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Pat W

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Posts posted by Pat W

  1. I still read this forum but haven't had much time to bake or post lately. I just had to add my name to the chorus. This book is indeed destined to become a classic. (And has there ever been a nicer author?)

    I have other baking books but this one has become my friend.

    By the way, I gave our daughter, who is our family's master baker, a copy & she too, is smitten. (A happy thing for us, since she shares!)

    pat w

  2.   I had some leftover roasted cauliflower

    You had leftover roasted cauliflower???? I am in awe of your self control.

    OK, that looks scrumptious. I suspect I'll be roasting cauliflower just to give this a try. I have to say that combining roasted cauliflower with risotto was truly an inspired act. Thank you for sharing this.

    pat w.

  3. Abra,

    That is a spectacularly intimidating bunch of cookies. They are beautiful! What does one have to do to get on your gift list?

    Did you use Chufi's recipe on the Dutch cooking thread for the Speculaas?

    I am in awe of you.

    pat w.

  4. Kourambiedes...hmm; what's this one?

    First of all, thank you Michael M. for the recipes. It's going to be fun to try the Cuccidati. I have one question about the filling. When you say "homogeneous", do you mean evenly ground together, or ground until something closer to a puré?

    About the Kourambiedes (aka Greek Butter Cookies), they are a lot like Mexican Wedding Cakes, but without the nuts. There undoubtedly hundreds of versions, here is the one we make.

    Kourambiedes

    2 Cups sweet butter. at room temperature.

    3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted.

    1 egg yolk

    1 1/2 Tablespoons cognac or brandy.

    4 1/2 Cups cake flour, sifted twice.

    Confectioner's sugar for rolling.

    Preheat oven to 350.

    Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until thick & lemon lemon colored. Add confectioner's sugar gradually, then egg yolk, then brandy.

    By hand, gradually work in enough flour to make a soft dough that will roll easily in the palm of the hand without sticking. If a little sticky, chill for an hour or so.

    Gently pat & shape the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet & bake about 15 minutes or until sandy colored (not browned).

    Cool on racks. When still warm, but not hot, roll in confectioners sugar. When completely cool, sift a little more over the top.

    If mixed gently, they turn out very melt-in-your-mouthy & with a lovely, delicate, not too sweet flavor.

    pat w.

    *By the way,This recipe originally came from the 1961 New York Times Cook Book. I have changed the wording & format a little. Also the original recipe gives the option of studding each cookie with a whole clove before baking.

  5. Even though it's been a mysterious 60+ degrees here in Chicago for the past week, I, too, am ready to jump back into the seasonal cookie-making mode.  So good to see this thread again.  I have a small repertoire that I've honed over the years, and only ones truly worthy stay.  I think our favorite, though, are the Cuccidati, which are a soft, buttery cookie filled a la Fig Newtons with a mixture of raisins, figs, walnuts, almonds, spices and brandy.  I'd be happy to share the recipe if anyone wishes.

    Other annual favorites:

    A moist, fudgy brownie recipe from Cooking Illustrated

    Brown Butter Cookies from last year's NYT (really interesting and really good)

    Alfajores (dulce de leche sandwich cookie)

    Gianduja sandwich cookies

    Candied citrus peel

    A superior nut cookie that goes by many names, Mexican Tea Cakes, Russian Tea Cookies, etc., made with a mixture of flour, nuts and constarch, dusted with powedered sugar.  I like this recipe because it combines finely ground nuts with coarsely ground for better flavor.

    ...Perhaps I'll post pix once the baking commences!

    61 degrees here yesterday & 12 degrees this morning. Time to turn on the oven. I hadn't heard of Cuccidati before, but they sound right up our alley. It would be great to see the recipe.

    The things we traditionally make are; Chinese Almond cookies, Brown Sugar Shortbread Stars, Candied Orange Peel, Moravian Spice Cookies, Kourambiedes, Chocolate Peanut Clusters & of course, the decorated-cut into shapes-frosted-vanillaly cookie (being insufficiently caffeinated at the moment, the name escapes me). I used to make Pfefferneuse every year, but somehow lost my favorite recipe & haven't found one quite like it.

