Emily Ellet

The new year often means new beginnings, and here at Gingham and Steel, we’re no exception!  I have decided to end what I’m calling “Season 1” of Gingham and Steel Bakes! for the time being.  There are a few reasons for this, including: I’m experiencing some technical difficulties that are proving difficult to overcame, particularly the lighting in my new apartment’s kitchen, which seems to turn the footage a weird shade of yellow-green.  Certainly it’s fixable, but I’m just

We’re a little belated, but here’s the Christmas episode of Gingham and Steel Bakes! Episode 8 – Gingerbread House!  Recipe and notes after the episode: Show Notes: OMG I was mortified when I realized the icing had gone everywhere.  I’m glad my editor cut away from my face at that moment, because I was NOT PLEASED.  Honestly, I feel like almost every episode has had some major mishap, though I don’t think that’s a bad thing.  (“I’m relatable!  We all make mistakes, right?!”)

IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!  And I’m so ready to switch to new, seasonally appropriate (meaning: peppermint) recipes. Like this White Chocolate Peppermint Pie!  Recipe and show notes after the episode: Show Notes: How gorgeous is my sister’s kitchen?!?!  It was created by my incredibly talented mom, a.k.a. Beckony Kitchens and Baths (so many stunning photos to drool over!), a.k.a. the company at which I spent over ten years of my life, a.k.a. the source of my love of home remodel

The title is as long as the video, I think, but enjoy this SUPER SPECIAL episode of Gingham and Steel Bakes! featuring my incredibly gung-ho sister, Katie!  Thoughts and recipe after the video. Thoughts: First off: this recipe is hands-down the best thing I have baked or tasted in years.  OMG it’s soooo good!  Complicated?  You bet.  (Though for a GBBO recipe, it’s pretty tame.)  This is Benjamina’s recipe from the current season of The Great British Bake Off (Season 7, Episo

Here’s the latest episode of Gingham and Steel Bakes!  Notes and recipe after the video. Notes: I have a new editor!  My brother Brian gets all the credit for making this video series instantly more professional-looking and -sounding.  Let us know what you think of the new editing choices! I think I messed up these cookies, as they didn’t look or taste as I expected.  The cookies were practically flavorless, and the frosting tasted maple-y, not caramel apple-y.  I suspect thi

Here’s the latest episode of Gingham and Steel Bakes!  Notes and recipe after the video. Notes on this week’s episode: Honestly, guys, I almost scrapped this whole episode.  I tried a new camera (my computer’s) and angle (on the counter) and HATED the result.  The lighting is atrocious, I couldn’t stage the room cutely, and most of all, I spent most of the footage looking at my own image instead of the camera (which is cruelly located above the escape key).  But…my schedule w

As previously mentioned, we’re gonna take a blogging baking detour for a couple months! New episode of Gingham and Steel Bakes! featuring Gingersnap Gems.  Scroll below the video for some thoughts and the recipe! Thoughts: As I watched some of the comments on last week’s blog roll in, I realized I had mis-titled the series. My previous title (Baking Your Way through a Divorce) inadvertently put the focus on my divorce, which was precisely opposite of what I wanted to do!  For

As previously mentioned, we’re gonna take a blogging baking detour for a couple months! I’m a bit shocked at what I’m about to share with you:  guys, I VLOGGED.  Vlogged a baking video.  And it didn’t turn out badly.  (H/T to Ginny and Claudia for suggesting it!) Granted, I’m using the most elementary equipment (a Samsung S5!) and video editing skills ever, so it’s QUITE simple.  It’s also WAY too long (19 minutes?!).  But it exists.  This happened.  And in one take, no less.

So it’s been really quiet here on the blog for a while.  It turns out, it’s hard for me to blog “normally” when I’m going through something as emotionally upsetting as a divorce. Everything in my life and my work, honestly everything I could possibly want to write about, ends up relating back to the divorce, which I can’t talk about because of the legal process and because it is so intensely personal.  At the same time, and what is in some ways worse, many of the very things