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.

She doesn't know it yet, but Julie Van Rosendaal is my new BFF. I loved her Grazing snacks, but the Double Berry Crumble Squares from her book, One Smart Cookie, sealed the deal. Delicious and with only 1/3 cup of butter for the whole pan?...

Birthdays are rather fluid events in my family. We like to celebrate en masse but conflicting schedules often mean we delay festivities until everyone's available. The April birthdays often pile up until they tumble headlong into Easter. September dates have been known to get inched...

Dine-O-Matic does it again. This time KJB, aka Kathryn from Toronto, won the copy of Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. Kathryn, email me at charmian [dot] christie [at] gmail.com with your mailing address and I'll get you your copy. Her tip? It's right up my alley. Kathryn wrote: My...

I've gone on and on about the peaches this season. I've taken photos, made desserts, written over-the-top descriptions and came this close to composing haiku in their honour. And yet, a reader and my sister had their Ontario peaches go bad before ripening. What gives? How...

This is the long-awaited salted caramel ice cream post. Asked for by Cheryl of 5 Second Rule, with a recipe provided by Cheryl the Backseat Gourmet and tweaked by yours truly. I know I ranted about caramel in the past. I was critical of undiscerning food...

Tomatoes are a paradoxical plant. Botanically, they're a fruit — they have their seeds on the inside — but in the kitchen we treat them as vegetables. While their flesh is a staple in many world cuisines, their leaves are toxic enough to poison a...

When I posted my question about the emotional allure of Julie & Julia, a couple of people commented that a book giveaway might be welcomed. But Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a two-volume set consisting of more than 500 recipes and 1400...

Stop me before I buy again. I've gobbled so many Garnet Beauties lately, I swear my cheeks are sprouting fuzz. When the cat stopped napping in the fruit bowl, I took this as a sign to keep it (the bowl, not the cat) brimming with peaches....

By the time I finally saw Julie & Julia on Monday, the media had used every food metaphor in existence to write countless reviews and dozens of behind the scenes stories. Some criticized Julie Powell's year-long experiment, others lauded Powell for giving food bloggers a...

Zucchini is one of those innocuous vegetables that doesn't really stand out. Sure, the small ones can be tender, but the large ones tend to get spongy. Because of the high moisture content and neutral taste —and it's debatable zucchini actually has a taste —...