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Cookie-Baking Chemistry: How To Engineer Your Perfect Sweet Treat

Engineering the perfect cookie: You can control the diameter and thickness of your favorite chocolate chip cookies by changing the temperature of the butter and the amount of flour in the dough. Morgan Walker/NPR hide caption

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Morgan Walker/NPR

The Salt

Cookie-Baking Chemistry: How To Engineer Your Perfect Sweet Treat

December 3, 2013 • A cookie in the oven almost looks like a monster coming alive. It bulges out, triples in size and then stiffens into a crisp biscuit. So how does an oven turn raw dough into a delight? A new animation explains the chemistry behind great baking so you, too, can unleash your inner mad scientist in the kitchen.

The Salt

Why Britain Has Gone Mad About Baking

May 7, 2013 • Some 9 million Britons have taken up baking in the last year alone. A TV program showcasing home bakers is a runaway hit, and sales of baking goods have skyrocketed. Then there are the cake clubs, where the rules call for pacing yourself — and sampling as much as you can.

They Take The Cake In Boise, Idaho

Sweetness: Kathy Plaisance and about 50 other bakers use their skills to bring sweet treats to people who might otherwise be overlooked. Emilie Ritter Saunders for NPR hide caption

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Emilie Ritter Saunders for NPR

Participation Nation

They Take The Cake In Boise, Idaho

Boise State Public Radio

August 2, 2012 • Kathy Plaisance oversees Community Cakes, a group of 50 volunteer bakers who deliver homemade birthday cakes to people who might otherwise not have one.

Thank The Patron Saint Of Bakers For This Cake Today

The author pauses to photograph the St. Honore cake before she digs in. Deena Prichep hide caption

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Deena Prichep

The Salt

Thank The Patron Saint Of Bakers For This Cake Today

May 16, 2012 • Pictures of Saint Honore or (Saint Honoratus) from church iconography reinforce his baker background. He's holding his wooden peel, often with a few delicious-looking loaves of crusty French bread nearby.

Disposable Pans Can Cook More Than The Christmas Goose

Beware of throw-away aluminum roasting pans, burn doctors say. James Bo Insogna/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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James Bo Insogna/iStockphoto.com

The Salt

Disposable Pans Can Cook More Than The Christmas Goose

December 22, 2011 • Burn specialists suggest extra caution when wrestling sizzling meat and drippings from the oven in a disposable aluminum pan. One burn center has seen a spike in grease-related burns around the holidays because of the pans.

A Coconut Cake From Emily Dickinson: Reclusive Poet, Passionate Baker

A daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson, taken in 1846.

Amherst College Archives and Special Collections hide caption

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Amherst College Archives and Special Collections

The Salt

A Coconut Cake From Emily Dickinson: Reclusive Poet, Passionate Baker

October 20, 2011 • Emily Dickinson discussed baking in many of her letters — evincing both her trademark wit and a zest for life that belies the common image of her as a depressed figure.

Seeing Baking Ingredients From A Swedish Angle

The Bondkakor Courtesy of IKEA hide caption

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Courtesy of IKEA

The Salt

Seeing Baking Ingredients From A Swedish Angle

September 21, 2011 • Swedish superstore Ikea makes baking ingredients look like sculptures in a promotional book designed to help sell kitchen appliances.

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