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My Top Soufflé Secrets

The word soufflé in French means breath, which is an excellent name for these light as air treats. They’re easy and fun to make, can go from thought to table in 30 minutes and the ingredients are cheap and readily available (almost every grocery store has eggs). The only hard part is accepting that they must be eaten immediately, there’s no way around it. A…

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Creme de Marrons (Chestnut Spread)

When I was sprier (and when I could eat all that chocolate!) I used to do culinary tours. One of the most fun things to do was to take people into places and explain some of the lesser-known items that, incongruently, France is famous for. I know. I had to think about that for a minute, too. I’d point out things like fleur de sel,…

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Baking Ingredients and Substitutions

Over the years, I’ve gotten many questions about substituting ingredients in recipes. Other times, people want to reduce quantities of ingredients. The main questions I get about substitutions are: Can I reduce the sugar in a recipe? How can I make a recipe gluten-free? Can I make this with a different kind of nut, or make it nut-free? What can I use in place of…

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Is it Safe to Eat Apricot Kernels?

You might come across a recipe which calls for the use of sweet apricot kernels, that differ from bitter apricot kernels, which are used as a flavoring agent in jams, candies, pastes, custards, and other baking applications. Europeans and others often use them to enhance jams and jellies, putting a kernel is each jar, which isn’t normally consumed. Italians crush them to make the famous…

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Why and When To Use (or Not Use) Corn Syrup

A subject, and and ingredient, comes up frequently when talking about baking and candy making. And that’s about using corn syrup in recipes. I use it judiciously when it will make a discernible difference in a recipe. For those of you who are regular readers of the site and my books, you’ll notice almost all of the time, I rarely use pre-packaged or convenience foods in my…

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Ingredients for American Baking in Paris

Although we can’t expect things to be like ‘back home’, many of us do miss certain things that we are used to in American recipes. While French has wonderful ingredients, for bakers, it can be a challenge to adapt to new ingredients or ones that behave differently than what we’re used to. Here’s a list of commonly used baking ingredients and where you can find…

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