JanKK

Nice danishes, Arbuclo!!! Enguiring minds want to know .....how did you get them to stay together ???? You haven't got my "flying points"!! ;) As to the genoise ----welll........maybe some mini-mini rounds?? I mean ....today my best friend said "Gee...I thought petit fours were supposed to be smaller?"

Well, the recipe said "fruity" ....I had some Tropical Fruit Zinfandel (I think it's Arbor Hill) so that's what I used ....tasted fine!

Ok ...a question for all you fondant users :) ....... I've done fondant cakes before and they LOOK beautiful .........but I've found they mostly don't TASTE very good. Anyone have any tips or secrets they would care to share for better tasting fondant? Any suggestions for a good ready-made brand or a recipe? Thanks! --Jan

Hi, all, Well, the Glazed Mini Rounds are done. They taste wonderful. They ...umm.....could look a little better ;) I found the cakes cracked a lot when I cut it out. Maybe I just needed a sharper cutter, who knows? Wasn't really planning on doing a picture ....but then I decided what the hell....for better or for worse ;) Happy baking!

ROFL!!!!!! I have that same problem Brngckn - I've never been able to get the dought to stick together. Try the Danish Braid .....that one stays together very nicely :)

Nope ...just freezing isn't pastueurizing. As I understand it, it's a heat pasteurization process ---taking the eggs to a high enough temp to kill bacteria without cooking them. Apparently, this can also be done in the shell. I freeze egg whites all the time too and can't really tell the difference from fresh. Some people say they take a bit longer to whip into meringue, but I've never noticed that.

Yorkshire...I just got the RLB Bread Bible --haven't made anything from it yet, no time! But I got a brand new one on Ebay for $15 (including postage) Dahome!! You are absolutely correct about the proper Popover eating tehnique!! Popovers are one of my favorites and I made them for dinner Sunday night (although not the ones from BWJ) and served them with honey butter......an instant hit! I recently got the "mini" popover pan from the King Arthur catalog and just love it.........they're a little smaller, so it's OK to eat 3 or 4, right?? ;)

Celenes --I've been sitting here pondering your question ---and I don't see any reason that it wouldn't work. I suspect you'd have to experiment a bit because you probably could reduce the sugar a bit. I'd read the ingredient list and see what's actually in the flavored stuff. Kew....just a question ...why do you use the butter flavor extract? Also ....I was reading another thread here about using artificial sweeteners --and one that came up was something called WheyLow --it's actually not artificial, but a combination of table sugar, milk sugar, and fruit sugar. They claim it has only 1/4 the impact of regular sugar. Everyone who's tried it and commented has said it tastes and bakes just like sugar. You might want to take a look at that thread. I just ordered some to give it a try. --Jan

I usually use the Reynolds store brand parchment and have never had any trouble with it burning. I have used other brands, though, that seem to burn more easily. Glad the danishes didn't burn!!!

Hmm....ice cream is good .....but ice cream and COOKIES is even better! Ok ...maybe not fancy, but who doesn't like fresh, warm cookies? Just make up a batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough ahead of time -- roll it into a log and wrap and put it in the fridge. Just slice and bake as you need them. Or put individual scoopsful of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and freeze them --then toss them in a freezer bag and freeze until needed. When dinner is ready, just put a sheet of cookies in the oven :)

Yep Dahome ...the recipe does call for brushing some beaten egg white on the edges to seal the pastries, but it mostly doesn't help. And I'm in for the Glazed Mini Rounds. They look marvelous. I was interested to see that the recipe is Flo Brakers --if anyone DOESN'T have her "Sweet Miniatures" cookbook ...you should! (Hell ...I have *2* copies ..the 1st and 2nd editions ;) There's a similar recipe in that book that I've made before - but it doesn't have the wine/sugar syrup ---could be interesting :)

Alright ---you've got my attention now. I've never actually eaten one of these before ....but I love Pizzells's and Krumkake and that type of cookie, and I love caramel, so how can ya miss? Now...I've seen a couple recipes for these and have always wanted to try making them. However....I rather thought I could use my Pizzelle iron to make the cookies. Does anyone know why that doesnt' work? The only thing I can think of is maybe they are too thin? ...not 'waffley" enough? I guess the experimentation must begin ;) .....but first, I suspect I'll have to go order some of those from the place in Montana that a couple of you have raved about so I have something to compare too!!

Yeah...I can vouch for that. I was feeling really, really lazy one time and decide "what they hell" ....and I put my candy molds in the dishwasher. They were little squares when they went it .....but were completely reshaped into something quite abstract by the time they came out!!

Joe .....I buy mine at Maid of Scandanavia (also known as Sweet Celebrations). There store is in Minnesota, but they also have a mail order catalog. They do have a website also -- I don't believe they have true online ordering, but you can call or email for stuff. Sweet Celebrations --Jan

Your cake is gorgeous, TP!! Thanks for the pic!! I'm new to the board and posting pictures, but I don't see any options for changing the size of pictures. I just resize mine before I upload them. Maybe someone who's been here longer will have a better idea :)

Thanks, Trish ....that's pretty much what I thought, but you never can tell. But just in case, I was wrong, I reduced the temp a tidge to 325 ;) I may have to make this again though ---I liked the flavor, but one kindof fell in the middle. I think I may have filled one pan fuller than the other and not baked it quite long enough.

