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Absolutely...sounds pretty great to me...giving my chocolate cravings now...:)

I personally would go with one of the following: Bechamel Sauce..maybe put some shallots and white wine Veloute..same as above or for something a little different, a nice Beurre Blanc sauce Just think of whatever you feel would go good with the dish and make a sauce with it. Happy Sauceing :)

Oatmeal cookies are notorious for not wanting to spread. Pros use a simple technique...flatten the cookie with a can or something similar before baking to the desired thickness. :D Happy Cookieing :)

Oh absolutely! I use hard bread to throw at people when I want them out of my kitchen, and makes a great surrogate basketball when I'm making hoop shots with the trash can... Kidding...I throw old fruit at em'..got too much respect for bread! Happy Baking :)

WHOOPS....forgot something...LOL Ok, between step 3 and 4, should read: Sprinkle the top with raspberries and white chocolate. I think the chef told us this recipe came from the Biltmore in Phoenix or Michael's at the Cidadel in Scottsdale. When we altered the recipe with the sauteed apples...

Here's a recipe I used in culinary school that was passed on to me from a pastry chef. Feel free to change the fruits/spices as needed, but keep the same ratio, and use fruits that won't soften up and get mushy. We adapted ours to using granny smith apples sauted in butter with cinnamon and...

Breads or cakes will stale quickest in the refrigerator. However, they will keep for months if wrapped good (to seal out air) and frozen. If storing at room temp, make sure the cake is in an airtight container, and it should last for a week or two. :)

The book used in the Advanced Patisserie course I took in culinary school is "The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef" by Bo Friberg. There is some good coverage of sugarwork in there. We learned most every technique in the book concerning sugarwork. My biggest piece of advice: be...

Replace about 10-20% of your fat with vegetable oil (canola is fine). The result is fabulous. FYI- the simple syrup recipe is ok, but the pros do it like this: (this technique is used for wedding cakes quite often to keep them nice and moist!) 2 cups water 1 cup sugar Put both into a...

Try adding another egg yolk for structure and tenderness. Add about 1 tbsp. more flour and 1 tbsp. more of sugar to keep the balance. In addition, you could also replace a little bit of the fat with vegetable oil (canola works fine). This will give you a moister cookie. Happy Cookieing:)

Here's how the pros do it... Use mealy pie dough for the bottom crust instead of flaky... and if needed, sprinkle some cake crumbs on the crust before adding the filling to absorb any excess liquid. and whenever possible, add room temperature or cold filling to the crust instead of hot...

The first thing that comes to mind, as a trained professional (kids, don't try this at home...well...ok..go ahead..have fun!)..is Eggs....it's the eggs that set up a pecan pie. Are you using a different size of egg? Most recipes call for Large eggs (although they don't usually specify that...

Oh yeah...real nice crust & crumb on that round loaf! ;)

Throw it all together....in techspeak, this is called the Straight Dough Method Now if you REALLY wanna get into baking procedures...there are actually 12, yes 12 steps of yeast dough production. 1. Scaling ingredients 2. Mixing 3. Fermentation 4. Punching 5. Scaling 6. Rounding 7. Benching 8...

docpat, I'm happy to know there is another hardcore baker here! I have been professionally trained (culinary school) in baking, patisserie, and cuisine, although I prefer baking and patisserie more than anything. I'd love to talk shop with you sometime, maybe share some advanced techniques...

Lemme ask you a question Pam...I bet you're using nice dark pans to bake with right? That alone can cause your problems. Darker pans will conduct heat better than lighter pans, thereby causing the outside to overbake. Try a lighter pan if possible. You might try lining the inside of your...

Yeast...such a wonderful thing! Ok, here's the skivvy on it... Active Dry Yeast - Use water with a temperature between 110-115 degrees F to proof the yeast (unless you're an advanced baker, then figure in dough temp, room temp, water temp, relative humidity, mixer temp, etc...yikes!) The...

Good Ol'e Beer Bread.. Baking soda and Baking Powder act as leaveners, to replace the lack of yeast in your formula (to bakers and pastry chefs, there are only formulas...it's all about the balance...chemistry folks..gotta love it) This is similar to a quick bread formula (ie- muffins...

Hate to tell ya this...stale bread makes stale bread crumbs... But hey, if you don't mind, neither do I :)

One..ok two other things :) Roast your garlic...adds tonssssssss of flavor Second...Baking soda users...too much and you've got a nice chalky taste..yum...just like licking a blackboard ;) Happy Saucing :)

Key to a nice tomato sauce (one of the 5 mother sauces)...is really good tomatoes...since you're harvesting from your backyard, I would suggest letting get a bit over-ripe first, or you can even oven roast them for a bit more flavor. If you want out of this world sauce however, use ONLY San...

Rule of thumb for Baking Powder/Baking Soda Baking POWDER = 1 teaspoon per 1 cup of flour Baking SODA = 1/4 teaspoon per 1 cup of flour Put too much of either in, and you'll over-leaven...not fun. Happy Leavening :)

Cream thickening depends upon the right temperature being reached...(has to do with starches doing their thing...) Bring the heat up gradually, but don't scorch it...gentle is good here...a little heat goes a long way! (this is why you have to really heat up starch slurries and rouxs before...

8 oz. Cheddar Cheese, Shredded means: First measure the Un-shredded cheese then shred. whereas 8 oz. Shredded Cheddar Cheese means: Shred then measure. It's all about the comma... BTW..8 oz Cheddar Cheese, shredded is equal to 2 cups...now how to measure 2 cups of solid cheese you might...

Just like they taught us in culinary school....(took forever to memorize though!) 1/16 tsp = pinch 1/8 tsp = dash 3 tsp = 1 tbsp 2 tbsp = 1 fluid ounce (yes, there is a difference btwn fluid and dry ounces...) 4 tbsp = 1/4 cup = 2 fl. oz. 16 tbsp = 1 cup = 8 fl. oz. 2 cups = 1 pint = 16 fl. oz...