    Happily my daughter & daughter-in-law now help with the baking. We all usually try to make one or two new things every year. Last year I tried the Coconut Cranberry Chews & they were a big hit. I'll be making them again this year. I'm pretty sure the recipe came from this thread, but I'm having trouble finding it.

    I think Michael M's Cuccidati might be my first choice for "new cookie" this year.

    pat w.

  6. gallery_46284_3749_508741.jpg

    These are the gevulde koeke I made for Thanksgiving. They were flying off the table and into everyone's goody bags for enjoying again the next day. Thanks for sharing the recipe with all of us. Wonderful!

    Hello Chufi & greetings from Nebraska.

    I found this thread late in the game. (You can imagine how long it took me to read through it from the beginning) It's a wonderful thread! I knew very little about Dutch cooking and I see that I was much the poorer for it.

    Apronstrings, your gorgeous picture has me dreaming about the gevulde koeke. Could you tell me what kind of sugar you used? The "soft sugar" still has me confused.

    pat w.

  7. Any mail-order suggestions for good New Mexican chile?  The last I bought came from the little store next to Sanctuario de Chimayo, packed in ziplock bags with a sticker on them indicating the heat level.  I loved that stuff, had both a bag of ground and crushed.  Now I need more of both and some dried posole to go with them.

    I am very fond of both the "Chimayo" & "Dixon medium hot" chile powders. While I haven't found a mail order source for the Chimayo, I get my Dixon chile from thechileshop.com (http://www.thechileshop.com/)

    I've had nothing but positive experiences with them. (And the Dixon med hot chile is really excellent.)

    pat w.

  8. I had planned on making the coconut tea cake last night, but didn't have enough eggs. (Between butter & eggs, are we all keeping the dairy industry afloat, or what!)

    I did have the ingredients for the Swedish visiting cake, so I gave that a try & it was an excellent choice. Once again, easy & a lot of fun to make. It has a different, but quite lovely texture & the bit of crunch at the edges makes it a little slice of heaven. It is pretty rich, so instead of devouring multiple giant pieces, we've been limiting ourselves to multiple medium pieces. (The second picture was taken last night, sadly there is now but a fraction of the cake remaining.)

    pat w.

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  9. Allspice Crumb Muffins  :wub: .  I love allspice - so I decided this would be the first recipe I tried in the book.  Good choice.

    As I was getting everything together I wondered if there would be enough allspice (I really love allspice), but I went ahead and used the specified amount.  The note on the side said to let the muffins cool before tasting, as the flavour will be stronger.  Of course I couldn't wait - I had to compare warm and cooled didn't I? (and they smelled so good!)  They were good hot but they were great cooled - perfect amount of spice.  Definitely worth the time it took to brew some coffee to go with them.

    I'm happy to hear a second opinion on these muffins. They look wonderful!

    pat w.

  10. First of all, using a scale makes for greater consistency and control of variables. I find, for example, that when I measure out 4 cups of flour, the first and last cups don't weigh the same as I'm not scooping into the same bag each time. (Yes, I've dorkishly checked it out.) But a 150g of a-p flour is 150g of a-p flour.

    Second, to complicate it even more, what a cup of a-p flour weighs varies among authors (4.5-5 oz). Or for a particular author, a given weight per cup may even vary from book to book or recipe to recipe (perhaps depending upon its original source). As discussed above, In Baking... Dorie measures a cup at 4.8 - 5 oz. In her Herme books, 1 cup=150g. but in Paris Sweets 1 cup=140g. By presenting the ingredients by both weight and volume, her intention is clear in all cases.. I try to note in each of my ckbks that author's standard measurement of a cup of flour, etc.

    Third, weighing out multiple cups of an ingredient is easier, I can simply put a bowl on the scale, tare it, then pour the flour, sugar, etc. to the desired total weight. Some bakers will add dry ingredients to the same bowl when appropriate, using the tare to return the bowl's weight to zero between the ingredients. (I confess I don't feel confident enough to do this.)

