What are you baking today? | 2014

[Addie]

Some close to expiration date cream cheese is now a cheesecake for DH. I used the recipe on the Philly package. Easy. It turned out good. I rarely eat sweets anymore but I did try a piece. Didn't want DH to be poisoned. LOL It tasted too sweet for me, since my body is not used to sugar, but DH says it's fine, and has some frozen strawberries to put over it. Christmas is coming....gotta keep the old guy happy.

Carol, anytime I take even a small bite of something with sugar, I can not take a second bite. You get so used to not having sugar, that you notice immediately when it is in something you eat.

Being a new diabetic, Steve is having a bit of problem with that. But in time he will get used to eating right. It just takes time. And not eating sweets will become a second nature to him, just like it has for the rest of us diabetics. I have to be the worst diabetic on earth. I don't eat any sweets except my Peeps. Four is my limit. That only happens once a year. And by the fourth one, I have had enough to make me sick. And I stay away from carbs 90% of the time. If I have a potato, it is a small one and baked. I pick them out of the soup and allow myself only one or two bites. I eat mostly meat and veggies.

And I am never afraid to tell anyone offering me a food that I know is not on my list of edibles, "Sorry, but I am a diabetic and I can't have that." And if you want to see me get angry real quick, insist that I take just a bite.

 

[CWS4322]

Trying to decide if I'm going to make the dough for Springerle tonight or not. First I have to run to the store and get some Anise extract. My friend's grandma used to make them and I have her recipe. She would roll them out and let them dry overnight, bake the next day. I've been looking at other recipes for Springerle cookies. Not all do that. Any Springerle bakers on DC? If so, any other extracts used?

 

[GotGarlic]

I made them for the first time last year from my MIL's recipe. That was because DH gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer the Christmas before. Her recipe calls for beating the ingredients by hand for 30 minutes Sorry, I'm not doing that for cookies.

Anyway, I think the reason for letting them dry overnight is to make sure the shapes from the rolling pin will still be visible after baking. I made them with anise extract, as is traditional. Cardamom might be interesting.

 

[Addie]

I made them for the first time last year from my MIL's recipe. That was because DH gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer the Christmas before. Her recipe calls for beating the ingredients by hand for 30 minutes Sorry, I'm not doing that for cookies.

Anyway, I think the reason for letting them dry overnight is to make sure the shapes from the rolling pin will still be visible after baking. I made them with anise extract, as is traditional. Cardamom might be interesting.

What a great guy. That is one time when you don't mind getting a present that stays in the kitchen. Happy baking!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Monday was National Brownie Day. Or so I heard. I was going to bake brownies, using one of my new bags of Penzeys cocoa. Wha..??? How could I possibly misplace two (2!) bags of cocoa? I looked and looked and LOOKED. No luck. Later, when putting groceries away on the basement shelves, one of the bags bit me. Seriously, I looked past the two bags two or three times. Even holding the basket with my baking supplies in my hand once! I swear I'm losing my mind. Just so long as I can keep my wits about, I'll probably make brownies tomorrow. Why should I make brownies on time for National Brownie Day? I usually don't get my Christmas cards out in the mail until after the 25th anyway...

... Any Springerle bakers on DC? If so, any other extracts used?

My Mom used to make them. I think she used anise all the time. The only reasons I liked the cookies were for the pretty raised pictures, and when I was a kid Mom let me dip the cookies into coffee heavily laced with sugar and milk. She didn't want any of us breaking a tooth on the darned things!

 

[Addie]

I really need to get back into baking. But no one in my family is craving sweets lately. Perhaps if I make the chocolate cake, it will entice them to polish off their sweet tooth.

 

[CarolPa]

Yesterday I made the dough for my apricot horns, and will bake them today. They will join the Chocolate Chip cookies in the freezer. Then today I will make dough for a different cookie to be baked tomorrow. This will continue until I can't fit anymore cookie containers in the freezer.

Addie, when I am offered something I don't want I just say "No thank you." I don't add that I am diabetic, because they will say "A little bit won't hurt you. I have an uncle, (or cousin or brother) who is diabetic and he eats sweets." If they insist, I offer to take it home. They have no idea what I do with it once I leave their house. My mother-in-law would set pie in front of me even though I said I didn't want it. When she complained that I didn't eat my pie, I told her "I told you I didn't want any." I guess that was mean, but I didn't want her to think that she could manipulate me into eating something against my will. She liked DH's first wife. LOL

 

[Addie]

Yesterday I made the dough for my apricot horns, and will bake them today. They will join the Chocolate Chip cookies in the freezer. Then today I will make dough for a different cookie to be baked tomorrow. This will continue until I can't fit anymore cookie containers in the freezer.

Addie, when I am offered something I don't want I just say "No thank you." I don't add that I am diabetic, because they will say "A little bit won't hurt you. I have an uncle, (or cousin or brother) who is diabetic and he eats sweets." If they insist, I offer to take it home. They have no idea what I do with it once I leave their house. My mother-in-law would set pie in front of me even though I said I didn't want it. When she complained that I didn't eat my pie, I told her "I told you I didn't want any." I guess that was mean, but I didn't want her to think that she could manipulate me into eating something against my will. She liked DH's first wife. LOL

I think everyone who knows me, knows by now that I am diabetic. So I don't get to many offers for sweets anymore. I have been told all the stories of those uncles, cousins, etc. also. I also get, "Are you sure you don't want any?" I really want to get nasty and mean by then and ask them, "What part of the word 'No' don't you understand?" But I hold my tongue and refuse a second and third time. Usually by then someone will come to my rescue and tell the hostess "She said no!" They often take your refusal as an insult to their cooking.

