I'd suggest you substitute low-glycemic agave nectar for sugar in baked goods if you are a diabetic (it is an appropriate sugar substitute for most diabetics - but you should check with your health care professional or nutritionists). It has the benefit of acting/performing like "sugar" in baked goods (including browning, tenderizing baked goods, and feeding yeast in breads), unlike chemical sweeteners (like Splenda), and you get a better end product. It's much sweeter than sugar and you can use much less. For things that require 1-cup of sugar, I usually use half that amount of agave nectar (or no more than 3/4 of a cup agave nectar for 1-cup of sugar - for people with a really "sweet" tooth). I sweeten a quart of homemade ice cream with only 1/4 c. of (low-glycemic) agave nectar. I mill soft white wheat for flour for baked goods that require less gluten (such as brownies, quick breads, etc) or spelt (also less gluten). Less gluten and gluten development will keep the texture more tender. Fat AND sugar are also tenderizers. Eliminate either of those and you have to find other ingredients that will work as tenderizers (baking science 101). The bran in whole grain flours absorb a lot of moisture, as well as the gluten in flour, and white whole wheat flour is generally higher in gluten than all-purpose. Therefore you may need to adjust the flour amount down a bit, or increase the liquid to compensate for bran and gluten. -Grainlady

Here ya go, Jenn! CHEDDAR THUMBPRINTS 8 oz. extra sharp shredded cheddar (about 2 ý cups) 6 T. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 C. All Purpose flour 1 C. Habanero or other hot pepper jelly Place cheese and butter in food processor, add flour and process until mixture forms a soft dough. Gather up dough and flatten into 2 flat disks. Wrap in waxed paper and freeze until chilled, about 45 min. Position 2 racks in center and top third of oven and preheat to 400 deg. Line 2 baking pans w/parchment paper. Using 2 teas. dough for each, roll dough into small balls and place 1 in. apart on sheets. Bake 5 minutesâ¦.remove from oven. Poke an indentation in each cookie w/handle of wooden spoon. Place a dollop of jelly in each indentation (small one, or it will run over when it bakes). Return to oven and bake until tops are very lightly brown, about 10 min. Transfer to racks to cool. Note: I worked with one pan at a time, finding it easier because they bake for such a short time that I didnâÂÂt have to go through switching pans from one rack to the other. I never fail to get compliments when I make these. I hope you enjoy them. Jude

Mabelgeldine, Sooz, wintercat, mitchdesj, kitchendetective, sweetbetsy, sally2, rustyone, mustangs --> Wow! Thank you all for your nice compliments. You filled my bucket :) therustyone --> the effort was spread over two days. I started Saturday morning and my final piping was done and the cake carefully placed in boxes. Sunday around 3pm when I rushed off to shower and get ready for the party. Colleenz, cloud swift --> I did grease with crisco and used a parchment round for the bottom of the cake pan and then sprayed with baker's joy. Pretty much all the instructions in the cookbook. The bottom was OK. I think for one of the lemon cake layers, I should have let it cool some more. I think I will use parchment paper strips for the side as well next time. I am also thinking to make the jasdip better than pam coating to use intead of baker's joy as I did not like the spray as much. Cathy --The kids loved the cakes with many of them negotiating for a smaller slices of both as they wanted to try both. I was surprised how many 9-10 yr olds liked the lemon cake. Many of the moms loved the carrot cake and the lemon lovers loved the lemon cake. DH loved the carrot cake.. I do think the addition of 1TBSP of dutch cocoa makes this cake a lot better. DD loved the lemon cake the best. I must say I was very very pleased with the lemon curd.. I used to buy an occasional bottle to use with scones. Now that I have made it, I will make it instead of buying it. I must say I loved the precision and the clear writing from Rose Levy Berenbaum. My kind of cookbook. pink_warm_mama --> Here is the recipe from Marcella Hazan's Essential Italian Cookbook. It is not too sweet and tastes really good the next day too. Marcella called it a popular cake in Venice and said she made it for James Beard. Polenta Shortcake with Raisins, Dried Figs, and Pine Nuts Serves 6 to 8 (I got around 16 smaller slices out of a 9in round) 1 cup coarse cornmeal Salt 1 ½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil Heaping ½ cup granulated sugar 1⁄3 cup seedless raisins 1 cup dried figs, cut into ¼ inch pieces 2 Tbsp butter plus more for greasing the pan 1 egg 2 Tbsp fennel seed 1 cup all-purpose flour A 9-inch round cake pan Fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs Procedure •Preheat oven to 400°F •Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium sized sauce pan. Adjust heat to medium. •Add corn meal in a steady stream by grabbing handfuls and letting it run through your partially closed fist. With the other hand, stir constantly with a wooden spoon. If you add it too fast, the corn meal can clump. •Add salt and olive oil and continue to stir for about 15 seconds until the mush thickens and starts to pull away from the pan when stirred. •Remove from heat and add sugar, raisins, pine nuts, figs, butter, egg, and fennel seed. Mix thoroughly to combine. Add flour and mix to form a cake batter. •Smear cake pan with butter and dust with bread crumbs. Add cake batter and level with spatula. Bake 45 to 50 minutes. •When cake is still warm, loosen its sides with knife and shake to drop onto plate. Turn cake over again onto serving platter. Serve when it becomes completely cold.

