After taking several weeks off from the Magnolia Bakery Handbook, I decided that I was in the mood to make a cake. Frankly, I used the need to do a practice run with a new recipe before making a cake for an engagement party later in June. But, if you’ve been reading this blog for long enough, you’ll know that I never need an excuse for cake!
Continue reading “An Easy Way to Turn Any Cake Into a Celebration Cake – MB Recipe 41”
While many of you come here for the recipe reviews and occasional anecdotes about other aspects of my life, sometimes I like to switch things up. One of the things I’ve only touched upon slightly is my affinity for the printed word. I’m lucky enough to work in a local public library where I get to be surrounded by books, this is especially true since I work in the cataloging department. It’s my job to get the books ready for the shelf and the public. So you may be confused by the title of this post. “If he works in a library, why does he want his own library of cookbook?” Well, honestly there are a few reasons. But the main one is simple: I enjoy having them.
Continue reading “Starting a Personal Cookbook Library”
If you’re a baker and also a reader (like me!) then you may have come across a magazine at Barnes & Noble or your local Walmart called Bake From Scratch. The colorful, bright, and salivating-inducing photography on the covers of the magazines would pique the interest of everyone, not just bakers. After a solid year of trying not to purchase a copy of the magazine, I finally told myself that the time had come.
Continue reading “Cookbook Review: Bake From Scratch”
Every once in a while, things don’t work out the way you planned. Instead of getting to your friend’s party on time, you hit unexpected traffic and arrive too late to be even “fashionably late.” When it comes to baking or cooking, sometimes a well intended idea just doesn’t get off the ground. Or, in my case, bake up the way you thought it would.
Continue reading “Reminding Myself, “It’s Just Cake!””
Sometime in the early spring of 2022, I purchased a sewing machine. It was something that I wanted to do for a while since I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of quilting. I’ve touched on this topic before in earlier blog posts. However, as luck would have it, less than a week after making the quasi-impulse purchase, I was asked to stage manage a production at a theater that I had been dying to get involved with.
Continue reading “The Loyal Union Sampler Quilt – AKA Another Project That’s Too Big For My Britches”
Hello, readers! It’s been quite a while since I posted a recipe-related post, hasn’t it? Well, I’m back this week with an Ina Garten dessert recipe that is sure to knock your socks off! I couldn’t believe how tasty and flavorful these brownies were. The Barefoot Contessa is known for combining simple ingredients and flavors to make something even stellar and this recipe is no exception.
Continue reading “Sometimes, You Just NEED to Have a Brownie – Barefoot Contessa Recipe 59”
Sometimes life gets a little busy. And sometimes you find yourself saying, “Where did the time go?” I can’t believe it’s been nearly two weeks since my last post. Frankly, I haven’t had much to post. With the holiday last weekend and poor planning on my part, I haven’t had a chance to spend some time in the kitchen working on recipes. However, with multiple days off this week (thanks to some vacation time) and a pretty much empty weekend, I should have plenty of opportunity to whip something up.
I’m currently thinking of making Ina Garten’s recipe for brioche loaves this weekend. Who says bread baking is only for the winter?! But, I’m also itching to get my hands back into the Magnolia Bakery Handbook. Perhaps a tasty muffin or scone recipe is on tap, too.
For regular readers of this blog, you may remember that over the weekend I made an angel food cake. This meant I was left with over a dozen (yes, over a dozen!!) egg yolks. In baking, egg whites have a little more uses than just the yolks do, so I was a little sad about this. However, then I remembered I could make lemon curd. What’s even better is I found a recipe that made one the best lemon curds I’ve ever had and it even gets folded into a lovely pound cake.
Continue reading “Zoe Bakes’ Lemon Curd Pound Cake”
March is a busy month in my family. My father’s birthday was a couple weeks ago and this past week, it was my mother’s turn to advance past go once again. Wouldn’t it be great if we could collect $200 just for having a birthday? Anyway, as per usual, I offered to bake her cake. And this year, she requested something that I’ve never made before.
Angel food cake.
Continue reading “A Cake That’s As Light As a Cloud”
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This week I was lucky enough to have a mid-week day off from work. So, in typical Ryan’s Kitchen Journal fashion, I decided to bake something. Being that St. Patrick’s Day is at the end of the week, I figured Irish Soda Bread was a great choice. I’ve also never made soda bread before but had been wanting to. I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me up.
Continue reading “Irish Soda Bread, The Ina Garten Way – Barefoot Contessa 59”
Ryan's Kitchen Journal 