Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
For the first rendition of Mackie’s recipe, I decided to modify the amount of leavening called for and bake the muffins at a higher temperature (400 degrees versus 375 degrees). I cut the original recipe in half and used 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking [...]

Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
I’ve been searching for the perfect fruit muffin recipe for some time. I’m looking for a master recipe where I can change the fruit according to what’s in season. That’s the same idea behind Mackie’s recipe.
The muffin batter is simply flour, sugar, salt, leavening, [...]

Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
I don’t really know what to say about this cake. It took three (three!) sticks of butter, 2 cups of cocoa powder and more than 3 cups of sugar. It baked for almost two hours and weighed more than any decent cake should. It [...]

Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
These cookies were the second half of my recent cookie bender. Unlike the peanut butter cookies, these cookies looked the worst but tasted the best.
I’m on the fence when it comes to ginger. Most of the time, I find the flavor to be overwhelming. [...]

Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
I went on a cookie bender the other day and ended up making two of Mackie’s cookie recipes. The first, this peanut butter cookie, was the better looking but least successful of the two.
This is a basic cookie dough with lots and lots of [...]

Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
Some things, for better or worse, are guaranteed in my baking. First, when making jam or jelly, I will always cut down on the amount of sugar that the recipe calls for. Secondly, my biscuits will spread out instead of rising up. And thirdly, [...]

Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
When I was a child, my mom used to freeze corn every summer. She’d buy 10 dozen ears and us kids would spend the day husking corn while she boiled it and cut the kernels off the cobs. My favorite job was taking the [...]

From Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber
It’s been a couple of months since I last tried my hand at preserves. The other day, as I was flipping through Mes Confitures, I came across this recipe and recalled seeing the huge Washington nectarines and pears that have just started hitting the stores. Nectarines are one of my [...]

Currently baking out of Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie
Some day I will have my own bakery, and when I do, I want it to just like Seattle’s Macrina Bakery. I haven’t actually ever been there, but based on the cookbook, which is based on the recipes that the bakery uses, I think [...]

Currently cooking from Tasty by Roy Finamore
This dish isn’t much to look at, but it is probably the best thing I’ve cooked out of Tasty.
If you’ll recall, the last recipe(s) I tried out of this book weren’t so successful. I was ready to go onto the next book, but decided that I needed to get [...]