Blog Post List

This blog post list contains the most recent blog posts from The Messy Baker in reverse chronological order. You can also browse by recipe category or use the search function.

One rainy summer day, unable to build blanket forts on the climbing bars or soar through the sprinkler on a tire swing, I decided my younger sister and I should do some baking. "Baking" meant raiding Mom's pantry and dumping everything within reach into a...

The long weekend is coming. Plant the annuals. Haul out the lawn chairs. And pull that dusty cover off the grill. Whether you're not sure where to start, afraid you'll reduce the chicken to ashes, or are bored to tears with burgers, solutions lie on the...

Altogether now. On the count of three, "Ivy, you're a genius!" Ivy Manning, author of Crackers & Dips: More than 50 Handmade Snacks (Chronicle ©2013), wasn't always receptive to this praise. As a caterer, she found complex dishes like Pheasant Under Glass went virtually unnoticed. But...

Swag. It used to mean some sort of garland or window dressing. But times have changed. Ignoring the Urban Dictionary's profanity-laced first definition, I pieced together other entries and conclude it's an overused term meaning one's personal style or attitude. I think it's the new...

I got myself into this and I'm going to get myself out. I did not, repeat not, acquire a one-trick pony of a pan. I could point you to the Indian, Thai, Korean and Japanese variations of the aebleskiver, but really, they're all just spins on batter...

Being born at the height of The Depression, my mother never wasted food. When there wasn't enough leftover pastry dough to top a chicken pot pie, she made a roly-poly.  She made them so often and with such authority, I assumed the roly-poly was the natural...

Wanted: Nouns As cooks, we have enough verbs - although whether or not we should use them is up for debate. Knife in hand, you can mince, chop, dice, slice, Julienne and pare. Got at spoon? Stir, beat, cream, fold or spread. Add some heat and...

There were no party hats. No streamers. No banner saying "Greaty at Eighty!" There wasn't so much as a candle. There was, however, pie. Simple, classic, 100%-from-scratch lemon meringue pie. Yesterday, my father turned 80. He marked the day by going about his business as usual. This...

Step right up! Step right up! Don't be shy. Nothing to be afraid of. Just a little numbers game. Everyone's a winner. Every. One's. A winner! Looking for that one food, that one special ingredient that will make you taller, smarter, lighter, brighter, wealthier and...