The Baking Topic

[EtheltoTillie]

Wow, so much pent up commenting here, since we've had three days of shutdown. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Here are my rosemary shortbread cookies (Cookies for Christmas, by Maria Robbins) and gingerbread cake (Joy of Cooking).  I make these every year.   Foolproof recipes.

These do not please all people.  I took them to a relative's house a few years ago, and no one wanted them.  Too sophisticated a taste.  The cake is spicy and the cookies are not very sweet. 

Edited December 25, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

I tried another cookie.  Completely new to me.  Kolachky.  This was a really easy dough to work with:  cream cheese, butter, flour, and a little vanilla and salt. 

Very tasty.

I always have so much trouble shaping hamantaschen, but this worked much better. 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Trini]

Did gingerbread houses with the nieces and nephews. A couple of weeks ago Trini Mom (AKA TriniGrandMom) was like 'We could buy a few house kits...'

Me:

LOL! So I did make and bake gingerbread cookies for that. I did cave and got a set of house cutters to speed up the process. And I already had lots of candy and sprinkles that I needed to use up, so win-win.

But even besides the fact that homemade is better, those pre-made ones are kinda expensive, even at from Walmart; especially if you're doing multiple.

[Quof]

I made this https://www.nigella.com/recipes/fresh-gingerbread-with-lemon-icing some time ago to take to a dinner that got cancelled last minute (don't ask), so I put it in the freezer and forgot about it.  Now I'm enjoying it with gingerbread ice cream from my favourite, local shop.  

I cut off one small frozen slice at a time.  I'm happy I don't have to share it. 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

16 hours ago, Quof said:

I made this https://www.nigella.com/recipes/fresh-gingerbread-with-lemon-icing some time ago to take to a dinner that got cancelled last minute (don't ask), so I put it in the freezer and forgot about it.  Now I'm enjoying it with gingerbread ice cream from my favourite, local shop.  

I cut off one small frozen slice at a time.  I'm happy I don't have to share it. 

 

This is a very similar recipe to the gingerbread I posted above. I found it amusing that the Nigella recipe lets you toggle between metric and cups versions, but they also switch between British and US terms. E.g., treacle v. molasses. 

Is treacle really exactly the same as molasses?  The term treacly has a connotation as too sweet, as it is used to describe overly sentimental romances and the like, but molasses is such a sophisticated type of sweetener, combining spicy with sweet. 

Edited December 27, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Quof]

Good bakers around the world know that weighing your ingredients yields a more precise result.  Sadly, many Americans wouldn't even recognize that Nigella is actually giving measurements for volume versus weight, not just "USA versus the rest of the world". 

I used golden syrup, which I always have on hand, and molasses.   I'm sure I could have found treacle in a store somewhere, but I wasn't going looking to buy something I probably wouldn't have used again. 

[CheshireCat]

17 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Is treacle really exactly the same as molasses?  The term treacly has a connotation as too sweet, as it is used to describe overly sentimental romances and the like, but molasses is such a sophisticated type of sweetener, combining spicy with sweet. 

It might be what we have in Germany which is called sugar beat syrup. The difference is that molasses is a by-product from when you make sugar whereas the sugar beat syrup is a syrup that is produced by cooking the sugar beats. Contrary to molasses, it doesn't have a bitter taste and is more or less just sweet (although, not like sugar, it does taste of more than sweetness. Kind of like maple syrup which is just sweet, too, but still tastes of more than just sweetness).

 

[EtheltoTillie]

15 minutes ago, Quof said:

Good bakers around the world know that weighing your ingredients yields a more precise result.  Sadly, many Americans wouldn't even recognize that Nigella is actually giving measurements for volume versus weight, not just "USA versus the rest of the world". 

I used golden syrup, which I always have on hand, and molasses.   I'm sure I could have found treacle in a store somewhere, but I wasn't going looking to buy something I probably wouldn't have used again. 

Yes, I am aware of that, but I don't weigh ingredients.  It's so easy to use US/Imperial volume measurements.  For me it's good enough. 

