I researched chocolate peppermint and gingerbread cupcakes this month. December is National Egg Nog Month, so I celebrated in my preferred handheld form, seeking out egg nog cupcakes. I tasted a chocolate egg nog cupcake and was unimpressed. As I previously confessed, I’m not crazy about chocolate, so I felt the chocolate dominated any… Continue reading Holiday in hand

Today’s National Oatmeal Muffin Day calls to mind two things. The first is how much I truly like oatmeal muffins. I tried to bake some for this occasion, but the experiment was less than photogenically successful. Mixing the batter gave rise to all sorts of nostalgic aromas I haven’t smelled in decades. Instead of a… Continue reading Muffins, cupcakes, and identity

Never say never. I never thought I’d be enthusiastic about a packaged cupcake. Then I met Bob Goodman. Destiny must have drawn me to the Goodman Gluten-Free booth at the MetroCooking D.C. show the other weekend. Wandering aimlessly, I came to a booth sampling cookies and cupcakes, so I instinctively stopped to beg like a… Continue reading A December surprise for National Cupcake Day

For today’s National Pastry Day, I happily shifted my focus to said species of baked good and traversed the city to examine some research specimens. I’m still entranced by this first pastry, product of a new and most noteworthy bakery called Seylou. For days since tasting its whole-wheat croissant, I’ve been struggling for words other… Continue reading Blissful discoveries for National Pastry Day

On this National Cookie Day, I present my homebaked scourtins, olive biscuits from the south of France. The recipe is from Joan Nathan’s King Solomon’s Table, topic of my first Olive Oil Times story.