BakerAunt
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It's good to hear that your wrist is continuing to heal, CWCdesign. Coming back from an injury always seems to take so long.
I agree about kneading in the bread machine; it really helps with multi-tasking in the kitchen.
February 15, 2021 at 10:41 pm in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of February 14, 2021? #28637Georgia Rolls--sounds like you have an award-winning recipe, Joan!
On Monday, I made the dough for another batch of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers (aka Baker Aunt’s crackers). I will bake them at the end of the week,
When we went to Kroger two weeks ago, I was able to buy blood oranges. I used three to bake Chocolate Olive Oil Cake with Blood Orange Glaze on Monday evening. I made this recipe last year and raved about it at Nebraska Kitchen. I again substituted half white whole wheat flour. This time, I dared to use the olive oil. As I did last year, I reduced the oil from 1 1/3 cup to 1 cup and used buttermilk which I increased from 1/3 to 2/3 cup. I baked the recipe in two six-cup Bundt pans, one the traditional and the other a swirl. I will freeze the traditional one, along with some of the blood orange juice to glaze it. The other cake I will glaze for dinner tomorrow. It makes the most beautiful pink glaze. My husband suggested that since he will be shoveling snow most of tomorrow morning (it has been coming down since late afternoon and is supposed to continue until around 2 a.m. tomorrow), maybe we should consider slicing the cake at lunchtime, as he will have earned it.
February 14, 2021 at 5:18 pm in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of February 14, 2021? #28621For Valentine’s Day dinner, I made Tarragon Chicken, Mushrooms, and Rice, which we had with microwaved frozen mixed vegetables.
We have had snow on and off all afternoon, with temperatures around 14F. Our area has a winter storm warning, which means my husband has brought extra wood into the house just in case we lose power.
I began Saturday by baking a double recipe of the maple cookie recipe that I developed (no butter and low in saturated fat). My husband has pronounced them his favorite cookie.
I also baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Whole Wheat Grape Nuts bread, a favorite of my husband. I tweaked it slightly by increasing the special old yeast to 1 ½ tsp., which I combine with 2 tsp. regular yeast. I also increased the buttermilk from 1 2/3 to 1 ¾ cup. I started it in a 380F oven, then dropped the temperature to the usual 350F to see if I could get greater oven spring in this more whole wheat version, but the difference was marginal.
On Saturday I made another batch of yogurt.
Saturday dinner was a stir-fry with farro, carrots, celery, dried onion, parsley, some pork drippings I had frozen, and the rest of the pork roast I cooked earlier this week.
We had another inch of snow last night.
Lebkuchen and Leckerli appear to be interchangeable as names. I've actually made Leckerli from a McCall's Cooking School magazine (at the moment, I cannot find those) about 30 years ago. The recipe called for cutting them out as hearts, and oh, it was hard to work with that dough, but the results were stunning. I took them to a book group I belonged to at the time, and people were very impressed.
I have considered making Dorie's recipe (same one that is in her book), as it is one of the few non-butter recipes. I was deterred by not having the Grand Marnier--and not wanting to spend $20 for a small bottle of it. It could probably be left out.
I thought that I had seen Dorie's recipe in an email, so I looked. Here it is:
https://food52.com/recipes/65857-leckerli
Here is her complete discussion:
https://food52.com/blog/18541-the-15th-century-christmas-cookie-patisseries-make-all-year
I think that Dorie Greenspan has a recipe in her cookies baking book.
I suspect that there is variation depending on the recipe and where it originated in Germany. I've found that to be true for Pfeffernusse.
Your rolls sound wonderful, Joan!
Blueberry Cobbler!
Condolences on the dropped starter, Aaron. That would be my nightmare.
You might also ask where your co-worker where the recipe comes from. I assume the person was looking for a gluten-free dessert. I have a hazy memory of an email with a recipe for such a cake that I dismissed due to the number of eggs and the fact that I do not need to be gluten free.
I have heard some gentle murmuring from my husband about lack of dinner desserts. Before you feel too sorry for him, there were some oat bars, some mini-York Peppermint patties (including heart-shaped ones), frozen vanilla yogurt, and my butternut squash muffins, so he does have some variety, but clearly he wanted a more substantial dessert, and the oat cookies and muffins are now gone. Thus, on Wednesday, I baked my Lime Barley Bundt cake, using two of the limes that came from my tree. I drizzled it with some lime glaze and sprinkled some red, pink, and white sprinkles on it for an early Valentine’s appearance, as I have all of this decorating sugar and sprinkles that I have not used very much since having to give up baking sugar cookies.
Aaron--the recipe reminds me of a biscotti recipe, in which case, it's supposed to be dry. Is it by chance what one of my friends baked and called Mandelbrot?
On Tuesday, I cooked “Pork Loin Roast with Barley, butternut Squash, and Kale.: The original recipe uses Swiss Chard and is titled that way, but I substitute the kale as its calcium is available, whereas Swiss Chard binds calcium. The recipe is from Cooks Illustrated and is on their website and also appeared in a special fall collection magazine a few years ago. I last made the recipe almost a year ago for Valentine’s Day, and I wrote at that time about the problems with the recipe, which three other people who posted at the Cooks Illustrated website also noted, specifically, getting the roast cooked through at the temperature and in the time the author claimed it should take. Based on my experiences with three different ovens, I set the oven to 325F rather than 250F and assumed 40 minutes. That was close, as it needed just another five for the center to cook to a suitable temperature. I feel that I finally have this recipe—that is delicious—worked out so that it cooks properly. I would post the change at Cooks Illustrated website, but I only had a free trial membership when I bought my stove, and it ended months ago. I recommend the recipe.
Chocomouse--The maple syrup arrived this morning. All the bottles did fine in the shipping.
Sigh--Penzey's had a great sale this weekend of $50 gift cards for $35.
I haven't bought vanilla for a while. I still have my vanilla stash (probably because I had to give up most butter!), including 1 1/2 bottles of a funky one I picked up at T.J. Maxx from Rose & Ivy. That was a few years ago at the start of the vanilla shortage. It has a bit of a floral note that I am not crazy about, but it works in recipes where other spices come into play.
The December before the pandemic, I was in a T.J. Maxx and there was a bottle of the Nielsen-Massey at a great price, so I grabbed it. My husband, who was along, said, "Do you need it?" My reply: "I will--and no one should pass up the chance to score vanilla at a good price."
I'm sorry that I do not have any suggestions.
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