Rolling pie dough: I always have success, and have followed the Joy of Cooking's basic pie dough recipe for decades -- I've successfully baked pies for 40+ years. The recipe calls for only the basics: cold butter, room temperature shortening (I use Crisco), all purpose flour, salt and 4-6 Tablespoons of cold water. That's it. Very simple and very traditional. The dough is NEVER chilled. Think about it: You want the butter and shortening to be soft and absorb/mix-in with the dry ingredients. Chilled fat will take a LOT of handling to get to that consistency, and increased handling results in tough pie crusts. That's why most of the recipes I've seen do not call for chilling the dough. I mix the flour, salt and butter together using a hand-held pastry blender -- See photo. It's a simple, basic pastry making tool that costs between $5 - $10. Very traditional, very tried & true. Sometimes I mix the butter in first, sometimes I mix the shortening. Whichever you choose to use, use the blender to mix the dry ingredients and butter/shortening until the crumbs look like peas. Then add either the butter or shortening and continue mixing with pastry blender until the ingredients look like cornmeal. You really will notice the difference. At that point, add the cold water 1 Tbs at a time, using a fork to lift and mix the ingredients together. While the recipe calls for 4-6 Tbs., I find that 4 Tbs works for me ....sometimes as much as 5. This has been true regardless of whether I've made pies in the dry, mountainous West, or the humid east coast. You'll add only enough water until you can get most of the dry ingredients to hold together in a ball. Assuming it's a 2-crust pie, I halve the pie dough and immediately begin working the first crust. I leave the rest of the pie dough in the bowl, uncovered, open to the air, at room temperature. I ALWAYS roll the dough on a pastry cloth, using a cheese cloth cover for the rolling pin. I use a 40 year old wooden rolling pin. Standard size and weight. Absolutely nothing fancy or unusual about it. The key to using a pastry cloth and cheese cloth cover for the rolling pin is that you will be able to roll out your pie dough and use MUCH less flour. All you need to do is lightly sprinkle a small amount of flour on the pastry cloth, roll the rolling pin over the top of the pastry cloth to get some of the flour on the pin, then begin to work the dough. I have granite counter tops in this house. Other houses have had Corian, wood and the old fashioned vinyl. The type of counter makes absolutely no difference in the quality of the crust. I promise! I anchor the pastry cloth with my body in the front and cannisters in the back, so that everything stays fairly quiet...but even it if moves a bit, that's not a problem. When rolling out your pie dough, work gently but quickly. Do NOT lean on the rolling pin. Merely lightly push the pin from the middle of the dough out in circles. You'll work around the dough. You'll have thick spots of dough and thin, and work the thick spots out...by gently rolling the pin over the dough. Don't lean on it or force it by brute force. More often than not my pie crusts are not perfect when they are rolled out. I like a thinner crust, so that means that I'll have some repair to do as I lay the crust in the pie pan, or lay the top crust on top of the filling. There is lots of room for forgiveness. If it's the bottom crust you're repairing, no one will ever know because it will be hidden by the filling. If it's the top crust, your cut-outs to allow the steam to escape the baking pie will camouflage that. The key is to ensure you have a solid bottom crust so that juice will not escape the pie crust, AND to ensure you have a large enough bottom crust that you can flute the edges of the pie. OR, a large enough top crust for fluting....I've done it both ways, and it just depends on what the crust gods decide that day. I hope these suggestions help. I assure you that once you understand what you're supposed to do, you'll be able to turn out consistently good pie crusts, with confidence and speed. Here is a link that might be useful: