[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I routinely freeze chocolate chip cookie dough, and they turn out fine when baked. I use the recipe on the back of the Ghiradelli bittersweet chips package. I scoop the dough onto waxed paper-lined cookie sheets (the 1/4 cones so they'll fit in the freezer). I "flash freeze" them for 1 hour. Then I package 12 dough balls per quart freezer bag and put them into a gallon freezer bag. I write the baking direction on the plastic so I don't have to search for the chips bag when I want to bake them. I put them in the oven frozen and have never been disappointed with the results.

This won't work for oatmeal cookies. That dough will not spread. The end product is a cooked lump of dough. So I doubt it'd work for oatmeal chocolate chip dough.

It also won't work for peanut butter cookies made with Crisco. Someday I'm going to try it with these cookies made with butter.

This freezing method also doesn't work for shortbread-type cookies.

For all those cantankerous cookies, I bake the cookies, put them in a freezer container and heat them in the microwave to thaw them.

I don't know that baking soda or powder play a role in this. A KAF rep told me it was the butter content, but I wonder about that, because peanut butter cookies have plenty of fat.

[Italiancook]

Oh my! Thanks, Mike for this warning. I'll make sure I include this information in the letter I leave. I don't have anything that would warrant an auction, but there will be ads, tables, staff, etc. I went to an estate sale where even unopened toothpaste was for sale. It went for 50 cents.

[Italiancook]

ummmmm . . . BakerAunt I never thought about your family's experience. It's something to ponder as I check around. Thanks for sharing.

On a different subject, I'm going to make the Welsh Cakes (KAF's) tomorrow or Friday. I don't own a griddle. My parents made them in a skillet, but I can see where the work would go faster with a griddle.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, cwc, for your information. It's helpful. I posted this last night, but it didn't "take."

Mike, thanks for your input, too.

[Italiancook]

Mike, I make my Italian Beef from a recipe in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE while we lived there. It uses rump roast, but I don't know if rump is also round.

I don't own a slicer. Every meat market that has sold me the rump roast always agreed to slice it free of charge. I cook the roast, refrigerate it overnight wrapped in foil, then take it back to the meat market. They slice it paper thin. After they wrap up the slices, I bring it home and marinate it overnight. Of course, I make sure they agree to slice it when I order the meat. I've never had a butcher refuse in any city.

Admittedly, taking it back to the meat market adds a step, but I don't think I could slice it as paper thin as they do in Chicago by hand.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Italiancook.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Cwcdesign, I smiled when I read your post. Marketing is everything. If you have time, please tell me how you found the person to manage your yard sale. While I expect to live for a long time, I've been cleaning out the house of items I know I can live without. I want to leave written information for the relative about who to call to manage our estate sale after we're gone. I really don't want to look on Craigslist, and I'm unsure I'd feel comfortable with Googling for a name. Is there some other way to find an estate sale manger?

[Italiancook]

I agree with you, BakerAunt. It is cute. Interesting find for only 50 cents. I prefer estate sales as compared to garage sales. I think estate sales lend themselves to better finds.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, cwcdesign & luvpyrpom for zeroing in on the flour issue. I don't know enough about baking to have figured this out.

BakerAunt, I appreciate the KAF link.

Luvprpom, you're right the Welsh Cakes and "cookie" recipe are similar. I think I'll try the KAF recipe first to have a feel for what the right recipe tastes like. My family may have simply been making them wrong all those years. After I make the KAF cakes, I'll work with the family recipe and see where it goes. cwcdesign's suggestion of weighing the flour is probably a good idea for Grandma's recipe. It'll probably be a week or two before I have time to try KAF's recipe, but I'll report back with my results.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Today, I baked a double batch of Peanut Butter cookies and a single recipe of KAF Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. It was my first time making the KAF recipe. Worked just fine. Recipe calls for 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips. It says you can use just a bag of chips. I had a bag of bittersweet choc. chips, so I used that. I think that was plenty of chocolate; I probably will never use the 3 cups. The recipe says this is a good cookie for ice cream sandwiches. I didn't have any ice cream, but I tend to think KAF is right on that.

Earlier in the week, I made KAF Easy Cinnamon Bread. I froze it as slices. Their recipe calls for letting the dough rise for an hour. I never do that. I much prefer the texture of baking it right after mixed.

[Italiancook]

Other than making a pot of green beans with ham and potatoes, we ate mostly plain proteins. Plain means that I didn't doctor it. At the beginning of the week, I prepared vegetables to be microwaved for the meals. I thought I was doing a healthful thing, but today I realized they all had unhealthy fats.

I added butter to the acorn squash. I browned the cut Brussel sprouts in bacon grease and braised them with the grease in the skillet. I dotted the broccoli with butter before microwaving it. I sautéed the mushrooms in butter. At least I cooked all the veggies without salt, so the only salt we ate was from the bacon.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike. You have given me valuable information to think about. I probably won't rush into this purchase now. I'll make a trip to the store and ask the salesperson questions related to what I've learned from you.

[Italiancook]

Happy belated birthday, Mike.

[Italiancook]

I checked the Penzey's (spelling?) website. I noticed they offer double vanilla extract with twice the amount of beans. Has anyone tried this? Is it worth the extra money?

Mike, do you think the Sam's McCormick vanilla is the same strength as at a regular grocery store?

In all my decades of shopping at Sam's, I've never noticed vanilla on the shelves. When I read that you buy yours there, Mike, I called Sam's to see if they sell it in my area. They do. Now I'll have to go on an adventure and search it out.

I have always used McCormick's for the simple reason that I didn't know any other supplier. I know KAF has it, but I was never sure I wanted the type of alcohol theirs uses.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for asking, BakerAunt. I've been ill. Much better now. I have read and enjoyed all the posts -- kept up with that.

[Italiancook]

I didn't bake anything. Early in the week, maybe Sunday, I developed what I thought was an allergy to tomatoes. The problem persisted even when I backed away from the wonderful tomatoes from the farmer's market. Today, I Googled and discovered I may have something related to a chronic health problem. I hope to return to baking on Tuesday.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Italiancook.

[Author]

Posts