Every week there’s a new social internet sharing platform. The newest one of note is Pinterest which lets people “pin” their favorite photos from the web to share with followers on “boards”. Pinterest has made itself out as ritzy and exclusive requiring members to be invited first(remember when Gmail was this way?). Don’t worry; it’s a fairly quick and easy process for people who want to join so long as you know somebody who’s already on. I’ve been using it for a few weeks both for fun and as a blogging extension to gage its effectiveness at reaching new people.

The Interface:

Once you actually have an account, you’ll see it’s separated into boards you create, name, and edit. These are used for different categories of pins that you create. When people follow you and you follow them, you can pick which boards in particular you’re interested in following. I’ve found most people just follow all of a user’s boards, but this might change as people get more familiar with using Pinterest.

How It Works:

If you’re worried about learning how to use another website, don’t be; Pinterest is actually pretty easy. The website gives you a button to add to your bookmarks which, once you click, isolates all the photos on your current web page and lets you choose which one you want to pin. You can literally grab images from anywhere on the internet, and Pinterest will link back to the page you were on automatically on your pin making it a good way to share content and bring visitors to that web page.

Final Thoughts:

Pinterest is a fun way to kill time and get to know people better through their interests, but I wouldn’t recommend joining except for personal amusement. You really don’t need to have any part in Pinterest to get traffic from it; in fact, most of the pins and traffic I’ve gotten have come from other people pinning my content. You can track pins from any website by looking at the source page(http://pinterest/source/<website URL.domain>/). Rather than joining and spreading your own content, the best way to get traffic from Pinterest is to post eye-grabbing photos to your own website that will get attention from readers.

Have you tried Pinterest? What do you think of it?

Last week I got this question on my Outrageous Triple Chocolate Brownies recipe:

“What type of baking chocolate do you recommend for these? I have just been using semi sweet chocolate chips”

I’ve never met chocolate I didn’t like, but some are undoubtedly better than others, to eat and to bake with. Here’s what 2+ years of home baking has taught me:

95% of the time chocolate chips are fine. I use these chocolate chips for my baking all the time. I eat them out of the bag sometimes. Don’t give me that look; who are you, the cops?

However, that other 5% of the time when I’d be baking to really impress someone—say, something for Paula Deen or Bobby Flay—I would look at the other baking chocolate options.

Baking chocolate is available either in the baking aisle or with other specialty products. It usually comes in bar form as Scharffen Berger is in the top photo, but if you’re buying it by the pound it might be in chunk form like above. To use in recipes simply chop the chocolate into smaller sizes like chocolate chips come; this will help the chocolate melt more evenly.

Semi-sweet and bitter-sweet are practically interchangeable, so if you only have one and the recipe calls for the other don’t panic. Bitter-sweet has slightly less sugar so it will have a darker flavor. Don’t, however, interchange unsweetened chocolate with bitter-sweet or semi-sweet since that will throw the recipe’s flavor off entirely.

When a recipe calls for cocoa powder, make sure you’re using pure cocoa powder, which comes unsweetened.

The product on the left already has sugar in it and is better for hot chocolate mixes, whereas the one on the right is what most recipes will call for. Alkalized or dutched cocoa powder has been treated to remove some of the natural bitterness of chocolate. Most recipes are written for dutched cocoa powder but both will work; non-alkalized cocoa powder will have a more pure chocolate flavor.

Ultimately chocolate is chocolate and the best way to know if something’s good for baking is to taste it. You shouldn’t bake with a chocolate you wouldn’t eat. The higher percentage of chocolate that’s in the recipe the more you should consider what flavor it will bring.

A cookie is naked without good icing. You wouldn’t make a wedding cake an not frost it, would you?! Icing is an intricate part of Italian Christmas cookies and others, as well. It’s a simple but delicious way to elevate your cookies from bland to a hit. And you can flavor icing any which way.

Simple Icing

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon really hot water*
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon any extract(optional)

*You could use milk, coconut milk, or any flavor of juice instead of water. Keep in mind that the icing will take on the flavor of whatever liquid you choose.

Sift the powdered sugar into the hot liquid. Beat it in with a fork, slowly adding the extract(if using).

Holding your cookies by the sides, dip the top in and move it around briefly. Pull out the cookie and hold it upside down for a few seconds, letting excess icing drip. Flip it over and let the icing set.

I used anise extract to frost my cookies, and it was like frosting on a cake icing on a cookie. You could add a little lemon or orange zest for a punch of flavor, too. The flavors are endless!

Before I get into how to blanch an almond, I’ll tell you why you would want to, and the answer involves a challenge.

Heather, Julie and I have decided to challenge ourselves to learn something new that’s always intrigued us: making French macarons. We’re extending the challenge to anyone who wants to participate, too. If you have a blog and want to teach yourself how to make macarons, or any other technique that might have intimidated you in the past, tackle it, write a post on it, and send it to Heather by 10pm on Macaron Monday(Nov. 8th) to show off your newly learned skill. Even if you don’t have a blog, consider this an opportunity to challenge yourself; it’s always great to learn something new!

If you so choose to make French macarons, chances are you’re going to need to blanch almonds or buy blanched almonds. I purposely bought raw almonds to challenge myself to learn how to do this(and because they were cheaper). Blanched almonds are not only great for making macarons but can be useful for other recipes like almond butter, almond flour, or marzipan.

How To Blanch Almonds

To begin, start with raw almonds. Note that most almonds sold in stores marketed as “raw” have already undergone a pasteurization process. That’s OK; just avoid any almonds that have been roasted, especially with added oil and salt.

In a bowl, pour boiling water over the almonds and let them sit for one minute(I used scalding hot tap water and that worked, too). Next, drain the water and run the almonds under cold water to cool. Drain and dry them on a flat surface.

Once the almonds have been drained and rinsed, you should notice the skins beginning to shrivel. To peel an almond, simply hold it between your thumb and index finger…

And gently apply pressure between the two until the skin begins to peel away.

Pick away and discard any excess skin. Some almonds might be more resistant than others, but in general it’s really that simple.

You’ll notice a dark patch of skin on the ends of each almond where the skin is much more strongly attached. You can either pick these off separately or ignore them as they shouldn’t affect whatever recipe you’re making.

Use the blanched almonds immediately or store them in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator until you’re ready(but don’t wait longer than 2 weeks).

And don’t forget, if you care to participate in Macaron Monday, to send your post to Heather by 10pm, November 8th. And HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

Before I start, I’ll answer the obvious question: Yes, it’s this simple. Almond flour is a great, gluten-free substitute you can use for baking. Either use it in special recipes or just substitute a quarter of the wheat flour in a recipe for a rich, almond flavor. Making your own is a great way to save money and ensure a fresher flavor, too.

How To Make Almond Flour

Ingredients:

• 12 oz skin-on almonds, raw or roasted

Wash and dry the almonds if they’re from a bulk bin or might otherwise be dirty. For a richer flavor, used roasted almonds. Always keep the peels on as this will not only make the flour more nutritious but help ensure it stays a dry, course meal and not turn into almond butter.

Add the almonds to a food processor and process for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until all of the chunks have been pulverized into a smooth meal. Store in a seal-tight bag in the refrigerator until using.

Did I say “simple”? If you’re still wondering what to do with almond flour, I wouldn’t be opposed to making chocolate hazelnut shortbread with almond flour in place of the hazelnut flour or substitute some almond flour for whole wheat flour in banana bread, not opposed at all.