On Sunday afternoon, I baked Pecan Pie Squares (pecan crust with a pumpkin topping). The original recipe, from the Los Angeles Times food section used ground walnuts for the bottom crust, It was a busy week, with three evening functions, so I didn't get back to baking until Friday when I baked the Cheese Sourdough Crackers (my riff on the KAF recipe) from dough I mixed up a week ago and refrigerated. I also tried a new recipe from the Bon Appetit website titled "Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies," which I discussed in the dessert baking section. On Saturday, I pulled out my sourdough starter and baked Marilyn's Sourdough Oatmeal Bread (The Baking Sheet, Autumn 1988). I wanted a recipe that would bake three loaves. It's a favorite of mine--and the bread I baked fifteen years ago after the 9-11 attacks. Continuing to bake bread, in times of uncertainty, is my way of grounding myself. I've experimented with the recipe over the years, and today I tried substituting in 5-grain cereal for the oats to see how it affects taste and texture. I'll comment tomorrow on the results.
Update: I really like the flavor of the 5-grains in place of only oatmeal. I used the Bob's Red Mill rolled 5-grain, and I cooked it just as I would regular oatmeal, then mixed it with milk and let it cool down to around 90F before adding the starter. I always substitute in 2 cups of whole wheat flour. This time, I added an additional 1/4 cup of spelt flour, as I have it in the freezer and need to use it up. My husband and the dog (she is quite the little bread enthusiast) both like it, as do I. I will bake this variation again.
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This topic was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by
BakerAunt.
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This topic was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.
My husband did most of the cooking this week: roast chicken on Sunday (which gave us great leftovers for the week) and pork chops on Saturday, accompanied by sweet potatoes. On Friday, I made Dilled Salmon and Couscous. (I know, I made that last Friday as well, but after a busy week, salmon was handy, and the recipe goes together fast.)
Thanks, Cwcdesign. That information is helpful.
I will stick with the KAF espresso powder. I will try pounding it into pieces, and see if I can measure it correctly that way. I worry that its gumminess might mess up my coffee grinder. I've tried using a piece of saran over the top before screwing on the lid, but that did not fix the problem. I will try putting the contents of my next jar into Tupperware and see if that works.
I found that freezing the layers (an idea I got from the Sift issue that dealt with cakes) really improved the result when I make a white chocolate cream cheese frosting for a chocolate cake. It keeps the crumbs from getting loose. Also, that frosting is always much too soft by the time I finish beating it, and I had to refrigerate it until it was cold, then beat it again. With the frozen layers, it spread smoothly, and the cake looked beautiful (without a crumb coat needed first!). I'll try the technique with this cake when I make it on Tuesday and report back.
I like your idea of just decorating with the chocolate chips. I think that the mini ones will be perfect for that.
Carol...I went to this site and looked at several things. The Home page says free shipping first order and with $ 65.00 order after that. I would not want to have to get a $ 65.00 order for free shipping.
The sizes of the products are too big for just the two of us. I think the Nutella was (2) 33.5 oz for whatever price...that is way too big for us to have around. The 13 oz. gets us in trouble, LOL!
I saw 35 oz boxes of cereals. Again, way too big for us. Our weather is so humid that I have to re-bag any cereals or crackers to keep them from going soggy.
I did not find the 28 oz Jif that I buy but I might not have looked long enough.
I think for a family with lots of kids, this would save some $$$ over regular grocery store prices and save the hassle of running here and there shopping.
We used to have a Target less than 20 miles away but they closed it and opened two SuperTargets 70 miles one way from us. I think a Costco is a three hour drive for us.
Yesterday I tried "Best Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies" from the Bon Appetit website:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/best-oatmeal-raisin-cookies
Oh, my, oh my. These are fabulous. Part of the secret is toasting the oats and the nuts (although I would cut back on the toasting time for the pecans by at least a minute (add them after 5 minutes not 4, so that they only toast for 3 minutes). The 2 Tbs. of maple syrup also attracted me to this recipe. The dough also rests for an hour at room temperature before baking. It calls for vanilla paste or vanilla, and I found THREE bottles of vanilla paste in my stash, so I opened one and used it. [Hey, I'm ready for the vanilla price increase!] These are large cookies. They said to drop with a 2-oz ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure. I used my 1/4 cup muffin scoop. Although they said the recipe makes 24, I only got 15. I did choose to use tart dried cherries instead of raisins (other choice is cranberries). My husband loves these and says I must definitely make them again. They are not overly sweet and could even be a breakfast cookie.
I did not put nearly as many chocolate chips on the cake as in the photo. I just decorated with them. As for the espresso powder, I live in a very humid area. You can mash it with something heavy or put it in the food processor. The KAF powder doesn't clump nearly as badly as the Espresso powder from the supermarket.
I did put it in the fridge after I frosted it and after the frosting was hard, I wrapped it since we were eating it the next day as well. It was really good the first day, even though it was dense (which I still believe was the baking powder), so I don't think you should have a problem.
I just went back and reread your post. I'm thinking that freezing the layers before I frosted (I didn't) might have helped my cake. It was very easy to frost.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by
cwcdesign.
I bought the Sugar in the Raw at Walmart, as it was the cheapest option ($3.24 for 2 pounds). I also decided that I will use mini-chocolate chips to decorate the top, but stay with regular chocolate chips for the cake (all semisweet). My King Arthur espresso powder is not in good shape. I'm used to it drying out in my part of Texas, but I also took it to Indiana where there were some periods of sustained humidity. So, what I have is a kind of dampish clump. I will check to see if a store here carries instant espresso, but I may have to make do.