    Fourth, if using someting solid that needs dividing, like a 1 lb block of Plugra butter which I like to use for pastry, it would be a nightmare to measure out 10 Tbs, but is simple to weigh out 5 oz. For chocolate, I find it both cheaper and more convenient to buy it by it in a block or in feves; these would be difficult to measure accurately by volume. Recently I made a plum and fig kuchen similar to Dorie's plum cake. It called for 7 small prune plums (7-8 oz) As luck had it, I found some wonderful plums at the farmers market that were not the Italian plums called for in the recipe - a similar shape but much larger. Using the weight given in the recipe I could easily make the substitution. If I choose to do this with other fruits in other seasons, no problem figuring out how many apples or cherries I need.

    I have a bunch of small pouches of leftover egg whites in my freezer, not necessarily from the same size eggs. No problem when I want to make an angel food cake. I can weigh out the amount needed.

    Fifth, some recipes are given in weights, not measures. The world is now at our webbed fingertips. For example, this recipe for a plum cake (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/ggg_80532.shtml) requires a scale.

    Lastly, a scale is useful in general cooking, both for the process of cooking and for portion control. Professional chefs may use it for controlling the bottom line, but I find it invaluable in controlling the waist line.

    edited for typos

    That was a very persuasive argument. It looks like I'll be looking into digital scales.

    pat w.

  11. Help! help! Help needed. I'm making the holiday bundt cake which calls for canned pumpkin. My febrile brain can't decide. Which measuring cup to use? I can see pro/con arguments each for liquid or volume measurement cups.

    I debated about the same thing when I made this a couple of days ago. I settled on the measuring cups I use for dry ingredients & the cake was perfect.

    pat w.

  12. I made the Holiday Bundt Cake last night & it's another winner!

    Putting it together took a little longer than I had expected & by the time it was done, the clock was striking midnight. When it first came out of the pan it looked like it was on the verge of falling apart. After it cooled, I added the maple glaze & chopped pecans, covered it with foil, went to bed & hoped for the best.

    The cake elves must have come during the night, because when I uncovered it this morning it had firmed up nicely. As usual, Dorie hit upon the perfect mix of flavors. The only problem with this cake is that it's a little too tasty. Everyone who has tried it ends up sneaking back into the kitchen to filch another piece. By tomorrow morning I fear there will be nothing left but crumbs & happy memories.

    pat w.

  13. The Blueberry Crumb Cake turned out to be one of those foolproof recipes that woefully underestimates the fool. Every last one of my blueberries sunk to the bottom.

    It may have been because I was betrayed by my oven. I usually monitor the temperature with an oven thermometer & adjust accordingly, but last night I got distracted. When the timer went off, the temp had dropped to 320 & the cake needed another 6 or 7 minutes.

    I was depressed about this until we tried a piece. It may not have been photogenic, but it certainly was tasty. The fine tuning of flavoring in Dorie's recipes continues to amaze me. 1/4 tsp of this & 1/8 tsp of that doesn't sound like it will do much, but the end result is lovely. I'm so glad I behaved & didn't gleefully toss in a little extra as I am wont to do.

    I want Dorrie to know how much I appreciate her sharing such wonderful recipes, so esthetically pleasing to make. Except at Christmas, I'd gotten away from baking. We are often so beat when we get home, that dinner has been about all that I could manage (or so I thought). Thanks to this enthusiastic thread, I bought the cookbook and thanks to Dorrie, I've rediscovered how much pleasure I get out of baking.

    Now about those shrinking jeans.....

    pat w.

  14. %7Boption%7D

    Here is my rendition of Dorie's lemon poppy seed (p. 10) and chocolate-chocolate chunk (p.19) muffins.  They're all packed up and ready to be taken to work tomorrow morning!  This is my first "photo post" so bear with me.  I'm not too swift with the camera OR the computer. 

    Tonight, I also made the dough for the Midnight Crackle cookies.  Plan to bake them off tomorrow night.  This whole thing is becoming quite addictive...

    Boy, does your photo make me wish I were one of your co-workers!

    The Lemon Poppy Seed muffins are on my rapidly growing "must do" list. Have you nibbled at the edge of one yet? Do they taste as good as they look?

