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Sorry, I should have put it in baking, so I deleted it here.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by
BakerAunt.
We had leftovers tonight, but I did saute some zucchini and mushrooms in butter and olive oil to go with them.
Cwcdesign--There is a recipe for Boston Cream Pie in Cook's special issue: Incredible Eggs. (I ended up buying this egg issue and was surprised to see a cake, but it does make some sense, given how many eggs go into the pastry cream.) I just bought it this week at my local CVS, so you might be able to get a peak at it in the store.
In another recipe for ice cream, they mention that using corn syrup with granulated sugar in ice cream "interferes with crystal formation," which produces a smooth surface. I assume that is also the case for the glaze.
I'd love to try making Boston Cream Pie, but I need a crowd to eat it, especially if my husband were to get wind of just how many eggs are involved. I'll have to wait for an occasion.
Note: This Cooks issue also has an interesting method of making pasta without a pasta machine that I plan to try.
Rascals--I'm glad you are back baking with us!
On Thursday, I tried a new recipe: Chocolate Chip-Toffee Scones, a recipe from the Fresh Cream Cafe in Ann Arbor, MI, which appeared in the RSVP recipe request section of Bon Appetit (September 1997). It is unusual in that it does not use butter but calls for whipping cream until stiff peaks form. I used heavy cream (and may have slightly overwhipped it). The only ingredient change I made was to substitute in 1 cup of barley flour. For the other 2 1/4 cups of flour, I used Gold Medal. Also, it called for 1/2 cup chocolate-covered English toffee bits. I used Heath toffee bits, which are not covered with chocolate, but since the recipe also uses 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, I felt that was not an issue. The recipe called for making a 12-inch circle and cutting into twelve triangles that are baked separately. I found it more prudent to make two 6-inch circles and cut each into six. I baked them an extra three minutes, since I use very heavy baking sheets. The scones have a very light texture when warm. (I had one with coffee.) My first impression is that the 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli) overpowers the rest of the ingredients. I might consider using only half a cup. I like warm scones, but I also like ones that are good at room temperature, since I usually bake for only two people. I will report on how these are tomorrow.
Addendum: The scones are delicious at room temperature. When I mentioned to my husband that the chocolate chips seemed to overwhelm them, he said, "Well, yes," which means he does not see it as a problem. Given how unusual this recipe is, I'm going to post it with my changes.
August 10, 2017 at 12:44 pm in reply to: Half and Half, Whipping Cream, and Heavy Whipping Cream #8493Today, I checked out containers of heavy whipping cream at Walmart and Kroger. One, I think it was Prairie, mentioned 35% milkfat, nary a mention of butterfat. None of the others, including the Kroger brand or Land of Lakes mentioned butterfat.
On Wednesday, I needed to address that we had been out of bread for two days. I baked the Clonmel Kitchen Double Crusty Bread. I replaced half the water with buttermilk and deleted the vinegar. I replaced the tablespoon of sugar with a tablespoon of honey. I used 2 tsp. regular yeast and 1 tsp. of the special gold yeast. I reduced the salt to 2 3/4 tsp. I substituted 2 cups of whole wheat flour for that much regular flour. (For regular flour, I used the King Arthur AP.) I also added 1/4 cup flax meal. I decided to try baking it as a single loaf in a Kaiser La Forme pan, which is slightly less than 12 inches long and is 4 1/4 inches wide across the top. I did slash the dough 30 minutes into the second rise, and I put it into bake a little less than ten minutes later. I spritzed it with water after putting it into the oven. I checked it after 40 minutes, and it registered 190F, so I baked it for another 5 minutes, at which point it "smelled" done. Other than a slight blowout along one side, which better slashing technique on top likely would have prevented, the loaf looks good. In shape, it resembles one of those standard long loaves from the grocery, but of course it is not as lightweight as those.
August 9, 2017 at 2:29 pm in reply to: Half and Half, Whipping Cream, and Heavy Whipping Cream #8482Mike--The brand is Dean's Country Fresh Dairy Pure. The other brand was one I'd not heard of before. All numbers on the side were the same--except I will check next time I'm at the local store to see if its servings per container is similarly incorrect. I wrote to Dean's, but have not heard back yet.
Thanks, Aaron for posting the link.
I might check out the dairy items at Kroger next time I'm in the larger neighboring town. There is also an Aldi's there, which did not impress me a couple of years ago, but I'll check it out again, as they are expanding, and friends here rave about them. I have to say that the bread from Aldi's that our friends served last night was actually good--a white bread with a crisp crust and the kinds of holes about which home bakers dream.
