emmalish

I made the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies again today, this time using regular crunchy peanut butter, and the results were pretty much the same (kinda flat and spread out). I tried using my insulated cookie sheet this time, and the only thing it accomplished was a longer baking time. I did, however, also try not flattening the cookie dough balls before baking them, and that helped. Oh well, like I said they're still delicious. I guess I'll just have to learn to live with the flatness.

Patrick has some crazy baking mojo.

Definitely. By the way, when you say they were like Sandies, how do you mean? Because mine came out quite flat and crispy, with an almost melt-in-your mouth texture. They're delicious, so I wouldn't mind if they always turned out this way, but I'd like to know why they didn't turn out as expected.

I wonder if that explains the problem I had too. I didn't use natural peanut butter, but the only jar I had on-hand was "Light". I got some regular crunchy today and plan to try the recipe again this weekend.

I read this post and now I know what my next recipe from this book will be! I have a question for you all – the recipe calls for a bundt pan, which I don't have. How would I need to amend the baking time if I want to bake it in a rectangular pan? Specifically this pan. Or would you recommend I just get out and buy a proper bundt pan?

Thanks Ruth! The break happened way back at the beginning of August (I had to be completely off it for 2-1/2 months!) and I'm trying to relearn how to walk now. I'll be on crutches or using a cane for awhile yet. It sucks. As for the cookies, I refrigerated the dough overnight too. I'm sure it's either the weird pan or the different flour. This is the first thing I tried baking with the new package of flour, so I'm leaning towards blaming that. On a happier note, I brought them in to work and everyone loves them. It's barely noon here and there are very few left already – and there are only 10 of us in the office today!

I made the oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies today. And while they puffed up beautifully in the oven, by the time they were ready to take out they had spread and flattened out. I'm not blaming the recipe though, because I used a regular pan instead of my usual insulated, and I also used a different flour than I usually do (I broke my leg this summer and am still on crutches so have someone else buying groceries for me). So I'll try it again and see what happens next time. Because I will try this recipe again. Flat or no, these are delicious cookies!

Another consideration is that many painkillers cause constipation, so she made need additional fiber. You may want to ask her doctor for suggestions as well.

I'm also in Canada and I always have to stop and think of the conversion of sticks to cups too. Another way of looking at it is 1 stick = 1/2 cup.

Live It Up, I started with this recipe from Tyler Florence, but added the zest of 6 lemons, plus 2 tbsp lemon juice (both added just before adding the dry ingredients). I also found that I had to bake for 10 minutes per side (rather than the 5 in the recipe), but that may just be my oven or the fact that I added a bit more liquid to the recipe (or personal preference – I like my biscotti nice & crisp). I also prefer my biscotti a little thinner, so I sliced them closer to 1/2" thick.

After seeing all the lovely photos here, I ordered my copy on Monday, and it just came today (woo-hoo!). The weather forecast is for rain all weekend, so I'm just planning to curl up with some hot cocoa and plan what to try first. I'm very excited.

Even their own links supply wonky results. I clicked on "Risotto" on the main page and the first two items that came up on the list were "Roasted Tomatoes" and "Creamy Eggs on Toast" (both recipes by Rachael Ray – are we seeing a trend?). Then I clicked on the "Chili" link at the top of the page. The first items were "Thai Beef Salad", "Bulgur Wheat and Shrimp Salad", and a little further down was "Fish and Chips". Nice...

Chocoatl looks fabulous, thanks for posting that! I don't head to the west end very often, but I'll check it out next time I'm downtown. Here in Kits we have Chocolate Arts on 4th Ave. Bonus points for being only four blocks from my apartment.

With this colder weather, I'm in the mood for baking. I've made three batches of biscotti in the last week. This is the lemon pistachio biscotti, which (even though I'm a chocoholic) is my absolute favourite. I use the zest of 6 lemons, plus a couple tbsp of juice, so it's nice & lemon-y.

Mmmm, all this talk about waffles is making me want to pull out my waffle iron. And I have some buttermilk in the fridge I can use, too.

Also Canadian, and grew up in a household where we only ever had electric kettles. When I first moved out on my own, my very own electric kettle was one of my first purchases. Honestly? I didn't even know you could still get the on-the-stove variety. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they existed! I couldn't wait to switch over. As mentioned upthread, I only have room for so many appliances on my counter, and the kettle looks so pretty sitting on the stove. This is the one I have, except in black. I love that the spout opens automatically when it's tilted, but the whistle is kinda harsh.

