Your Daily Sweets: What are you making and baking? (2012–2014)

[Darienne]

My first non-gluten goodie. Made because I liked the taste and texture. http://support.cleanprogram.com/entries/20112588-Chocolate-Walnut-Scones

[David Ross]

Fresh rhubarb pie. Not cut with strawberries to dim the taste of the rhubarb and with just the right amount of sugar to allow the tart flavor of the rhubarb to come through. Sorry I didn't get a shot of a slice of the pie. I absolutely had to dig right in. Actually, I dug in twice and then had a third slice for breakfast this morning.

[emmalish]

I've recently started a bit of a cookie project. I have a LOT of cookbooks that I've only baked one or two things from and I really want to bake my way through them. So I'm aiming to make something every week (my coworkers have just hit the jackpot). So far I've made...

Glazed Orange Cookies

Snickerdoodles

Oat & Coconut Cookies (Anzac Biscuits)

Chocolate Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon Pistachio Biscotti

I've also just set up a blog to document the process. So far it's been a lot of fun! Hopefully I can keep this up long term and don't get bored with it. Right now, though, I'm so inspired that my cookbooks have essentially been living on the couch with me so I can flip through randomly and decide what I want to make next. SO many choices!

[Darienne]

Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Would to be your next-door neighbor, Emmalish. They are all beautiful, but the Glazed Orange Cookies have me almost drooling. Are these all from one cookbook?...name, please...or from several.

[emmalish]

Thanks Darienne!! I could say the same to you with all your chocolates! I need to get back into that...

All the info about the cookies is on the blog @ wannacomewith. I have links to all the cookbooks, plus the recipes. The orange cookies are from a compilation recipe book that so far is looking very promising.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Emmalish, what did you use to get that pattern on the tops of the peanut butter cookies? Meat tenderizing hammer?

[emmalish]

Panaderia, yes, that's exactly what I used. I shamelessly stole the idea from the Miette cookbook – I thought it was adorable.

[Kim Shook]

Emmalish - gorgeous cookies! I adore cookies and find making them so rewarding. Can't wait to see more and thanks for the link. I was curious about the pattern on the PB cookies, too. Smart idea!

Edited April 25, 2013 by Kim Shook (log)

[emmalish]

Thanks Kim! I have to say, YOU are an inspiration to me. You always manage to create such amazing desserts. I don't know where you find the time!

[Toliver]

I've recently started a bit of a cookie project. I have a LOT of cookbooks that I've only baked one or two things from and I really want to bake my way through them. So I'm aiming to make something every week (my coworkers have just hit the jackpot). So far I've made...

Thanks for posting the link to the recipes.

It's interesting that your Snickerdoodle recipe didn't call for cream of tartar. I have no idea what it does to a cookie (hopefully an SSB will drop by and tell me) but the majority of Snickerdoodle recipes call for it.

The Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip cookies gave me a Homer SImpson "DOH!" moment...as in why didn't anyone think of this combination before? I am anxious to give it a try.

[emmalish]

Thanks for posting the link to the recipes.

It's interesting that your Snickerdoodle recipe didn't call for cream of tartar. I have no idea what it does to a cookie (hopefully an SSB will drop by and tell me) but the majority of Snickerdoodle recipes call for it.

The Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip cookies gave me a Homer SImpson "DOH!" moment...as in why didn't anyone think of this combination before? I am anxious to give it a try.

You're welcome! And I wondered the same thing about snickerdoodles. I've actually seen some pretty heated discussions online insisting that it's not a snickerdoodle if it doesn't have cream of tartar, but isn't baking powder just baking soda + cream of tartar? So... same thing?

[pquinene]

I've recently started a bit of a cookie project. I have a LOT of cookbooks that I've only baked one or two things from and I really want to bake my way through them. So I'm aiming to make something every week (my coworkers have just hit the jackpot). So far I've made...

Glazed Orange Cookies

glazed-orange-cookie-85611.jpg

Snickerdoodles

snickerdoodles-85981.jpg

Oat & Coconut Cookies (Anzac Biscuits)

coconut-oat-cookies-87651.jpg

Chocolate Cookies

grammys-chocolate-cookies-8959.jpg

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

peanut-butter-cookies-88331.jpg

Lemon Pistachio Biscotti

lemon-pistachio-biscotti-9102.jpg

I've also just set up a blog to document the process. So far it's been a lot of fun! Hopefully I can keep this up long term and don't get bored with it. Right now, though, I'm so inspired that my cookbooks have essentially been living on the couch with me so I can flip through randomly and decide what I want to make next. SO many choices!

Oh yum! They all look gorgeous!

[pquinene]

I made macarons with French meringue yesterday; they were ready to eat today. Grand Marnier-soaked discs with orange curd-flavored bittersweet chocolate ganache and a dollop of orange curd in the middle:

This one has a vanilla-cream cheese filling with a dollop of orange curd in the center:

Edited April 26, 2013 by pquinene (log)

[emmalish]

I have to admit, I didn't really like macarons the few times I've tried them, but those flavours sound amazing! You may convert me yet...

