite to care what it's called. But these playful names definitely grab your att...

Quick n' Easy: Ways to Soften Butter

This weekend, we were halfway through assembling ingredients for a yellow cake when we realized that we'd forgotten to set out butter to soften. Again. We keep sticks of butter in the freezer, so set...

Quick Tip: Buy Baguettes to Freeze

Lately, we've been getting in the habit of buying an extra baguette or two when we're at the store just to throw in the freezer for later. It's extremely handy to have bread ready to thaw and use when...

Found! Inexpensive Bulk Vanilla Beans

In a store where the term "bulk" usually implies 50+ pounds of an item (does anyone really need that many canned peaches?), we stumbled upon two test tube shaped packages of awesomeness! In them wer...

Product Review: Trader Joe's All-Purpose Flour

Trader Joe's certainly caused quite a hubbub when they decided to stop carrying King Arthur Flour and switch over to a store brand. We saw the new Trader Joe's all-purpose flour on the shelves for the...

Culinary Blank Slate: The Bagel

We've been daydreaming about bagels ever since our discussion of chewy versus soft last week. A good bagel is really a blank slate for so many delicious toppings. What's your favorite?...

Help! Tips for Good Boston Cream Pie?

Kitchn Reader Carolyn wants to make her boyfriend this classic dessert for his birthday. Think we can help her out? Help! The Boyfriend's birthday is this Sunday (eeeeeeek!). Being the Boston native ...

Food Science: Why Bagels are Boiled

We grew up on bagels, and taking a bite of that warm, ultra-chewy bread is still one of our favorite food experiences. Ask any good bagel baker and they'll tell you that the key to that chewy crust an...

Enjoying: Animal Cookie Cutters from IKEA

This is just a note to say that we are enjoying these cookie cutters. We blogged speculatively about them in our roundup of maybe-good-things from IKEA's new catalog and then we picked them up on our ...

Good Question: Substituting White Whole Wheat Flour?

Here's a question from Kitchen reader Cara about working with whole wheat white flour in her baking:At what ratio should white whole wheat flour be substituted for regular whole wheat? What about whit...

Food Science: Egg Substitutions in Cookies and Brownies

We recently received a question in our Kitchn inbox about substituting yolks for whole eggs in a cookie recipe. Baking is often more chemistry than anything else, so we thought we'd take a look at thi...

Vital Wheat Gluten: What Is It and When Should It Be Used?

Every once in a while in our baking, we come across a recipe that calls for a tablespoon or two of vital wheat gluten. Since it's almost always listed as "optional" and since the ingredient was hard t...

What's the Difference? Flour, Cornstarch, Potato Starch, and Arrowroot

Last week, we talked about how starches are used to thicken sauces, puddings, pie fillings, and soups like the one above. This week, we'll check out the different kinds of starches that get used in co...