Author Archive: My Kitchen Wand

With summer weather comes lighter foods. This is a mix that has been in my family for decades. It comes from Germany and usually it is used as a topping for light rye bread when making open face sandwiches but I have a few other suggestions as well. Cottage cheese can be one of those, […]

May 15 is Chocolate Chip Day but that doesn’t mean these can’t be made any time an urge developes, in moderation. I don’t add salt to most of my family baking as I use salted butter. If your baking is done with unsalted butter feel free to add a pinch or two. Soft cookie lovers […]

I made a distressing discovering today as I was preparing to post a cookie recipe for National Pecan Day. Although I have pictures from three different ways to finish the dough, I have never actually finished a post! This is my Scottish grandmother’s recipe with a tweak. Although this is a year round cookie, using […]

The flavour combination of chocolate and hazelnuts was popular centuries before Nutella. In the 1800’s, in Turin, Italy, there were many hazelnut orchards and cocoa was expensive and difficult to get. Combining hazelnut paste and cocoa produced a product known as gianduja (pronounced “john-doo-yah”). This soft smooth chocolatey confection was a hit and has stayed […]

Hot cross buns are a traditional addition to spring celebrations in Europe and North America. It saddens me to say that they have been available in some stores here since January. I think it takes away the specialness of foods when seasonal items are available all year round. But that is just me. Whether the […]

Along with all the images of fluffy bunnies and decorated eggs or falling leaves and bountiful cornucopias, the Wheel of the Year at this time of the year, has an additional underlying theme of balance, a time when light and dark hold equal time before switching dominance. We all get out of balance for one […]

Marzipan modelling has a long history in many parts of the world. There are even museums to the art of decorative marzipan. Szabo Marzipan Museum in Budapest is just one. Take a peak at the video and I promise we are not doing anything as complicated. Fruits and figurines, cities and celebrities have all been […]

It is interesting to see traditions being formed in present day. I wonder what people will say about them in 50 years. One example is carrot cake. As sugar and other sweeteners were scarce in England during the war years, carrots were an oft used alternative. Although there are references to cakes that go back […]

This really is a variation of the chevre recipe posted here, using cows milk rather than goat. Think of it as a hack if you would like to as Ricotta is a cheese usually made from leftover whey from previous cheesemaking. It is one last attempt to gather the remaining milk solids. For that reason […]

Spring cleaning is not just washing, dusting and vacuuming for someone who loves to cook. A kitchen witch knows that rotating what is in stores is also part of the process. Yesterday, when I looked at A. the weather outside and B. the staples that needed using up, things could not have come together more […]