A baking tidbit

Sometimes my cookies end up thin and crispy when I did not intend them to do so. I've often wondered what makes the difference when the same recipe behaves differently. I'm wondering if it isn't the softened or room temperature butter. Room temperature in my kitchen has a pretty wide scale of degrees.

Recently, I came across a recipe that described the butter as "softened, but still cool". I think that is a better way to describe it. Because when my butter is squishy to the point of nearly crossing the line from solid to liquid, I get unexpected or undesired results.

Just some musings in case you find 'em helpful. :-)

A new go-to recipe for chocolate cake

I tried this recipe for chocolate cake this weekend, and think it is quite similar to Magleby's chocolate cake. I made it as a 9x13" single-layer cake, but it would work well as two 8" or 9" rounds.

It is definitely my new go-to recipe. The texture is terrific, and the cake very moist. Once we cut into it, I could not stop slicing off little bits every time I walked past. It goes together pretty quickly and only took me 10-12 minutes to get it into the oven once I started pulling out ingredients. The batter was thinner than the usual cake batter, but don't let that worry you. I did find that I needed to bake mine several minutes longer than the 30 minutes indicated.

The frosting is also quite nice and goes together quickly. While it does develop a slight crust after sitting out, it stays soft underneath, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Thanks to the Paysonites for a great dinner to go with the cake! I probably shouldn't admit this, but the Paysonite parents and I sampled the cake during the pre-dinner card playing - probably not surprising to anyone who knows us, since we instigated the "pie before dinner" Thanksgiving tradition!

It's definitely a dessert extravaganza here tonight -- there is buttermilk ice cream churning as I type, as well as a key lime pie in the fridge. And of course, more chocolate cake. I need a glass of milk just thinking about it!

Just in case you missed this news story

This one cracked me up -- it's about a dad who dressed up in a different costume every morning and went out to wave as his son's school bus drove by.

Here's a link to a blog for viewing the various costumes.

Enjoy! Perhaps this will inspire another parent to reach new heights in embarrassing their children. If so, mission accomplished!

Also, I have a new link posted for a feature called "Moments with Joey" on the blog of a 5th grade teacher. Now that's some fun reading! Click and enjoy.