This is such a great thread. I love to bake and have been baking since I was a teenager and I think I'm pretty damn good (all my friends rave about my baking, but what do they know? ). I'm entirely self-taught and now I'm learning so many things here. Thank you all! I think I might have to pick up that Alton Brown book that was mentioned upthread. I'm really interested in learning more of the "why do we do it this way" type things. Many things I'd learned myself over the years, like inserting a skewer at an angle to test doneness rather than straight down through the center. But using flower nails? Never heard of such a thing, but I'm going to rush out and get some and I can't wait to try them. Mixing cake batters on low speed so as not to develop the gluten in the flour? Did not know that. And the cooling the chiffon cake upside down? I remember my mom always did that, but she never explained why. And I'd totally forgotten. Good thing I've never tried to make a chiffon cake! I've never really understood the fear many people have about baking. I guess I never really thought about it – just picked up a recipe and followed the instructions. Seems simple to me. But I have many friends who won't even attempt baking – one in particular who's a fabulous cook who's not afraid to try the most elaborate recipe, but baking just seems like crazy voodoo to her.

Good for you! I gave up eating meat two separate times. The first time I was living in Alberta (big meat-producing/meat-eating area) and I gave up because there just wasn't anything to eat. After I moved to Vancouver, a city far more accepting of vegetarianism, I tried it again. I still eat eggs and dairy, and I went back to eating seafood after awhile, but I haven't eaten meat (on purpose) in about 15 years. I don't miss it at all (except at Christmas when everyone else is having turkey & stuffing & gravy), but it's been so long that when I do eat something with meat in it, I have troubles with digestion. And I don't mean nausea. It gets pretty painful. So for that reason alone I make sure to avoid it, but like I said, I don't miss it. There have just been a few times when I've been assured something is vegetarian, only to find out (after the aftermath) that oh yeah, it was made with chicken stock. Isn't that still vegetarian? But if you plan to still eat meat on occasion, this should never be a problem for you. I agree with you about the poor lunch options for vegetarians, especially in the sandwich department. Most places will have multiple lovely creative sandwiches with different meats and cheeses, and one sad vegetable sandwich with everything crammed on it, whether they'll taste good together or not. Same at most pizza places. But I looked around and found different sandwich places with different offerings, so at least I end up with some options. Some will make a custom sandwich for you so you can be a lot more creative. This time of year, soup is my friend. There are always lots of yummy vegetable soups offered in the neighbourhood. All I can recommend lunch-wise really is try all the different shops in your area and see what they have.

When will I learn I need to write things down? I always do this – I think I'll remember something, so I won't write it down. Later? Of course I can't remember what I was thinking. Case in point... last year I made some lemon pistachio biscotti for a friend's party. It was delicious. Nice & crispy, but not break-your-teeth hard. I made it several more times. Yummy every time. Earlier this year, I decided to make some more. Tasty yes, but hard as a frickin' rock. I tried several times with the same results. Ugh. Fast forward to tonight. I was looking for a completely different recipe (which of course I didn't file where it belongs and still haven't been able to find), and in my travels I find two... count 'em, TWO different recipes for lemon pistachio biscotti. What the hell? One of them started out as lemon pistachio, and the other started out as just pistachio and I'd made notes on it to add lemon. So which is which? At what point did I decide to take a non-lemon recipe and modify it? And why? Well thank goodness for this thread. On the first page I posted that I was tweaking a recipe for lemon pistachio biscotti, and noted that the recipe contained butter. Of the two recipes I found today, one has butter and one doesn't – which I'm sure is the deciding factor in how they turned out. Thank you eGullet! I think what happened was that I'd found a recipe for lemon pistachio, thought it sounded good, but instead decided to modify a recipe I knew worked well. Then when I decided to make it again, found the original recipe. I gotta tell you guys, it was driving me crazy that I couldn't get the recipe to work when I made it earlier this year. I thought I was losing my mind...

That sounds amazing. Could you elaborate? How did you go about preparing it?

I haven't been out there for ages, so I have no idea whether they have it or not, but have you checked Gourmet Warehouse?

Oakridge? Dang. I had no idea. And I was just there on the weekend. I generally try to avoid foodcourts, but I'd definitely go for a soft pretzel.

Gah. I remember one time when I was a kid my mom made some "chocolate chip cookies". I took one bite and spit it out. She was adamant that I couldn't really tell the difference and was just being difficult. To this day I have no idea what possessed her. She was never into the 70's health food craze. It was just this one little blip where she decided carob could be substituted for chocolate! Perfect!

OMG, I'm assuming you meant to say "tests"? In my opinion, I'd stick with baking and not "cooking". I think everyone who's ever lived in an apartment will agree that a stranger's cooking always smells gross. Baking, however, smells homey. My first choice would be something cinnamon-ey (I've heard the same thing about cinnamon being one of the most attractive smells to men). I understand your concern about it being a "fall" scent though. But keep in mind, what's the weather like where you are? Even though it's spring, when it's cold and rainy, cinnamon is still a very comforting smell. Otherwise, I'd go for some sort of cookies. I like the idea of lemon. Perhaps you could zest some lemons (that's a smell that lingers), and then also leave the cookies out for the prospective buyers.

Sorry, I'll clarify that the mushrooms were visibly dirty, and by simply filling and then draining the bag, most of the dirt just re-settled back on the mushrooms. If she had rinsed them loosely under the tap, I wouldn't have had a problem. Carry on...