[Crust Dust]

I always blind bake first-350F for one hour-add filling and bake. Haven’t ever had a soggy bottom. 

[A Question About Pie Crust]

Most likely too late, but just thought I’d add my two cents: I do the blind baking a little differently: 350F for one hour (beans and parchment-filled). Works great every time. 

[Dulce de Leche Solido? Help, please!!]

Thank you so much for your responses. I haven't tasted it yet-still trying to diet before Xmas, lol. I think I am going to shave it into apple pie with a carrot peeler and see what happens.

[Dulce de Leche Solido? Help, please!!]

Hi everyone! My daughter went to Argentina and brought me home a slab of Dulce de Leche Solido. I'm not quite sure what to do with it, though. Do I shave into apple pie? Do I melt it? Does it melt? Do I cut into small chunks for cookies? Are you supposed to eat it plain? I don't want to waste it with a lot of trial and error, so before I do I thought I'd ask the most knowledgeable people I "know". 

Thanks in advance!

[Cake Flavor Question: Opinions, Please.]

I am hoping you can help me figure this out. I am making an almond cake (using

marzipan and almond flour) with almond pastry cream/raspberry jam filling. For frosting:

cream cheese or white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream?

Thanks in advance!

[Lemon/Lime/Citrus Curd: The Topic]

I always mix everything together  with a mixer until all incorporated and the cook. The mouth feel is great and the color is always a creamy yellow. It also has a nice body to it. In doing it this way I have also noted that I never get that metallic taste that sometimes comes with lemon curd. Try it with some fresh thyme mixed in when cold. It’s amazing!

[Apple Pie]

Soggy bottom: I always blind bake my pie crust for apple pie until it is golden

Apples: I cook mine on the stovetop in butter and brown sugar. I add spices to that. 
Starch: I always use corn starch. I find it less claggy than flour. 
Top crust: I can’t help with that as my family love a crumb topping on apple pie. 
 

[Pastry cream using whipping cream instead of milk?]

Thanks everyone. I guess I’ll stick to the tried and true. 🙂

[Pastry cream using whipping cream instead of milk?]

I just saw this on a tv show. Not diplomat cream-actually using heavy cream instead of milk. Has anyone ever tried this? Is it a 1:1 replacement? Do you have to cook on at a lower heat with the cream? Thanks.

[Lemon/Lime/Citrus Curd: The Topic]

I always mix the butter and sugar until fluffy and light, add the eggs and yolks, followed by the juice. It will look curdled, but that’s okay. I put it into a small enameled cast iron pot-not a double boiler- over low heat until it smooths out and doesn’t look curdled anymore, stirring all the time. Then turn up to medium and stir until thick, (making sure that it gets to at least 160F to kill bacteria). Just don’t let it boil. Once thickened, take off heat and add the zest. Turns out perfectly every time!

[Cruffins]

This is the layered inside. I also added vanilla bean seeds to the dough. 

[Cruffins]

Thanks for the lovely comments. Here is the link:

https://www.withspice.com/blog/chai-spiced-breakfast-buns-cruffins/

 

Please note one that I doubled the yeast because I was shaping and freezing the dough before baking. Also, I use Active Dry yeast due to freezing prior to baking. I changed the proportions of the chai seasoning as I found it way too intense for my chai-loving family. I would advise you to look at this recipe closely before combining ingredients as I had to throw out the first batch. In addition, I would halve the sugar chai mixture-way too much left over. With these few tweaks, these rolls were astonishingly delicious. I’ll be making these again later this month for visitors coming in February, so again, make ahead and freeze. I will only be adding cinnamon and nutmeg to the sugar this time, as I will be serving them with a clementine curd (I have an obscene amount that will go bad unless I use them soon lol!). Please post your results-I’d love to see them. Happy baking!

[Cruffins]

I did these for New Year’s Eve breakfast with a chai spiced sugar coating. I fell in love with making them and the best part was that I made them, shaped and froze them ahead of time to bake off on the morning of the 31st. My first attempt and I am hooked. 

 

[Troubleshooting Tempering]

Thanks so much for the responses I really appreciate it!

