cakewalk

I agree, I don't think it makes a difference if the butter is creamed beforehand or not. I think it's just that different chefs have different methods. Those who cream the butter before adding the sugar will do that consistently, and those who cream butter/sugar together will do that consistently. I don't think I've ever seen the same author interchange the method in the same cookbook. If they did that, then I'd wonder if the different method really made a difference in the end product. (Or if the author was just, well, inconsistent.)

Just briefly - I love tastespotting for a lot of the reasons mentioned below. It's a great springboard to new sites, and then I can judge whether or not I like the new website. But I very much appreciate being exposed to it. However, as important as visuals are, I have found that many, many food bloggers are better at photography than they are at cooking!! And often the vice-versa is also true. As much as I like the nice food photos, over time I have learned not to confuse a good photo with a good recipe.

Resurrecting this thread because I want to make a honey castella cake. I made one several years ago but can't find the recipe. I remember there was a you tube video, but how does one find a 3 or 4-year old you tube video? What I remember most about it: the cake batter was poured through a fine sieve to make sure there were no air bubbles. I had never seen that before. I remember the recipe called for a 7-inch square cake pan, which I duly went out and bought. Also, bread flour is stressed, not AP flour, not cake flour, only bread flour for an "authentic" texture. I've seen a few recipes that I think look good, the one from kitchentigress looking best to me, and I will try that one. Has anyone made this cake lately? Tips to share? It is a lovely cake.

Protein levels in flour make a difference, too. When I started baking I always used Hecker's All-Purpose flour. (Still do.) I have certain cakes that I've been making for years, always with Hecker's. Then I learned about King Arthur Flour and I immediately ordered their AP flour. I made my tried-and-true cakes with it. I didn't notice much of a difference in the batter, but my goodness, the texture of the finished cake was entirely different, and not for the better. It was tougher, and I didn't like it. Later I learned that King Arthur's AP flour has a significantly higher protein percentage than Hecker's and that is what made the difference. This is not to say anything bad about KAF, their stuff is wonderful and I buy a lot of their products, even their AP flour sometimes. I'll use it for cookies or for pie dough, etc. but not for my cakes. If I had started baking with the KAF, then of course that would have been my standard. So that's just one example where even if the recipe is followed precisely, a different flour will give you different results. But the results themselves will still be consistent, as long as the precise ingredients are consistent. Edited for an attempt at clarity.

I agree about the bread baking, especially if you're making sourdough, it can be a crap shoot. But bread baking is sort of "in between." It's not baking (cakes, pastries, etc.) and it's not cooking, I see it as being in a class by itself so I don't think there's a comparison to be made. An analogy I've heard, and which I think is good, is that cooking is like jazz (improvisational) and baking is like classical music (structured). If you change things in a baking recipe, your end product might still be good, and you might even like it better, but it will be something other than what the recipe intended.

I made Alton Brown's soft pretzel recipe several years ago for a superbowl party. I tried them out the night before, brought them downstairs to the concierge in my building. As they later told me, "we inhaled them." You can find the recipe on Food Network. I made them again the next day and brought them to the party, and they were gone very quickly. The only thing I noticed is that if you let them sit around too long, they start to turn a light green in spots because of the baking soda. Most of the pretzels were eaten before that happened, but I noticed it on some. I don't know why that would happen, but it did. I didn't get lye, even though it's food grade, it scared me. I also didn't get pretzel salt (didn't even now such a thing existed), I used kosher salt. They're fun to make, good luck.

Just about every recipe I've ever seen for peanut butter cookies (or peanut butter anything) warns against using "natural" peanut butter. I think it's due to the texture more than anything else.

They do tend to be very sweet. I use Dorie Greenspan's recipe, but I reduce the sugar. I have the amounts written in my cookbook, I'll post them later this evening when I get home.

Those are beautiful. Did you use a cookie press? Or were you able to pipe them? I wanted to make them and tried piping, but they wouldn't budge. I tried adding a tablespoon or so of milk, still wouldn't budge. They're not quite the same when they're just dropped onto a cookie sheet. I guess I will have to break down and buy a cookie press.

