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Ess

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  1. I'm looking for a wafer cone recipe. I can't seem to find one. All that seems to come up are waffle cone recipes and cakes made in ice cream cones... Does anyone have a good recipe? I just want the batter; I'm not actually trying to make a cone. I'm trying to recreate a Korean snack called White Heim. It's a wafer roll type thing with white chocolate hazelnut filling. I tried a wafer roll/barquillos recipe and it was totally different. Almost tasted like pancake. And was kind of greasy. I think the roll in the snack seemed more like a wafer ice cream cone. So I'm looking to try with that batter instead.
  2. Ess

    Shortbread

    Okay, it was underbaked for sure! I was thinking of how other cookies usually take ~15 minutes, so as soon as it firmed up a bit, I took them out! I set the timer for 15 minutes and kept adding a few minutes so I'm not sure the exact time (plus opening and closing probably took away a lot of the heat) because I always seem to overbake other cookies by adding "just a few more minutes" so it made me paranoid... I definitely need to try again.
  3. Ess

    Avocado Recipes

    I might start to feel sorry I asked - not enough avocados to try all these delicious things! Since this morning, chromedome's post was the last I read, and all day I was thinking along the lines of : and: Avocado + condensed milk reminded me of pumpkin pie filling... and since I'm also on the quest for great shortbread (The BEST Shortbread... What IS Shortbread?) I was thinking of a shortbread crust (trying out @Okanagancook's recipe as it has egg and nutmeg)... And came here to ask for ideas for additions to the filling, because I don't think I really want a heavily spiced filling like some pumpkin pies are... Maybe some cinnamon? Salt? I don't know... ...And topped with avocado mousse instead of whipping cream? (Waiting for @anomalii on that one...) I am craving some sweetness. But now that sushi's been brought into the game (duh, why didn't I think of sushi and soy sauce?!) and all these enticing pictures... I'm in quite the dilemma. I do have lots of eggs. And bread. Also have some shrimp. And nori. I might need to get some more avocados...
  4. Ess

    Avocado Recipes

    Actually very tempting because I feel like something sweet and I've got some homemade condensed milk in the fridge, but I feel like I should do something a bit more special... I really do like guacamole (thank you for the recipe - will use in future!). So which of these is even better than guacamole? Please let me know how this goes! Sounds delicious. I need this tree in my backyard... Grilled avocado! Sounds great too... Tree reminds me of the time I planted the seed in a pot and it grew. Which reminds me that I read the seed is very nutritious and should be eaten. Anyone know anything about this? I assume it should be blended but can you cook it afterwards or does that destroy the nutrients... I feel like you'd have to hide it in something... Another thing I thought of while typing this... If sprouted things are healthier, would the sprouted avocado seed be better...? Okay I'll stop thinking now. Don't get the wrong idea now, I'm not looking for anything particularly healthy - just something delicious. It's just that the avocado seed is a pretty big chunk of the avocado to throw away... And if it's supposed to be healthy and nutritious, might as well eat it... Waste not want not?
  5. Ess

    Avocado Recipes

    I like eating them as-is, but we don't often have avocados. Thought I'd make the most of the bag we have now and make something delicious. Any ideas?
  6. Ess

    Shortbread

    The almonds sound like a great variation! Glad to hear you still get to enjoy some baking... I thought it was tragic when you said your oven was currently broken. So strange how what we consider a staple here is so hard to find on the other side of the world!
  7. Ess

    Shortbread

    I am pretty sure my shortbread was underbaked. I just remembered I had a friend long ago who gave out shortbread cookies in the holiday season and always talked about how she was very particular about baking them and she just bakes it enough to be bakes and doesn't like it baked any more. And you did mention the mottling if baked longer (though some people prefer it like that). I tried to go for the paler like you described as it matched what I remember from my friend's shortbread long ago (though I must say it wasn't particularly outstanding), but I guess it still needed a lot more. The edges were ever so lightly beginning to brown. They all got eaten though. I think the rice flour shortbread I had before (the one I mentioned in my first post) just had a crazy amount. Because I really like the texture of the rice flour in this particular one.
  8. Ess

    Shortbread

    I wondered this too. I've never heard of the cocoa butter requirement. Is it possible to get that floury taste I described with my failed cookies due to them being underbaked?
  9. Ess

    Shortbread

    Thank you so much @helenjp for your detailed information! Really helpful and I enjoyed reading it. ...I'm sorry I still managed to mess up and do not have proper results I really do hope that when I get around to trying a proper batch that someone else will eventually try some as well so we can have various opinions and see which recipe has the most votes...
  10. Ess

