Mottmott

cashews (kaju burfi can be called cashew fudge, and is often tinged with rosewater).... Milagai ← Rose geranium pound cake.

Odd, mine certainly had a cinnamon taste, too. Perhaps because I use that Vietnamese cinnamon which is pretty strong. ← I used "Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon" from The Spice House and I agree that it is pretty strong. At least it was when I used vanilla extract without the almond extract.Maybe it's the Green Mountain Flavors Pure Almond Extract combination with Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract that masked the cinnamon taste. I remember the almond extract smelling very strong. Which is interesting because I don't remember a pronounced almond taste in the finished product. I've made a note of it in my recipe database. Next time I'll try just the almond extract and see what happens. ← Have you tried the Ceylon cinnamon yet? (I get it at Penzey's which now has a store in Philadelphia - yea, no more mail order!) It has a lovely delicate floral quality. I didn't use the Ceylon in this recipe because I thought it might not stand up to the cranberries. I mostly use the Vietnamese in savory dishes. Also, I forgot to mention that I slightly increased the amount of both the cranberries and the nuts both times. As ithey go under the cake rather than in it, this made no difference to the taste or texture of the cake itself.

I appreciate all the detail, Ann. It sounds as if the 10 cup and/or the mini bowl would just be 2/3 more things to store somewhere for me. First, I don't do all that much processor slicing (except for caramelized onions) and the microplaner takes care of most of my grating. Second I already have a mini cuisinart. (Though I could give that to one of my DIL's.) Taking all that and the extra $50 over the 14 cup Cuisinart PowerPlus, I may go with the Cuisinart unless I start hearing of serious defects there. Plus, if I read the specs right, you machine takes up a fair bit of counter real estate. Of couirse it was a great deal for you, aside from the 3 months straightening out your problems with the 770. You also have a free blender now that looks pretty powerful.

On the other hand, my neighbor had a KA blade chew up the plastic. She called me over for help, but I was flummixed. She'd mislaid her instruction book and the blade assembly looked much more complicated than the Cuisinart's I'm used to. Reviews on Amazon have echoed the problem of the slicer blade shaving off the plastic. Cuisinart reviews there seems more consistently positive, except for customer service when problems did arise. The blade sticking is another problem mentioned in the reviews a couple times, as well as the plastic being shaved off. In my neighbor's case, she was using the large bowl. The 850 looks like a really powerful machine. Have you used it for making dough? How often do you use it? edited to add: Just checked the 3 reviews on Amazon (on KA850); 2 of the 3 complained vigorously about the cleanup problems, one specifically omplained, comparing it to a previously owned Cuisinart, that it took 4 times as long to clean. One complained of the lid popping off when chopping mozzarella on more than one occasion. Also, could you clarify this for me: when using the 10 cup bowl do you have it inside the 16c bowl, much as with the mini bowl? There seemed to be complaint about spillage out into the larger bowl.

I hope those who have had any of the following models for awhile will help me out: the 14 cup Cuisinart (either the DLC2014 Power PrepPlus or the Custom [DFP-14BCN with the square base) or Kitchenaids’ KA KFP760 (14 cup with special dough feature). (The mini-bowl in the KA is not a particular draw as I have a Cuisinart mini-processor.) My primary concern is reliability and usefulness in slicing, chopping, and making dough. No use extolling the vintage models; it’ll just make me feel bad. I have a wonderful old DLC7e that still chugs along quite happily. My DIL's cheapo processor just died, and I will give her mine and get a larger model. I do this with some trepidation as mine's never given me a day's trouble other than replacing the bowl years ago. I hear horror stories about the newer processors. My desire for a larger model is motivated by wanting to make larger batches of dough (bread and pie),having a wider mouth for slicing, and not having to dump out the bowl so often when slicing veggies. I've resisted this urge til now as a well-working processor in the hand trumps an unknown new processor whatever its features. I've seen ninetofive’s comment that the new Cuisinart (he doesn’t say whether it’s the PowerPrepPlus of the Custom 14DFP with the square base) does not function as well for making dough as the KA. That would be a deal breaker if his experience is echoed by others. Especially since the KA760 has a special doughmaking feature. On the other hand, my neighbor had a KA blade chew up the plastic. She called me over for help, but I was flummixed. She'd mislaid her instruction book and the blade assembly looked much more complicated than the Cuisinart's I'm used to. Reviews on Amazon have echoed the problem of the slicer blade shaving off the plastic. Cuisinart reviews there seems more consistently positive, except for customer service when problems did arise.