[CheshireCat]

25 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Yes, I am aware of that, but I don't weigh ingredients.  It's so easy to use US/Imperial volume measurements.  For me it's good enough. 

I'm the opposite, I find US/Imperial so inconvenient because of the extra step(s) involved. Eg, if you weigh the ingredients, all you have to do is put the bowl on a scale and weigh. But for US/Imperial you have to get out cups and maybe a spoon and put the ingredients into that and if you have an ingredient that's sticky like honey, sour cream or cream cheese it sticks... Way too much work for me 😉 I have the cutest snowman cup set for Christmas time but I never use it because I've converted all of my US recipes to grams.

[EtheltoTillie]

59 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

I'm the opposite, I find US/Imperial so inconvenient because of the extra step(s) involved. Eg, if you weigh the ingredients, all you have to do is put the bowl on a scale and weigh. But for US/Imperial you have to get out cups and maybe a spoon and put the ingredients into that and if you have an ingredient that's sticky like honey, sour cream or cream cheese it sticks... Way too much work for me 😉 I have the cutest snowman cup set for Christmas time but I never use it because I've converted all of my US recipes to grams.

That makes sense.  But I'm curious . .  . what do you do with things like butter?   If it says two sticks of butter do you actually weigh it? 

[Quof]

I'm in Canada, I've never seen butter sold in sticks.   I convert the volume measure to weight and weigh my butter. Butter conversion  It's much more accurate than trying to measure out "X tablespoons".  

[EtheltoTillie]

44 minutes ago, Quof said:

I'm in Canada, I've never seen butter sold in sticks.   I convert the volume measure to weight and weigh my butter. Butter conversion  It's much more accurate than trying to measure out "X tablespoons".  

How do they sell it if not in sticks?  I am fascinated by this.

[CheshireCat]

45 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

That makes sense.  But I'm curious . .  . what do you do with things like butter?   If it says two sticks of butter do you actually weigh it? 

Depends. When I'm in the US, I usually don't weigh the two sticks. Only if I have time, a stick that's not used up and feel like using it. I do weigh things like a stick and a half, though, even if there are measurements on the paper.

In Germany, butter comes in 250 g "bricks", so most of the time you have to weigh butter. Since the metric system is based on numbers that multiply by ten, almost all if not all recipes use measurements based on numbers that multiply by 5 and increases happen by 25g. So, 75g of butter, 100g, 125g etc. If a recipe calls for something like 80g of butter, you'll likely find that it's translated and converted from another language and weirdly enough, you're hard-pressed to find a recipe that calls for something like 105g or 110g or 115g of anything.

I have one cookie book that has a mixture of Imperial and metric measurements. For example, the butter is given in grams and most of the recipes in the book call for too much butter. I believe that's because one stick is 113g but the recipe calls for 125g. And 10g of butter (almost a tbsp which is roughly 14g to give you a visual) make a huge difference if the flour isn't adjusted accordingly. (My guess would be that they simply converted and translated the recipe but didn't actually try them out).
Once I figured that out and reduced the amount of butter, it actually worked.

[EtheltoTillie]

So in Canada they sell larger bricks instead of sticks?  In the US when we buy the European butters they come in the larger bricks. 

[Quof]

Canadian butter comes in blocks that weigh 1 pound/454 grams.  The packages have labels to slice off 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, etc but that only works if the block is still perfectly shaped and hasn't been smushed in shipping or storing. Weighing is the best way. 

[Bastet]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:29 AM, Quof said:

Canadian butter comes in blocks that weigh 1 pound

For many, many years, that was how I bought my "everyday" butter -- the Costco brand I use for most things (and then I have Kerrygold for the times I put butter on something rather than just cooking/baking something with butter in it), but the last time I picked up a pound of Kirkland, they'd packaged it in sticks instead, which is how most butter comes here.  I'm not sure why they made a change after all this time.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Bastet

[Quof]

The "1 pound/454 grams" is the only metric conversion I remember easily, off the top of my head.  I blame all the cookies I have baked. 