[Troubleshooting Tempering]

I was watching an Irish baking show and the expert said that an easy way to temper/keep temper is to melt it to a temp no higher than 35C. As long as the chocolate doesn’t creep beyond that it will stay tempered. No need to heat and cool. Has anyone ever heard/tried this?

[Has anyone ever baked meringue cookies in silicone molds?]

Thanks for the replies. It worked!

[White chocolate ganache]

I use a ratio of 3:1 chocolate to cream for white choc ganache. Place choc in heat proof bowl. Heat the cream to just boiling. Pour over chocolate. Swirl the bowl to make sure the choc is submerged. Mix to incorporate. I let it set up overnight. It is then ready to stir and use. The white choc ganache is especially good with a little cinnamon added to it. Good luck!

[Has anyone ever baked meringue cookies in silicone molds?]

Thanks everyone. My piping is pretty solid, I just want them completely uniform. I like the idea of the template but I only have rimmed baking sheets, so I wouldn't be able to pull the template out from under the piped meringue. As long as I know it can be done, I will try it and report back. I really appreciate your responses.

[Has anyone ever baked meringue cookies in silicone molds?]

No. Not macarons. Meringues like the meringue mushroom type. I just want them all exactly the same size. Thanks.

[Coconut Italian Meringue]

This may be a silly question, but when would you add the coconut cream powder? Do you melt it with the sugar and egg whites or do you add it at the end with your vanilla? If you do that, does the powder dissolve or does it become grainy? I am really interested in this product, but not sure how to use it in this application.

Thanks.

[Isomalt and Other Sugar Decor]

I also agree with Tri2Cook, but I also think that people might think that it would be too hard to eat because it would stick in their teeth-kind of like lollipops if you bite them right away. LOL. I made a cake once covered with flavored isomalt tiles. I took so much time deciding how to flavor them, and of course, not one tile was eaten! "Parsley sprig" of pastry to be sure!!

[Has anyone ever baked meringue cookies in silicone molds?]

I know that the recommended way to make macarons is on parchment vs silicone, but I am asking specifically about meringue cookies. I want them all to be uniform in shape and was wondering if I could pipe these into mini round silicone molds, would it work? Would spraying with a light coat of PAM deflate them too much or prevent them from drying out? I don't want them too dry, but I want the bottoms to set. Thanks for your responses!

[Help: Rice Krispie treats with home-made marshmallows]

Thanks so much for the input. I wanted to wait a few days and track results. So, Chocolot: I let them set up and remelted with butter and added the rice krispies just like when you use store-bought. Tri2cook: I had been reading that the extra liquid content of homemade marshmallows breaks down the krispies. I decreased the water in the syrup and cooked to 250F. Everything worked fine. The only problem was that I couldn't scoop them into silicone molds because they didn't hold their shape unless I pressed them in making a denser treat. I guess it is cookie cutters for me! JAZ: Thanks for the butter tip. As for stale-ness, I made them on Friday and they were gone by Sunday, and with this marshmallow technique (reducing liquid, higher temp) the Krispies were just as good on day 3 as they were on day 1. Thanks so much to everyone. So sorry about the opening rant! I was having a bit of a panic.

[Pipeable marshmallow cream recipe]

I just did this yesterday. I do an egg white-free marshmallow and I mixed it for 5 minutes at speed 8 on my Kitchen Aid and then 3 minutes on speed 10. I filled 2 disposable piping bags with the marshmallow and had a third, empty, "master bag" fitted with a french tip. I cut off the bottom of one filled bags and put it into the "master". When I finished with that bag, I took the whole thing out and replaced it in the "master" with the second filled bag. It cut down on the time (you have to work quickly with this stuff) as well as the mess. Hope I explained this well enough.

[Help: Rice Krispie treats with home-made marshmallows]

So sorry. They are curing now and my fingers are crossed. For the marshmallows, I reduced the amount of water in the syrup and increased the heating temp. I let set for 24 hours. So far so good-"POOH POOH POOH!", as my great grandmother used to say. I guess we'll see how they are by tomorrow. Thanks for asking and for all the help. You guys are amazing. Sorry for the freakout!