Going to Texas to see my cousin. Her baby is being baptized so my sister and I are driving over and a few other relatives will be there too. I am so excited to see everyone that I decided to bake (of course! What else would I be doing?)
My family is Scottish and very proud of that. I figured that this was the perfect opportunity to make some Scotch shortbread. There are two recipes in Heatter's cookbook, one plain and one walnut. I decided to make both.
Figuring it would be easier I made the plain shortbread first. Needless to say, there was a lot of butter in the recipe. Everything was going fine until I took the cookies out of the oven. For some reason they all burned! I cannot for the life of me figure out why. I checked the temperature on the oven and it was reading normal.
Second batch I decided to bake them for a shorter period of time. This helped but some cookies still burned. I suppose this mystery will never be solved.
The walnut shortbread surprised me because it made significantly different proportions for the ingredients. I figured they would be a little bit different since the walnuts take up some space and all. But wow. I had to enjoy my favorite activity, chopping walnuts!! The cookies turned out better than the plain ones. I watched them like a hawk and made sure nothing burned.
So now my cookies will make their longest journey ever, to Texas
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
COOKIE FEST!
So today I had my YLC meeting (I always bring something tasty with me) and Elizabeth had book club (which she asked me to bake something for). Thus I decided to make not one, not two, but THREE different types of cookies today.
Type 1: Lady Fingers
I had never eaten, let alone made, a lady finger so I had no idea what I was doing. The batter was slightly sweet and fluffy. I had to use a pastry bag to draw little lines of soon-to-be-cookies on the sheet. Well I only had a decorating bag (a much smaller version of what I needed) and so I made a big messy. I had dough on my fingers, on the floor, the stove top. It was a sticky gooey mess. I must say that the lady fingers turned out really nicely. They looked so pretty with their light dusting of powdered sugar and they got plenty of compliments.
Type 2: Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
I am used to eating hard peanut butter cookies that last more like stale toast with peanut butter than anything else. These cookies were the complete opposite. There was a lot of roasted peanuts in the batter as well as the peanut butter. This made the flavor really intense and tasted really fresh. An easy cookie to make and always something people like.
Type 3: Swedish Jelly Slices
These have to be the best cookie I have ever eaten. They were a little complex to make but they turned out so yummy. Instead of forming individual cookies I made three long cookies, created a valley in the middle of each cookie, and filled it with apricot jelly. This was then covered with almond slices and baked. The apricot jelly was so perfect for these cookies. It wasn't to sweet and was a bit tart and did really well in the oven. When everything was done baking I drizzled a royal icing all over the almonds and jelly. The presentation was very nice. You cut the long cookies diagonally so the whole thing looks really fancy. I think these may become my signature thing to bake, you know if I ever need one...
Sorry there aren't any photos
Type 1: Lady Fingers
I had never eaten, let alone made, a lady finger so I had no idea what I was doing. The batter was slightly sweet and fluffy. I had to use a pastry bag to draw little lines of soon-to-be-cookies on the sheet. Well I only had a decorating bag (a much smaller version of what I needed) and so I made a big messy. I had dough on my fingers, on the floor, the stove top. It was a sticky gooey mess. I must say that the lady fingers turned out really nicely. They looked so pretty with their light dusting of powdered sugar and they got plenty of compliments.
Type 2: Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
I am used to eating hard peanut butter cookies that last more like stale toast with peanut butter than anything else. These cookies were the complete opposite. There was a lot of roasted peanuts in the batter as well as the peanut butter. This made the flavor really intense and tasted really fresh. An easy cookie to make and always something people like.
Type 3: Swedish Jelly Slices
These have to be the best cookie I have ever eaten. They were a little complex to make but they turned out so yummy. Instead of forming individual cookies I made three long cookies, created a valley in the middle of each cookie, and filled it with apricot jelly. This was then covered with almond slices and baked. The apricot jelly was so perfect for these cookies. It wasn't to sweet and was a bit tart and did really well in the oven. When everything was done baking I drizzled a royal icing all over the almonds and jelly. The presentation was very nice. You cut the long cookies diagonally so the whole thing looks really fancy. I think these may become my signature thing to bake, you know if I ever need one...
Sorry there aren't any photos
Sunday, September 27, 2009
We made a Duck!
