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On Sunday, I baked Leckerli, which is a Tyrolean holiday cookie. The recipe comes from McCall's Cooking School (#11), with a publication date of 1983/1984. Although Leckerli is considered a Christmas cookie, the cut-out hearts of this recipe remind me of Valentine's Day. The first time I baked it many years ago, I had a lot of problems with the dough, probably because I did not have the almonds ground evenly, and the dough also stuck to the waxed paper horribly. I may have baked them another time, although I do not recall doing so. The recipe requires candied lemon and orange peels, which became hard to find once King Arthur stopped carrying it. (It was back seasonally this year.) I had a jar of candied orange peel, and I found a jar of candied lemon peel in the Annex refrigerator. When my older bonus son stayed with us a couple of years ago, he had moved it, so last year, I thought that I had none. (Really, putting it in the butter holder in the door?) I ordered another bag to be ready for this year, and of course I then found it.
Instead of grinding unblanched almonds, I looked a the King Arthur weight chart and found out that 1 cup unblanched almonds weights 5 oz. or 142 grams. I needed 1 ½ cups, so I used 213 grams of Bob's natural almond flour (made with the skins). That certainly makes for a dough that is easier to roll. I divided the dough into fourths, as specified, but instead of rolling it out onto waxed paper, I cut half-sheets of parchment in half, which fits rolling it out to the specified 9 x 8-inch rectangle, although the eight inches takes it right to the edge. I put saran wrap over it to roll and for the required hour of refrigeration. When I cut the hearts, I moved out the trimmings, and left them on the paper, rearranging a bit for spacing, which I moved to a baking sheet, so there were two on each sheet. That works very well. My heart cutter is larger than the 3-inch specified, so I got six hearts per rectangle rather than nine. [Why do I never have the exact size of cutter a recipe specifies?!] I re-rolled the trimmings and ended up with 34 cookies--the last one being a smaller blob.
It was hard to know when they were baked. The recipe stated 8-10 minutes, and because mine were larger, I gave them 12 minutes. I had to let them cool a bit before removing them to a rack for the glaze. I baked them on parchment rather than directly on the baking sheet (recipe says ungreased baking sheet, so that may have affected them as well. They were a bit soft when moved but have firmed on cooling.
The recipe makes 46, so a slightly smaller cutter--mine was about 3 ½ inches--would be ideal. I thought that it used a lot of glaze for the baked cookies, so I made a half recipe, which was perfect. I did not do the decorating with candied red or green cherries (have none) and citron, but the cookies do not really need that unless one is out to do a showstopper presentation at a fancy party.
We will try the cookies with tea today, and I will post about the taste and texture.
February 11, 2024 at 5:01 pm in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of February 11, 2024? #41841We are among those who do not really care about the Super Bowl, so our dinner was leftover Pork Loin, barley, butternut squash, and kale from last night.
I like the variety of your pizzas, Len! You are an inspiration to all of us to expand our pizza horizons!
For Saturday's dinner, I made one of my favorite winter meals: Pork Loin Roast with Barley, Butternut Squash, and Kale. I had bought the roast from a local farmers' market vendor in the fall, but the vendor from whom I buy kale has not been coming. So, I waited until we went to the nearby town last Monday and bought organic kale at Kroger. I still have a supply of butternut squash. The roast was small, so we will not get more than an additional meal from it, but I can probably pair the barley, squash, and kale mixture with a different meat for a third or fourth meal.
We needed bread for tomorrow, so on Friday I baked my adaptation of King Arthur's Chewy Semolina Rye Bread in the Emile Henry long baker. I cut the salt by a third, but this time I used the full amount of yeast. As usual, I replaced 1 ½ cups of water with buttermilk and added 3 Tbs. special dry milk. I do not add dry onion or put the seeds on top, partly in deference to my husband, but also to allow the bread to work for a variety of fillings.
Dinner tonight was Salmon and Couscous with Greek Seasoning, accompanied by microwaved fresh broccoli.
Mike--While I'd like to be encouraging, I have to admit that I just don't understand the keto diet. It seems more a fad than rooted in scientific evidence. I will follow your attempt with interest.
The scones came out very well. I enjoyed one for breakfast, and my husband enjoyed one at lunch. He is sometimes iffy about dried fruit, but he liked these.
We finished the farro stir-fry with microwaved frozen peas.
We had leftover farro stir-fry for dinner on Wednesday. My husband likes it even better the second day.
I have a recipe for Cranberry Scones (no butter) that I adapted from Elizabeth Alston's book, Biscuits and Scones. I have used it as a basis for some other scone recipes. On Wednesday evening, I used it to make a cinnamon mixed fruit and walnut scone that I will start eating for breakfasts tomorrow. I decided to use dried fruit when I found a bag of mixed dried fruit blend from King Arthur in my baking stash that is a couple of years old and never opened. I tasted it, and it was fine, so I used a cup of it and ½ cup walnut pieces. I use half of the Irish flour from King Arthur and add some flax meal and milk powder and increase the buttermilk to ¾ cups. I use 1/3 cup canola oil in place of the butter. This time, I also added 1 tsp. of cinnamon. I usually bake the recipe in a Nordic Ware scone pan, but this time I formed the dough into eight balls, put them on a baking sheet, and flattened them slightly before sprinkling Penzey's Cinnamon Sugar over the top. I planned to bake them for 20 minutes but pulled them out thirty seconds early. I look forward to sampling one with coffee tomorrow.
An update on the Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Cake: Like every oil cake, the taste and texture improve the day after baking. It is no longer dry. I still think that the recipe needs some refinement, so I may bake it again at some point with a few more changes.
I made clam chowder for lunch on Tuesday and for the rest of the week. It is a light version that comes from a Betty Crocker cookbook that I have had for over forty years.
For dinner, I made a stir-fry with farro cooked in frozen turkey broth, leftover roasted chicken breast, and carrots, celery, red bell pepper, mushrooms, yellow squash, and a bit of thyme. We have enough for one or two more meals.
I also made yogurt today.
Joan--lentil soups are a favorite of mine. Yours sounds good. You actually don't have to soak lentils, and they usually cook within an hour, although I am sure that your longer cooking time let the spices permeate.
We finished the beef stew and cornbread for Monday night's dinner.
A recent King Arthur email featured as its bake of the week "Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Cake." I baked it today with a few changes. I substituted in 1 cup plus 2 Tbs. white whole wheat flour, added 1 Tbs. milk powder, halved the salt, and replaced the sour cream with Chobani nonfat Greek yogurt. I reduced the sugar from ¾ to 2/3 cups. I reduced the chocolate chips from 1/2 to 1/3 cup. I decided not to do the cinnamon-sugar sprinkle on a non-stick spray bottom and sides of a parchment-lined pan. I deleted the parchment and greased the pan, and I put all of the cinnamon sugar on top. The cake looks nice, but the taste is underwhelming. If I were to bake it again, I would use avocado oil rather than canola oil, since I can only get nonfat Greek yogurt here. The cake needs a bit more fat, as it is slightly dry. I also think that the cake part is too plain, and I'm not sure that having sugar and cinnamon on the bottom and sides would have fixed that plainness, since I put it all on the top, and it does not come through strongly. It needs more cinnamon, probably in the cake itself. The chocolate chips do not really belong except to break up the plainness; cinnamon chips would be a better choice. Even if I had followed the recipe completely, I think this snacking cake would be underwhelming. A bit of vanilla might help, which is a surprise since King Arthur recipes usually employ that ingredient liberally.
We had leftover beef stew and cornbread again.
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