Shortbread

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I’ve got good news and bad news.  The good news is Wesley, my youngest, is starting to eat a little more.  He even gained a pound since last month.  We’re making progress!  The bad news is that today was his first day of preschool, and it didn’t go so well.  At drop off I could hear him screaming for me as I ran from the building, and make no mistake, I ran as fast as I could.   It took great strength not to head to the local watering hole and order a tall glass of vodka to ease my pain. Instead, I went grocery shopping because this is my life right now.  I then came home to an empty house and made honey cake (coming soon to Project Pastry Love). Before I knew it it was time to pick little Wessie up.  When I arrived I noticed two things. First, he was alive so that’s a plus.  Second, he appeared traumatized like he’d been out at sea all alone during a very rough storm and was just making landfall now.  We came home and both agreed to never talk about this day again. He then proceeded to sleep for 3 hours and I cleaned up the house because this is my life right now.  Thank goodness for simple pleasures like shortbread.   Continue reading →

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Pastry Chef: The App For Pastry Lovers

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Pastry Chef: the app for pastry lovers

Sifting through grandma’s old cook books is a thing of the past. Thanks to smartgadgets, there are now plenty of apps that can teach people how to bake. Not everything is created equal though, and after long hours of sifting through the myriad of baking apps, here’s one that every baker’s should own.

Pastry Chef is one of the most unique recipe apps on the mobile market right now. It’s unique because unlike other recipe apps that feature thousands of recipes, Pastry Chef focuses on featuring hard-to-find recipes that are kept private by some of the most world-renowned chefs. Here are some of the recipes that the app covers: Rum ball filling, Swiss Meringue, Tarte Tatin, Vanilla Dream Cookies, Pâte à Choux, Health Bar Cookies, Linzer Tart, Grand Marnier Ice cream, and Porcupines.

Following recipes on Pastry Chef is easy as it includes how-to instructions on how to make precise pastries as well as providing users with step-by-step recipe photos and tips from kitchen professionals. Apart from being a neat digital recipe tool, it’s also a unit converter that helps users measure volume, weight, and the length of ingredients.

The developers behind Pastry Chef proudly describe their work as a “design that works.” True to its slogan, the app is simple to use yet it’s also a delight on the eyes. Navigating recipes on the app is easy, and it’s fun to look at with its high-resolution and well-rendered photos.

More and more companies around the world are using mobile apps as mediums to promote their products. Big grocery stores and popular food chains now have official apps because it is currently the most effective channel that can connect companies with new audiences and consumers. Iceland Foods, a UK-based conglomerate who recently tapped into the mobile industry, when it launched Iceland Bingo in order to reach a wider demographic, saw the potential in online gaming – something they’d never made forays into before. And with mobile marketing, especially through apps, becoming one of the most influential techniques in the business world today, the production of useful apps like the ones covered in this article will continue to flourish amid tough competition and satisfy the consumers needs for niche tool to help them fulfill their daily tasks.

Pastry Chef costs $3.99 and is available at the App Store to download.

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Eskimo Bars

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I was watching the Food Network show The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and Gale Simmons from Food & Wine magazine spoke about the most amazing eskimo bars she ate while visiting Jackson Hole, WY.  Snake River Grill makes a chilled dessert to-die-for.  It has a bottom layer of fudge-like brownies, and a top layer of very delicious vanilla ice cream.  It is then coated in a chocolate shell, and drizzled with salted caramel sauce.   I decided to make each component from scratch, but you don’t have to.   Continue reading →

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How To Make The Best Vanilla Ice Cream

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There is something very meditative about licking ice cream from a cone.  If it is very good ice cream, the deeper the meditation will be. If it is the best ice cream, you’ll completely transcend.  Just watch someone eat an ice cream cone. You’ll see that his or her mouth slowly but diligently takes in every lick creating a perfect rhythm, all the while never skipping a beat.  The eyes, however, will glaze over becoming vacant.  He or she could be in a group of ice cream eaters and no one will be talking to each other.  Finally, once the end point of the cone is the only thing left in their hands they will all snap back to reality, lick their fingers, incoherently grunt something like, “that was good”, and get on with their lives as if they hadn’t even been sitting in a stupor-like position for the last 7 to 10 minutes.  I know this because it happened to my parents, Cameron, and me yesterday when I made us some ice cream cones.  I used Bi-Rite Creamery’s recipe for vanilla ice cream from their delicious book Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones.  It was perfection.  It was euphoric.  It was the best.  Here’s how to make the best vanilla ice cream. Continue reading →

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