Well, extending cooking time doesn’t work. Turns out that it is possible to overcook chicken wings—even after I’d brined them in salt water, they dried out to a state beyond edible by the time the skin crisped significantly. Broiling on its own led to wings that were burnt on the outside and raw in the center.

I tried slow-cooking the wings in a low oven, followed by broiling, but it proved nearly impossible to get the wings to crisp evenly—all I got was wings that were crisp on the top and bottom, but soft around the edges. Desirable for an Oreo, maybe, but not for chicken wings. Similarly, brushing the wings in oil or butter proved to ultimately have a negligible impact on the result.

The real problem? Moisture and fat loss. Well into their baking, the wings steadily release steam and drip rendered fat, showing absolutely no signs of browning until around 40 minutes in, when all the moisture and fat is finally expelled. I decided to shift gears: My goal would be to eliminate as much moisture and fat as possible before baking them.

Does Pre-Steaming Help Wings Crisp?
Fans of Alton Brown (including me!) may have seen his Buffalo wing episode, in which he suggests steaming the wings over a pot of water before drying, chilling, and baking them.

With the exception of perhaps Twinkies and honey, every food in the world has a half-life. A rate at which it decays toward a slow, asymptotic, petrified or putrefied death. Sometime before it reaches that state of dryness or rot, it passes the W.E. barrier: the point at which it is no longer Worth Eating. For bagels, in particular, that line is close to zero. A good bagel will lose most of its desirable eating qualities within an hour or so of coming out of the oven, and become entirely inedible less than a day later.

But do not despair! For there are ways of casting a lifeline out to bagels that are on the brink of falling over the W.E. barrier. The question is: Which method is the best?

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. As a bagel sits in your kitchen over the course of a day or two, two distinct processes are going on: dehydrating and staling. In order to rescue an old bagel, you need to address both.

Proper Storage
Storing your bagel properly is the first step toward ensuring that it’ll reheat. I generally leave most hearty breads in a paper bag or a bread box at room temperature, as the refrigerator can actually hasten staling. A bagel, on the other hand, I actually prefer to keep in the fridge, because we’ll be taking steps to fix staling issues down the line. I store my bagels in a sealed zipper-lock bag in the refrigerator.

For longer-term storage, the freezer is your friend. Wrap individual bagels tightly in aluminum foil (it’s more airtight than plastic wrap) and freeze them for up to a month or so. Any longer, and you’ll run the risk of freezer burn. Let frozen bagels defrost in their foil packages, at room temperature, for a few hours before toasting. That, or maybe I just needed an excuse to have some good New York bagels overnighted to me.

The Advantages: I have a theory that the best way to reheat the vast majority of foods is to emulate the process by which they were cooked to begin with. Got a cold steak? Sear it in a pan again. Cold pizza? Toss it on a preheated stone (or on a preheated skillet, if you’re impatient).

Bagels are cooked by first boiling, then baking, so this reheating method—which I first heard about on Dan Pashman’s awesome podcast, The Sporkful, and which he subsequently detailed in his book, Eat More Better—was especially promising. Dan instructs you to run your bagel under hot water for 30 seconds before placing it in an oven or toaster oven to reheat. We’re in a drought here in California, so instead of using running water, I did the socially responsible thing and instead dunked my bagels in bowls of water. I tried the method with both hot and tepid water, comparing the results side by side with a bagel that had been toasted whole without dipping.

At first, I tried running my experiments with a dozen or so bagels from Beauty’s, a Montreal-style shop in Oakland that makes some of the finest bagels in the country. However, I quickly discovered that Montreal-style bagels, with their thinner figure and denser crumb, are not representative of the standard bagel, and that for a true test, I’d need to get my hands on some honest-to-goodness New York bagels.

I made a quick call back to Serious Eats World Headquarters in New York and asked Ed Levine to pick up a half dozen mixed bagels from Absolute near his apartment on the Upper West Side and send them to me. One night and $78 later, I had them in my hand, ready for testing. For the next couple of days, I reheated those bagels, as well as the bagels from Beauty’s, using a half dozen different methods, ranging from the microwave to the toaster to the broiler to the oven to a skillet. Here are the most effective methods.

Dehydrating is the process of losing moisture. It happens as free water inside your bagel slowly finds its way to the surface and leaps off into the atmosphere, never to return. In the open, this happens pretty fast, but you can mitigate it by storing bagels in a plastic bag to prevent excess moisture loss. This will, of course, soften up the crust, but we’ll deal with that later.