I did not toast the nuts. I thought about it, but I hate to change more than one thing at a time. The change I made was adding both vanilla and almond extract. It was good, but it masked the cinnamon taste. Not that anyone complained. The cake is gone and I'm out of dessert. Again. - Kim edit: Fixed typo. ← Odd, mine certainly had a cinnamon taste, too. Perhaps because I use that Vietnamese cinnamon which is pretty strong. highchef, I never butter my pans. I usually make all butter crusts. The only time I have a probem with sticking is when some fruit juices bubble over the top and stick to a fluted tart pan. I don't think buttering the pan would stop that.

Did you toast the nuts before using them? There was nothing explicit in the recipe, but my rule of thumb is that if a nut isn't exposed directly to the heat during the baking process, I toast it.

I almost used both. Next time I will. I had to stop cooking from this book because the recipes are too good. The Cranberry Upside-Downer lasted less than one day. The Classic Banana Bundt cake lasted three days but it was torture not to finish it off sooner. I was hoping that it would taste stale or something so I could throw it away. But it was good to the last crumb. Darn you Dorie Greenspan! ← I have the advantage of being a grannie with two families to divide the spoils. And if they can't make it over to pick it up (I don't delivery. ) I can always give some to my neighbor. Otherwise, I'd be soooooo biggggg.

I just made this last night for the second time (fresh cranberries). The first time I misread the directions and added BOTH the vanilla and almond extract, the second time, just the vanilla. I recommend using both. More is More. Both times I used a bit more fruit and nuts than called for. I'm especially fond of cakes that use fruit, and I agree that this is a real keeper. I would imagine it's translatable into other fruits in other seasons, adding some lemon zest with those that lack the needed tartness.

No, I can't get superfine sugar here. ← I don't buy superfine sugar, I just give regular sugar a whir in the processor.

Just out of curiosity, do y'all use superfine sugar for your cakes?

Could well be, at least perhaps for some items. Reading the posts, I was reminded of a small contest I participated in several years ago concerning angel food cake, which I had never made before. The recipe for all to try stated to put the batter in pans, rather than a single pan. I checked various cookbooks and all used the standard, single tube pan, but I was also struck by the variations in the amount of sugar used in different angel food cake recipes- like from about 1 cup to over 2 cups! I thought that was one of those all-the-same, single recipe items, but noooooo........ ← Funny you should mention Angel Food Cake. I just made one using Sax's recipe. Well, I managed to somehow add the ingredients in the wrong order, not creaming the sugar into the butter thoroughly before adding any flour , but the cake still turned out ok. Not as high, not as airy, but still quite edible and very flavorful. I must learn not to bake late at night.

Could you elaborate on use a glucose? What is it? how does one substitute it for cane sugar?

You forgot the Italian Market. And tell her about the Chinatown bus to NYC for emergencies. ← Depending on the emergency, she may not need to take the bus to NYC Chinatown. If she can't find it in ours, she can just hop on the El to 69th Street Terminal. ← Sandy, the link didn't work for me - and I'm curious about what's at the 69th St Terminal.

Ah, Names, Names, Names? Medrstar, it will take a little while before I can simply analyse a recipe and decide which has already moderated the sugar. And I could use some sources for the Japanese cakes, too, Jason, though I've already looked about a bit on line. There's a green tea cake in my future. Are the recipes on About a good source? a bunch of them are by Setsuko Yoshizuka. In the meantime, I'm encouraged to hear the success Michelle, miladyinsanity, and you have had by reducing sugar in most recipes. Could all that talk/write about the exactingness of baking be untrue? As for using ground nuts, I do make a couple nut cakes, but so many of them call for heaps of fillings, buttercreams, and glazes...

Over the years, most of my desserts have been fruit based or pies rather than cakes, partly because I have no problem reducing the amount of sugar I use in those. When I do make cakes, I tend to choose pound cakes, tea loaves, etc., where I can omit frostings. But even so, the cakes are often overly sweet The issue here is not one of weight control, but of taste control, of what seems to me balance. Understand, I have a major sweet tooth, but there's sweet and there's sweet. I'd like to explore reducing the amount of sugar in cakes, but I know it's part of the structure and chemistry of the cake. There must be some general principles about how a cake is constructed and the role of sugar that could guide me in this. Or is it just a matter of experimenting. Try a recipe, reduce the sugar by 10%, next time 20%, etc. til one gets the desired result. Or are there other things one can add in place of the sugar that will take over its function? There must be some basic ratios that can guide me. It irritates me no end to spend a couple hours and waste ingredients when a little research can improve the odds. Perhaps there are some references I could check out. Oh, and imagine my surprise to find that there is no eGCI course on cake baking! Bread takes the cake.

