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jillbcooks 10/6/2009 6:38:00 PM
I hate when I can’t figure something out and get it to work.
Failure, failure, failure. That is all my efforts to replicate my favorite candy have added up to—zilch, zero, nothing, except a pan of burnt sugar to clean up. And, yet, I continue to try. If you have ever had sponge candy, you know that the potential gain is greater than the pain (and literally the burns from bubbling hot sugar syrup).
If you’ve never heard of sponge candy, it is best described as burned and aerated s...
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chocolate, sponge candy, Western New York, seafoam, honeycomb
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AndiatBettyCrocker 10/2/2009 1:14:00 PM
Sometimes, to get a yummy birthday cake, you have to bake it yourself. I’m not a control freak in the least until it comes to what I’m going to eat—especially on my birthday! I prefer scratch cakes, especially those densely chocolate and nearly flourless ones.
One of my very favorites is Triple-Chocolate Torte.
This cake starts with ¾ cup butter and 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, melted together. Then a little coffee-flavored liqueur is added for a deeper, richer flavor. Only a small amout of flour (1/3 cup) is st...
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birthday cakes, chocoholics, chocolate, Triple-Chocolate Torte, best chocolate cake, flourless chocolate cakes
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jillbcooks 3/26/2009 8:10:00 AM
I do love decadent chocolaty things very much. But I recognize that not everyone shares this appreciation, because of predisposition or circumstance. On the occasion of Easter, all I really want to do is make treats in mass quantities and give them to my family and friends. Truth is, though, that they want a taste (or two) but probably not a boatload of sugary, unhealthy treats. When it comes to Easter treats, I love novelty. I love to try to think of something that I haven’t seen before. One year it was chocolate covered Peeps pops, another was mini fondant covered carrot cakes…you see where I am going with this.
The two peop...
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Cheerios, chocolate, Easter, candy, clusters, Jacques Torres
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jillbcooks 2/19/2009 6:48:00 AM
I often write articles for my local newspaper and I just interviewed a woman who is planning a lunch and festival/carnival with a goal to raise $10,000 for an organization that aids childhood hunger. This organization is particularly important and relevant to her because it creates feeding programs in schools that are already established, and she has had a long career in school nutrition services, or, as she puts it, as a lunch lady.
I had to smile when I read about the events planned for the carnival as I prepared for the interview. It is going to have a cakewalk! I haven’t seen a cakewalk since the holiday bazaars held more than half a lifetime ago at Abra...
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cake, chocolate, cakewalk, fundraiser, maple-pecan
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jillbcooks 2/5/2009 7:35:00 AM
Not jewelry, not video game systems, not $100 sweatpants or $200 boots. The most valuable gift to give is time, since it is a resource that can’t be renewed.
Rather than giving a box of chocolates, set aside time to make Marvelous Chocolate Truffles from Betty Crocker.
Kids can assist by measuring, dropping the mixture in teaspoons, forming balls, and adding nuts and sprinkles.
These truffles will make great gifts, and kids can decorate boxes and make cards for special Valentines (photos of you making the truffles ...
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chocolate, Valentine's Day, truffles
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Heidi at Betty Crocker 1/30/2009 4:29:00 PM
Today we celebrated Kristen's birthday. She's an assistant food editor in the Kitchens. Since she and her boyfriend keep bees (I think "keep" is the right word; "raise" sounds wrong) Andi had Kathy, a Betty Crocker Kitchens Technician, make a Chocolate Honey-Dome Cake with Chocolate-Honey Glaze to celebrate. You can find the recipe here. Kristin was surprised (her birthday is actually next week) and we all got the opportunity to indulge in a little chocolate. Definitely a win-win situation....
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birthday, chocolate, honey
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jillbcooks 12/16/2008 1:05:00 PM
If you have been in the holiday candy aisle of any store, you’ve probably seen chocolate gelt—chocolate disks wrapped in foil to look like coins, usually in a mesh bag. These candies are a fun part of Hanukkah. The word gelt means “money” in the Yiddish language, and at Hanukkah, children traditionally received coins as a gift.
Coins are needed to play dreidel, a game traditionally associated with Hanukkah. A dreidel is a top with four sides, and each side has a Hebrew letter on it. Dreidel is a game of chance played with at least two people. In addition to a dreidel, each player needs 15 coins (at my house we use Cheerios, but...
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chocolate, Cookie, sugar cookie dough, bake, celebration, chanukkah, dreidel, gelt, hanukkah, Jill Bloomfield
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Heidi at Betty Crocker 2/15/2008 1:33:00 PM
As Andi mentioned, we had a chocolate taste test yesterday. We tasted four cakes and a brownie, simply to compare and contrast them. We also tried some new chocolate candy. (Gosh my job is hard.)
...
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taste test, chocolate
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AndiatBettyCrocker 2/14/2008 1:42:00 PM
On my way to work today I was listening to a public radio story about Saint Valentine, a holy priest of Rome. He performed wedding ceremonies for young couples in secret because Emperor Claudius II had cancelled all engagements and weddings. Claudius was having a hard time getting young men to enlist in the military and he believed it was because the men didn't want to leave their loved ones, when it fact it was due to bloody and unpopular battles. Saint Valentine was jailed for his actions and fell in love with the jailer's daughter before he was beheaded on February 14, 270 A.D. Story has it that he signed his farewell message to her: "From Your Valentine."How sw...
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baking, cakes, chocolate, Valentine's Day