    I couldn't agree more with your "This whole thing is becoming quite addictive" observation.

    pat w.

  15. I guess this would go under the "you can teach an old dog new tricks...sort of.." heading.

    After having successfully used the same buttermilk biscuit recipe for more than 30 years, I thought I would try one from this book. As luck would have it, we were out of buttermilk, so I went with the Basic Biscuits. I did the "working the butter in with your fingers" thing, which in theory sounded like a satisfying way to mix. In practice I found myself rinsing off gunky fingers and reaching for my trusty old pastry blender. (It was the first time I've attempted the finger thing, will try it again next time.)

    The dough needed at least a quarter of cup or so more milk (using U.S. flour) than the recipe called for to come together. It kneaded beautifully, but after being patted out to 1/2 inch yielded only 7 1/2 biscuits. This confused me. The new, extra sharp biscuit cutter I used was about 2 3/4 inch as opposed to my regular 2 1/2 inch, but it doesn't seem that like that should have caused such a dramatic difference in yield.

    An old friend of ours, who has an uncanny ability to show up at our doorstep whenever I have biscuits in the oven, knocked on the door just as the timer went off. (I haven't a clue how he does this, but it's been going on for more than twenty-five years.)

    He was, to say the least, smitten with the biscuits. Kept bubbling on about the lovely crisp outsides and the fluffy, flaky insides. I have to admit, the texture was perfect, exactly as he described. They were very good, but I think I will like the buttermilk version even better. Having said that, what could possibly be more deliciously decadent than the sour cream pecan version? Will almost certainly try them next.

    The photo doesn't do the buttered one justice. Bad angle & I'm not all that great with a flash.

    pat w.

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  16. but I like to bake most things on a baking sheet. 

    OK, that was the one thing that confused me in the recipe. It said to place the 9X13 pan on a baking sheet. Does this make the pan heat more evenly? I still can't quite grasp why on a baking sheet is better than the pan in the oven by itself.

    This is a really wonderful cookbook. I'm so happy I was seduced in to buying it by this thread. Thank you for making it so beautiful and accessible.

    pat w.

  17. I made the Applesauce Spice Bars last night. What a success! They are definitely a 10 on the yummy scale. Perfectly spiced & the apples, pecans & raisins give them a wonderful texture. They were also fun to make.

    I just ate another one to make sure I wasn't exaggerating. I hope you appreciate the lengths to which I will go to insure accuracy.

    pat w.

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  18. We just got home, completely beat, & there on the front porch was my package from Amazon. (I actually opened the box before I poured a nightcap.) The book is beautiful! To anyone still teetering on the brink, all I can say is: "Jump, Jump!".

    When we finally got home, after working so painfully late, all I cared about was falling into bed.

    Well, it's forty minutes later, I am still not ready to put this book down. I am inspired.

    How tragic that I won't be able to try out anything until Sunday.

    Must reluctantly go to bed now.

    pat. w

  19. I'm trying to be patient and wait for Santa to bring me this book, but ya'll are making it very difficult!

    I'm with you on that one. I thought I'd wait till it hit Costco in Canada but it's getting very hard to be patient.

    Yes, this would have been a great Christmas idea & I tried my best to hold out for it. But after wavering for at least a week, I broke down & placed the order. I couldn't help myself. I think it was the biscuits that finally did me in.

    pat w.

  20. So I made the basic biscuit recipe from Dorie's book. 

    They were good.  They were damn good.  They're the best biscuits I've ever made. 

    Oh dear, I find myself seduced once again by an eGullet thread. I just placed my order on Amazon. Those biscuits may not be as high as you had hoped, but between your photos and your description, there is no doubt that I'll be dreaming about them tonight... along with the world Peace cookies and anything Patrick has ever photographed.

    I can't wait to jump in.

    pat w.

  21. Here is your link (fixed).

    pesto

    Thank you.

    I apologize for this being off topic, but when I read the posting entry in the help files I couldn't find anything about adding links or photos. I have a sinking feeling that I'm missing something that is in plain sight. Is there somewhere else I should be looking? :unsure:

    pat w.

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