What are you baking the week of October 14, 2018?

[Mike Nolan]

I'm looking to make banana nut mini-muffins later today, probably after supper.

We've got about 2 inches of snow on the back patio since mid-morning and may get more later this evening, and a forecast low of 24 tonight, but it's supposed to be in the 60's by Tuesday so it probably will be gone in another day or two.

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[BakerAunt]

On Sunday afternoon, I baked Low-Fat Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made on Friday evening. I think the taste is better, in this non-butter version, with only letting the dough rest two days in the refrigerator. The special dried milk that I added may have helped as well.

On Sunday evening, I baked a new recipe, “Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies,” from a magazine I saw at the store, “America’s Best Pumpkin Recipes, published by Centennial Kitchen (p. 34). I’ve never heard of this company, but what persuaded me to buy the magazine is the nice selection of pumpkin recipes that use oil rather than butter. These cookies are one of those. However, I had to substantially reduce the 2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips specified. 15g of chips has 3g saturated fat. I used 60g—and that is approximately 1/3 cup. I also replaced half the oil with buttermilk (thanks Riverside Len for that tip!), and for good measure mixed in 1 cup of quick oats. I thought that the oats would stabilize the cookies, since I was deleting 5/6 of the chocolate chips. I also cut the salt from ½ to ¼ tsp. The cookies did not flatten as much as the ones in the picture, so probably ½ cup would have been enough, or next time, I could flatten them. I also used white whole wheat flour. I ended up with 40 cookies; each is .45825g saturated fat.

I have an oat-pumpkin-chocolate chip cookie recipe from KAF that makes large cookies that are then glazed, and which I often would bake in the fall. I’m avoiding them this year, so these cookies should provide some of the same flavor profile with much less saturated fat.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a double batch of banana nut mini-muffins, which is about the most I can make in a 4 1/2 quart mixer bowl. It made about 12 dozen mini muffins plus 3 cupcake-sized ones to use up the last of the batter. I froze most of them.

My wife likes a crisp exterior crust on muffins, so what I do is bake them until they're golden brown, about 22 minutes for mini-muffins, take them out of the pan and let them cool a little, then throw them back in the oven for about 5 minutes.

[chocomouse]

Today I made steamed Boston Brown Bread. I put the mixture into three pint size mason jars, about 3/4 full, and covered each tightly with aluminum foil. Then, into the slow cooker and added water about half way up the sides of the jars. Add the cover, and cooked on high for 2 hours. I used a skewer to test for doneness, and decided to steam them another 15 minutes. The flavor was excellent. But the texture was "loose", crubmly, soft, not at all dry, had to be eaten with a fork, not in your fingers. I'm not sure what to do to fix that. Bake it longer? Add more flour? I followed the recipe exactly (I haven't made it for years, so almost like a new recipe for me). Anyone have any suggestions, thoughts? We ate it with leftover baked beans from the freezer and steamed hot dogs.

[Mike Nolan]

I've only made Boston brown bread a couple of times, both times it came out pretty solid and easy to slice. (I made it in a ring mold, not in a mason jar, though.) I would think adding flour might make it more crumbly, but it might have been undercooked.

[S_Wirth]

We love my Steamed Persimmon Pudding posted here. It was my husband's grandma's recipe. 125 years old a least. Smells so good as it simmers away on a cold winter's day.

[chocomouse]

Thanks for the Steamed Persimmon Pudding recipe, Sara. I'll have to try that. I've done a little more research, and have decided I most likely need to bake the brown bread for a longer time. And maybe make sure the water level in the slow cooker is higher on the jars, more than just halfway up the sides.

I have apple spice muffins in the oven, and will make molasses cookies next. That will be it for baking/cooking for the next week or so.

[skeptic7]

I made Boston Brown Bread last week and it was very firm and dense, but I baked/steamed it for much longer than called for. I was cooking it as one big 7 inch round in a slow cooker, but I tried cooking it on low for four or five hours, and when it was not cooked after that time, I turned the slow cooker to high and cooked for an hour and a half, until it reached 200 degrees and the knife came out clean. I don't think the depth of the water would make a difference, the steam is actually hotter than the water.
Perhaps your bread was too moist? My pan has vents in the top so the bread lost water as it cooked.
The steamed bread recipes resemble some of the old fashioned pudding recipes so famous in the Aubrey/Maturin sailing ship novels.

[chocomouse]

I did not know what temp the bread should reach! I just used a wooden skewer. It came out pretty much clean, not completely, but since it is a very moist bread, I expected it might have a few crumbs. But, next time I'll go for 200 on my thermometer. Thanks, Skeptic.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
It might be cooked before 200 degrees, all I know is that 170 degrees was too low, the knife stuck in the middle came out sticky. 190 degrees might be sufficient.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday evening, I made six mini-loaves of the wholegrain pumpkin bread, which I baked a couple of weeks ago. It’s my adaptation of a recipe at Nebraska Kitchen that was first posted by lemonpoppy at the KAF Baking Circle. I made it with the same changes I made last time, except that this time I increased the quick oats to 1 cup.

[RiversideLen]

This morning I made a pumpkin pie. When I served it I realized that I had forgotten to put in the sugar. It's still OK, I'll eat it, maybe dust it with a little powdered sugar.

[BakerAunt]

Aurgh! I hate it when I do that!

For some reason, pumpkin pies are particularly susceptible to having ingredients accidentally omitted. I once put a pie into the oven, then turned to my left and saw the brown sugar in its cup on the table. (So much for mise en place when the ingredient stays en place!.) I pulled the pie out, ladled the filling back into the bowl, put in the brown sugar and mixed it, then put it back into the oven.

Len--maybe a small scoop of low-fat frozen vanilla yogurt on top would help?

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[RiversideLen]

The problem is I didn't have all my ingredients laid out in front of my like I usually do, and didn't double check the recipe.

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