Staling is the retrogradation of gelatinized starch into a rigid crystalline structure. In other words, when bread is fresh, its starch is fluid. It moves around as you prod and stretch and tear at the bagel or the loaf. But as bread rests, those starch molecules eventually align themselves into a more rigid form, making the bread firm and tough, even if it hasn’t lost any moisture at all. Minor staling can be reversed by applying a bit of heat and getting those starch molecules fluid again.

If You’re a Toasted-Bagel Lover: The Slice-Then-Toast
The Method: Easy. Just slice your stale bagel in half and toast it as you would a fresh bagel.

The Advantages: Your bagel comes out very much like a standard toasted bagel.

The Disadvantages: Your bagel comes out very much like a standard toasted bagel, which is to say, suboptimal.

I strongly believe that the very best bagels should not be toasted, as toasting removes the exciting contrast between the thin, crackly exterior and the chewy, dense center. You can read more about my theory in my Good Bagel Manifesto; I have a lot to say on the matter. A fresh bagel should never be toasted, but slicing-then-toasting is not a bad option for a day-old bagel that needs resuscitating.

But we can do better.

For Stale, but Not Dry Bagels: The Whole-Bagel Toast
The Method: Place the entire intact bagel into the toaster oven, or a regular oven preheated to 375°F, for four to five minutes.

The Advantages: So long as your bagel has been stored in an airtight container (a zipper-lock bag in the fridge works fine) and has been stored for no more than about three days, this will very nicely reverse the staling process, delivering a bagel with the same crisp crust and chewy interior you’d expect straight from the bagel shop. It works equally well for frozen-then-thawed bagels.

For Stale and Dry Bagels: The Dip-and-Heat
The Method: Dip your bagel in hot water, then toast it whole.

It’s no secret that peanut butter is one of my favourite things, and i love making it myself at home. it’s really simple – just a blend of peanuts and sea salt, but feel free to adapt this recipe with any extra flavourings you want to add!

ingredients
250g peanuts
large pinch of sea salt
method
simply place the peanuts and salt into a strong food processor (we have a magimix 5200xl.)
blend for about 10 minutes. during this time the nut butter will form a thick mixture, before turning into a smooth, creamy peanut butter.
ensure the peanut butter cools before spooning into sterilised jars. you can store it in the fridge for up to a month.
cacao & almond energy ball
this recipe was the inspiration behind our on-the-go cacao & almond energy ball, which remains one of our most popular products. with just five simple ingredients, these couldn’t be easier or more delicious.

ingredients
200g almonds
400g medjool dates
4 tablespoons raw cacao powder
2 ½ tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons coconut oil
method
begin by placing the almonds in the food processor and pulsing until they are nicely crushed.
add the medjool dates and coconut oil and pulse until it’s fully mixed.
add the almond butter and cacao and then mix again in the food processor.
take a tablespoon of the mixture and roll into a ball. continue doing this until the mixture has finished.
place the rolled balls into the freezer for around 1 hour, then remove and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

This almond butter is a go-to in my life, i’ve always got some in the kitchen. it’s really so simple to make and has just two ingredients: almonds and salt. it’s amazing how much creamier homemade almond butter is, it’s extra smooth and i find it more flavoursome too. i love dipping dates straight into the jar or drizzling it on top of my granola in the mornings. it’s also great blended into smoothies or used in dressings.

ingredients
300g blanched almonds
pinch of sea salt
method
preheat oven to 180c, fan setting.
place the almonds on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 10 minutes until golden.
once cooked, remove and leave to cool to room temperature.
once the almonds have cooled, place them in a food processor and blend for around 15 minutes until a smooth mixture forms, adding in the salt at the end.
once prepared, you can store this spread in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

New Kadayif Taste
In Gaziantep, the 2-meter-long ‘piped kadayif’, which is produced by the kadayif master Serdar Urhan inspired by the pipe kebab and served by cooking it, attracts great attention. Urhan first opens the thin-stranded kadayif, then pours plenty of peanuts on the kadayif and wraps it in a 2-meter-long pipe in the making of the dessert, which attracts attention with its appearance and taste.

Finally, sherbet and oil are added to the kadayif in the pipe, which is covered with peanut butter and started to be cooked in embers. The dessert, which is cooked for about half an hour, is served to the customers. Serdal Urhan stated that he made the boru kadayif for the first time in the world and that a very good taste emerged. We use kadayif, sugar, oil and peanut ingredients. We open the kadayıf with a wire and pour peanuts on it. Then we wrap it with peanut butter and add oil and sherbet while it is on embers and make it ready. Our customers are very interested. We are waiting for all our customers who want to come and taste it, “he said.

