What are you Baking the Week of December 29, 2024?

This topic has 17 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 4 hours, 46 minutes ago by BakerAunt.

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December 29, 2024 at 9:52 am #45104
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Any post-holiday baking plans?

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December 29, 2024 at 12:45 pm #45105
RiversideLen
Participant
I'm planning on baking some cookies to take to a neighbor's on New Years eve. Not sure how many kinds, right now I'm soaking some raisins in brandy for oatmeal cookies.
December 29, 2024 at 6:07 pm #45108
RiversideLen
Participant
I made the oatmeal cookies. In addition to the raisins, I added some chopped pecans and mini chocolate chips. This recipe yielded 50 cookies. I sampled a couple of them, pretty good. Nuts in cookies always enhances the flavor.

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December 29, 2024 at 8:47 pm #45114
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Made a 3rd batch of oatmeal-date-raisin cookies, grinding up the oatmeal a bit, doubling the dates, and making them with a #50 scoop (previous batches were with a #60 or #40.) We like this batch the most.
December 30, 2024 at 10:45 pm #45118
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I made a batch of oatmeal crisps (chocolate chip cookies) today. I've used a #70 or a #60 scoop in the past, today I used my new #50, it made the cookies about 1.2 ounces each post-baking, and they took about 5-6 minutes longer in the oven. The batch made 38 cookies.
December 31, 2024 at 7:38 pm #45121
BakerAunt
Participant
On New Year's Eve, I baked Spiced Pumpkin Bread (Kurbisgewurzbrot), a German rye bread from Stanley Ginsberg's blog, The Rye Baker. I've been baking it for about five years now, and I love this bread which uses just whole wheat and medium rye flour. It is cooling on the rack, and we will slice it at lunch tomorrow.

I also made the dough and assembled Eggnog Sweet Rolls on New Year's Eve, which I will refrigerate overnight and bake and glaze in the morning. I created this recipe last year out of a Fleischmann's Yeast and a Red Star Yeast recipe.
December 31, 2024 at 8:11 pm #45122
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Been looking at a recipe for Swabian pretzels, not sure if I've got the right stuff to make it yet.
January 1, 2025 at 6:37 am #45123
Joan Simpson
Participant
Len your cookies looked good.
January 1, 2025 at 10:39 am #45124
skeptic7
Participant
I have been dreaming of baking Chinese Walnut Cookies for years. Finally I decided to go for it despite not having all the ingredients,
Here is the recipe
https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-walnut-cookies/

I didn't have the cake flour so I used 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour and 1/4 cup cornstarch. This is the substitute mentioned in King Arthur Flour website. I didn't have any walnut halves so I just decided to use more walnut pieces on top.
However I was planning to do all the other steps correctly, when my father decided to come into the kitchen and cleaned things up a bit. Among the other things he did was get rid of the little bit of beaten egg I was saving for the tops of the cookies. Also he decided that the cookies were too big and divided one in half. I'm just glad that was the only one. This is my baking attempt and I want to be the only one playing with the instructions!!
January 1, 2025 at 2:06 pm #45125
skeptic7
Participant
The Chinese Walnut cookies turned out slightly sweet and crumbly reminding me more of shortbread cookies than anything else. The small ones turned out very well. Next time I might make them all half size, and see what happens if I don't leave them in a warm oven.
January 2, 2025 at 9:20 pm #45130
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Did another batch of oatmeal crisps chocolate chip cookies, this time with a #60 scoop, I got 60 cookies.
January 3, 2025 at 2:34 pm #45133
skeptic7
Participant
I was wondering how scoop # related to tablespoons, but I searched the web and found this page.
Do you think its accurate? I only have two scoops #16 and #30 which are about 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/612/cookie-scoop-sizes.html#:~:text=When%20making%20medium%2Dsized%20cookies,cookie%20dough%20recipe%20usually%20spreads.
January 3, 2025 at 2:42 pm #45134
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
The scoop number is supposed to represent the number of scoops in a quart, but how full you fill each scoop is a big factor, and it always seems to me that a larger scoop is prone to produce a rounder ball of dough than a smaller scoop.

On the basis of the size numbers alone, if a #60 scoop produces 60 cookies, a #50 scoop should logically produce 50 cookies, but I only got 38 a few days ago.

The #50 scoop produced dough balls that weighed around 1.2 ounces each, the #60 scoop produced dough balls that weighed around 0.8 ounces each.

The other thing I noticed is that the #50 size cookies seemed to have a more open interior. (These cookies tend to have big open areas inside, which is why they're so good with milk, as they have lots of space to hold the milk when you dunk them.)
January 3, 2025 at 6:37 pm #45136
BakerAunt
Participant
On Friday, I baked mostly wholegrain flatbread crackers to go with hummus.

I also made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers to bake next week.
January 3, 2025 at 7:04 pm #45137
chocomouse
Participant
Today I made2 loaves of Harvest Grains bread. I also made a carrot cake for my husband's 81st birthday. I made some substitutions, including apple sauce for some of the oil, and fruit cocktail for pineapple. I much prefer the flavor of the pineapple over fruit cocktail.
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