Renato Poliafito and Matt Lewis built their bakery “Baked” in Red Hook, Brooklyn on this brownie. Sumptuous, chocolate-rich, and slightly fudgy, the “Baked” Brownie is for purists.  Both “America’s Test Kitchen” and NBC’s Today Show crowned this brownie as Best Brownie. Now the world is…

Thanksgiving Desserts at our house From left to right: Caramel Apple Pie, Sables, Pear, and Honey Cake, Southern Pecan Pie, Chocolate Tart  Chewing the Fat gets regular read-outs of what people are looking at and searching for most.  It came as no great surprise that…

Their almond-flavored crust, lemon curd, and marshmallow meringue make a star turn every time you bake them. Matt Lewis was an adman who fell in love with baking. And he fell hard. With his partner Renato Poliafito, he turned their hobby into a bakery called…

Cover Photo Courtesy of Tina Rupp from “Baked New Frontiers in Baking” The Pumpkin Whoopie Pie tastes even better than the Chocolate Whoopie Pie. Don’t take my word for it. That’s the pronouncement of those two bakers from Brooklyn, Matt Lewis, and Renato Poliafito. In…

When is a cookie more than a cookie? This one truly takes the cake. Sorry I couldn’t resist. The model for this cookie is, of course, Bavaria’s most famous confection, the Black Forest Cake. To look at them you think “Chocolate cookie.”  The surprise is what’s…

This simple Lemon Lemon Loaf Pound Cake brings back memories of Sara Lee herself. The ‘crumb’ of this Lemon Lemon Loaf, a pound cake, gives it a richness and depth of flavor that’s unlike any other cake.  Infused with lemon flavor and enriched with sour…

The annual Hampton Classic Horse Show is history.  This season-ending spectacle is the punctuation mark on our summer season. And we love it even if  it marks the end of a wonderful summer here.  Of course, the focus is on the horses and their riders. …

         Earlier this spring, Andrew and I set off on one of our city adventures.  We headed to Red Hook, Brooklyn, known to be a hipster haven and now, sadly, likely better known for having been flooded out by Hurricane Sandy.  The place took a…

It’s been too long since we shared a terrific baking recipe with you. For that I apologize. But after our Christmas baking binge, our house baker has been taking a long rest.  In truth, all our baking is done out at the Beach.  And for…

There’s a new shop that just opened practically across the street from us.  Across town, on the East Side, it’s called “The Best Chocolate Cake in the World”.  Somehow, on the West Side, it’s morphed into “Choco Bolo” (2058 Broadway between 70th  and 71st  Streets). Perhaps the…

         As promised earlier this week, this Chewing the Fat is all about the phenomenal cookies Andrew baked for the Hampton Classic, our annual Horse Show that’s a fixture of our summer calendar.  People raved about them!  And small wonder.  Andrew went all out to…

Crumb Topping Actual Size    Those boys from Brooklyn, Renato Poliafito and Matt Lewis, are no strangers on Chewing the Fat.  We just can’t get enough of their spectacular baking recipes from not one, but two great cookbooks: “Baked” (Stewart, Tabori and Chang 2008) and “Baked Explorations” (Stewart,…

         Politics has always fascinated me.  The wonderful things that our government concerns itself with leave me in awe. Take for instance the recent decision by the Maine State Legislature to declare the Whoopie Pie the state dessert.  This has led to…

Renato (L) and Matt outside Baked in Red Hook Brooklyn         I am sure there are any number of readers who don’t believe Andrew cooks anything that isn’t from Baked, the Brooklyn bakery we’ve raved about before.  Now into their second cookbook, Baked’s founders really…