Paula Deen

Many people ask us which style of our measuring cups does Paula use? The truth is that she owns ALL of them! However, when I am watching her shows, I see the hearts and the dragonfly cups the most often.

This past summer, we designed measuring spoons and cups just for her. I haven't seen them on her shows, yet - but they are available for purchase exclusively from her online store. They feature her favorite signature - "Best Dishes!" and her skillet logo. Note: If you can't find them in her store, it means she is sold out - and will have more soon.

Babies and Pewter

Here is ten month old Nolan, who used to come to work here everyday along with his wonderful parents, Dan and Cortney. I caught him playing around with a Fleur de Lys teaspoon while he was waiting for his breakfast. Since American pewter has been LEAD-FREE and FOOD-SAFE for over 200 years, we are happy for him to play with our spoons.

However, we certainly would NOT want him playing with this vintage (circa 1700's?) pewter baby bottle. Antique pewter is NOT food-safe for babies or their parents.

If you are looking for a decorative piece of pewter to place on your mantle, you can choose antique or new.

If you are looking for pewter which is LEAD-FREE and FOOD-SAFE, you have found the right company right here!

Metropolitan Food and Entertainment Show

If you live within driving distance of our nation's capital, you might want to put November 7th and 8th on your calendar!

We are getting ready to ship our booth and lots of Measuring Spoons, Measuring Cups, and lots more, off to Washingington D.C. for this year's Metropolitan Food and Entertainment Show.

The biggest Food Network stars will be there - yes, that includes Paula! - along with lots of great booths selling food and gifts.

This will be a great opportunity for holiday shopping.

Brownies

I collect brownie recipes. It's not just because I love brownies - which, of course, I do! But I'm also fascinated by how many different ways there are to make them. I have to admit that I once made an Excel SpreadSheet of recipes to compare the different ratios of chocolate to butter to sugar, etc.

When I was in high school I used to run home, make a batch of brownies, and be back at school in under an hour. You can imagine that I had that little recipe memorized. The only chocolate it required was 2 squares of unsweetened chocolate. The recipe below is NOT that type of brownie.

This recipe is when you want to make the richest, most amazing ones ever! Check out the amount of butter. Paula Deen would approve of this recipe!

REALLY RICH BROWNIES

3 sticks unsalted butter

12 oz. fine-quality bittersweet (NOT semi-sweet, NOT unsweetened) chocolate

6 large eggs

1 1/4 cups flour

1 cup PLUS 2 T. unsweetened fine-quality cocoa powder (NOT Dutch process, not Nestles, not cocoa mix)

3 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 13 X 9 X 2 baking pan, knocking out excess flour.

*Break eggs into a small bowl and blend well. Set aside.

*Mix flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

*Melt butter with chocolate in large saucepan over low heat - stirring until smooth.

*Remove butter and chocolate from heat. Add eggs slowly, while whisking quickly.

*Add dry ingredients.

*Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven until top is firm and a tester inserted into center comes out clean. (40 - 45 minutes)

*Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate briefly to make cutting easier.

Petite Salt Pot Giveaway

Salt seems to be our new favorite word. Our Regular Salt Pots have been so popular that we decided to introduce a line of Petite Salt Pots. We recommend our regular Salt Pots for kosher, salt, and table salts. Our new Petite Pots are for those spendier, imported salts - like Himalayan Pink Salt, Black Lava Salt, and Hawaiian Pink Salt (to name a few).

On October 1st, we will be giving away 3 Petite Salt Pots. To enter your name in this giveaway, send us an e-mail with "Blog Giveaway" in the subject line.