Matthew.Taylor

Well, it’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever made, but dad’s coming home from rehab today (Covid related pneumonia, plus COPD leaving him in a hospital bed for a month!), and German chocolate cake is his favorite cake. Still, I think it looks good overall.

Here’s this weekends work. The famous Neiman Marcus 250 dollar chocolate chip cookie!

Made these today. They’re called Forgotten Chocolate Cookies! The name comes from the story that the original recipe could be left in the oven and “forgotten,” but we’re still perfectly edible.

The cake also looks a little under done in some spots. I would suggest trying freeze dried strawberries, crushed into a powder next time. They might help with the cake’s problems. I tried to make a strawberry cake once, did not go well.

After a week of Covid, my mother decided I was better enough to try baking again. We had a box of peaches that where starting to get bad, so here’s Peach Cobbler. https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/fresh-peach-cobbler#recipe-body

I was just reminded of a recipe I saw on Good Eats, the return. Umami mayonnaise. https://altonbrown.com/recipes/umami-mayo-2/

No I’m not. Right now I don’t really have the time for that. Sone greens might be nice though.

Ok, for years I’ve brought a normal turkey sandwich with me for lunch. Turkey breast, cheese, mayo. It worked for a long time. But now I’m getting bored. So I need some advice on flavoring it up, I’ve tried adding some chipotle mayo today, that may help, but I’m open to any advice. New cheese? Different bread (done crunchier bread would be nice.)!

I’m looking for a book on old tipples and other such drinks from colonial American times, old English, and other such periods. Any help would be appreciated.

There is a paw-paw fruit festival coming up in September. I could probably get some hands on advice there. But if the fruit is more like a mango, than perhaps a “Crème de” type beverage instead of a “cello” type?

and I need a little advice. I've been thinking of trying to make a type of Limoncello, but I live in Ohio, where the official state fruit is the Paw-Paw fruit. I was thinking of using it (when it comes into season) instead of limes. However, they are rather different from each other. One has zest and is grated, the other has pulp that is used. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you very much! It feels good to hear that after that cake. The cake didn't turn out to well, but this is the first time I've made a cake like this. Sadly, I believe I overbaked it, and made it somewhat dry. Plus the frosting collapsed while mixing so it wasn't as light as it should have been, and I needed to use Pam cooking spray to keep it from sticking to the spatula. Learn from my mistakes people! I will try this again sometime. I'll try to copy down the recipe, but you can find it in Nancie McDermott's book "Southern cakes." This is a GREAT Book for any cake maker. There's a recipe for a coffee cake in their that my family still loves even after all the years we've had the book. Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations - Kindle edition by McDermott, Nancie, Luigart-Stayner, Becky. Cookbooks, Food & Wine Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. The Pecans I decorated it with came from here. https://www.thespruceeats.com/glazed-pecans-3059100

Here’s the big dessert I made for Easter. Lady Baltimore Cake!

Here’s todays work. Pretzel buns!