Your MIL may have liked DH's first wife better than you, but DH likes you better than his first wife. That makes you the winner.

 

[CWS4322]

I may not bake today, but I've made my list and have a plan (and identified some people with whom to share the cookies...I don't eat sweets, but have the urge to bake this year). We are getting ready for 2, maybe three snowy days. I figure it will be a good time to bake since I'll be snowbound until the storm ends. I'm missing a few ingredients, but otherwise I have everything in the house. I knew stocking up on butter when it was on sale was a good idea. A quick trip out to get the missing ingredients this afternoon and I can start making dough.

Lefse
krumkake
rosettes
sandbakler
brown sugar shortbread
"Alice" cookies (sugar cookies)
Springeler
peppernuts
Lebkucken
Truffles
Spritz cookies
Recipe DetailsRosemary, Lemon, Blackpepper "cookies"

 

[CarolPa]

I don't eat sweets either, but I bake every Christmas for others who look forward to the sweets.

Our lists are completely different with the exception of the sugar cookies.

I make:

Apricot horns
Sugar cookies
Rugelach (a Jewish nut cookie)
Thumbprints
Russian Tea Cakes
Chocolate Chips

These are my standards. I usually make at least one additional cookie from a new recipe to try them out on the family. Some are a success, some bomb.

 

[CWS4322]

Seven of the cookies I make, plus the lefse, are part of the family tradition (Scandinavian tradition is to have seven different kinds of cookies, lefse, well, that's not really a cookie, but part of the cookie tray). The others are ones that are often requested. The Lebkucken dough keeps well in the freezer, so I will probably freeze some of the dough.

 

[bethzaring]

the traditional Christmas Spanish, and the New Mexico state cookie; biscochitios

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

One of my DD's loves Hamentashen. Will have to make some up to take downstate. Will be making cookies tonight, and a croquembouche for a Church Christmas party for Saturday. That should keep me busy for a short time.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[CWS4322]

Got all the missing ingredients today. Have pulled out the recipes and tools I need to make the various cookies and organized everything so I can do "production" mixing of dough and baking. I am working on converting the recipes to baker's percentages so I can scale the recipes down from enough to feed the Swedish Army to enough for 8-10 people. I have butter softening downstairs near the woodstove--but not too close, I just want the butter softened, not melted. Checked and I do have dark Karo syrup for the peppernuts.


The storm is heading our way, and I plan on baking until I can snowblow the driveway and get out of the house again--probably Friday or Saturday morning. Closed up the barn, locked up the hens, and brought in more wood, parked the car close to the end of the driveway so I "could" get out without having to clear all 300 ft of the driveway. I don't plan to leave--right now I'm in my fleecy onesy converting recipes to baker's percentages with a glass of red.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Enjoy your hunkerin' down time, CW. Stay safe and warm. Hope all your conversions are accurate after computing with wine.

 

[CWS4322]

Well, the peppernut dough is in the freezer. I used pastry flour and ended up having to up it by 100 g to get the texture right. We'll see what happens when I bake the cookies. Since that is my FAVORITE cookie dough, if the cookies don't turn out, I know the dough will not go waste...oops, it will go to waist.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Got the butterscotch-bacon cookies done last night. They came out all nice and soft, with crispy edges, you know, the kind that the experts say you can't make without using multiple dough recipes, one for the middle, and one for the outside. Silly experts. Just made one batch. DW says I need to make another batch, and two batches of Toll for Saturday's Christmas party/pot luck at the church.

The profiteroles and pastry cream will be made Saturday morning for the croquenbusche.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[CWS4322]

Got the brown sugar shortbread dough done. Next up--"Alice" cookies. Got the rye and barley soaking in beer for the "Schwartz brot." I am still looking for the krumkake iron--I know it is here and not at the farm...I found the cone. I invited a friend who has two sons (12 and 10) to come out on Saturday or Sunday to help roll/shape the cookies. They have to go home with some. Meanwhile, outside it is snowing like crazy.

 

[CWS4322]

Recipe Details Rosemary, Lemon, Blackpepper "cookies"

I don't know if those "biscuits" will make it to the table. OMG, the dough is sooooo good. I did roast the pepper corns before I ground them and I added lime zest to the lemon zest. Now, if I can stay out of the fridge and let the dough chill, I'll be able to give an opinion on the baked "biscuits." If the dough is any indication, the "biscuits" should be to die for.

 

[Addie]

I don't know if those "biscuits" will make it to the table. OMG, the dough is sooooo good. I did roast the pepper corns before I ground them and I added lime zest to the lemon zest. Now, if I can stay out of the fridge and let the dough chill, I'll be able to give an opinion on the baked "biscuits." If the dough is any indication, the "biscuits" should be to die for.

I wish I had just a pinch of your energy right now.