    Shortbread

    So I messed up both recipes and need to do it again, but just thought I'd report the fact that I did try... I know, I know, how do you mess up shortbread?! There's only 4 ingredients... Well, I'm pretty sure my scale is off. I have always been kind of aware of this and try my best to adjust, but it didn't work out this time... It's really bad with receiving weights of very light items (e.g. cornstarch) or in very slow increments... There was way too much flour and/or cornstarch in the final product. I did kind of have my doubts when I was making the dough (so I did add some more butter) - it wasn't really coming together and it was really crumbly like streusel. But I just pressed it into the pan. It did cut fine and when it came out the cookies did not fall apart. But I don't taste butter at all, it feels like I'm just eating flour... Sigh. FWIW, I did like the rice flour one better. Don't know if this counts though, because I messed up the recipes. My plan was to take pictures of the crumb of the two different cookies but they look exactly the same. Both seemed to use ~10% protein flour. Since I only had superfine cake flour and AP I mixed the two, like they do for that famous cake flour-bread flour chocolate chip cookie recipe (which a lot of people claim is best) as I read a comment saying that cake flour and bread flour mixed together is basically AP (based on protein content) so certain people just used AP, but others commented that there is a texture difference with the two different flours mixed together which makes the cookie better... Not sure about that. On a side note, would anyone happen to know about this?
  11. Ess

    Shortbread

    I won't be baking until later in the week, but I wanted to write the two recipes down. So when I went to do this, I found that they're almost identical! The only difference is the cornstarch amount! And both grandmothers seem to use the same method of just pressing into the pan. Is 'caster sugar' and 'fine sugar' the same? Okay, so if two Scottish grandmothers agree like this, we must be getting close to a 'best' recipe... Edit: Just realized JohnT's uses cake flour, and I would assume helenjp's uses all-purpose. Wonder if it will make that much of a difference? Canadian all-purpose is a lot higher in protein... More things to consider!
  12. Ess

    Shortbread

    You had me convinced here... Okay, I will try the two Scottish grandmother recipes first! Thank you so much, @helenjp for your very informative post! I know it's hard in words, but are you able to explain what the texture of the dough should feel like, then? (This is why I liked @Okanagancook's recipe method as it said to add flour just until it cracks. I thought that was interesting and I liked that old-fashioned go-by-feel thing - I do plan on measuring how much I add though). This really intrigued me, but I don't quite understand. Sorry, can you explain further? Why would rice flour texture be better than the softer cornflour texture if there's less sugar? How is sugar content related to that? My family really likes their stuff a lot less sweet and I always struggle with this because I know you can't reduce sugar too much without (sometimes drastic) sacrifices to overall quality. This is why I'm trying to learn as much as I can so I can figure out how to adjust recipes properly. But I do also want to know how to make things by the normal standard for when I bake for people other than my family. It's hard to manage because I noticed that they actually like some things better when sweeter, as long as the overall product is very good. So I find that more often than not, my family does agree with the normal standard... Not sure if I'm making sense here. I don't really understand their tastes myself, so it's hard to explain without going into specific foods. I love the sound of this... A while ago, I had a very rich thumbprint cookie, and I loved it! It was one of the best cookies I've ever had... This must be it! I'll be trying this too, after all this regular shortbread stuff is out of the way... Do you just use the same method as you would for other cookies? Cream butter and sugar, then add flour and baking powder?
  13. Ess

    Shortbread

    It is the opinions that made them so great, and they are great learning threads. And they did come up with a general consensus (or at least, two or three, at times) which I hope to achieve here as well. Though everyone has different tastes, there are reasons why certain brands and products are more popular. More people think they are the best. Really, I would like to find a recipe or two that are most popular amongst the eGullet community. I am going away for the weekend and when I come back, I will try the "grandmother" recipes given here and will post results... I wanted to try @Okanagancook's recipe as I loved this: This recipe has to be pretty legitimate because only the best recipes are found in places like that...! I liked the method too. And I was going to compare it to @chromedome's recipe, using volume measurements like his grandmother. Also, do you have a recommended temperature to bake? That was the plan until @JohnT post. It was silly how excited I was by your post! I will definitely be trying your recipe as well! Thank you so much for posting! I'd be really interested to see your notes! Do you mind sharing this one as well? And do you think you'd be able to try your grandmother's recipe and let us know what you personally think of it? If you think it's better than your current one? Since JohnT is the first to present a recipe that seems to be "the best" (though much more humbly), I really hope others will try JohnT's recipe as well to see if they think it's better than theirs or if it even manages to be "the one" that stops the search. Perhaps @cakewalk would sub in rice flour for the cornstarch. I wondered if anyone would actually want to bake different batches of cookies but after reading through various threads here, that's what people here seem to do! This is what impressed me and lead me to start this topic. But I do understand if this doesn't actually happen. I will try the recipes, but to be honest, it's not really my opinion that I care about, it's everyone else's - I'd like to see the majority opinion. That is just my hope, however.
  14. Ess

    Shortbread

    This and @chromedome's talk of toasting flour is making my mind wander to toasted flour shortbread (at the moment, I don't think it would help in this thread though..still looking for just plain shortbread first)? Since flour is such a large proportion, it would kind of make sense to make that part taste really good as it makes up the biggest part of the cookie...
  15. Ess

    Shortbread

    I'd like to find a best plain shortbread recipe first. I feel like once you start adding other flavours, that's what's making seem good. I want the shortbread part to taste good and able to hold its own. I mean, once you start adding chocolate, of course it's going to taste good! Before getting into all this shortbread stuff, I had an earl gray shortbread recipe I really liked but for some reason that one, and other earl gray shortbread recipes I've seen, form it into a log, chill it, and cut it. Confused as to why they use a different method just due to different flavour. Would doing it that way that have significant effect to texture? Compared to traditional methods. I've seen other cookie recipes call for that too.
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