A Twitter-ific tip from PinchMySalt: Go easy on the cookie dough

There's some baking. Some Twittering. Some eating of chocolate cherry cookie dough. And, apparently, there's some scientific research going on over in Nicole's San Diego kitchen.

Here's a peek at her Twitter traffic (would that be Twaffic?):    

"Decided to turn this round of cookies into a contest: silpat vs. parchment vs. ungreased cookie sheet. Parchment won (just as I expected)."

"I think I ate too much cookie dough."

"Ok, maybe Silpat wins. I can't decide!"

Check out the results at her blog, PinchMySalt.

Photo credit: Nicole Hamaker / PinchMySalt

-- Rene Lynch

A castle too sweet for Rapunzel?

My admittedly voracious sweet tooth is no match for this: A 12-foot sugar castle made from 130 pounds of pastillage (a sugar dough used to make edible decorations) and 300 pounds of royal icing, among other ingredients.

The 100% edible castle sits in the lobby of the Westin St. Francis hotel on Union Square in San Francisco, originally made in 2005 by pastry chef Jean-Francois Houdre. Each year, he makes repairs, adds tiers or towers and otherwise renews it, he said during a telephone interview.

It rotates, and a three-car Christmas train travels around the base. Houdre was inspired by...

Have yourself a merry little D.I.Y Christmas

Considering everybody on your holiday gift list -- friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, your kids' teachers -- you might be needing a stimulus package before you even get to the big-ticket items this year.

So why not take a page from your grandmother's playbook and make the smaller gifts yourself?

Not only are homemade gifts less expensive, they also capture the spirit of holiday giving in a way that purchased gifts simply can't. And if you consider the ubiquitous traffic and holiday crowds, a leisurely morning spent baking breadsticks or whipping up a batch of homemade marshmallows seems positively Zen-like by comparison.

Gifts you make yourself can triangulate personal taste with both economy and invention. Make a stack of shortbread cookies spiced with your neighbor's favorite lavender, then tie them up in cellophane the color of her kitchen. Or wrap up a tin of brownies in the sports page for a friend who's a rabid Lakers fan (maybe the standings -- an idea you might need to finesse if your friend is a Clippers fan).

Use antique bottles found at flea markets (sterilize them first) to show off a rich caramel sauce spiked with Cognac or a batch of vinegar you've infused with thyme and peppercorns. Just tie the tops with velvet ribbon and thread on greeting cards and you have terrific gifts, at once pretty and practical.

Here are 50 ways to get the job done:

--Amy Scattergood

Photo caption: Homemade marshmallows. Photo credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Buy local: Delicious gifts to give, or receive

   

A songwriter friend of mine once observed that some people can walk around the block and see the whole world while others can go around the world and not see a thing. Food can work the same way. With the current availability of almost anything from almost anywhere, thanks to the Internet, sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of the great products we have right here in Southern California.

So this Christmas, why not keep your gift-buying close to home by using this guide put together by the staff of The Times' Food section. Concentrate on shopping locally and you might find parts of the area you’ve never seen before and even meet the producers face to face.

And if all of that just seems like too much, almost all of them are also available over the Internet.

--Russ Parsons

Photo caption: Box of chocolates from Los Angeles-based Valerie Confections.

Photo credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Step-by-step: Making panforte with candied quince

A sliver of panforte makes for an impressive end to the meal -- or an elegant holiday gift. Here's your step-by-step guide to making it.

This recipe for panforte with candied quince was one of the stars of our two-part holiday baking package. Part 1 was all about cooking with spices, and included gingerbread and springerle cookies, and more.

Check back here on Tuesday for an early look at Part 2.

Want a hint? There will be chocolate.

--Rene Lynch

Photo credits: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Your wine guide to L.A., hard cider, bacon, holiday baking and more...

There's only one person who could have written this week's cover story "Drinking It In," which offers up a tour of Los Angeles' most beguiling wine lists: Our restaurant critic, S. Irene Virbila. It's just one of the highlights in today's Food section. Here are a few others:

• Times Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter sets out on her "Lord of the Rings"-type quest to find 1,001 things to do with bacon, and invites you to join the journey. First stop: Catch her this morning on KTLA, our sister station, serving up -- and we kid not -- a candied bacon martini. It's scheduled for about 9:30 a.m.
• Times Staff writer Betty Hallock has a way to work off some holiday calories -- by doing some holiday baking. Sounds perfectly reasonable to us. Check out recipes for gingerbread cookies, German springerle cookies, and panforte. (Find out where to buy the old-school cookie stamps here, and we guide you step-by-step through panforte here.)
• Sidle up to the saddles that serve as barstools at Peña's Restaurant in Santa Ana, and consider ordering one of the house specials, conchinita pibil, a Yucatecan dish of pork wrapped in banana leaves and marinated in orange juice and achiote paste.
• Wine just not your thing? How about artisanal ciders?