[EtheltoTillie]

8 minutes ago, Bastet said:

For many, many years, that was how I bought my "everyday" butter -- the Costco brand I use for most things (and then I have some Kerrygold for the times I put butter on something rather than just cooking/baking something with butter in it), but the last time I picked some up, they'd packaged it in sticks, which is how most butter comes here.  I'm not sure why they made a change after all this time.

I just noticed this change also!  I looked in my fridge this morning and realized the package of Kerrygold I recently bought was in sticks.  I don't use Kerrygold for baking, as I've heard it has different water content from regular "American" butter  and may affect results.  I can't take the anxiety. 

[caitmcg]

On 12/25/2023 at 7:17 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

The cake is spicy and the cookies are not very sweet. 

I'd happily partake, those descriptions match my preferences.

On 12/25/2023 at 12:43 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

I tried another cookie.  Completely new to me.  Kolachky.  This was a really easy dough to work with:  cream cheese, butter, flour, and a little vanilla and salt. 

This is the same dough that's generally used for rugelach and pecan tassies, and I agree, it's very easy to work with, whether you're rolling it out or pressing it into a mini muffin tin (for tassies). Pro tip: chilling the formed cookies or tassies for at least a couple of hours or up to overnight makes for maximum flakiness.

[Meredith Quill]

In the UK butter is mostly sold in 'brick' shape similar to Germany, I've also seen a less common variety that comes in a cylinder shape. It always used to be 250g bricks but recently some brands have downsized to 200g bricks despite the cost remaining the same (including my preferred brand for buttercream, sigh).

I was sick from mid-December until a couple of days ago, so didn't get to do any of my planned Christmas baking. I managed to bake some gingerbread flavoured last minute Whoville-inspired cupcakes in time for NYE at least (I needed to do something cheerful!).

 

[CheshireCat]

19 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

 I managed to bake some gingerbread flavoured last minute Whoville-inspired cupcakes in time for NYE at least (I needed to do something cheerful!).

 

So cute! But how did you get the large ones to stay upright? 😲

[Meredith Quill]

4 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

So cute! But how did you get the large ones to stay upright? 😲

It's a neat trick using trimmed ice cream cones.

#everythingisedible

[Quof]

It's freezing cold here.

I have a new cast iron skillet.

Fresh baked bread, coming up.  Review to follow.  

 

[Quof]

Sometimes I'll get stuck on a random ingredient, for reasons I can't determine and seek out new recipes.   This week, I have made 

Tahini spiced granola 

Tahini chocolate banana bread

I recommend both, highly.  

[PRgal]

On 12/27/2023 at 8:11 AM, Quof said:

I'm in Canada, I've never seen butter sold in sticks.   I convert the volume measure to weight and weigh my butter. Butter conversion  It's much more accurate than trying to measure out "X tablespoons".  

Flavoured butter definitely comes in individual sticks.  I've seen the plant based stuff in sticks too.

[annzeepark914]

Semlor (Shrove Tuesday Buns)

1 pkg dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

¼ cup butter

½ cup milk

1 beaten egg

3 cups flour

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

2 tsps. Cardamom

Filling:

1-1/2 cups almond paste

Whipped cream (add vanilla & sugar)

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Melt butter in saucepan – add milk and cool until lukewarm.

Combine flour, sugar, salt, cardamom in a bowl.  Add liquids, yeast and egg.

Beat until a smooth dough is formed. Cover and let rise until double in size (1/2 hour) Punch down. Knead dough on floured board/surface until smooth.  Form into 12 buns.

Place on buttered baking sheet.  Cover.  Let rise ½ hour.

Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Cool covered. 

Cut off top of buns.  Scoop out small area in bottom pieces and combine those crumbs with almond paste.  Fill hollows with mixture.  Garnish with whipped cream.  Replace tops and dust with powdered sugar.