I love nut oils, but I don't find them to be quite so delicate, at least not in baking. I remember subbing 1/4 cup of toasted walnut oil for a recipe's 1/2 cup canola oil (it was for a banana loaf cake, which has other strong flavors of its own), and it was too overpowering. Two tablespoons does just fine. I agree it would be great in a chiffon cake (I love chiffon cakes, I'm thinking hazelnut oil), but I'd be careful about the amount used, a little goes a long way. Actually I would like to leave work and go home and bake a chiffon cake right now. <sigh>

That looks like a nice recipe, thanks for referencing it. I think I might halve the recipe and try it out in a loaf pan. I would not add the flour after adding the apples, nuts, and spices, you run the risk of not distributing the flour/leavening evenly in such a thick batter. I would add the apples, etc. with the KitchenAid (or whatever mixer you have). Use the paddle attachment on low speed, just 15-20 seconds will probably do it without further processing the apples, nuts, etc. I do this often with thick batters (like biscotti) where the recipe tells you to add fruit/nuts/etc. by hand in the last step. I think the batter is being worked much less by the mixer than it would be by all the hand mixing needed to incorporate the ingredients. Dorie Greenspan's Marie Helene's Apple Cake is very, very good. It's a simple cake that adds up to much more than the sum of its parts. I wouldn't worry too much (heck, who am I kidding, I wouldn't worry at all) about the precision of the spices. I think this sort of cake is begging you to take liberties with it. Flour, leavening, etc. want precision. But spices? In a spice cake? Follow your heart. The AB recipe has a unique mixture of spices, I particularly like the grains of paradise, but I wouldn't hesitate to add a bit more of one thing or leave something else out entirely. Yes, you'll get something different than what he intended. But as AB himself used to say, I'm okay with that.

Very beautiful, especially the transition from photo 3 to 4! Now this is a bit off-topic but I simply have to ask: what did you do with all the egg whites??!!

Pure conjecture here, but I'd say it probably has a lot to do with sales. English-speaking Westerners, for the most part, have been fairly well convinced that MSG is "bad." The authors (and publishers) want to sell those books to English-speaking Westerners. So including MSG in the recipes would likely reduce book sales. I have Gloria Bley Miller's "Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook" (I don't use it a lot, but I like to read it at times) and she says, in part, "There are two schools of thought on its value for home cooking: one that it heightens flavor, the other that it's not necessary when food is of good quality and well-prepared." I can't find it in a recipe in the book but I'm assuming it's there because she includes MSG in her glossary and her list of "Ingredients Used in Chinese Cooking."

Oreo type cookies, maybe Thomas Keller's TKOs, using very dark cocoa. You could decorate the cookie part like a tuxedo.

Hmmm, seems there's another No no here ... Interesting thread. Unlikely that I will ever make my own pasta, but I'm enjoying reading about it.

Depends on the quantity you're making. I make small batches for personal consumption (2-4 cups or so). I keep some in the fridge, give some away. It rarely lasts more than 3-4 days (because it gets eaten, not because it spoils). I never sterilize the jars, never had a problem. If you're making large batches and they're going to sit around for a while, then it's another story.

I once bought light cream because I wanted to see if it would whip, thinking it might be a good, slightly less fattening, alternative to heavy cream. Well I whipped and whipped and whipped, but nothing at all happened to it. I used a hand-held mixer. So I'm surprised to read about whipping evaporated milk and powdered non-fat milk. I thought the high fat content was necessary.

I love the Trader Joe's "European Style No Fat Plain" yogurt. It's very thin and smooth, almost drinkable, but I just love the tartness of it, it's so flavorful. I'm not a fan of Greek yogurts at all.

I agree with above suggestions, but also try putting the dough in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. If dough is very sticky, it's often because the butter is too warm/soft. When I roll cookies, I use wax paper but also I roll a small amount and leave the rest in the fridge, which I roll only when the first piece of dough is already rolled out and cut.

And I thought I was the only one who did that sort of thing! Thanks for the recipe.

Wow, I got tired just reading this post! That's a very impressive list, they all sound great. Do you freeze the cookies already baked, or do you freeze the dough and then bake as the holiday approaches? The chocolate peppermint biscotti have caught my eye, can you share that recipe? I send cookies to friends, and biscotti hold up so well, that sounds like a nice one.

Thanks for the recipe! I will try that one this year.

A tried-and-true recipe for pfeffernusse would be greatly appreciated. I made them last year and was not too pleased. (Unfortunately, I don't remember which recipe I used. I think it was from the Fine Cooking website, but don't quote me.) I've eaten pfeffernussen that I thought were great, so I know the perfect recipe is out there somewhere!

Pfeffernusse?

What other things do you make? What is common in the food shops in London besides fruitcake? There must be other options over there during the holiday season, I'd be interested to hear ideas from you!