About a year ago, I got it into my head that I’d like a kitchen scale and I’d like to figure out ratio baking. The Husband got me a kitchen scale for Christmas, probably because I wouldn’t shut up about it, and then my brain panicked because it meant I should actually use it. I spent the first few weeks of the year thinking about it, thinking of taking the scale out of the cabinet and making something. I wasn’t quite sure of what to make, and I froze again. Then I decided I wanted cake, and the cake ratio looked simple (1:1:1:1 flour to sugar to eggs to butter)…
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A Christmas Cookie Tradition
Neither an adventure in ratio baking nor a recipe this week. Instead, since it’s December, I wanted to write about a Christmas tradition my mom started when I was very young. For as long as I can remember, my mom would spend an entire day baking cookies. The funniest thing about them was that all the recipes came from cook books, but everyone raved about how good they were and would ask for the recipe. My mom always refused to give them away, but they were in printed cook books and could have been found by anyone. Haha, just one of our many family secrets! But it was really a tradition…
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Adventures in Ratio Baking: Cookies…Didn’t Go So Well
I love making cookies. I love making them more than I love making cakes. So, why weren’t cookies the first things I tried to ratio bake? Well, the cake ratio was easier. The ratio for a cookie is 3:2:1, flour to fat to sugar. It’s simple enough, but my brain can’t function when it comes to numbers. I tried to puzzle out what the 3:2:1 would look like in measurements and just got really confused. That’s why I started with cakes. The 1:1:1:1 was harder to mess up. A few months later, I was confident with the cakes, had even figured out the slightly more complicated ratio for the high…
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Adventures in Ratio Baking: Basic Ingredients for Cakes, Cookies, and Bread
When I first started ratio baking in 2019, I worried about the ingredients I would need. Without a recipe with a handy list, it was hard to know exactly what to use. And, as I later found out, to remember to add it. Fortunately, ratio baking has some basics. Since it’s based on ratios, it has to say what ratio to what is necessary. The cake ratio has a 1:1:1:1 ratio of fat to sugar to eggs to flour. The cookie ratio is a 3:2:1 ratio of flour to fat to sugar. Bread has a ratio of 5:3 of flour to water. Just from this, it’s clear flour, sugar, fat,…
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Gates to Asphodel, Chapter 3
“Welcome to your new home,” Andrew Marks said as he swept open the front door to Corey’s new home. Corey gave him a timid smile and followed Andrew and his wife Helen through the front door. Her small feet met soft carpeting as soon as she entered and she looked around at soft blue walls. There were vases of pussy willow in the front hall, flanking a long dark brown table filled with pictures and a basket of keys. Three months after her parents’ untimely deaths, Andrew and Helen Marks had come to adopt her. She had been curious about the blond woman and dark haired man. They had apparently…
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Tea Party, Act 1, Scene 6
Scene Six: Amelia’s backyard. A large, round table is set up between to flower beds. Beatrice: Tea! Someone get the tea! Amelia: (staring at Beatrice as though she has lost her mind) The teapot is on the table. Beatrice: Oh, okay. What about the pie? Patience: It’s inside with Amelia’s cookies, Calvin’s cake, Rupert’s brownies, and my fudge. Calvin: Okay. Rupert, come help me. Amelia: I’ll go, too. Amelia, Calvin, and Rupert exit. They return a minute later with a plate of cookies, the pie, the cake, a platter of brownies, and a pile of fudge. Patience: I hope they taste as good as they look. Amelia: I’m sure it…
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Tea Party
Scene One from an absurd two act play I wrote years ago in sleep deprived states, with a bit of fantasy in Act 2. Enjoy! Act One Scene One: In Patricia’s backyard. A table is set up with five chairs around it. A garden hidden by bushes is nearby. Beatrice: Could someone get the kettle? Calvin: Where would we find it? Amelia: The kitchen, of course. Where else would it be? Rupert: The closet. Patience: Don’t be stupid, Rupert. Why don’t you get the kettle? Otherwise we’ll have no tea for our tea party. Amelia: Oh, no! Turn off the oven when you get the kettle. I think I just…
