What are You Baking the Week of October 18, 2020?

[Joan Simpson]

Len your small pie looks good and the buns always look nice!

[BakerAunt]

That small pie is so cute!

On Tuesday, I baked my lower in saturated fat version of Bob’s Red Mill Oregon Trail Cookies. I think that I will call mine “On the Trail Cookies,” as they are substantial enough for a hearty snack and last well.

[RiversideLen]

Thanks Joan, and BA. The problem with making a mini pie is I have full size fingers.

[Mike Nolan]

I've pretty much stopped making fluted edges, in part because, like Len, my hands are fairly large, but also because I've noticed over the years that a lot of those carefully crafted edges get left on the plate.

I still take the time to make a lattice crust for a cherry pie, because, well, it just isn't a cherry pie without a lattice crust!

[BakerAunt]

I had hoped to bake crispbread today to go with leftover stew, but last night’s rain was enough that we could get the boat off the lift, so we took a boat ride around the lake this afternoon. I pulled out a recipe that I have been thinking of trying: Crazy Sesame Breadsticks, which was developed for the never published Christmas menu in the December 2009 issue of Gourmet, but was put on the web by Epicurious in December 2018. I made two changes in that I used ½ cup white whole wheat flour, and I cut the salt from 1 ¼ to 1 tsp. I used unhulled sesame seed not the mix of white and black. The first rise went well. I rolled out the dough, pressed on the sesame seed, began to cut ¼ inch strips—and realized that there was no way I was going to be able to get the strip up in one piece. So, I squished it up into a ball, kneaded to distribute the sesame seeds, then divided it into 32 pieces. I rolled each piece into a 7-inch strip, the proceeded to bake. They baked into about the thickness of a finger and have a slight crunch on the outside and chewy on the inside. They went ok with the stew. At least the recipe was quick and not a lot of work.

[RiversideLen]

I made Apple Cider Doughnut Cake from the Martha Stewart site. The recipe calls for coating the finished cake with cinnamon sugar I decided to make a frosting. I boiled down about 9 ounces of apple cider to 2 ounces to use in the frosting. I added a couple drop of red food color to mimic a red apple, it came out kinda pink and I didn't want to use more.

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[chocomouse]

That looks good, Len. I've found a caramel glaze is good on apple baked goods. I'll check out her recipe. I've been making a lot of substitutions lately when making apple foods -- in addition to chopped or sliced apples, I sub boiled cider for some of the liquid, and applesauce for most of the oil. But caramel soaked into the warm-from-the-oven treat is the killer!

[Italiancook]

Len, your coke is scrumptious-looking! How does it taste? I'm sure the icing is delicious.

[Italiancook]

No Edit button -- cake, not coke.

[RiversideLen]

The cake is good. It's an oil cake which I like. It's a little dense and moist. I just went to youtube and found the episode in which she made it and her cake looked a lot like mine so it turned out the way it was supposed to. It's a little light on apple flavor but I think that's pretty much the norm for apple cakes. My icing is good but a little sweet and has some apple flavor. Chocomouse, a caramel topping sounds great! The recipe calls for 2 cups of AP and one cup of whole wheat, apple sauce and apple cider and olive oil. I used a combination of grapeseed and walnut oils because I have some grapeseed oil that is approaching it's best buy date. I might make this again.

[BakerAunt]

I think that I've baked that cake, Len. Or maybe I just meant to do so? At any rate, your cake looks delicious.

The caramel discussion reminded me of a scrumptious--butter based probably--cake that I made some years ago from Southern Living, I think, that had a wonderful caramel frosting. However, as I only managed to drop my LDL cholesterol another 7 points at the last doctor's visit, I'll have to continue forgoing caramel. I comfort myself that the LDL is 32 points less than two years ago.

I do recommend the olive oil apple cake that I baked last year and the year before. I wish that I could get some good apples.

[Joan Simpson]

Len the cake looks great,nice!

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I baked Bernard Clayton’s Dark Grains Bread, with some tweaks of my own. I used molasses, as he specifies, because honey, which I have substituted in the past, is more expensive. We have a good local person from whom we buy it, but I try to reserve it for eating (mostly my husband puts it on his oatmeal), and I use it sparingly in recipes. I really miss trips to T.J. Maxx, Ross, and Big Lots where I could buy a German honey that I would use in baking. This bread sometimes has more rise than at other times. I might try some gold yeast as part of the yeast next time.

Note: We cut it at lunch the next day. While it is a firm bread, it is not a dense loaf, so the rise is what it should be. The taste is terrific; the molasses blended in well.

[RiversideLen]

I had my brother over yesterday and he thought the apple cider cake was very good, once he learned the recipe calls for olive oil he wanted the recipe.

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