Elizabeth and I are hosting our family for Thanksgiving. After seeing the movie Julie and Julia we decided to make a duck instead of a chicken. Since the recipe is really hard and involved we decided to do a few practice runs. The first of which was Saturday. The duck turned out beautifully. It took all day to cook (we didn't eat until 10 that night) but it was so worth it.
To go with the fancy dinner I made Queen Mother's Cake. It was a wonderful chocolate torte. Since a torte has no flour something else is used to bind everything together. In this case it was almonds. I had to grind the almonds into a very fine powder. Elizabeth still doesn't have a food processor but I did learn she has a chopping attachment for her stand mixer. So with a few simple twists I had a power tool of the kitchen variety.
The cake was wonderful and I plan on making it again!
To go with the fancy dinner I made Queen Mother's Cake. It was a wonderful chocolate torte. Since a torte has no flour something else is used to bind everything together. In this case it was almonds. I had to grind the almonds into a very fine powder. Elizabeth still doesn't have a food processor but I did learn she has a chopping attachment for her stand mixer. So with a few simple twists I had a power tool of the kitchen variety.
After the almond grinding the rest was easy. Well sort of. I burned the cake a little bit but I scrapped most of the burnt parts off and it tasted just fine. The chocolate icing was dark and rich and wonderful. To add to the fanciness of the evening I decorated the cake with homemade whipped cream (heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla) and raspberries.
The cake was wonderful and I plan on making it again!
Friday, September 25, 2009
I am a horrible blogger....but a pretty good baker.
Although it is now Friday, I haven't posted since Monday. I feel horrible (well not really since no one reads this... oh well) I will divide this long post into days to make things a little bit easier.
Tuesday
On Tuesday I made the trek to Winn-Dixie to buy all of my baking needs. I decided to stock up so I didn't have to go back every day I wanted to make something new. One hundred and fifty dollars later I am fairly well stocked. I bought in bulk. Two and half dozen eggs and a ten pound bag of flour...
After unpacking all of my new supplies I turned into a human food processor to make craters. Craters are this chocolate and walnut cookie that has almost no flour. It seemed simple enough but half way through the walnut chopping I wanted to cut off my arm.
Once all the chopping was done these cookies were actually really fun to make. There is no diary in them at all (read: NO BUTTER!!!) Two eggs are used to make the dough sticky. Which makes them hard to shape. First you spoon out little piles of dough and then over the course of an hour you flip them upside down a couple times. During this process the dough becomes easier to form so you can make them into little balls, coat them in powdered sugar, and then pop them in the oven.
They were a big hit at the meeting I took them too. Several people were skeptical about the lack of butter in a baked good but the result was a wonderful cookie. It seemed almost like a grown-up version of puppy chow.
Wednesday
On Wednesday I decided I was too hot to turn on the oven. I found a recipe that called for chilling the dough over night before baking it. This lead me to a cookie called a tea cake. They are an old fashioned cookie that is very simple and has no salt or flavorings. It took absolutely forever to prepare the dough. I had to sift five cups of flour and then add the flour in five separate additions.
The result was a ridiculously sticky dough that was nearly impossible to handle. It took a lot of scraping to get the gooey mess into containers and then into the fridge.
Thursday
Once the dough was refrigerated I thought it would be easier to work with. I was totally wrong. It was a nightmare rolling it out and then cutting it. The cutting might have been easier if I had a cookie cutter. Since my sister doesn't own any I had to use a glass. The glass wasn't as big as the recipe called for so some of the cookies were over cooked. The cookies that were baked properly tasted pretty good but the over done ones (not even burnt.....) were too hard to bite into.
My verdict on these tea cakes is that although they can be very yummy they are in no way worth the two days of misery and dough fits that come first.
No pictures of the tea cakes. I got cookie dough all over the fridge, I wasn't about to get it all over my camera.
Tuesday
On Tuesday I made the trek to Winn-Dixie to buy all of my baking needs. I decided to stock up so I didn't have to go back every day I wanted to make something new. One hundred and fifty dollars later I am fairly well stocked. I bought in bulk. Two and half dozen eggs and a ten pound bag of flour...
After unpacking all of my new supplies I turned into a human food processor to make craters. Craters are this chocolate and walnut cookie that has almost no flour. It seemed simple enough but half way through the walnut chopping I wanted to cut off my arm.
