What are you Baking the Week of May 30, 2021?

[Mike Nolan]

They're good, but so far no 2 batches have come out quite the same, one was too soft in the middle, two were a bit too hard in the middle (the last one about as hard as biscotti), one was probably scorched on the bottom, the first batch was the best so far. I'm going to drop the temperature 25 degrees for the next one.

But if I keep making the ChallaPrince's challah recipe, I'll probably keep making these cookies because he has you use an egg yolk wash on them, and this is a quick way to use up the egg whites.

[Joan Simpson]

Today I baked a batch of sugar cookies from a bag of sugar from Publix.The first tray I baked was fine,the second one when the timer went off they looked like they needed another minute...well I had a puzzle on the table and sat down said I'd give them about three minutes...at least 10 or more minutes later I jumped up and snatched them out,brown and when they cooled they were harder than them teething biscuits for babies use to be lol.So I tried one only way to eat them will be dunking in milk or coffee or grinding them for a layered dessert.Damn that puzzle lol.

[cwcdesign]

I haven't baked yet, but I'm planning to make Claire Saffitz's (Dessert Person) Malted "Forever" Brownies over the weekend.

BakerAunt, while I was leafing through the book to get to the recipe, I found her recipe for "Aunt Rose's Mondel Bread," also know as Mandel or Mandelbrot. I'm giving you a link because they are made with oil, not butter. That is to keep them pareve and the recipe has been in her family for 4 generations. Like a biscotti but only baked once. Food52 had a copy of the recipe
https://food52.com/recipes/84478-best-mondel-bread-recipe

[BakerAunt]

Thank you, CWCdesign! The site would not let me print without a Facebook account. (I have never been on Facebook and see no reason to start now.) However, I was able to copy and paste it into a word document and print it.

That is an interesting technique she uses of turning the "loaves" twice during baking. I know that she does not want the baker to use parchment, but I am wondering how much of a mess it would be to clean up the baking sheet afterwards. I assume that not using parchment contributes to caramelization of the sugar on the outside.

[RiversideLen]

I made Healthy Oatmeal Cookies from Martha Stewart. The cookies use veggie oil (I used walnut oil) and no butter. I added about 1/4 cup of almond flour to it, used the KAF fruitcake fruit blend in place of raisins and 1/2 tsp of maple flavor in place of the vanilla. I also added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and chopped up a 3 ounce dark chocolate bar for it. I baked them on my new 2/3 sheet pan. They baked up nice and were done in 16 minutes. The recipe yielded 19 cookies.

The taste and texture are OK, not as good as a butter or shortening cookie but are perfectly acceptable to me.

[BakerAunt]

I agree that oil cookies are different, so as long as the eater knows that, they shine in their own right.

I had not expected to bake bread on Friday, but after lunch we were down to a single slice. I baked two loaves of my adaptation of Grape Nuts bread. I decided to cut the salt further to 1 ½ tsp. My concern is that both the Grape Nuts and the malted milk powder contain sodium, and I want to keep the bread in a healthy range. We will see how it tastes when we slice into a loaf tomorrow.

[cwcdesign]

BA, I am totally with you on Facebook - tried it once for a couple of classes (closed groups) but did not like the way it works. Several of the art groups I belong to have moved from Facebook to closed community groups which they run themselves. Works much better.

[BakerAunt]

I did not notice any difference in the Grape-Nuts bread with the lesser amount of salt, so I will make that change permanent.

[Joan Simpson]

Len your cookies look wonderful!

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake the crackers next week.

[RiversideLen]

Thank you, Joan. I've been enjoying them!

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