Cwcdesign--does the frosted cake do ok in the refrigerator? I will need to frost it Tuesday night for the birthday on Wednesday noon. Lately, I've been freezing cake layers, then frosting them frozen and refrigerating the finished product. Do people think that will work for this cake?
Luvpyrpom, here's the link (it was also posted in the thread Baker Aunt mentioned)
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014217-mocha-chocolate-chip-cake
You might also want to read that thread - we had a good discussion about turbinado sugar.
BakerAunt, referring back to that discussion, my new baking powder is doing wonders in my baking. That goes along way to explaining the problem I had with that cake and the chocolate layer cake before it.
I hope the cake is a big hit!
I heard from Cass, and posted his helpful suggestion for those Norwegian Coffee Buns.
I've got one or two recipes for a pumpkin based pasta. I keep thinking that I'll get to it. I have a pasta attachment for my Cuisinart Food Processor (both given to me by my mother), but I've never gotten around to trying out the pasta attachment. It may be a project for after I retire next summer.
I heard from Cass (Kid Pizza) about this recipe. I'll cut and paste here what he wrote:
Good Morning Marliss.
I hope this note finds you well. Yes Marliss, your recipe has too much Hydration in it. About 85% worth. This is my correction for you:
Assume 6 1/4 cups of flour (29, oz), this is 69% hydration. Use 2,1/2 cups of water.
Marliss, you really do not need to proof the package yeast. This procedure was done many years ago because QC wasn't up to like it is today. There really ever is a failure in today's yeast manu.
Sooo, just add the yeast into the mix like you have done many times before with instant yeast. Use room temp water NOT HOT WATER.. Yes Marliss you can reduce the yeast slightly more to 3/8ths oz (3 tsp worth of package yeast or 3.5 tsp of instant yeast if you like.
Marliss the reason there is a lot of yeast in this recipe is because THERE IS A LOT OF SUGAR in IT !!! You can reduce it somewhat like 1 TBLS worth after measuring out 1/2 cup (3.5,oz)
I have other suggestions if you like such as reducing the sugar further & adding honey, etc. post back if interested with your next results.
Enjoy the day Marliss.
~CASS.
I'm glad to hear that I'm on the right track! I will try the recipe again--perhaps not for a few weeks--and I will post back the results. I may also try the high sugar yeast (and use just 2 tsp. of it), since I have it in the freezer and might as well use it.
I've been making my own pasta for years, but I stick to simple things like spaghetti, linguini, egg noodles and lasagna. I have the KitchenAid basic pasta set, but I don't have an extruder for making things like mostaccioli or elbow macaroni, though I do have a spaetzle cutter.
I've also not tried making 'flavored' pasta, like spinach or chocolate pasta, much less something like squid ink pasta. (Finding squid ink in Nebraska would be something of a challenge, I suspect.)
Cass has not posted for a while now, either on this site or Zen's site. I sent him an e-mail yesterday, but I've not yet heard back. Does anyone have additional information?
Some other members who were posting somewhat regularly are also "missing." It may be that they are following us silently, which is fine, but it is nice to hear from them every now and again. I still hope that Rascals might be able to rejoin us. I hope that Italian Cook is just busy with other activities.
About a year ago, we had those spam attacks on the KAF Baking Circle that were relentless. I don't think the BC ever recovered from that onslaught, and that became a factor in its being closed down because traffic dropped. I still miss that one could post there at almost any time of day, and someone would usually be there to answer a question. When my oven malfunctioned mid-evening (central time) and burned up a cake, I was able to post about it, and someone immediately diagnosed the oven issue, while another person assured me that I could freeze the bread dough, that was on its second rise, until I could get the oven repaired. How many of us received help with last minute substitutions, or with revising a recipe? And it's just plain fun to know what people are baking and cooking. Not every baked item or meal needs to be a "showstopper." There's a lot to be said for the pancakes or the plain pan of cornbread. Knowing what others are baking also inspires me to try more recipes. Some of my favorites came out of our discussions. And one of these days, I am going to make pasta from scratch....
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This topic was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.
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This topic was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.
Not really a goof, some very experienced chefs (but not pastry chefs, I think) refer to the French meringue ones as 'macaroons'.
But anything that gets us talking is good. 🙂
I haven't tried making any of them, but if you google 'dairy free coconut macaroons' you'll get several recipes. (I always thought they were gluten-free, kosher for Passover and dairy-free.)
Another homemade coconut candy I like but don't get often is chocolate haystacks. I've never made them but several people in my home town used to bring them to bake sales. (I haven't been to a good bake sale in years, they're kind of falling out of fashion in the schools due to issues with food allergies and a few unfortunate food poisoning incidents.)
Since my wife won't eat coconut, I seldom have it in the house. I always get all the coconut candies in a box of chocolates, though these days candies are not on my wife's diet.
When I see the word 'macaroons' (rhymes with 'tunes'), I always think of the coconut goodies that show up mostly around Passover. (And I love coconut cookies.)
I prefer the French word 'macarons' (falls in between rhyming with 'johns' and 'lawns', there's no real equivalent in English, you have to sort of swallow the vowel) for the meringue-like cookies made with almond flour. When you get them just right, the inside is deliciously creamy.
What spelling and pronunciation do folks prefer?