I made the cranberry upsidedown cake. (I'm especially fond of cakes that have fruit in them.) Another winner!

Thank you all for your replies. Melissa and Milagi, I did do a search on pickle before posting and came up with less than a pageful of threads, not including the helpful ones you suggest. Feeling doltish at having missed your on point suggestions, I searched pickle again and came up with pages in response. I can only guess I must have misspelled it the first time - or perhaps search was tired. On a google search I found the websites for the Indian pickles, but most of them are more complex in flavor than what I'm looking for right now. ChefJohnny, I'm interested in your process when you put together a pickle as I would imagine you most often make up your own recipes. Do you have a basic brine you use most of the time? tweaking for different foodstuffs? 1:1 vinegar:sugar, perhaps somewhat less sugar for sweeter fruits? do you add wine to some (does that call for reducing the vinegar)? and vary the vinegars and/or spices per the fruit or veggie that stars? All chef's trucs are welcome. It makes perfect sense to pair a pickle with an unctuous food such as foie gras. The upcoming holidays with their typically fatty foods set me on a quest for some pickle outside my usual repetoire. While salsas will also serve that counterpointing function, I often prefer a single pickled fruit or vegetable to the more varied flavors in a salsa, especially when serving something that has been braised to bring varied flavors together. I tend to use salsas in meals where there is a simply prepared (sauted, fried, grilled) piece of fish or meat,. The other thing about pickles is that they tend to be flavored more with spices while salsas lean on herbs. That's a wonderful suggestion about the beets, Carolyn. I'll be sure to try it as my gdaughter (11) is wild for beets. We usually prepare a meal together about once a week and this is simple enough that she could do it without boiling up a brine if she used jarred pickled beets. Do you simply roast the beets, then jar up the shredded beets with the vinegar and wine without cookin the brine? I'll also give the turnips a try, probably after the holidays (though I did once get them at Sahadi's (Brooklyn) and was disappointed).

I like keeping some freshly homemade pickled vegetables in my fridge, but my repetoire is limited. I'm not into making a whole year's supply in the end of summer heat, but prefer making small batches of this or that as I go. In common parlance, pickle tends to mean pickled cucumbers, dills, gherkins. But many other vegetables and even some fruits can be pickled. Lately I've made Judy Rodgers' pickled red onions and love them for their wonderful aromatic flavor and texture. My old standbys are a quick sweet/sour cucumber pickle (with only a 2 day life) and carrot/daikon pickle. Sometimes I make pickled watermelon rind. So what are some of your favorites to make for your fridge - or has freshly made salsa completely eclipsed pickled vegetables?

I have a considerable store of candied ginger that's dried out a bit. Does anyone have a good idea how to undry it? to soften it up a bit? I've considered soaking it much as one might plump raisins. Or, perhaps, giving it another turn of "candying" on the stove. Another use for dried ginger is to add it to just about any spice loaf that calls for ginger. And, I'm not sure it will qualify as the recipe specifies stem ginger in syrup, but Pierre Herme has a terrific chocolate loaf with stem ginger and apricots. It's in his Chocolate Desserts.

I make roasted peppers, then top them with the white anchovies and some olives, drizzle olive oil over all very liberally.

I think this is more along the lines of what you are looking for: Gourmet Sleuth I've used it quite a lot and compared to my own volume weight conversions (where I actually fill a cup with sugar then weigh it, etc.) -- very accurate. ← Perfect. Thanks

I've never made these at home, but after this excellent tutorial I will give it a try This is an especially good recipe for solo cooking. Two questions: could these be made ahead and frozen; have you other filling suggestions?

That was a very persuasive argument. It looks like I'll be looking into digital scales. pat w. ← Mine has a tare function, 5 gram and 1/4 oz increments and weighs to 11 lb. If getting a new one, I'd look for smaller increments. I have a Salton, but as I recall, there have been threads in the past suggesting others that might be better.

Chihiran, I'm a home baker, too, but I find using a scale a great help in getting consistently satisfactory results. It saves me time, money, and anxiety. Given the price of some baking ingredients, my scale has paid for itself even though I don't bake as often as many here do. Our American publishing practice of using only volume measurement creates needless ambiguity. 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