We love the classics:

mashed potatoes,stuffing,green bean casserole,popovers,mac and cheese

If you’re looking for classics with a twist, try:

pan roasted honey garlic sprouts
lemongrass stuffing
miso mashed potatoes
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp soy sauce divided
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp ground ginger
2 lb boneless skin-on turkey breast roast or 4lbs bone-in
1 head garlic cloves peeled
2-3 shallots quartered
1 whole ginger root scrubbed and halved lengthwise
2 tbsp cornstarch
1-2 cups chicken stock no sodium preferred
Special Equipment
crockpot/slow cooker

Instructions
In a small bowl, mix together 2 tbsp butter with the 1.5 teaspoons soy sauce, the garlic powder, ginger power, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Pat the turkey breast with paper towels until dry. Optionally tie the breast so it keeps it’s roll shape. Dot the butter mix on the breast, concentrating on the top and sides.

I like this bread and butter pudding. So you get spoonfuls of just-set pudding and a little trickle of custard, for which I suggest a baking time of 35-40 minutes. If you prefer your pudding puffed up – more of a wobble than a quiver – then I suggest 40-45. Serves 6

For the custard:
eggs 4
full-fat milk 125ml
double cream 500ml
caster sugar 50g

panettone 300g
golden sultanas 50g
candied peel (optional) 3 tbsp
pistachios 2 tbsp, shelled
orange zest of 1

You will also need a 2 litre baking dish.

Set the oven at 160C/gas mark 3. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat until mixed. Add the milk, cream and caster sugar; beat everything lightly together with a whisk. Tear or slice the panettone into large pieces and place in the baking dish.

Scatter the sultanas and peel among the panettone. Finely chop the pistachios and sprinkle over the top. Pour the custard into the dish, soaking all of the panettone. Grate the zest of the orange over the surface, then bake for 35-45 minutes until lightly set. To check the pudding is ready, shake the dish – the custard should quiver in the middle. Take it from the oven and leave to settle for 15 minutes before serving.

Ingredients
For the pastry base
50g ground almonds
210g plain flour
90g Medjool dates (about 5)
1 ½ tablespoons of melted coconut oil
100ml almond milk
For the filling
125g almond butter
125ml maple syrup
2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
Pinch of sea salt
For the topping
45g jumbo oats
50g ground almonds
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil
method
Make the pastry base by placing all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulsing until a thick, soft dough comes together. Once the dough has come together, roll into a ball, cover and leave in the fridge to cool for at least an hour or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180c, fan setting. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with melted coconut oil.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out into one large thin strip. Cut 12 circles out of the pastry and place each into one of the muffin tray holes – you may need to re-roll the pastry in order to ensure you have enough. Push all of the pastry circles down to create space for the filling.
Cook for 10 minutes until golden. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool.
While the bases cook, make the filling by placing the almond butter, sea salt, maple syrup and melted coconut oil into a bowl. Stir until the mixture becomes smooth and thick.
Make the crumble top by placing all of the ingredients into a large bowl and mixing well until a crumble like mixture forms.
Once the tart cases are cooled, spoon equal amounts of the caramel filling into each and top with equal amounts of the topping. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden.

Ingredients
100g smooth and creamy peanut butter
100g pitted Medjool dates
100g crushed peanuts
100g dark chocolate
method
Place the peanut butter and dates into a powerful blender and blend until a smooth, thick paste forms.
Using a large tablespoon, spoon out equal amounts of the mixture and roll into balls using your hands, the mixture should make 6 balls. Place the balls into a lined loaf tin before placing in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
After 1 hour, break the chocolate up into pieces and place it into a pan over a low heat, mixing with a wooden spoon every so often to ensure it doesn’t burn. Once melted, mix through the crushed peanuts.
Remove the balls from the freezer and roll each in the melted chocolate and crushed peanut mixture. Place the balls back in the fridge or freezer until set.
These peanut butter chocolate bites are the perfect little treat to enjoy when you’re in need of a chocolate fix. made with only 4 ingredients, they couldn’t be more simple to make and taste delicious with the sweet peanut middle and crunchy chocolate coated outside.

Activate the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast on to warm milk and let foam.
Add sugar, eggs, and melted butter and mix throughly.
Stir in the flour until everything comes together into a ball of dough.
Knead the dough until smooth, then pop into a lightly oiled bowl so it can proof for an hour.
After the dough is puffy and proofed, tip it out onto a floured surface and roll it into a rectangle.
Spread out some soft butter and sprinkle on brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll it up tightly, cut into even pieces, and place in a pan and let proof until doubled.
Bake until gooey and golden.
Bread flour – this one is important. You might be tempted to just use all purpose, and well, you can do that, but if you use bread flour your rolls will be soft and fluffy with just the right amount of chew. Bread flour has a higher protein content than regular all purpose – the resulting dough has more gluten in it which helps the rolls stay soft and chewy.
Cinnamon – obviously cinnamon rolls need cinnamon. But the kind of cinnamon you use is important too. Cinnabon’s cinnamon (if you’re looking to create a copycat cinnabon) is a special super cinnamon-y proprietary blend called Makara – they sell it! If you don’t want to get cinnabon cinnamon, go for Ceylon cinnamon if you can.

