Good Things by David

Large cookie cutters in the shapes of a spiraling nautilus and an upright seahorse from the former Martha by Mail catalog are wonderful for creating large, beautiful cookies.  Made from solid copper by one of this country's finest coppersmiths, the cutters are unique in every way; no two are exactly alike.  These sea creatures can give any ocean-themed summer celebration a whimsical edge if you decorate them with delicious icing in bright blues & greens.  Imagine a wedding by the seaside or even a child's birthday party with several of these cookies gracing party tables.  Give them away as favors or make them a part of the dessert table at your next gathering.  Choose your favorite roll out cookie dough and create one-of-a-kind treats for the seashell collector in your family. "The seahorse anchors itself to seaweed with its tail when it's feeding.  And in mythology, mighty seahorses were said to have pull...

It happens to all of us who bake pies from scratch.  What does one do with leftover scraps of delicious, homemade pie crust after we've trimmed, crimped & sealed a flavorful pie?  The solution is a simple one.  Gather the pieces of buttery pastry and chill them in the refrigerator for up to one day, well-wrapped, and when you're ready simply shape them into mini pie crust cookies.   At home, whether I've made a single or double crust pie, I always trim off the excess pastry, gather it up and then flatten it into a disk.  I like giving this smaller disk of pie crust about 1 hour to chill in the refrigerator (usually this is done while the pie I'm baking is in the oven).  When I'm ready to bake the mini cookies I simply roll out the dough to approximately 1/8" in thickness and cut them with a star-shaped cookie cutter.  The tiniest amount of jam, not jelly, gets centered on each cookie and t...

I'm currently getting ready to take a wonderful trip this afternoon, so I thought I'd repost this homekeeping entry for everyone.  I love polishing my pots & pans before I go on any trip so that I return to shiny cookware.  When I first walk into the kitchen, no matter how long or arduous the trip may have been, seeing my clean, gleaming pots always puts me in a good mood.   Don't worry, I will still be posting next week.  New material.  New Good Things to come. ~David ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃   Stainless steel is a beautiful metal alloy made from chromium, nickel and steel (steel is composed of carbon & iron).  A long lasting metal, it resists corrosion & bacteria.  Stainless steel is heat tolerant, easy to care for and can be made into anything.  It's the metal of choice in commercial kitchens because entire countertops can be fashioned out of it in one seamless piece....

Mixing yogurt and berries is nothing new.  Most national brands of yogurt and even a few smaller producers of artisanal dairy products offer premixed yogurt combinations with just about any type of fruit these days.  I tend to bypass those in favor of another type of yogurt.  That other yogurt happens to be thick, tangy & delicious plain nonfat Greek yogurt.  This type of plain yogurt paired with a few fresh berries is simply one of the best things one can have for breakfast or any time of day.  I love trying different types of fruit like blueberries, strawberries or even kiwi, but at the moment, it's all about raspberries.  These delicious fruits are ripe, plentiful & everywhere here at home, so I've been enjoying them in various ways.  Sweetening Greek yogurt with a bit of local honey or some pure Vermont maple syrup is perhaps my favorite way to have something light to start the day or when I feel in need of a s...

Stand mixers are indispensable kitchen electrics that get a lot of use in our homes if we happen to be avid bakers.  Although they are pricey investments, you'll quickly come to realize their true worth once you start using one on a regular basis.  A stand mixer helps us mix, knead, grind, whip and combine just about any ingredient with ease.  I would be lost without my mixers, because I use them weekly to mix so much.  Regardless of the brand or capacity of one's particular mixer, it's a good idea to keep these machines clean and gleaming in our kitchens. Keeping and maintaining a stand mixer in prime condition is very simple.  A mixer is made to provide us with decades of use in our kitchens, yet if one wants to keep them looking as good as the day they were purchased, it's essential that we keep a few things in mind.  In my very own kitchen I make it a habit to wipe down and clean my...

I'm always trying to get consistent results whenever I bake a particular cookie recipe at home, so when I publish one on this blog, it's because it's given me what I'm looking for.  There are several things which help me bake good cookies that are delicious and perfectly edible every single time.  A batch of my Chocolate Chip Cookies  made this morning. Number one : pay attention to the steps in the recipe.  If it says to mix a certain ingredient for a certain amount of time or if things have to be done ahead of time, like toasting or melting & cooling an ingredient, then be diligent about this.  The recipe itself has to be good too.  If there is a typo in a recipe found in a cookbook, online or in some other publication, that can prove to be disastrous.  I've had my share of those in the past and I either know where to alter the recipe or I move onto another one.  Number two :  your oven temperature has to...