June 18, 2005

Petit pains au caramel or however you say that in French

The only thing I've made recently which I haven't blogged were some of my petits pains au choco but with caramel instead of chocolate so my mother, who has forsaken chocolate, could try them. Except I had to give the book that had that recipe in it back to the library, so I ended up using a similar dinner roll recipe.

The caramel worked pretty well -- it actually melted a bit better than the chocolate bits, although the part of the caramel that didn't melt was a bit more annoying on the teeth. Perhaps half a Kraft caramel instead of a whole one?

Anyway, I'm moving on Monday into a new place, which I'm excited about, but which does have one drawback: a half-sized oven. The rack measures 15"x14". I am hoping that my inability to make huge amounts of cookies will be paid off by how quickly it preheats. We'll see.

Posted by chris at 11:40 AM

June 07, 2005

Assorted, for mother

My mother is visiting town. So far I have made a pugliese and a rye bread, and then last night I made some broccoli in a lemon & cumin sauce (along with a few other less interesting things) for dinner and snickerdoodles for dessert. All has been well received. She'd heard about my cooking experiments of the past year but this is the first time she's had a chance to properly enjoy them.

In other news, I will soon be moving into another rental place, and the new place (assuming I get approved, which I should) will have an oven which is perhaps less grand than my current oven. It's one of those old half-sized ovens (it's a small but cute kitchen with a lot of built-ins—built in 1928) which I assume will pre-heat faster but I won't be able to make as many snickerdoodles as once. Readers with experience with these half-sized ovens are encouraged to offer advice, if any is needed.

Posted by chris at 08:40 AM