Bake with abandon!
Recipes suitable for Christmas parties and dinners.
The vanilla extract on the left is full of seeds and has a whole pod in the bottle. The vanilla beans on the right are fresh, fragrant and supple enough to knot. Both products are Really Horrible. Seriously. They’re from Really Horrible Enterprises located in Ottawa, ON. …
My shoulder’s ache, my fingertips have callouses, and the daylight hurts my eyes. But The Messy Baker is written, filed electronically and a 292-page, double-spaced paper copy is beating up all the Christmas cards as it pushes its way to HarperCollins in Toronto. I have …
I almost feel like I’m cheating on this one. It’s far too easy to be this tasty. But on second thought, it’s a perfect illustration of Eric Akis’s approach to food. It delivers what he calls “obtainable goodness”, is suitable for all levels of cooks, …
I could tell you I have always dreamed of being invited to Elizabeth Baird’s home, but I’d be lying. The thought was simply too grand to have ever occurred to me. Seems I have been thinking small without knowing it. Last week, I had the honour …
Last year, due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn’t do any Christmas baking. Not so much as a single shortbread came out of my kitchen. But this year? I’m making up for the loss. The rumballs are rolled, the eggnog is chilling and now it’s …
I’m trying not to be resentful but a certain celebrity llama has more Twitter followers than I do. And his first name isn’t Dali. To be fair, the llama is a talented goat herder, so I can see the appeal. Why all the fuss over …
Walnuts are the hard-done-by, neglected middle child of the nut family. Between the mature and established almond, with its fancy frangipane and marzipan pastes, and attention-grabbing, TV-diva baby of a macadamia (I’m looking at you Roseanne!) walnuts are easily overlooked. Sure, you can find them …
Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! Since I can’t join you in person and help out with dinner, I thought I’d share a video that could make your holiday meal run a bit more smoothly — or at least save your good table cloth from …
I was going to post this on Monday, September 19th, official Talk Like a Pirate Day. But I used up all my lame pirate jokes back in 2006 when I needed a tie-in for my rumball recipe. Despite getting so tipsy spliced t’mainbrace sampling the rum-laced glaze …