[Quof]

Continuing to break in my new cast iron skillet 

Honey cornbread

It didn't rise much, probably because my 10 inch skillet is too big for a recipe intended for an 8 x 8 inch square pan.  But it's delicious.  

In answering my own query about pan volume, I discovered this 

Baking pan conversions

[Mittengirl]

Help, my brain is failing me - what is the name of the cake that is mixed together and baked in the pan?  You put the dry ingredients in the pan, then make three holes for the egg, water(?) and oil(?).

[caitmcg]

17 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Help, my brain is failing me - what is the name of the cake that is mixed together and baked in the pan?  You put the dry ingredients in the pan, then make three holes for the egg, water(?) and oil(?).

The classic recipe for wacky cake, aka crazy cake, which dates to the Depression and is egg- and dairy-free (so is now popular as a vegan or just plain easy chocolate cake) was for mixing it in the pan, with three holes for oil, vinegar, and vanilla. I've always found it easier to just mix it in a bow, and I prefer Margaret Fox's Amazon cake for its higher proportion of cocoa powder than the original.

[annzeepark914]

I don't know whose recipe for Wacky Cake I've used, but the cake is really good. Of course, I top it with a powdered sugar/cream cheese frosting, so it sure isn't vegan-approved 😁

[caitmcg]

3 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

I don't know whose recipe for Wacky Cake I've used, but the cake is really good. Of course, I top it with a powdered sugar/cream cheese frosting, so it sure isn't vegan-approved 😁

It has very good flavor for being so simple. I've used it when I needed to make a vegan cake, but also for black-bottom cupcakes with a cream cheese filling, so...

[Mittengirl]

Thank you caitmcg!  That’s exactly the recipe I was looking for.  All I could think of was Lazy Daisy cake.  I knew it was a “cutesy” name, but just couldn’t shake it loose from the recesses of my brain.

Off to make cake!

[EtheltoTillie]

I tried a new recipe for scones from Cook's Illustrated, the latest issue.  Fantastic.  This will now be my go-to recipe.  The recipe purports to be for "British scones." 

[EtheltoTillie]

Getting ready to make Hamantaschen.

[EtheltoTillie]

Expert bakers, please weigh in:

My  Hamantaschen cookie dough always crumbles as I try to bend it into the triangle shapes.  This is a butter based dough.  I wish I knew how to fix this.  Possibly more liquid?  Less flour?

The recipe is Breads Bakery Hamantaschen.  Their hamantaschen is famous. 

Granted, I have not tried it with the recommended pastry flour, as I wouldn't be able to find it easily.   That obviously affects the texture. 

https://www.breadsbakery.com/hamantaschen/

 

[chessiegal]

I'm no baker, but both pastry flour and almond flour are available on Amazon. I think I've seen pastry flour in my grocery store. 

[Mondrianyone]

18 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

This is a butter based dough.

Try a cream-cheese-based dough. I think that's more standard for hamantaschen anyway.

Also, I agree that pastry flour isn't hard to find--esp in NYC. King Arthur is always on the shelves even in my godforsaken area.

[EtheltoTillie]

2 hours ago, chessiegal said:

I'm no baker, but both pastry flour and almond flour are available on Amazon. I think I've seen pastry flour in my grocery store. 

Thanks!  I already had the almond flour, but I didn't have the pastry flour yesterday, and I didn't want to go looking for it.  Now that you mention it, they probably had it in my local market, but I was also being lazy.

52 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

Try a cream-cheese-based dough. I think that's more standard for hamantaschen anyway.

Also, I agree that pastry flour isn't hard to find--esp in NYC. King Arthur is always on the shelves even in my godforsaken area.

Gee, my last foray into cream-cheese dough was a flop.  In fact, I had posted this back around Christmas.  I made some kolatchky.  It was a very easy to handle dough, but it ended up tasting flat and dull. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Further update:  The kolatchky dough had no sugar.  That's a no-no for hamantaschen. I have a cream-cheese and butter dough recipe that I have made in the past.  I may try that one again.  I want to get this down to a foolproof recipe.  I make these once a year and never really get it right.  I have to repeat now before next Purim. 

