Custard

Surprisingly easy, and delicious. Cinnamon and cayenne on top. Advertisements

Cinnamon rolls: REDUX

What is life but a series of repetitions?

Buttermilk Biscuits

The first time I ever ate a biscuit was at the Petaluma Lions Club, when I was probably 8 or 9. At the time, I was a very picky eater, and my dietary preferences could be summed up as “carbohydrates + butter”, with an optional addition of cheese. A biscuit, then, with its incomparable tenderness…

Eclair

Harboring both a desire to consume a chocolate baked good and to test my mettle in the crucible of small-kitchen pastry-baking, I decided to prepare an eclair. I particularly enjoy the eclairs offered at the Hopkins Street Bakery, on Hopkins and Monterey in Berkeley, CA. My first attempt at making eclairs was, generously, disastrous. When…

Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are probably my favorite dessert, though I also enjoy cheesecake, fruit pies of various kinds, and …. (Me.) For a first pass at lemon bars, I was quite happy with how these turned out. I don’t have a food processor, so I prepared the crust by manually kneading in chilled butter with flour…

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

As mentioned in another post, I’ve recently become fascinated with baking. In fact, I sometimes feel in moments of existential uncertainty that I’d be happiest working in a bakery. I baked 12 blueberry muffins. Some ended up better than others. The muffin below was quite photogenic. I based my recipe on the one provided in…

Banana Bread

Old bananas mushed with butter, mixed with flour, some salt and sugar, poured in pan, baked: banana bread. It turned out pretty well.