What are You Baking the Week of September 15. 2019?

[navlys]

I took a "macarons" class and made vanilla macarons with buttercream, chocolate ganache and cookies and cream filings. Now I can appreciate why they are so expensive.

[Mike Nolan]

There's a macarons class at the local CC in October, I'm planning to take it. Good quality almond flour isn't cheap, and the fillings usually involve a heavy cream ganache.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I baked a recipe from the King Arthur site that I baked last year and found this year while I was paging through the cookies in my binder trying to find one with lower saturated fat. I wrote excellent on it last year: Zucchini Chocolate Chip Pecan Bars. To find it on the KAF site, you need to go to a blog, so here is the link. It appears a little further down, past the zucchini brownies and the zucchini chocolate chip cookies:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2015/07/07/zucchini-recipes?page=3&hierarchicalMenu%5Bcategory_lvl0%5D%5B0%5D=Cookies%20%26%20Bars&query=zucchini%20chocolate%20chip%20pecan%20bars

I used a bit more than 6 oz. zucchini (actually a summer squash that has a very long neck without seeds, then a bulbous bottom, so I used what I needed from the neck). I used the white whole wheat flour, but I added 2 Tbs. flax meal and ¼ cup BRM milk powder. I used 90g of large Ghirardelli chocolate chips (maybe about ½ cup or so—saturated fat is given for gram weights, so I weigh them). The ingredients come together very easily in the food processor. With my changes the whole batch has 28g saturated fat, which when cut into serving sizes is not that bad, and my younger stepson will happily help eat them!

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[navlys]

The lady that taught our class said that Costco had reasonably priced almond flour in a large bag of course. She also said that you should use domino confectionery sugar because the store brands usually have more cornstarch in the mix.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt;
The zuchinni chocolate chip pecan bars look great. I thought in another thread that your stepson wanted to eat nothing but pie.
I made a cheese pizza yesterday. Its now getting cool enough that I can use the oven to do proper cooking.
I bought a jar of green mole sauce, which is very tasty with pan fried chicken and okay with slow cooker chicken. I still have part of the jar left and was thinking of chicken pot pie with mole sauce. What sort of vegetables would you use? My normal vegetables for a pot pie are carrots and celery and onions, but that doesn't seem to fit a South Western theme and are a little boring besides.

[Italiancook]

skeptic7, my mother-in-law cooked authentic Mexican, but I don't. So all I can tell you is that she used green peppers in her Mexican food. I may be going out on a limb, but I think if she were making a chicken pot pie with mole, it'd have green peppers in it.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--my stepson is happily branching out after having eaten half of a blueberry pie. 🙂

On Friday evening, I started an experiment. I have a recipe for Maple Breakfast Buns that came out of Breads, Breads, and More Breads, a Pillsbury booklet from the 1980s. It has been a longtime favorite. Although it is titled “buns,” these are a roll with a brown sugar maple filling. Last time I made them, I worked in some white whole wheat flour (1 cup), added ¼ cup special dry milk, added 2 Tbs. flax meal, and used the special Gold yeast. The results were good, but I want to get the rolls a bit lighter in texture and increase their keeping quality. I substituted in ¾ cup buttermilk for that much water and pre-soaked the ½ cup of oats in it. I also added a egg, which meant that I ended up needing about 3 Tbs. more flour; I put in 2 Tbs., and it was slightly sticky but ok to pat out and shape. After the dough rises, I will make the filling and shape it, then refrigerate overnight and bake it in the morning.

The regular filling is 1/2 cup brown sugar plus 1/2 tsp. maple extract. I wondered about using maple sugar, which would not have been readily available when the recipe was published, but after looking at some internet recipes, I'll stick with the regular filling.

After I bake them tomorrow, however, I may try the maple syrup glaze that KAF has for one of its doughnut recipes.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

The rolls rose well in the refrigerator overnight. I do not regret using the gold yeast. They were ready to go into the oven as soon as it reached temperature, and I baked them for 25 minutes. I used too small of a pan (a 10x10 rather than a 13x9), so we had very squished together rolls. Next time, if I want to make more than 12, I'll roll the dough up from the long side.

