Want to get on the family's good side this turkey day? Then bake a pie! Sweet, buttery, and comforting, these pastries are a wonderful closing statement to an all-out meal. While it isn't too late to bake up your favorite recipe, pie can be a delicate balance of art and science. So to help you get started, we enlisted Tim Nugent, pastry whiz at San Francisco's Scala's Bistro and Top Chef: Just Read more

Making cookies, candies, and other pastries is a fun and delicious activity — that is, until it's time for cleanup. Here are three must-have items for quick cookie sheet cleanup, so you can spend more time savoring your piping hot treats. Silpat Silicone Cookie Sheet Liners ($25) — Even though Silpats are on the expensive side, they will distribute heat evenly to your cookies and are Read more

Living in a small, city apartment, I've learned that I can go without a lot in the appliance department while still managing to create delicious food. The oven, however, is not one of those things; in the modern kitchen, it's the king. Two cooking methods — roasting and baking — are nearly synonymous with the concept of the oven itself, yet they are seemingly identical techniques. They both Read more

I hate the nagging feeling that I get when I open my fridge to discover far too many random odds and ends: nubs of cheese, leftover scrambled eggs, chopped herbs, bits of sausage or ham. After all, there's nothing worse than watching food go to waste. Find out what I do to solve this problem after the jump. Read more

While packing for an annual picnic at Hog Island, I struggled with what to bring for dessert. I wavered between many different dishes but ultimately went with sugar cookies. Unlike butter cookies or shortbread, these golden disks are moist and chewy. The ingredient list is similar except there's more sugar and less butter involved. As a kid, sugar cookies became my best friend at the first Read more

Having a sensitivity to gluten, eggs, and dairy can make baking tricky since eggs, flour, butter, and milk are required in most recipes. Guess what? You can substitute gluten, eggs, and dairy with other ingredients that work the same way and are often healthier! Even if you don't have an allergy, it's good to know these tricks of the baking trade, so if you're out of eggs you can substitute in Read more