Pretzels are a traditional German bread shaped into a pretzel knot made from a long loop of dough that’s twisted back onto itself. All pretzels are given a lye/alkaline water bath that gives pretzels their signature shiny chewy crust and undeniable pretzel flavor. Pretzels come in hard (snacking pretzels) and soft, like these ones and the ones you find at the mall at Auntie Anne’s.
What makes a pretzel a pretzel?
While there are many pretzel shaped foods out there (I’m looking at you tiny pretzel-shaped Danish butter cookies), what makes a pretzel a pretzel is the alkaline bath the unbaked pretzel takes before it is baked.
But then I kind of sabotaged us by popping an extra one into a paper bag and putting it into my giant cardigan sweater pocket. Let me tell you, the smell of a fresh pretzel in your pocket will drive you crazy, in a good way. Thankfully, we were able to put ourselves out of our pretzel craving torture, by eating the pretzel, of course. There was something especially celebratory and fall-ish, walking around sharing a soft pretzel in that crisp autumn air.

Butter and oil – A mix of butter and oil is perfect for this recipe. This toast is going to be pan-fried, so you want the flavor of butter but because butter has a tendency to brown quickly, we’re going to add a bit of oil, which will make the toast extra crisp.
Garlic – I like the simplicity of using garlic powder, which is incredibly garlicky, and has the bonus of mixing into the butter smoothly, but if you want to mince up some fresh garlic, that will take this toast over the top.
Parsley – Dried parsley has come a long way! I keep a bottle in the pantry and add it to the garlic butter for those iconic green flecks. You can also just chop up some fresh parsley if you have it on hand.
Salt and pepper – How much salt depends on if you’re using salted or unsalted butter. Freshly ground black pepper adds a tiny bit of heat, add to taste.

Herbs – you don’t have to stick with parsley, chop up some fresh herbs (or go with whatever dried ones you have), things like rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, marjoram, herb sky is the limit!
Onion – add some onion powder to the mix, it’ll make it taste a little like onion rings!
Cheese – add a layer of cheese! Sprinkle on shredded cheese to the pan, it will melt to the toast and create a crunchy frico cheese layer.
Spice – a couple of crushed red chili flakes can spice things up.
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried parsley optional
4 slices bread Texas/thick cut preferred

Instructions
Melt the butter, oil, garlic powder, and dried parsley in a small pot. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.Use a pastry brush to brush on the garlic butter mix to both sides of the bread. You might have extra butter, you can save this in the fridge for your next round of toast!Heat up a frying pan over medium heat and grill the bread, until golden and crisp, flipping once. Enjoy hot!

3/4 cup warm milk 110°F
2.25 tsp active dry yeast 1 envelope
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 extra egg yolk, room temp
1/4 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
3 cups bread flour or 360g all purpose flour + 3.57g vital wheat gluten
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter room temp
2/3 cup dark brown sugar lightly packed
1.5 tbsp ground cinnamon
4 oz cream cheese room temp
3 tbsp unsalted butter room temp
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract optional

Instructions
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the milk and sprinkle on the yeast. Let sit until the yeast starts to foam, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the sugar, egg, egg yolk, and melted butter then stir in the flour and salt with a wooden spoon until everything comes together into a ball of dough.
Knead with the dough hook on medium for 8 minutes. Alternately, knead by hand for 8-10 minutes on a floured surface. Lightly oil and large bowl and place the dough inside.

Brown butter, also known as beurre noisette (hazelnut butter in French), is an out of the world delicious concoction originally used in savory French foods but is now used everywhere butter is used. It’s deeply golden, flecked with brown bits, nutty, and incredibly aromatic. Brown butter is perfection.

Butter – I love the way brown butter makes baked goods taste. Browned butter takes this monkey bread over the top!
Browned butter brings so much flavor to baked goods for just a tiny bit of extra effort. It adds a nutty caramel roundness and highlights the cinnamon and sugar in this monkey bread making these soft lil balls so addictive.
Do I need a bundt pan for monkey bread?
If you don’t have a bundt pan, don’t worry, you can still make monkey bread. Just put all the little balls in a a regular pan. It can be round or rectangle, it doesn’t really matter! In fact, I love monkey bread in a loaf pan. But, if you’re on the lookout for a good bundt, this is the one I have and love.

