11.04.08
Election Day food photos
Election Day food round-up
Election Day Bento, from jasonkraft on flickr
Cookies from a Chicago-area deli, from soupandacookie on flickr
Patriotic breakfast, from maisonbisson on flickr
Obama cookies, from megpi on flickr
McCain cookies, from jmspool on flickr
10.20.08
What’s your cooking obsession?
photo from mon1que on flickr
I love this essay from Lee Stokes Hilton from Sunday’s New York Times: For This Baker, the Cookie Is a Canvas
I’m going into the city today,” I say.
“What for?” my husband asks.
“Sprinkles.”
I admit it: I am obsessed with sprinkles. I began to suspect as much when I went shopping for storage containers to hold my jars of jimmies, nonpareils, sanding sugars, edible glitter, and three different sizes of silver and gold dragées. I could barely fit them all into two of those large plastic drawers from Bed, Bath and Beyond.
This is not a cupcake obsession. I know cupcakes are a hot item these days, but I’m talking about cookies — rollout cookies in shapes to suit any occasion.
My neighbor says she’s having a Western-themed party, and I have visions of cacti bristling with emerald-green jimmies, cowboy hats in white or blue-black sanding sugar, boots, jalapeños, and silver stars shining with dragées. Before the thought has jelled, I hear myself say, “Want me to make cookies?”
Do you have a kitchen obession? Share it here.
10.14.08
Cupcake photos
Mix-and-Match robot cupcakes, from the amazing hello_naomi on flickr
These cupcakes make me miss summer already! From Bakerella on flickr
Cupcakes take the cake
Since today’s column was all about cupcakes, I now present the top 3 reasons to love The Cupcake:
1. You get to eat an ENTIRE (cup)CAKE in one sitting. All by yourself. No sharing required.
2. An excellent cake-to-frosting ratio.
3. Endless potential for cute, clever and creative designs.
The column hasn’t been posted to GazetteOnline yet, but you can find it in the e-edition here (registration required). Or you can get a quick hit of the highlights:
1. “Hello, Cupcake,” a book of cute, clever and creative cupcake decorating ideas, rocks.
2. It inspired “Cupcake Sunday” from 1:30 to 3 p.m. this Sunday at the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble. Activities include cupcake decorating contests, cupcake decorating demonstrations, a children’s book reading (“If You Give a Cat a Cupcake”), and, of course, a chance to peruse the store’s growing collection of cupcake cookbooks.
Back to “Hello, Cupcake.” A couple of weeks ago I made these fantastic Spaghetti and Meatball cupcakes.
Spaghetti & Meatball Cupcakes
They were incredibly easy. Except for one thing: The book recommends using a zip-top plastic bag to pipe frosting: My frosting burst the side seam of the bag not once, but twice. Lesson learned: Don’t use so much pressure while piping frosting OR use freezer bags OR use pastry bags; this is what they were designed for.
Here is a video of author/food stylist Karen Tack demonstrating the Spaghetti and Meatball cupcakes.
Click “keep reading” to see the recipe.