[pquinene]

I have to admit, I didn't really like macarons the few times I've tried them, but those flavours sound amazing! You may convert me yet...

Yes, it's a hit-or-miss when I buy macarons. I use tapioca starch in my French meringue (weird, but some pastry chefs do use a starch in their meringue for pies). I also keep the fillings from being too sweet. Follow the link via the picture below where you will find another link to my recipe. It's too long to post here.

[Baselerd]

Goat cheesecake foam, sous vide figs, raspberry fluid gel, graham tuile, and rosemary crumble. Here's a link to the recipe. The cheesecake foam was delicious, although I would hold back on the amount of vinegar in the figs if I make it again.

[emmalish]

I made my favourite bran muffins this weekend not really a sweet, but it counts, right? This is about as healthy as a bran muffin can get - loaded with both wheat and oat bran, berries and seeds, and made with molasses and honey instead of white or brown sugar. And in spite of that? Still tasty! Recipe is here for anyone interested.

Edited April 29, 2013 by emmalish (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I've been so busy that I've been remiss in posting. So, something really sinful after those yummy looking bran muffins: Death By Chocolate Cheesecake.

[Rozin Abbas]

I've been so busy that I've been remiss in posting. So, something really sinful after those yummy looking bran muffins: Death By Chocolate Cheesecake.

I'm a cheesecake nut, so I'm slightly envious of your creation here. What are the components exactly?

Goat cheesecake foam, sous vide figs, raspberry fluid gel, graham tuile, and rosemary crumble. Here's a link to the recipe. The cheesecake foam was delicious, although I would hold back on the amount of vinegar in the figs if I make it again.

That looks fantastic. What was the goat cheesecake like prior to putting it into the siphon?

[Baselerd]

Thanks. It was a very lightly set gel. I actually strayed from the recipe a little and pureed it prior to siphoning - it didn't make as much sense to me to fill the siphon with a set gel.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I've been so busy that I've been remiss in posting. So, something really sinful after those yummy looking bran muffins: Death By Chocolate Cheesecake.

I'm a cheesecake nut, so I'm slightly envious of your creation here. What are the components exactly?

This might be fun for you; I'm in Ecuador and my cheeses are not quite like anywhere else.

In general, it's a mixture of 250 g mascarpone that I make myself from nata (the cream that rises to the top of the cream, when you buy milk from Guernsey cows), 250 g of a very soft locally-produced cream cheese, and 500 g of hard-pressed ricotta from full-fat mozzarella. To that, I add between 8 and 10 oz of melted Caoni baking chocolate (about 75% cocoa solids), about 8 oz of panela (truly raw sugar), and three big, farm-fresh eggs. It sits on top of a crust composed of crushed up chocolate animal crackers and fresh butter - something I don't measure anymore, since I make so many crumb crusts. Bearing in mind that I'm at 10,000 feet of altitude, 1 hour at 350 F in a floured 25 cm springform pan.

It's covered in a dark chocolate ganache made using more of the Caoni baking chocolate bittered with a product called Mother of Chocolate, which is close to 100% cocoa solids, in crema (the cream that the nata is skimmed from). My general recipe for this is floating around in one of the ganache threads. Finally, the cake is drizzled with high-cocoa-butter white chocolate, and decorated with grageas (sesame seed dragees in bittersweet chocolate) and shaved milk chocolate.

The end result is so rich and chocolatey that even the most diehard chocoholic is hard-pressed to finish a 1/12 slice.

[emmalish]

Panaderia, trade you some of my bran muffins for that chocolate cheesecake...? That looks amazing.

This week I made chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies (recipe here)...

I also made some salted chocolate caramels, but I don't have that one up yet.

[emmalish]

This week's cookie is a lemon glazed ricotta cookie (recipe here). I've never had this cookie before and had no idea what to expect. They're not really what I would consider "cookie-like". They're light and fluffy and like little morsels of cake.

Let me be clear — I am NOT complaining. I MAY have eaten three of them for breakfast this morning. Maybe. Of all the cookies I've brought to work, these have been by far the most popular.

[Baselerd]

I recently made the recipe found here - consisting of mango custard, coconut sorbet (I used my own recipe for this), and carbonated calamansi gel. I added a few twists - since I could not find coconut milk powder at the store I mixed some unrefined coconut oil, tapioca maltodextrin (N-Zorbit), powdered sugar, and salt to make some coconut powder. I made some grapfruit confit as well, and used some freeze-dried pineapple instead of mangos.

Since I cast the mango custard into molds rather than into the serving vessels, I should have added a bit more carageenan to further thicken it (ever so slightly), it was too soft to maintain its shape. In either case this recipe was very tasty, and I had never thought of carbonating a fluid gel before - it was an interesting effect.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[RWood]

This has got to be one of my most favorite cakes I have done. The couple wanted old style tattoo images on the cake that a friend of theirs had drawn for them. I used edible paper/ink to print out the images. And the topper is so freakin' cool! They had mini guitars on every table as well and decorated the room with the groom's vintage guitar collection.