Domestic Monday: Cakes and Ale Edition

Everyone copes with stress in different ways; I happen to bake out my feelings. Why? Because baking has rules. You follow them, and order (cookies, muffins, cakes) is produced from chaos. This is unlike cooking, where chaos appears whenever it pleases.

Last Sunday I baked honey spice madeleines. Hazard a guess at my emotional state.

If you guessed fraught, you're correct! This caused me to make a few mistakes while baking. I used salted instead of unsalted butter. I chilled the batter in the fridge instead of letting it relax room temperature. I filled the madeleine pans too high.

Magically, they turned out just fine, and I probably have this beast of a cookbook to thank for that miracle. In the Sweet Kitchen is about the size of a bible, with a suggested retail price of $60, except I found it at a book sale for $3. It's out of print now, but if you find a secondhand copy, buy it. Half of the book is foolproof recipes for elegant yet satisfying desserts, while the other half covers baking theory and pantry essentials. You could also use it as an emergency step stool in a pinch--it's kind of a brick.

As for the beer, I decided to head out of the province this week. Or rather, BC came to me. Through whatever mysterious process the LCBO uses to stock its shelves (Why are there suddenly six kinds of Mikkeller beer?), Phillips beer is back on the shelves. Or at least the Amnesiac Double IPA is. As you would expect, the hops aren't shy in this beer (tastes of citrus, pine and pineapple) but there's still enough maltiness (toasty!) that it didn't make me pucker. Oh BC. I miss you. I'll come visit, and I'll bring madeleines.