Tangy Pickle Dip

On February 6, 2026February 6, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dipsLeave a comment

With an array of pickles and fermented foods in my refrigerator, I often find myself mixing and matching flavors. Fermented dairy and pickled vegetables pair particularly well, so I don’t think twice about combining yogurt and pickles with canned tuna for tuna salad sandwiches on homemade sourdough bread or piling pickled onions, fermented jalapenos, and sour cream on nachos. As I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, pickles become even bolder when mixed with goat cheese as a dip or spread.

I prefer goat cheese to cream cheese or mayonnaise in Tangy Pickle Dip because I think it holds its own against sour fermented or vinegary fresh cucumber pickles, whereas cream cheese tends to hide in the background and mayonnaise tastes too much of egg. This is especially true when you use pickled garlic and chilies. And unlike mayonnaise, goat cheese has a density that helps it cling to my favorite pickle dip dippers: Parmesan Sourdough Bagel Chips.
Learn to make Tangy Pickle Dip

Homemade Sour Cream

On April 18, 2025April 18, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cheese, ColumnLeave a comment

I rounded out a collection of homemade dairy products this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon with sour cream. I love the tangy richness of sour cream and spoon it over everything from nachos to baked potatoes to Sourdough Empanadas. It’s an essential flavor on and in Mushroom-Filled Blini and makes Onion Lover’s Dip irresistible.

I bake with sour cream as often as buttermilk, because it provides loft in recipes like Chocolate–Sour Cream Cookies and lightens scones, including Savory Herb and Sour Cream Scones. But homemade sour cream, cultured buttermilk, and fresh yogurt are just the starting point. Once you become comfortable with the techniques and ingredients for soft creations, your first homemade cheese is just a recipe away.
Learn to make Homemade Sour Cream

Chocolate–Sour Cream Cookies

On March 31, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookiesLeave a comment

Some years, I’ve spent April focused on recipes for making your own cheese and other homemade dairy products here on the blog. Now that I’m writing the Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I’m rewriting some of those recipes with the tweaks and upgrades I’ve made to them over the years. I’ll be sharing those new-and-improved recipes here this month.

My Flathead Beacon column will feature recipes that use these fresh dairy products and hopefully inspire you to try making them yourself. I couldn’t resist writing in March about a few of those recipes, including Savory Herb and Sour Cream Scones, Sourdough–Yogurt Pancakes, and this week’s Chocolate–Sour Cream Cookies. So check out the recipes in the column, and then come back here to the blog for the homemade dairy instructions.
Learn to make Homemade Sour Cream and Chocolate–Sour Cream Cookies

Sour Cream

On April 17, 2018March 31, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Fermenting, IngredientLeave a comment

You easily get the best flavor from the fewest ingredients by making sour cream at home. Get homemade sour cream and cookie recipes at TwiceasTasty.com. Sour cream is one of my guilty food pleasures. I eat it regularly, sometimes daily. I eat it at breakfast with crepes and baked into Sour Cream Scones with Tart Cherries. It goes in creamy dressings for potato and other salads. It’s the base for dips and midday snacks. I put sour cream on baked potatoes, tacos, and empanadas. And I use it in desserts, including cookies.

I call sour cream a “guilty pleasure” because it can be high in calories and fat. Most commercial reduced-fat and nonfat versions are primarily whey, modified food/corn starch, salts, stabilizers, and artificial gums—not a good alternative. So if I’m buying sour cream, I read the labels closely and buy full-fat versions that only list “cultured cream” or something similar as the ingredient. But you can easily get the best flavor from the fewest ingredients by making sour cream at home.
Learn to make Fresh Sour Cream and Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Making Better Yogurt and Cheese

On April 3, 2018December 1, 2019 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Fermenting, TopicLeave a comment

Making new styles of cheese has taught me a few tricks that apply to my homemade standards. Learn about making better yogurt and cheese at TwiceasTasty.com.
Each April, the recipes on Twice as Tasty focus on making cheese and other dairy products at home. Between the information on the blog and the workshops I’ve been teaching to everyone from adults to kids, the pool of home cheesemakers has been growing steadily all year.

As I wrote last year, yogurt was my first homemade dairy product. It’s still the milk-based product I make most often, partly because it’s so easy and partly because it’s so versatile that I eat it all the time. This also means I’m constantly finding new ways to improve my yogurt-making skills.

I’ve also been playing with variations on acid-based cheeses and delving into new cheese styles and dairy products. Some of these will be the focus of blog posts in the coming month. But these styles have also taught me a few tricks that apply to my homemade standards. So before I offer you new recipes, here are some things I’ve learned in the past year about making yogurt and cheese.
Read more about making better yogurt and cheese