For a glaze, I used 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 Tbs. of 1% milk, and 2 Tbs. maple syrup. When I couldn't taste the maple flavor, I added 1/8 tsp. maple extract, and that did the trick. the filling seemed to bake into the rolls. My husband, my stepson, and I managed to devour about half a pan. (Hey, we all know that they are best when freshly baked and slightly warm!.)

Although I said that I would only do one test run of a recipe, I'm going to try the Snails recipe from the cousin's collection, sneak in some white whole wheat flour and flax meal, and replace the 4 Tbs. of butter with at least 3 Tbs. oil. For the filling, I have looked at a recipe in The Red Star Centennial Bread Sampler. It uses 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 2 Tbs. sugar, and 2 tsp. cinnamon. I will also look at some other cookbooks, including the Fleischmann's ones I have. I won't butter the dough before adding the filling. I'll spritz it with water before and after I sprinkle on the filling.

[BakerAunt]

I’ve had a busy Saturday afternoon in the kitchen. I baked Cinnamon Biscotti (KAF recipe). I have a LOT of cinnamon chips that need to be used up, but since their saturated fat content is high (and KAF does not sell them anymore), I have cut back on what I use. However, these biscotti are going back to Texas with my younger stepson, so I used the full amount. I tasted some crumbs, and it reminds me of how delicious these are and makes me nostalgic for the days when it wasn’t a problem for me. I also baked another batch of my version of Ken Haedrich’s Whole-Wheat and Oatmeal Zucchini Bread. I again made it as 5 small loaves. I will send some back with my stepson and freeze the rest.

[RiversideLen]

I made an apple pie. I think it's the first pie I've made this year. I blind baked the bottom crust per America's Test Kitchen way, foil over the crust overhanging the sides, with a lot of pie weights (I used 2 pounds) at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. I seasoned the apples (golden delicious) with a teaspoon of cinnamon and about 1/4 tsp of fresh grated nutmeg, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and a heaping 1/4 cup of brown sugar. I cooked the apples in a skillet with a little butter and olive olive oil for about 10-15 minutes, removed the apples and reduced the liquid a little. Used 2 tbsp tapioca to thicken it. I assembled the the pie when the pie dish was just cool enough to handle. I baked the pie at 400 degrees for 55 minutes. I overbaked it by about 5 minutes but it still came out nice. I just had a slice, it's delicious.

Very often my pies made in the Emile Henry pie plate the bottom crust is not browned enough so that is why I blind baked the bottom crust. This worked out great, I'm always going to do it this way from now on.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by RiversideLen.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by RiversideLen.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by RiversideLen.

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[Joan Simpson]

RiversideLen your pie looks great,glad you liked the way the crust baked up.

[BakerAunt]

I agree--Len's pie is lovely, and from what he says, tasty!

Since I started using oil crusts, I've had to prebake the bottom crust, and I also have found that the crust stays crisp. Pre-cooking the fruit a bit also helps.

[RiversideLen]

Thank you Joan and Baker Aunt. While I normally make an oil crust (started using Jenny Jones recipe last year) I was lazy and used a store bought refrigerated crust. Those things really aren't bad but an oil crust is pretty easy to make and probably a bit healthier. Speaking of being lazy, I also didn't peel the apples. But I don't mind that. The peel is supposed to be where most of the vitamins are.

Does anyone make a pumpkin pie in which the pumpkin mixture is precooked? I'd like to give that a try.

[BakerAunt]

Len--I make my version of my mother's pumpkin pie by pre-cooking the filling ingredients--except for the eggs. Once the mixture is starting to bubble, I take it off the heat. I put a little in a small bowl, then whisk in the first egg. I return that mixture to the main pot, then whisk in the rest of the eggs. I found this technique in a Cooks' Illustrated, and the result is a pumpkin pie that bakes evenly and faster.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, don't like either the taste or the texture. (Aside from a few dishes like ratatouille, I don't eat much squash. I like spaghetti squash, but my wife thinks it is too high in carbs.)

I'll make a pie crust for one if my wife wants one for Thanksgiving (she'll make the filling using her mother's recipe which is not all that different from the one on a can of pumpkin puree), but I generally don't eat dessert then, I'd rather fill up on turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, etc.

My mother made a sinfully decadent dessert for holidays using angel food cake, English walnuts, melted chocolate chips and Dream Whip. I much preferred that over pumpkin pie. I tried making it with Cool Whip once, it doesn't come out the same.

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