Monday, October 1, 2007

Ready, Set, Swap!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Baking and socializing are two of our favorite holiday pursuits. But as the season progresses and schedules get squeezed, it becomes just a bit challenging (face it: downright daunting!) to play hostess. That’s why we love the cookie swap, an easy and rewarding way to combine baking, fun, and gift giving.

At a cookie swap, or exchange, you and each of your guests bake one kind of cookie—a classic, a family favorite, a holiday–themed treat, or a tempting new recipe—in quantities sufficient to share with everyone else. Each guest leaves the party with a dozen of each cookie offering, ready to share right away or to freeze and enjoy later in the season.

Baker's Profile

Sandra Ventura

Sandra Ventura

This year marks the 24th consecutive holiday season that Sandra Ventura will open her Pico Rivera, California, home to friends and family for her famous cookie exchange. The coffee and conversation are always warm and inviting, but the guests will tell you it’s the competitive spirit that keeps them coming back.

In the News

Bake with America’s Best—Win a Bay Area Vacation!

Nick Stellino
Imagine taking a private baking class with a noted Italian chef and then enjoying a few days’ vacation in San Francisco after the busy holiday season.
You may be in luck! C&H Sugar and Land O’ Lakes have teamed up to sponsor a new sweepstakes, “Bake with America’s Best for the Holidays.” The winner will receive a trip for four to San Francisco, a private class with celebrity chef Nick Stellino, and $1,000 in spending money. The entry form is just a few clicks away, and you can enter once a week through the end of 2007. Official rules are on the Land O’Lakes website.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Baking Blogs

Watermelon Strawberry Sorbet
photo by Ariela Pelaia

The best part of baking is sharing: recipes, tips, a slice of pie or cake. So it’s no surprise that baking blogs—in which amateur and professional bakers share their stories with the rest of the world—attract hundreds of thousands of readers. Or that every day new baking blogs appear on the Internet.

If you’re not quite sure what we’re talking about, here’s an overview. A blog, or weblog, is an online journal written by one or more authors. Blogging tools such as Typepad, Blogger, and Wordpress make getting started easy and inexpensive (or free!), even for people with zero programming experience. If you’re on the shy side, one program, Vox, lets you limit your readership to people you know. The vast majority of bloggers blog as a labor of love, but some accept advertising or sell books through their blogs: for example, see cookbook author Dorie Greenspan’s blog.

Sound appetizing? We thought so, too—especially after we chatted with eight talented, successful baking bloggers from around the country. Not only did they generously share their stories, they even gave us some of their favorite recipes!

Baker's Profile

September Sweepstakes Winner Karen Hamilton

Karen Hamilton

Karen Hamilton has nine grandchildren, which means her Baldwin, Michigan, kitchen is often covered in sticky fingerprints, spilled sugar, and flour. The three youngest kids—two 3-year-olds and a 6-year-old—love spending time making goodies with their grandma, and their enthusiastic pouring and mixing leave a bit of a mess.

Not that Karen minds. "I love how excited the kids get in the kitchen," she says. "Their favorite things to bake are cookies and cakes, so I'm always keeping an eye out for new recipes like the ones on C&H boxes and the C&H website."

In the News

Sweet Sentiments from the 12 Special Memories Sweepstakes

12 Special Memories
Thanks to everyone who participated in C&H’s 12 Special Memories Sweepstakes! During its 12–month duration, more than 140,000 people entered the sweepstakes a total of 4,571,357 times. Although we could choose only 12 as sweepstakes winners, we loved reading every entry. Your enthusiasm for baking and for sharing sweet memories are abundantly evident!

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Around the World in Your Kitchen

Strawberry Kiwi Almond Crunch Trifle

If spring fever has left you with a lingering case of wanderlust, we have just the cure. It doesn’t involve a single security check or layover, and you’ll never experience a minute of jet lag. Best of all, at the end of your tour, you and your family will have edible souvenirs!

The travel experience we’re talking about begins and ends in your kitchen. We’ll be journeying around the world through recipes that give us authentic tastes of global cultures. The only baggage you’ll need are measuring cups, baking pans, and—of course!—C&H Pure Cane Sugar, the best in the whole wide world.

Baker's Profile

Nick Malgieri

Nick Malgieri

Imagine traveling the globe collecting recipes for decadent desserts and prized baked treats. That's the enviable avocation of our featured baker, Nick Malgieri. A professional baker for more than thirty years, Nick collected recipes from 39 countries—most of which he visited personally—and shares them in his award-winning cookbook, A Baker's Tour. His mission: to bring the world of baking to American home bakers. "Baked goods know no national boundaries," Nick says. "They are as at home right here in the United States as they are in their country of origin."

In the News

Pillsbury and C&H Sugar Combine for Sweet, Original Recipes

Pillsbury Bake-Off
The 43rd Pillsbury Bake–Off® Contest is underway and this year C&H Sugar is taking part in this American tradition to make it the sweetest Bake–Off® Contest yet.