General

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Amy - It's definitely not there for the flavor since there's actually not a whole lot of real vanilla flavor in vanilla pudding mix. Vanilla pudding mix is basically just sugar and cornstarch and it's the cornstarch that is the key ingredient in your cookies. The combination of cornstarch and flour in the cookie is creating an almost cake flour-like hybrid. Cake flour contains a relatively low amount of protein compared to all-purpose flour, which leads to less gluten formation. Cookies made with all cake flour will be very soft even when you've over-baked them. Since chocolate chip cookies are easy to over-bake and can become too crispy quickly, the pudding mix was added as a foolproof way to keep the cookies soft. They will, however, be more cake-y and lack the chew that comes from using higher-protein all-purpose flour, depending on how much cornstarch is in that pudding mix. I would experiment with eliminating the pudding mix and adding a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch to your dough to try to replicate it. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Kim - Depending on what your gluten-free pasta is made from (rice, corn, chickpea, buckwheat, etc.), the starch content could vary. There is also the issue of using the pasta water from rice noodles due to the reported levels of arsenic in rice. We found a great alternative that will work with all gluten-free pastas (and whole-wheat pasta which doesn't produce enough starch either). Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Bruce - Grape molasses is generally much sweeter than pomegranate molasses so you may have to add some vinegar to balance the sweetness. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Kenzie - How awesome that you've found a macaron recipe that works for you! Macarons can be so tricky, especially when you try to add flavor to the shell. You've got the right idea to add freeze-dried fruit powder to the shell, which will add flavor but not any extra moisture that will affect the success of the macaron. Since freeze-dried fruit powder packs a punch, you can probably just add a couple of tablespoons and get pretty strong flavor. Regardless of how much you add, you will need to remove an equal amount of powdered sugar to compensate for the added volume. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Elsa - The Season 4 2017-2021 cookbook contains all of the recipes from the four seasons of Milk Street TV. I'm not sure exactly how many recipes might also be in the New Rules cookbook, but there will be some overlap. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Celine - We've got thousands of recipes on our website, so it's hard to give a list of those that can be doubled and/or length of storage for all of the dishes. Were there particular recipes you had in mind? In general, large format proteins always lend themselves to multiple dishes a week - this could include the usuals like beef, pork, and chicken, but also big pots of beans as well. For example any of our sheet pan chicken recipes could be doubled and the extra chicken turned into tacos (depending on their flavor profile), added to a pot of beans, or made into chicken salad. Making a big pot of a grain (brown rice, quinoa, farro, etc.) once a week could be turned into side dishes such as Brown Rice Pilaf or Quinoa Chaufa and also become a grain bowl for lunch. I'd also take a look at our Cookish recipes for inspiration (you can search for them specifically using the Recipes tab on the website). These are quick to put together and have short ingredient lists that sometimes even call for already-cooked proteins and grains. You could find several that use the same ingredients (say, chicken thighs and quinoa), cook those ingredients on the weekend, and then make the recipes during the week, modifying as needed for pre-cooked ingredients. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jason - We haven't specifically written about pre-minced garlic, but we definitely prefer fresh. Once garlic is cut the flavor compounds are released and will lose potency over time. Therefore, the pre-minced garlic is less flavorful. For quicker garlic mincing, we smash cloves with the side of a knife, then rock the knife back and forth to reduce any large pieces to a mince. We also like to simmer whole, smashed cloves or sliced garlic in oil and then discard the garlic. This leaves behind a mellow garlic oil in which to cook the remaining ingredients, a technique popular in Italy where garlic flavor is more subtle. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Naline - Any of the new recipes inspired by our travels to the Amalfi Coast would be great using Meyer lemons. The Meyer lemon is much closer to the type of lemon grown in the Amalfi region than typical supermarket lemons. You can find the story and recipes here.  Another great use would be to make jars of preserved lemons and curd. If you're up for it, I'd do some actual canning and make multiple jars of both that can keep indefinitely. You can use the preserved lemons to make a tangia. Additionally, you could make sorbet, lemonade, chutney or marmalade (again, I'd make multiple jars and give away to lucky friends), make meyer lemon vodka by steeping meyer lemon peel in vodka, any lemon cake recipe...the options are basically endless if you're willing to commit to a lot of lemon-y dishes and desserts for a while! Lucky you! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by April Dodd

Melissa - Yes, for a quicker option, you can start with potato starch instead of prepared mashed potatoes, though you will want to add liquid so that you end up with a moisture content similar to that of mashed potatoes. Part of what makes prepared mashed potatoes such a great addition to something like a cinnamon roll recipe is that there is a good amount of fat in mashed potatoes, and that fat impedes gluten development, resulting in a tender, supple dough. There is also water in mashed potatoes, though, so I'd add water and full-fat milk in equal parts to your potato starch until it is pasty and thick; a little melted butter in the mix will also help to give comparable fat content as "real" mashed potatoes. -April D.

Answered by April Dodd

Ruth - thank you for this feedback! We will take it into account. In the meantime, though this won't solve your problem for all recipes, any recipe that was included in an issue of our magazine will clearly say which issue (for example, "appears in January/February 2021"), just under the title of the recipe. Also, when searching for recipes, you can also refine your search by clicking on the down arrow next to "All Recipes" when on the main recipe page and selecting a category or cookbook that interests you. CookISH is our most recent cookbook, with Fast & Slow preceding that, then New Rules, then Tuesday Nights. I hope that helps you keep track of what is new to you! -April D.