I've been tinkering around with spreading out butter/sugar/cinnamon paste on waxed paper and freezing it. It looks like it has to be about 1/8" thick in order to be easy to handle while frozen.
I'm going to be testing making a small batch of fan tan rolls using some of the frozen paste in between layers, also brushing the dough with maple syrup.
Whether it's worth the extra effort remains to be seen. Chilling the dough after cutting it into strips might accomplish pretty much the same thing, I may try that with half the dough.
Fuji and Gala are good apples, but Honecrisp is a better apple, and so is Cosmic Crisp. Gala has a thicker skin than Honeycrisp (so much so that I almost always peel it) and Fuji is a bit sourer, though if you like a tart apple it is great. SweeTango is similar to Honeycrisp but has more sweetness up front and more of a tart aftertaste, which can be surprising.
But $3.99 a pound for apples is pretty steep, and I'll often go with Fuji or Braeburn instead. I strongly recommend peeling Braeburn.
(Almost ANYTHING would be better than Red Delicious, and even Granny Smith has gotten mediocre lately.)
I baked the last of the frozen maple/cinnamon fan tan rolls today, it doesn't seem to make much difference whether I thaw them overnight or just take them out of the freezer before turning the oven on and letting them sit during the oven's pre-heat cycle.
Now I need to play around with finding easier ways to make them.
Mike Nolan.
We had tacos.
Cold and rainy here today, as expected. I made chicken stroganoff.
Sunday and Monday it was just plain hot, temperatures got into the mid to upper 80's. Today it was back down into the 70's with a morning thunderstorm. Supposed to drop down into the 50's and 60's for the rest of the week and into next week.
I did bake bread yesterday and today, but had the windows open yesterday evening and all afternoon today to cool things down.
I made a batch of semolina bread today, then used several slices of it to make a simple pizza bread, spreading some tomato sauce on each slice and topping it with havarti and mozzarella cheese. Very tasty.
I've had muffins that were much sweeter than cupcakes, even ones with a thick layer of frosting.
I made two changes in the Ginsberg Jewish Deli Pumpernickel Rye bread, one intentional.
I was out of caramel coloring, so they're lighter than the first set of loaves, you can easily see how far down the sides the egg wash went, it's even lighter below that point.
I also forgot to put the 2nd sponge in the refrigerator overnight, so it sat on the counter for 14 hours before I mixed up the dough. That may result in a loaf with a more prominent sour taste, I'll know in a few hours. It did seem to rise more than the last batch, whether that's due more to not being refrigerated or the house temperature being a good 5 degrees warmer today is unclear.
I made the first two stages of the Ginsberg Jewish Deli pumpernickel recipe yesterday, I'll finish it today.
I will probably make more pumpernickel this week and another batch of semolina bread, since we're on the last half-loaf.
My rye starter is smelling a bit sweeter, I've been feeding it more frequently.
I am doing a small pre-sliced ham today. Well, I'll heat a few slices for me, my wife prefers hers without being marinated and baked.
Probably some potatoes au gratin, too.
Somehow I don't think crab stuffed shrimp (they must be big ones) is the 'easy' route, though.
King Arthur has posted instructions for making rye puff pastry (using rye and wheat flour) and several things you can make with it
I started a batch of sauerkraut today, probably about 9 pounds. We'll use it mainly for snacking, I suspect.
You could make a whole wheat flat bread or pita and cut it into wedges then bake it a second time into chips.