[ethalfrida]

Need to post entire message 

Edited March 30 by ethalfrida
Need to post entire text

[ethalfrida]

Delicious and uncomplicated…

Don't be alarmed at all the text, I just like to share all I know so things are clear... this recipe is really easy. And you can make them every day. If you use a bread maker add the ingredients in the order they are listed here...

 

Ingredients:

1 Cup water

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1 Teaspoon of salt

1/4 Cup oil*

3 Cups of flour

2 Teaspoons of regular yeast

 

*I use the following oils... avocado, coconut, pecan or olive oils. Sometimes I use GHEE. I find I like avocado best. I don't use vegetable or canola oils.

 

I bake these like clover leaf rolls most of the time but sometimes I just divide the dough into 6 parts and bake in a giant muffin pan (it only bakes 6 at a time).

 

Hints on procedures:

Use your bread maker for the dough mixing and risings;

I apply a light coat of oil on the table so the dough doesn't stick when being rolled out'

Spray the pan with nonstick or brush with oil;

If you allow them to rise really high the crumb will be light, fluffy and come off in layers...

If you want the original video... https://youtu.be/H5C7E79D5t4

 

[Trini]

Gonna attempt to make some eclipse themed cookies for the upcoming solar eclipse. (My town is in totality!)

I've got two ideas; 1) layer two flavors/colors of dough together to simulate an eclipse, and 2) decorate shortbread cookies to simulate an eclipse.

I'll try and post some pics if I'm successful!

[Quof]

I'm taking a lemon ricotta cake to an Easter dinner this afternoon.  Of course, the problem with making a cake is that you can't taste it before it is served to guests.  Damn it smells good.  Maybe I'll take a tiny sliver off the end before I ice it.   

 

UPDATE I got cocky.  The centre seemed set, but perhaps because I poured over with too much syrup, it is absolute mush, so much so that I can't even put it back in the pan to bake some more.  So I'm scrambling.  I could use the cooked sections and make a trifle, but that would require a trip to the store for berries and whipping cream.  So I'm just going to put cubes of the cooked sections in the freezer for a later occasion (trifle, or just in my mouth!) And I have lemon brownies in the oven.  If this doesn't work, because it seems to be that kind of day, I'll stop and get a Dairy Queen cake. 

 

Edited March 31 by Quof

[ethalfrida]

8 hours ago, Quof said:

I'm taking a lemon ricotta cake to an Easter dinner this afternoon.  Of course, the problem with making a cake is that you can't taste it before it is served to guests.  Damn it smells good.  Maybe I'll take a tiny sliver off the end before I ice it.   

 

UPDATE I got cocky.  The centre seemed set, but perhaps because I poured over with too much syrup, it is absolute mush…

 

I would eat all of it and lick my fingers…

[Quof]

Reporting back, Fudgy Lemon Brownies are delicious. 

And I've taken to eating chunks of the lemon ricotta cake, with real whipped cream squirted from a can, while standing in my kitchen.  So keep an eye out for the opening of my charm school.

[Bastet]

20 hours ago, Quof said:

Reporting back, Fudgy Lemon Brownies are delicious. 

Those sound good; regular brownies and regular fudge don't do anything for me, but I love lemon.  Other than the peanut butter cookies I make my dad every Christmas, I bake about once every five years, but I'll file that away in my "Recipes to Try" folder in case the mood strikes. 

[Trini]

On 4/2/2024 at 6:36 PM, Quof said:

Reporting back, Fudgy Lemon Brownies are delicious. 

Those look great; they're neither fudgy or brownies, though. (you didn't name them, of course)

[Quof]

They're very fudgy in texture, there's no leavening.  

[annzeepark914]

I just read all the glowing reviews for these lemony "brownies" so I'm going to make them. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I know I'll be adding a teence of cream cheese to the glaze🍋