Here's the recipe I used for the shortbread above. Hope you enjoy. Millionaire’s Shortbread SHORTBREAD INGREDIENTS 1. 9 Ounces (2 Sticks plus 2 Tablespoons) of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature. 2. ½ cup White Sugar 3. ¼ cup Dark Brown Sugar. 4. ¾ teaspoon Kosher Salt. 5. 1 and ¼ teaspoon Vanilla Extract 6. 1 and ¾ cup All-purpose Flour. 7. ½ Cup Cornstarch 8. 1 heaping cup of Pecan Halves Steps. 1. Turn Oven to 300 degrees F, and spread Pecans over a baking sheet. 2. Toast for five minutes. Check them, and if you want them more toasted, bake for another few minutes, checking every minute. (NOTE: Nuts burn easily, so make sure you are careful). 3. Chop up Pecans coarsely. 4. Combine both sugars, Salt, and Butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a normal bowl). Mix on Medium-low speed until just combined, 1-2 minutes. Add Vanilla and mix until just combined. 5. Pour in flour and cornstarch and mix just until a dough has formed. 6. Mix in toasted pecans just until combined. (NOTE: Consider doing this by hand in order to avoid overmixing.) 7. Take a baking sheet (NOTE: Make sure the sheet has relatively high sides in order to take in the caramel and chocolate, consider sides 1-2 inches high), and line it with parchment paper (or spray it with non stick spray, but parchment will make later steps easier). 8. Turn oven to 350 degrees F, and bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until lightly brown. 9. Let cool completely. SALTED CARAMEL Here’s the hard part. INGREDIENTS. 1. 3 Cups of Granulated Sugar. 2. ½ A cup of water. 3. 1 Cup of Heavy Cream, 4. 3 and ½ sticks of SALTED butter, cut into cubes and chilled. STEPS. 1. In a heavy bottom saucepan, pour one cup of sugar, and all of the water. Over medium heat, stir until the sugar is completely melted. 2. Once completely melted, gradually pour in the remaining sugar, stirring until it is all melted and become a bubbling syrup. 3. Turn heat to low-medium low, and continue to stir. (NOTE: This is very important to remember, eventually the sugar will lose so much moisture that it appears to return to the state of granular sugar. This is SUPPOSED to happen! You have not screwed up! This caramel must essentially melt twice!) (You may want to consider using a pastry brush to brush some water on the sides of the pan in order to dissolve some of the sugar that builds up on the sides. This is not necessary, but without it, the pan WILL need a good deal of soaking in soapy water when it’s time to clean up.) 4. After it has clumped up and re-melted into a dark amber liquid, begin to slowly pour the heavy cream in, stirring as you go. 5. Once the cream is fully in, take the pan off the heat. Stir in all the butter at once, until fully melted. (NOTE: If you want a thicker caramel, consider cooking for a bit more, perhaps 1 minute, without stirring) 6. At this point, you have two options, process the caramel with an immersion blender until completely smooth, or just use a wooden spoon, though this will take longer. 7. Pour caramel into a bowl, and cover in plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator and chill until smooth and firm. You may have to stir the caramel some while there.(NOTE: When I did this, there was a layer of liquid on top of the caramel. This is not a problem, just whisk it well, and it will start looking like real caramel.) CHOCOLATE: INGREDIENTS. 1. 1 TO 2 CUPS of Chocolate chips. 2. Flaky/Coarse Sea Salt (optional) 3. Cocoa nibs (optional) STEPS. 1. Place chips in a microwave proof bowl, and heat in the microwave on thirty second intervals. Stirring after each interval, until completely melted and smooth. ASSEMBLE. 1. Take shortbread in pan, and place in work area. 2. Pour caramel into the middle of the shortbread (this is why the parchment is better, it will keep the toppings and fillings from pouring out, this is also why a higher sided pan is better.) 3. Spread the caramel out, edge to edge. (optional, you may put the filled shortbread in the fridge to firm up a bit if you wish) 4. Pour melted chocolate over the top of the caramel, spread edge to edge. 5. Let chill for ten to twenty minutes, and then sprinkle optional ingredients on top. 6. Chill til firm, and serve.

I did? I must have forgotten it. I made them once before but this version is much better. Sure, I can post the new one. I need to learn proper chocolate tempering for the topping though. I’m at work now, so it will have to wait a bit.

Remember to always let the base cool completely and to bake it in the same pan you plan to assemble the bars in. I gave one slice with me for lunch, and it’s clear I’ll need to improve some things for next time, though they taste wonderful. Here’s the picture.

Here’s the Millionaire’s shortbread I wrote about in my caramel thread.

Well, I purchased a book of Amazon recently that contained an interesting recipe for Salted Caramel (Patisserie: Mastering the Fundamentals of French Pastry - Updated Edition: Felder, Christophe: 8601200395532: Amazon.com: Books). My mother had spoken once about how much she liked this stuff, and I had nothing planned for this weekend, so why not try it out? But what to use it with? I was watching GBBO on netflix, and I was reminded of Caramel week's Millionaire Shortbread challenge. I had my answer. But man, I know SO much more about making caramel now than I did this morning. The shortbread went fine, but the caramel was a serious roadblock. It turns out that the melted sugar is SUPPOSED to basically go back to looking like normal sugar, and THEN melt into caramel! Basically it melts twice, once into a type of simple syrup, and then into a proper caramel. I wish someone had told me that would happen before I started. The only previous time I made Millionaire's shortbread, I used cooked sweetened condensed milk, but that also struck me as cheating in some way (no offense to those who use it, but the baking purist in me needs to be indulged sometimes). This thread is for any discussion on nightmares or successes surrounding caramel, learning how to make it, and experiences with it.

I sit here, eating a slice of King Cake, and I am reminded of a subject that I’ve thought about before. Coffee Cake. we’ve all baked hundreds of cakes over the years, I’ll wager, but what separates cake from what we call Coffee Cake? What are the defining characteristics? What makes it Coffee Cake? Can anyone answer this? I got a very good coffee cake recipe from Southern Cakes, but this question still bothers me

Well, I finally managed to get back to Adriatico’s today. Sadly, they don’t sell dough balls.

I’m definitely gonna go again, though it may not be until next Monday at the earliest. I’ll definitely remember the dough ball. I do have a kitchen scale, not a big one but it will do. Also, I just remembered, Adriatico’s refers to themselves as a New York Pizzeria (and sports bar) so this very well COULD be NY Sicilian style.

I found one recipe that mixes equal parts all-purpose and bread flour, how do you guys think that would work?

The waiter told me. I’m pretty sure the sauce is the same, though they could water it down with something before using it on the pizza.

Ok, went to Adriatico’s again, got some more info. The flour they use is All-purpose, plus here’s some pictures. I think the sauce is tomato paste based, as it is rather thick when it’s unheated.