On another dairy note: I did not buy buttermilk at Walmart last week because it only had one brand, and the carton said either lowfat or reduced fat buttermilk. As buttermilk is supposed to be lowfat anyway, I did not trust it. In that case, I bought the Dean's buttermilk at the store in my town.
Thank you, S. Wirth for the good wishes.
On Tuesday, I baked the Sourdough-Cheese Cracker dough I made last week. My husband is thrilled to have crackers again. Next time, I'll do a double batch, but I wanted to let my sourdough starter recover a bit after the move.
August 9, 2017 at 7:19 am in reply to: Half and Half, Whipping Cream, and Heavy Whipping Cream #8474Here is what the nutrition label says:
Serving size: 1 Tbsp
Servings per container: 22I already see a problem, since it is a pint, which should be 2 cups, and there are 16 Tbs. in a cup.
Calories: 50
Calories from Fat: 50
Total Fat: 8%
Saturated Fat 3.5 g: 17% (percentages are % Daily Value)
Trans Fat: 0%Cholesterol: 20 mg 7%
Sodium 5 mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate: 1 g 0%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Sugars 0%
Protein 0 gVitanin A 4%
Calcium 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Iron 0%Yes--completely unhelpful.
When people can drive to Walmart, small town grocery stores close. There were once three grocery stores here, according to my husband, and there were two in the 1950s. There are two gas stations still going strong (both also convenience stores, and one has a Subway), probably because of the summer people and the private high school, with mostly boarding students, on the edge of town. I am grateful that an Ace Hardware opened after the independent one closed when the elderly owner retired, and no one wanted to buy the business. There is a CVS. A handful of restaurants, a seasonal Root Beer stand (food not as good as it once was), an excellent independent coffee shop, an ice cream shop, and a Dollar store, and two independent clothing/other stuff stores, and two "shabby chic"/antique places.
We were in Champaign-Urbana last weekend, so I stocked up on our favorite German honey at T.J. Maxx, as well as imported orange marmalade and my favorite German pickles at Tuesday Morning.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by
BakerAunt.
August 8, 2017 at 3:59 pm in reply to: Half and Half, Whipping Cream, and Heavy Whipping Cream #8466I only had the choice of two brands (ah, welcome to life in a small town with one grocery store), and neither stated butterfat amounts. The other numbers were the same. It says 5 grams of fat per Tablespoon or 5% of daily fat allowance. I bought Deans--which has the "dairy pure" on its label, which means they don't use hormones, and thus have to include an asterisk that there are no studies linking hormones given to cows with any health issues. I might look at the Dean's website.
https://www.dairypure.com/products/creamers/heavy-whipping
Hmm. It seems that they sell heavy cream and heavy whipping cream, and I bought the latter after seeing "heavy." That will teach me to read the entire label. However, the fat content was identical to the other brand available, as were the numbers.
I decided to submit a question. I'll report back on the answer I receive.
August 8, 2017 at 12:02 pm in reply to: Half and Half, Whipping Cream, and Heavy Whipping Cream #8462I bought heavy whipping cream at the store. However, nowhere on the carton does it say what the butterfat content is. Maybe it is the same as the fat content?
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This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by
BakerAunt.
Thank you, Joan and Italian Cook, for your good wishes.
Italian Cook, I've noticed when I use the Old-fashioned (regular?) oats in place of the Quick oats, in a recipe designed for quick oats, my cookies come out dry, and the oats are chewy in all the wrong ways. Perhaps when quick oats are used in place of regular, the opposite happens, and the cookies come out too greasy. So, your plan to reduce the butter should help you get the results you want.
I tried another experiment with a pork roast in the crock pot. The vegetables turned out well, but half of the pork roast (the upper part I think) did not cook through. We ended up putting the sliced meat and the vegetables into the microwave to finish. I am not going to do pork roasts in my crock pot anymore, since I cannot figure out how to keep them from either being overdone or undercooked. Maybe it is the age of my crock pot (about 30 years old). I'll stick to doing the occasional beef roast when it is hot. Otherwise, I'll use the oven.
I baked my blueberry pie this morning. Instead of cutting slits in the top crust, I used a small heart cutter and cut out three hearts. I put those on the pie. It will be our only blueberry pie of the season, since we were late getting to Indiana, and so we ended up picking the smaller, less juicy blueberries (the ones that were still green when the first ripe batch was picked). Even though we picked for two and a half hours, we only got 8 1/4 pounds. Except for the pie, and the blueberry hot cross buns I made, the rest will be frozen for my husband to use on his oatmeal (unless I steal some for blueberry muffins).
Instead of making slits in the pie crust, I used my smallest heart-shaped biscuit cutter and made three heart cut outs around the center. I put the cut-out pieces on top of the crust outside that circle. The pie is for our anniversary dinner, so hearts are appropriate.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by
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