Hello! Hello!
If I could have found a typeface that looked as though I’d written “Hello!” with a shaky hand, I would have used it. I’m kind of a wreck these days … DEADLINE! The manuscript for my next book, which is still tentatively titled, KITCHEN CAKES, is due in a week! I’ve never missed a deadline. I’m not going to miss this one. But I’ve never been anything other than on edge leading up to delivery date (yes, the expression is “deliver the manuscript,” the same as deliver a baby) and I’m just as on edge this time as I was all 14 times before. You’d think that after more than 30 years of this, I would have figured it all out. But nope.
Speaking of KITCHEN CAKES, a paid subscription to xoxoDorie — a reader-supported newsletter — gives you exclusive access to a recipe from the new book, even before my publisher has it! You can view it here.
I’ve got some last-minute brainstorm-recipes — things I didn’t plan on making, but that tugged at me, that I need to polish and send to Mary Dodd for testing. I’m finishing up what’s called Front Matter — the “matter” that I know is important and that I also know most readers ignore. That’s the section where I plead with you to use a scale to weigh your ingredients and where I tell you that there are so many different measurements for 1 cup of all-purpose flour, but that my measurement is:
Years ago, I should have rounded to 135 grams, but I didn’t … too late now.
The front-matter should be a straight-forward job — after all, I’ve done it so many times before — but each time, I re-think some stuff. This time, I’m stumped by yogurt! Again.
While I’m a cheerleader for using the metric weights for just about everything, yogurt got complicated when Greek yogurt started nudging “regular” yogurt off the shelves, and then it got even more complicated when thick-enough-to-cut and easily-spoonable yogurt were all labeled “Greek.” It throws off the weight measurements. What’s an author to do?
So here’s my question to you: I’ll always give the American cup measurement, but alongside it, I want another measure, which would be most helpful to you?
OR
One of the things that I love about the recipes in this new book is that so many of them — I’m going to count when I’m finished-finished — can be made with a bowl, a whisk and a spatula. And those that need a mixer can be made in a stand or hand mixer.
Because I bake so often and have for so many years, I keep my stand mixer (an older KitchenAid 5-quart) within reach. Actually, since we redid our kitchen, it’s on a side counter and I move it when I need it — still easy. And while I’ve always had a hand mixer, I’d used it rarely. For KITCHEN CAKES, I treated myself to a new one and it’s such a pleasure to use, that in fact, I use it. Often. More.
And yes, I did buy new baking pans. They were partly a splurge, because I already had pans in every size, and partly for research: My pans were so old that some of them were in sizes no longer considered standard and many were dinged. Also, buying pans is more fun for me than buying shoes and a girl’s gotta have some fun. I donated many of my old pans to local organizations — they were still in good shape because good pans are built to last, and I always tried to buy the best pans that I could afford at the time — kept many and delighted in these new ones.
I also bought a new wardrobe of spatulas — something I do periodically. Here’s my new favorite — it’s labeled as a jar-scraper, but I love the shape for bowl scraping. If you’ve got a favorite, please let us all know. Spatulas need to be replaced often, so I’m sure that we’d all like recs.
Finally, and as always, my all-time, most-used and most-loved tools: my Moleskine notebook (mine’s grid) and Blackwing pencils. Yeah, I love my laptop and the new big monitor that I finally got — so much easier to read and make corrections when the type is BIG — but I’ll always be a pencil-and-paper writer.
And now — back to work. Keep in touch, please — I always love hearing from you, but it’s especially nice when I’ve got my nose to the proverbial grindstone.
🍽️ Until KITCHEN CAKES arrives, you can find recipes in my latest book, BAKING WITH DORIE.
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