baking

Bakeware that doesn't stick

While there are more than a few bakeware options out there, Green Apple Glass Bakeware is the only option with a nonstick coating that is all natural. This line of bakewares is made from borosilicate glass--a material that handles extreme temperature changes with no problem. The nonstick coating used by Green Apple is proprietary: the NAMI coating is FDA-approved, environmentally safe, chemical-free, and antibacterial. It's not clear exactly what the coating is made from, however. It eliminates the need to grease pans, which, in turn, makes for healthier baked goods. The line of Green Apple Glass Bakeware is also … Read more

The taste of dinosaurs

While heart-shaped cupcakes only really work around Valentine's Day, you can get away with a dinosaur-shaped cake any time of year. The Dinosaur Cakelette Pan makes bringing out a plateful of tasty Tyrannosaurus Rexes and other assorted dinosaurs just a matter of pouring cake batter into the pan. This particular cake pan comes from Nordic Ware; it's a solid pan that can produce eight cakelettes at a time.

The Dinosaur Cakelette Pan has very detailed forms: there are two shapes for each of the four dinosaurs (stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, and apatosaurus) that even have teeth and claws. … Read more

Choose your own chocolate bar

There's just something about a chocolate bar--about a big piece of chocolate divided into bite-size pieces, ready to break off and pop in your mouth. Williams-Sonoma has a new brownie pan available that takes advantage of the iconic look of a chocolate bar. You can mix up a batch of your favorite brownies, pour the batter into the Chocolate Bar Brownie Pan and bake: the result is a dozen 'chocolate bars.' You can divide up your brownies--the division the pan lays out is a fair portion--and see the word 'chocolate' embossed on your brownies. Just seeing a batch of … Read more

Say "I love you" with something sweet

Nothing says, "I love you" like a home-cooked meal, and nothing tops off a delicious dinner like homemade dessert. Just in time for Valentine's Day, you can get your hands on these silicon heart-shaped molds by Fauchon and make a dessert that's both tasty and festive.

Silicone molds have become popular vessels for baking. They store easily, allow for painless food removal, are dishwasher safe, and prevent the burned-on residue that shows up so frequently on metal pans. Since the heart is an odd shape, using a silicone mold means that your cake will come out … Read more

The right cake for Valentine's Day

There are silicone cake pans for just about anything; their flexibility makes them ideal for all sorts of novelty cake shapes. Just in time for Valentine's Day, there's a cake pan with a sweet message. The Love Silicone Cake Pan can spell out your feelings of "Love" in tasty cake form, complete with hearts for the spaces within the "o" and the "e." The pan is approximately 15 inches by 5.5 inches by 2.2 inches, providing enough cake if you're planning a Valentine's Day party for more than … Read more

Clear viewing for the fan favorite seven-layer dip

Each season, 32 football teams battle it out in hopes of reaching the Super Bowl. This year the Arizona Cardinals (do they have cardinals in Arizona?) are one of the teams in the big game. Besides the teams battling it out on the field, there is a second, more delicious battle, vying for your attention on game day: the food spread. When I think of the Southwest, I think of spicy food, and considering that Arizona is home to a good deal of Mexican-inspired food, it only makes sense to include it in your game day festivities. When it comes … Read more

Bake and store in one container

On top of all the other dishes that I dirty when I'm baking, I almost always have to get out a fresh container to store food for later, along with any leftovers. That's just one more thing I'll have to wash down the road. However, Anchor Hocking has a line of containers that let you bake in the same dish you'll use to store food in--some are even large enough that you can do all of your mixing in the same container. The Bake n' Keep Food Storage Containers are glass, including the lids. They're … Read more

Better than a bread box

I find it impossible to eat an entire cake before it goes stale. While that might be a good thing for my waistline, I'd like it if my cake lasted for just a few more slices. I've tried careful wrapping, cake keepers and more, but none of them really extended a cake's life. The Fresh Box, however, can add days to the time that I have to eat that whole cake. When you put a cake, loaf of bread or even fruit into the Fresh Box, it uses a vacuum pump to remove air from the box. … Read more

A cake with a message

Baking a birthday cake from scratch can require a little extra effort. Most people want to add a message, such as "Happy Birthday," to a cake commemorating a special event and that can mean frosting the whole cake to provide a base for the message you write out in icing. With the Birthday Cake Mold, however, you can eliminate the frosting step. The mold makes it possible to inscribe "Happy Birthday" on a baked treat by doing nothing more than pouring the batter into the mold and sticking it into the oven. Of course, you can … Read more

Six cookie cutters in one

Hearts, clovers, and all the rest of the cookie cutters are currently taking over one of your kitchen drawers if you're anything like me. I like having a variety of shapes when I make cookies--but I don't like storing them. The 6-Sided Cookie Cutter provides an alternative to letting all those cookie cutters rattle around your drawers loose. In one cube, you have six shapes: a heart, a 4-point star, clover, cross, diamond, and spade shapes. And it's all in one 3-inch square package. You'll never have to use the diamond cookie cutter for Valentine's … Read more