On Wednesday I decided I was too hot to turn on the oven. I found a recipe that called for chilling the dough over night before baking it. This lead me to a cookie called a tea cake. They are an old fashioned cookie that is very simple and has no salt or flavorings. It took absolutely forever to prepare the dough. I had to sift five cups of flour and then add the flour in five separate additions.
The result was a ridiculously sticky dough that was nearly impossible to handle. It took a lot of scraping to get the gooey mess into containers and then into the fridge.
Thursday
Once the dough was refrigerated I thought it would be easier to work with. I was totally wrong. It was a nightmare rolling it out and then cutting it. The cutting might have been easier if I had a cookie cutter. Since my sister doesn't own any I had to use a glass. The glass wasn't as big as the recipe called for so some of the cookies were over cooked. The cookies that were baked properly tasted pretty good but the over done ones (not even burnt.....) were too hard to bite into.
My verdict on these tea cakes is that although they can be very yummy they are in no way worth the two days of misery and dough fits that come first.
No pictures of the tea cakes. I got cookie dough all over the fridge, I wasn't about to get it all over my camera.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Carrot Loaf, my healthiest creation yet (only 1/2 a stick of butter)
Today was my first official day of baking for my blog. I was torn between baking all the recipes in order or just making whatever sounded good. The deciding factor was the amount of butter. There was only one stick left in the fridge and I really did not want to go buy more so I found a recipe that needed less than one stick of butter. I settled on making a carrot loaf. My brother-in-law, Stephen, really likes carrot cake so I thought he might enjoy a carrot loaf.
In order to make this dessert I had to grate three carrots. This turned into grating four finger nails. It is surprisingly hard to control a carrot and a grater.
I was a little nervous about how everything would turn out. For the first couple of steps the batter looked a tiny bit like vomit. Not exactly something appetizing...
As the cake baked this imagery was replaced by a wonderful smell. The cinnamon in the recipe really filled the house with good smells. Unfortunately the cake and the silicone pan I used were not an ideal match. The cake pushed out the sides while baking. Instead of a lovely symmetrical loaf I got an oblong mostly rectangular loaf.
Even though my carrot loaf did not look all that great it was pretty tasty. It was a nice fall dessert that was not too sweet. I am a little disappointed that Steve has not eaten any yet....
I'm going to make some sort of cookie tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have pictures to post as well
In order to make this dessert I had to grate three carrots. This turned into grating four finger nails. It is surprisingly hard to control a carrot and a grater.
I was a little nervous about how everything would turn out. For the first couple of steps the batter looked a tiny bit like vomit. Not exactly something appetizing...
As the cake baked this imagery was replaced by a wonderful smell. The cinnamon in the recipe really filled the house with good smells. Unfortunately the cake and the silicone pan I used were not an ideal match. The cake pushed out the sides while baking. Instead of a lovely symmetrical loaf I got an oblong mostly rectangular loaf.
Even though my carrot loaf did not look all that great it was pretty tasty. It was a nice fall dessert that was not too sweet. I am a little disappointed that Steve has not eaten any yet....
I'm going to make some sort of cookie tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have pictures to post as well
Sunday, September 20, 2009
My new experiment
I have recently discovered that I love to bake. This revelation although tasty, is a little disappointing. Since I am unemployed I have filled my days with yummy treats. My older sister keeps complaining that I am just making her fat with all the sweets. This statement seems in contrast with the suggestion she made on Friday.
A few weeks ago I went and saw "Julie/Julia" with my sister. The movie where a woman cooks all the recipes in Julia Child's French cookbook. Since I have been baking a lot my sister gave me a copy of Maida Heatter's Book of Desserts. She then made the suggestion that I attempt a "Julie/Julia" type experiment. Since Maida Heatter is the queen of desserts this the perfect way for me to learn more about baking and perhaps have some fun adventures to share in this blog...
A few weeks ago I went and saw "Julie/Julia" with my sister. The movie where a woman cooks all the recipes in Julia Child's French cookbook. Since I have been baking a lot my sister gave me a copy of Maida Heatter's Book of Desserts. She then made the suggestion that I attempt a "Julie/Julia" type experiment. Since Maida Heatter is the queen of desserts this the perfect way for me to learn more about baking and perhaps have some fun adventures to share in this blog...
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