Well, since I only have a small freezer ...and it is now bursting forth with cake, I decided it was time to do something with it. Used the 10" chocolate cake, split into 3 layers, filled and frosted with a Jamaican Rum Cream Whipped Cream Mousse frosting. Thought I would share a picture with you :) (Of course, I may never be able to make this again --the Jamaican Rum Cream was a gift and I'm told you can only get it in Jamaica....fat chance I'll be going there anytime soon ;) And a Happy Wednesday to all :)

also ...consider this. I *LOVE* to have dessert in a good restaurant. But oftentimes I'm with other people who are always "just too full" (nonsense!) or just don't do dessert or whatever. So I'm probably not going to ASK about dessert. HOWEVER! If some enterprising server brings that tray over ---well hell yes I'm gonna have some! And most often at least one or two of the others in the group will too.

Hi, Dahomechef, Nope.......not a pro .......just love to bake :) And yes ...I have made them before ...it's one of my favorite recipes. But ya know ....even the first time, they turned out pretty good. That dough is a lot of fun to work with. There is one thing that makes me crazy though, and if anyone knows how to fix this, please speak up! When I do the individual pastries - no matter how tightly I seal the points together, they almost always pop open! Do you see the picture in the book of the pinwheel pastry ---------perfect. Do you suppose it took them 120 of them to get it to look that way, or is there somthing I'm doing wrong? Fortunately --they taste so good, nobody really cares. But it just annoys me ;)

Ok ...I give up ...............is sticking your fingers in boiling sugar syrup or caramel some kind of macho thing?? A secret club? The mark of a REAL baker?? I am perplexed as to why anyone would WANT to do this --unless they don't own a spoon. ::going back to my corner:::: ;)

Trish... In the Snow White Cake recipe, you typed 250 degrees ....is that correct??

Thanks everyone --you're making me blush! But who can turn down such lovely compliments?? Yorkshire....this dough seems to survive very nicely in the fridge. I left it in at all stages longer than I ever have before (original dough - 2 days, then after rolling another 2 days. And about 12 hours after assembling the braid) and it was every bit as tasty and looked the same. I did not bring it to room temp --I took the braid out of the fridge and left it on the counter for the 10 minutes or so it took to preheat the oven and then baked it. Brought it to work --didn't hear any complaints ;) I made the Apricot filling out of the BWJ book and it was fabulous. That little bit of almond extract adds a nice flavor, along with the lemon juice. (Although I problably put a little too much in the braid --kinda gushed out the sides when cut.) The Almond Filling is also excellent.

Ted! Sorry to hear it's been a shitty day :/ Personally, I think your desserts sound fabulous --I would order one!! (or maybe two! - that lemon napoleon sounded ESPECIALLY good!) It's not even understandable why the servers wouldn't push the desserts --it's more $$ for them too --not too bright :/ And Annie? The woman is crazy. And she damn well better pay you!! What do you have to do......write it all down and make them sign it?? ::sigh;:: Although I'm not a pastry chef, I do understand the oddities of people and how they don't listen. I do some web page design --and I can't tell you the number of times I've told somebody "No , you really don't want to do that because ..." or explained the pros and cons of something and they tell me emphatically that they want it their way ...........until it's done and they decide it just isn't right .......and they think I should redo it cuz it must've been my fault. A parting ponderance .... The Equine Equation ... Why is that at any given time there are more horses asses in the world than horses?? --Jan

Hi, Tarek, Nope ..nothing more. Just let it sit out and cool and firm up. Once it's completely set up (will take at least a few hours-I usually wait until the next day), cut into squares and wrap each in a square of waxed paper. (You can buy pre-cut squares of waxed paper just for this purpose - or make your own). I usually take the whole thing out of the pan and then cut it into squares. Hope that helps! If you make them, let me know how they turn out :) --Jan

You could have a $30 candy thermometer and still have the same problem. I must have 5 or 6 different thermometers and none of'em work's worth a damn ;) Well, not being a professional, I don't know if there's a truly "proper" way to do the cold water test. Just have a cup of cold water handy. When the caramel gets in the correct temperature range and the color looks right, start testing by dropping a bit of carmel into the cold water --the take it out and try to roll it into a little ball. The more you do it, the better you get at it. And cooking time does make a differnce too .......the recipe I use takes about 45 minutes to cook. Just for comparison ....here's the recipe I've used successfully for many years :) Caramels 2 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup butter 3/4 cup light corn syrup 2 cups whipping cream Butter a 9x9 pan and set aside. Place sugar, butter, corn syrup, and 1 cup whipping cream in a 3 quart pan and bring to a rolling boil over medium high heat. Slowly add the second cup of whipping cream in a slow trickle so the boiling does not stop. Stir continually. When all the cream is added place the thermometer in the pan. As the temperature increases, reduce the heat. Stir occasionally, but don't scrape sides of pan. Cook to 246 degrees for a firm caramel., cook 2 degrees less for a softer caramel. Pour the caramel into the buttered pan. (But like I said ---usually don't pay too much attention to the temperature, except as a ballpark --cook to somewhere between soft-ball and hard ball stage, depending on how firm you like your caramels) (Just read Kevin's post --we must've been writing at the same time ;) I fall into the chicken category too. But, um.......in real life I'm a nurse (ok ..so I lied....I am a professional ..just not a professional PC)...and I can almost guarantee that sticking your fingers is boiling sugar syrup is NOT good for you ;)