Deep, dark, caramelized sugar, just a touch before burning, taste wonderful. But getting the sugar to that point can be tricky. When I go without caramelizing for a while, I always feel unsure that I will be able to get the sugar to that perfect brown color. In those cases, I resort to a technique that is a bit slower, but foolproof (well, almost). In this post I’ll describe the method.…

I learned a few things baking rocks. I have been trying to understand biscotti — the essential ingredients, the methods, the flavors — but I kept burning their bottoms. So I placed a few rocks in the oven and snooped around with a thermometer to get those cookies to stop burning. Earlier I wrote on what makes an oven work and what to look out for, today I list what I did to get around the limitations of my oven.…

Temptation. Sometimes it’s fine to yield. I stumbled on a math problem while writing the entry for TGRWT #5 and I can’t solve it. What is the most efficient way to cut diamond shapes from a square? Making the cut Baklava and kibbeh are usually cut into diamond shapes, which is a little harder to do than squares or rectangles. My mom eyeballs her way through a zig-zag patterns. The perfectionist in me wants to get some edible inks to print a guide for the knife to follow.…