For years, I have enjoyed the efforts of others to help with the eternal dinner time and food dilemma. It’s time to start compiling my go to list of recipes, the ones that save you when you are bored to tears with chicken the fourth day (or year) in a row, have mere minutes to get dinner on the table before someone has to leave or realize there is 14 cents left in the food budget till sometime next month. My thanks to all those who’ve tried and tested these recipes for me.
I used to use cookbooks, or the odd clipped or photocopied recipe. Finding the recipe isn’t always easy. I know I saved the bookmark to my recipe folder but can’t remember what it’s called, except that it turned out well enough to make again. Once I have found the ‘recipe’, I clear a space for my laptop on the kitchen counter and get to work. Perched a bit too close to the dish drainer for comfort, I flit back and forth, gingerly drying wet hands before using the cordless mouse. It’s waterproof right?
Don’t get me wrong, I still love cookbooks and have some much loved favourites and a new best friend in The Simple Art of Perfect Baking, by Flo Braker. If you want the cooking version of an engineering text, this would be my recommendation. Highly technical and exacting, you will become a better baker if you follow her directions. These confections require effort, and are well worth the time. In fact, my Mom is on the hunt for the perfect coffee cake and we have a date to get together soon to try out a recipe or two and see how we do.