Welcome to the Kitchen Chickens baking blog!

Now that I’m 50, I feel I’ve entered part deux of my life. I have a well-established career, having spent the past 29 years working for the same international development company. But, the kids are starting to leave the nest, and parents are aging … getting old really isn’t for sissies! So now I feel that ‘I want to do WHAT I WANT to do’ and that is BAKE!

And not just bake by myself, but with other kitchen chickens, some that I already know and love, and the ones I can’t wait to meet. If you have a recipe that you feel “hits it out of the park” every time you make it, reach out to us on the Contact page!

Quite simply, for us kitchen chickens, baking is our love language. Flour, sugar, eggs, butter … these ingredients express our love for family and friends! For myself, as a type 2 diabetic, I cant eat most of what I bake (except a small sliver here and there) but I get so much satisfaction out of baking for others … watching them enjoy and devour my creations.

Have you seen the movie (or read the book) Julie & Julia?

Love, LOVE this movie and its what has inspired The Kitchen Chickens. If you havent seen it, you must . It is writer Julie Powells (@licjulie) love letter to Julia Child as she cooked her way through Childs 524 recipes from her ground-breaking book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Theres much more to the story, but Ill let you discover (or re-discover) it yourselves.

Now, Im not as adventurous as Powell … yet! But, I am going to bake my way through my favorite cookbook: The taste of home Baking Book. Any taste of home cookbook is designed for—and populated by—home cooks like you and me! While I like to imagine that in my next life (perhaps part deux) Ill attend culinary school to become a pastry chef … right now, Im focusing on honing my skills and expanding my repertoire.

 The Baking Book is presented in categories so Im going to jump around a bit … mostly so Im not feeding you 105 consecutive cake recipes!! Ill share the recipes and the stories of the home cooks who authored them. And, Ill introduce you to the cast of characters who inspire me, support me and eat my baking.

RECIPES

Oh Henry Bars

Oh Henry Bars

I grew up in Canada where they still have the original Oh Henry chocolate bar. I love anything with oatmeal and peanut butter....

Jalapeño Poppers

Jalapeño Poppers

I love these poppers. I buy large jalapeños when I find them in the stores. I shop in Chinatown and they often have large...

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

This pie is one of my all-time favorites—the spice and comfort of pumpkin pie with the sweet gooeyness of Pecan Pie. I make it...