[BakerAunt]

Re: Sheet Pan recipes. I find it easiest to do sheet pan recipes with chicken and either cut-up potatoes or cut up sweet potatoes. I've seen some with sausage I'd like to try, but my husband is a no-sausage person, so that's out.

When I did a pot roast in the oven, my husband finally realize why I prefer to do them there rather than in the crock pot: the answer is that I can add the vegetables later and not have them turn to mush.

When we were preparing to move, the toner went out in the printer, and I suspect that after we got here my husband took a long time to replace it in order to deter my recipe copying. I have tried to cut back on what I print, and I'm a lot more particular these days.

[BakerAunt]

Navylys--Once you are addicted to recipes, you cannot become unaddicted. The internet, as with many addictions, has only multiplied the problem. Here are my coping mechanisms:

I do not save quite as many when I make it a point to try an average of one or two new ones per week. Somehow that lets me know that I already have a lot. Now that I'm retired, I can make a dent in the pile.

I have become more selective. A recipe with a specialty ingredient that I will not use for anything else, or that requires expensive ingredients, gets left unclipped (whether digitally or manually). I do not bother with recipes that my husband is unlikely to eat, unless it is a soup or something I would make for just me. On the other hand, he has ended up liking foods he never thought that he would. He was convinced that the speculaas I recently made would be too spicy, but he has now eaten three and loves them.

Sometimes I look at the techniques and think: The recipe authors have got to be kidding. If it is too time-consuming, and I'm unsure of what the result would be, I do not save the recipe.

If the recipe will require a significant investment in new equipment that might not be used very much, that is a red flag, and I bypass the recipe.

I avoid most trendy recipes--which is all I see these days in the online Bon Appetit; it appears to be aimed at either brand new cooks or people who want to be making the latest food fad.

I still have a lot of recipes that I want to bake, but that is what makes it so exciting and purposeful whenever I go into the kitchen. Right now, I'm working on both my favorite Christmas recipes and trying some new ones. At the moment, Beatrice Ojakangas' Danish Sugar Pretzels (the original, not the KAF re-working) is calling me, and the notched rolling pin that arrived in the mail today is waiting for me to try Swedish Knakkebrod. I figure that it can be used for more than one recipe, and it beats repeatedly stabbing the dough with a fork.

Bake and Cook on, Fellow Recipe Addicts!

[BakerAunt]

Hi, Skeptic. I'm in northern Indiana. Of course, there can be variations in snowfall, even with places that are somewhat close, particularly with lake effect snow coming down from Michigan. My husband had to go to the next county (we are close to the line), and he reported that they had not had the amount of snow that we had.

Our dog was particularly bad when we first got her at 14 months with chewing and eating non-food items--and ended up with a surgery in one case. She has matured over the past few years. She actually has not purloined the amount of food that our previous dog, a mini-schnauzer managed to nab.

[BakerAunt]

Luvpyrpom--Yes, that maple shortbread holds the images well. I was very pleased with my maple leaves. I'm thinking of trying it with some small Christmas pie crust press cutters.

[BakerAunt]

Congratulations on the Butterhorns, Italian Cook!

This morning I baked Speculaas cookies from the dough I made last evening (see thread under dessert). This evening I baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Grape Nuts bread because we are out of bread, and my husband has been patient while I have done some other breads recently. I am continuing to experiment with the recipe I posted, this time by adding 1/4 cup barley flour. This bread always makes me think of Dachshundlady, who introduced us to it, and it makes me think of Rascals, who also enjoys baking it.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Ah, yes. springerle. I only tried baking them once, and that was before I had a stand mixer. There is a lengthy period of beating the eggs, so it's not a great idea with a hand mixer. The cookies did not come out that well, and they were very hard, which may be what they are supposed to be. I think people dunk them in milk, coffee, tea. However, I'm not a dunker. I didn't use the baker's ammonia. If I ever try them again, then I will invest in it (and hope that I can air the house before my husband smells it!)

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Tonight I made Salmon with Couscous and Dill for dinner. We had it with a side of peas.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, S. Wirth. I hope that Laura will look in again. (She was here recently to comment on Kasha.)
I am sad that her thread was lost. 🙁

House on the Hill used to sell springerle molds, but they no longer sell them directly. Molds must be ordered from third party sellers. However, I think that House on the Hill still has their recipes.

Fancy Flours carries a nice selection of molds, and most of mine come from there.

[BakerAunt]

My guess (I've not made bark before) is that if you want even-sized pieces, you should at least score it while it is warm rather than trying to cut it through completely.

[BakerAunt]

The remaining shows should have been aired. It is only fair to the other participants and to the viewers. I suspect that the advertisers were nervous that they would be boycotted.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: I had a similar issue with a butterhorn kind of recipe from The Great Scandinavian Cookbook. After the same thing happened with another recipe (which Cass thoughtfully balanced for me), I now know to hold back some of the water until I know that the dough can take it. It may be that the author measured her flour differently or used a different kind.

[BakerAunt]

Annie is an Australian Cattle Dog who weighs 40 pounds and can stretch out to a long length. She has been a bit bored since we had 8-10 inches of snow last Saturday, and an additional 3 inches or so yesterday morning, which curtailed our walks, in part because of ice. We don't have a fenced yard, so she has to be taken out on lead. We did have a fairly mild morning today so she got a walk. A tired Cattle Dog is a good Cattle Dog.

[BakerAunt]

My husband cooked pork chops tonight. I used the remainder of that quick-cooking barley, along with my homemade turkey broth, to make a pilaf with carrots, celery, garlic, red bell pepper, mushrooms, green onion, parsley, and poultry seasoning.

[BakerAunt]

According to my dog, she was just standing her ground. She reached up a paw, the 1/2 Tbs. of butter "attacked" her and would not let go, so she had to eat it!

[BakerAunt]

Tuesday evening, I baked Swedish Lucia buns to celebrate Saint Lucia's day on December 13. I never had the chance to know my Swedish grandmother, as she died when my father was an infant, so I try to recover some of those traditions.

The bake was not without incident. (See discussion thread about never turning your back on softening butter.) I have not baked this recipe for at least a year, and perhaps it has been two years. The basic recipe comes from Betty Crocker's International Cookbook, but I have played around with it over the years. I now use the special Gold yeast and substituted in a cup of white whole wheat flour. I've found that I also use a cup less flour (4 1/2 rather than 5 1/2) than in the book's recipe. I added 2 Tbs. potato flour because I have it and want to use it up. I'm not sure that I will order that ingredient again. They came out well, but they perhaps should have baked another minute or two. They are still good.

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