De Baking Psychopath

This summer, I had to drive out to a remote animal facility to do a special set of mouse experiments. This was a difficult task for me for a couple of reasons. One, I had not driven the car in over a year, and even when I had, I'd never had to drive by myself nor for the distance I would have to commute to reach this remote facility (about 12 miles each way). Two, because I'd never worked out at that facility before, I had to pack up all my materials (chemicals, tubes, solutions, etc) and have it shipped out there and back, so I had to be really careful I had EVERYTHING I needed, or else I was pretty screwed.  Luckily I survived on both accounts: the experiment went as planned, and I now have a new-found confidence in driving! Hooray! At the end of the month, to thank the wonderful veterinary staff who helped me through the process and made sure I had everything I needed and checked up on my mice, I baked up a couple treats and left them there on my last day. These capp...

One of my great loves in dessert is tiramisu. I've made it a few times over the years, and this recipe has always been my go-to because it is one of the most straightforward recipes out there and it is so classical in taste. No fancy egg foam ( zabaglione), so it's just a matter of mixing the cream layer and assembling. Now I actually have never used ladyfingers to make tiramisu, mostly because it's out of my way to get the stuff, and it's usually kinda pricey and I don't know what I'd do with the leftovers. So I use pound cake. I always can find a use for extra pound cake! When I have the time, I'll make my own, but I am heartily in favor of using whatever pound cake you can get your hands on. In fact, on this occasion it had been my intent to buy pound cake; however I was foiled by Costco's assorted seasonal pound cakes (e.g. pumpkin streusel) replacing their normal plain pound cake 3-packs. So I came home and baked a pound cake from Dor...

These also doubled as Happy Birthday muffins for a colleague at work. The name comes from a LOT of coffee added to the batter by both brewed coffee and espresso powder. They had a wonderful coffeehouse fragrance and tasted like a latte that reincarnated into a moist, tasty muffin. Coffee-Break Muffins (adapted from Baking: from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan) Ingredients : 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar 1 tablespoon instant espresso (or regular coffee) powder 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (feel free to use more, maybe 1 teaspoon) 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional) 1 cup strong coffee, cooled 1 stick (8 tbsps) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 large egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Instructions : Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper cups, set aside. In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, espresso powder,...