And finally....

Noelle's bacon quest sent us digging into the archives for some other bacon recipes, and we came across this recipe for maple bacon biscuits, fashioned after those made by Rustic Canyon pastry chef Zoe Nathan. If this doesn't make our list of the Top Ten recipes for the year....it's rigged.

--Rene Lynch

Photo credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Demand soars for 'Obama cookie'

Looks as if the First Family has a sweet tooth.

President-elect Barack Obama and his family have put a bakery in Des Moines, Iowa, on the map after it was discovered that the White House-bound Obamas have a fondness for the chocolate chunk cookies baked up by Baby Boomers Cafe. According to the Associated Press, the small downtown restaurant is struggling to keep up with demand for the "Obama cookies," soaring from about 400 sold each week to more than 1,000 a week.

"Two months ago I was giving these cookies away," said co-owner Rodney Maxfield. "Now, it's like, 'I need two dozen cookies. I need four dozen cookies.' "

Photo: Kevin Sanders / Associated Press

Chocolate maker turns on the sweet heat

Still feeling overfed? Just looking won't hurt. This Mayan truffle won a grand prize in the Scovie Awards recently at the Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show in Albuquerque.

The Mayan-theme shell opens to a chile verde ganache and sweet-corn-infused center. It's among the unusual chocolates Joanne Hansen makes at Bon Bon Bakery and Chocolates, the shop she opened in 2006 at the Bernardo winery in San Diego.

A former mortgage broker, she gave in to a lifelong passion for baking and cooking, inspired by her mother, a wedding cake maker.

"I kind of grew up with a pastry bag in my hand," Hansen, 48, said by telephone from her shop, which she renovated.

Other chocolates she makes are filled with habanero marmalade and tequila cream, smoky chipotle caramel or caramelized blue cheese and pear. For the holidays, she says, she'll make eggnog truffles, gingerbread truffles and perhaps a pumpkin truffle.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo credit: Joanne Hansen

Santa's Little Helper: Gifts for kids who cook

 

If your holiday list includes a kid who likes to cook, Times food writer Amy Scattergood suggests some gifts to tuck under the tree -- or to stuff inside a stocking.

Photo: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Thanksgiving countdown: A throwdown, a 'how to' for hosting, pies and more

Sure, times are tough. But is the answer to avoid restaurants altogether? Consider this a challenge from Times Restaurant Critic S. Irene Virbila: " ... if we don't support our restaurants now, they may not be still serving when things turn around and we really have something to celebrate." What do you think?

That throwdown helps kick off this week's Food section, but the star of the show is — what else? — Thanksgiving. Here are other can't-miss highlights:

• Thanksgiving is a holiday defined by sharing food, so don't be afraid of enlisting the troops. In some ways, though, that places an added burden on the host: When a lot of cooks pitch in, it's up to the host to make sure the mix works. Here's your checklist, and some words of wisdom: "Remember: It is not possible to be too organized when you're expecting a house full of cooks."
• We revisit a turkey recipe — Judy Rogers' dry-brining-and-roasting method — that has proven to be such a hit with readers that it even has its own lingo.
• Don't be intimidated by carving duties, either. Check out the video of Times Food Editor Russ Parsons, above, walking you through it.
• Are you the invitee instead of the hostee of a potluck this year? Be sure to bring a showstopper, such as creamy mushroom ragout over sweet potato cakes, warm barley and kale salad with roasted pears and candied prosciutto, or pissaladiere with spiced ricotta, radicchio and poached apricots. You could also try starters such as cream of parsnip soup with crisp-fried pancetta or Dungeness crab spring rolls with endive and almonds.
• Amy Scattergood shows you how to enlist the kids when it comes to making dessert, which is, of course, pie, as in pear-blackberry and apple-cranberry. We've also got pecan brittle and blackberry sauce on the side.
• When picking a wine for the big meal, Virbila maintains that you shouldn't stop at just one. (She won't get an argument from any of us.) A photo gallery takes you through her top eight picks.
• If you can't stand the thought of cooking, we've got you covered there too: Here's your list of places where you can dine out — or take out — on Thanksgiving Day.

And finally ...

Check out our photo gallery of Thanksgiving dishes in all their luscious glory.

— Rene Lynch