[BakerAunt]

I'm sure that I have read about this information. That is why I answered correctly.

[BakerAunt]

I'm not a cookie dunker--biscotti or any other type. I will eat cookies with coffee or tea. I prefer coffee with cookies where chocolate is involved. I miss shortbread and buttery sugar cookies, so I need a cookie that will work in its place and be lower in saturated fat. I've got a few, but I hope to continue expanding my repertoire.

[BakerAunt]

In the end, I like my biscotti with some oil. So, I will skip the KAF ones. I will be trying some oil substitutions in some of my butter biscotti recipes.

[BakerAunt]

I chose one correct and one incorrect answer. I knew of one ingredient, but the second surprised me.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--Thank you for posting about your olive oil chocolate chip cookies. I've been toying with the idea of trying an oil-based chocolate chip cookie. (Of course, the chocolate chips, with their saturated fat, are part of the issue for me.) I have a couple of comments:

You might want to reduce the oil to 2/3 cup. Usually 1/3 cup oil is the substitute for each 1/2 cup of butter. I try to mix in some milk powder with the dry ingredients, as I do with my sourdough crackers, since I think it gives a better flavor, but that may just be me, and you may not be able to use that ingredient. (I use Bob's Red Mill because it is finely ground, but the regular granules could be ground in a small food processor.)

When I make an oil pie crust, I use some buttermilk in place of the oil because, again, I think it improves the flavor and reduces the oil a bit. I follow their directions of beating the oil and buttermilk (or regular milk) together to make a "creamy emulsion" before mixing it with other ingredients. When I've made a cake, I've done that also before beating in the sugar, then the eggs. For a cake, I mix in the flour at a very low speed or by hand.

The directions for the oil-based pie crust say that after putting it in the pan, it is good to refrigerate it for about an hour because it helps relax the gluten. It says not to refrigerate it in a mass and then try to shape it, so your decision to go ahead and scoop them was good. I'm wondering if refrigerating the scooped dough, then freezing the balls before packaging, might solve the issue of the balls forming one large mass.

Another possibility: I bought the following item from King Arthur:

https://shop.kingarthurflour.com/items/cookie-dough-freezer-trays

I have not used them yet, but if I do bake some chocolate chip cookies, the best way to control how many are eaten at a time would be to freeze some of the dough, so I plan to try them. At least with these, the dough balls will not clump.

Your experiment with oil-based cookies encourages me to try some, so thank you!

[BakerAunt]

I know that popcorn needs moisture content to pop. I had heard that it should not be refrigerated but kept in a tightly closed jar. I guessed the correct answer, maybe because I'm the only one who eats popcorn in my house. I pop it in a Whirly Pop on the stove top in a bit of canola oil. Sometimes a big bowl of popcorn, along with some soup, makes a meal.

I wonder if the research team also got to watch movies as they worked?

[BakerAunt]

Oops: I became confused and forgot that the higher number is the more experienced baker. Clearly it is bed time.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I’m baking the King Arthur Whole Grain cookbook’s Maple Granola, but using the tweak posted online in their recipes of reducing the oil to ½ cup and adding ½ cup milk powder. (I use Bob’s Red Mill, not the KAF special dry milk.) I also add 2/3 cup pumpkin seeds.

Chocomouse--Welcome Back! For the frosting/glaze, I used 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 Tbs. 1% milk, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla. My husband says, "Don't change a thing!" I drizzled it on about twenty minutes after I took the rolls out of the oven.

NOTE: I meant granola, not biscotti, and have changed the post to reflect that. (Yes, I've also had biscotti on my mind.)

• This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: I corrected an absentminded error

[BakerAunt]

Follow-up: The cinnamon rolls are yummy. I may cut back the glaze by using just 3/4 cups of powdered sugar next time, but they are certainly delectable, and in MHO, definitely Level 1. 🙂 Now we'll see if they pass the Cousins Test at the reunion.

Oops: Mike just reminded me in a post down below that I should have said Level 3.

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

[BakerAunt]

I know this one because I had thought about it before and had realized that Mike usually makes stock, and I usually make broth.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday evening, I made up another double recipe of my lower saturated fat version of Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I’ll bake the crackers in a few days.

I also am experimenting with another cinnamon roll recipe to see if it will work for my husband’s family reunion. My plan is to take along my bread machine. I modified his aunt’s Snails recipe, which was, from what I can tell, a recipe that she herself often varied. I substituted 1 cup of white whole wheat flour and added 2 tbs. flax meal and ¼ cup special dry milk. I replaced ¼ cup of shortening with 3 1/3 Tbs. canola oil. I used 3/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup water in place of 1 cup milk. I also used the special gold yeast. It had no filling but was often used with one by her daughters, so I combined 1 cup light brown sugar and 1 ½ Tbs. cinnamon. I spritzed the dough before covering it with the mixture (except for about ½ inch at the end), then spritzed it again and used the back of a spoon to push it down into the dough. I’ll let it rise overnight and bake it in the morning.

[BakerAunt]

I put my post in the wrong week, so I've deleted it.

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

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Tuesday, I roasted some cut-up chicken pieces we found on sale. As is now my custom, I roasted them on a rack in the roaster pan. I miss the ease of sheet-pan chicken meals, but the rack keeps the chicken our of fat drippings. I still line the roaster with parchment, however, so the rack is the messy part of the clean-up, even though I try to spray it with olive oil cooking spray before using.

On Wednesday, I made the Cooks’ Illustrated All-American Potato Salad that is our favorite. My husband cooked boneless pork chops, and we had microwaved peas.

[BakerAunt]

I also worked out the correct answer.

[BakerAunt]

Hi, Skeptic--I'm doing it for health reasons. I have been told by the doctor that I need 1200 mg of calcium per day. While I agreed to take 300mg as a supplement, along with 2000mg of Vitamin D, current guidelines state that it is best to get as much calcium as possible from food rather than supplements. I said no to an additional 300 in supplements and said I would make sure that I got it in my diet.

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

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