Also, pro tip, if you’re wondering when your monkey bread is done – it can be hard to tell with all those little balls – if you have an instant read thermometer, just stick it right into the middle. If it reads 190°F, you’re good to go! If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, use a wooden skewer. You’ll know your monkey bread is done when the top is puffy and crisp and a wooden skewer comes out clean with no crumbs when you poke it into the thickest part.

What results from this mind-bendingly easy combination of ingredients is nothing short of a holiday miracle. Bless you, Homemade Oreos.

The fudgy cookie, the thick swirl of cream cheese frosting, the dense, soft, buttery texture of all of it together after chilling in the fridge (or sitting on your snow-covered Midwestern porch) for a few days is a specific brand of joyful moment that I wait all year for.

Put on the cozy sweater, get a mug of milk, or eggnog, or hot dark coffee (omg), and let the magic loose.

MORE OLD-SCHOOL DESSERT GEMS
Give us all the retro baked goods and desserts (like good Midwesterners). Some other favs from the blog:

The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (classic of all classics!)
The Best Easy Peanut Butter Pie (peanut butter, cream cheese, whipped topping, YES)
Blender Lemon Pie (grandma’s favorite )
Golden Grahams Bars (gimme all the cereal bars)
Modern Scotcheroos (modern makeover on a classic)
Fruit Pizza (more cream cheese frosting happiness!)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Saltine Toffee (yes, saltines – trust)
The sweet mom of the family that I babysat for in high school used to make these, which is why I’m calling these old school. ♡ Sometime in the early 2000s, I got the recipe from her and then gave it to my mom who went on to make these for all our swim meets. To this day, I have friends who make these every year as a Christmas cookie (myself often among them). They’re wonderfully basic, charmingly old school, and dangerously good.

Add 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan, swirling, until butter foams and starts to turn brown and smells nutty. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
Shape the balls. Punch the dough down and divide and roll into small balls, about 1 to 1 1/4 inch in diameter. If you want to be precise about it, each ball should weigh about 15 grams.
Dip the balls into the brown butter and roll in the cinnamon sugar mix. Place each coated ball into a lightly buttered bundt pan, repeating until you finish all of the dough. Cover the bundt pan with plastic wrap and let rise for 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Optional: While the oven is warming up, mix the leftover brown butter with 2-4 extra tablespoons of melted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Just before you put the monkey bread into the oven, pour the brown butter syrup evenly into the bundt pan.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Cover with foil if the top starts browning too quickly. Cool for 5-10 minutes, then very carefully invert onto a large plate.

It’s no secret that peanut butter is one of my favourite things, and i love making it myself at home. it’s really simple – just a blend of peanuts and sea salt, but feel free to adapt this recipe with any extra flavourings you want to add!

ingredients
250g peanuts
large pinch of sea salt
method
simply place the peanuts and salt into a strong food processor (we have a magimix 5200xl.)
blend for about 10 minutes. during this time the nut butter will form a thick mixture, before turning into a smooth, creamy peanut butter.
ensure the peanut butter cools before spooning into sterilised jars. you can store it in the fridge for up to a month.
cacao & almond energy ball
this recipe was the inspiration behind our on-the-go cacao & almond energy ball, which remains one of our most popular products. with just five simple ingredients, these couldn’t be easier or more delicious.

ingredients
200g almonds
400g medjool dates
4 tablespoons raw cacao powder
2 ½ tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons coconut oil
method
begin by placing the almonds in the food processor and pulsing until they are nicely crushed.
add the medjool dates and coconut oil and pulse until it’s fully mixed.
add the almond butter and cacao and then mix again in the food processor.
take a tablespoon of the mixture and roll into a ball. continue doing this until the mixture has finished.
place the rolled balls into the freezer for around 1 hour, then remove and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

This almond butter is a go-to in my life, i’ve always got some in the kitchen. it’s really so simple to make and has just two ingredients: almonds and salt. it’s amazing how much creamier homemade almond butter is, it’s extra smooth and i find it more flavoursome too. i love dipping dates straight into the jar or drizzling it on top of my granola in the mornings. it’s also great blended into smoothies or used in dressings.

ingredients
300g blanched almonds
pinch of sea salt
method
preheat oven to 180c, fan setting.
place the almonds on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 10 minutes until golden.
once cooked, remove and leave to cool to room temperature.
once the almonds have cooled, place them in a food processor and blend for around 15 minutes until a smooth mixture forms, adding in the salt at the end.
once prepared, you can store this spread in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.