"Baking: From My Home to Yours" (Part 2)

[achevres]

A trip to our local pick-your-own farm and a bumper crop of fresh blueberries inspired me to pull out Dorie's Blueberry Sour Cream ice cream recipe.  It is phenomenal -- I used the alternate lime for juice and zest (instead of lemon) and subbed half and half for the heavy cream, as my cream had gone wonky in the fridge.

The result is a tangy, zippy, deeply purple ice cream that actually stayed smooth in the freezer over several days.  I have a deep dislike for the little fat clumps that result in ice creams made with egg yolks and heavy cream, so I am very inspired by the formulation of this recipe and am scheming variations.  Banana sour cream, maybe?

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I just had this ice cream and it's everything RuthWells says it is. Fresh, creamy, light, blueberrish, violet-colored and soooo easy. I usually make custard-based ice creams, but this cream and sour cream combination is genius. I followed the recipe exactly.

May I highly recommend the cream I buy at Trader Joe's: Garelick Farms Heavy Cream (Pasteurized -- not ultra-pasteurized). I think it does taste better and, believe it or not, it lasts weeks in the fridge, much longer than the ultra-pasteurized ones. It forms a thicker layer on top that apparently keeps the rest of it good.

I'm thinking of black raspberry for the next batch. They are still in season here. Or red raspberry -- the main reason I got the machine.

[MikeHartnett]

I been baking a bit from this book lately, and here is the first picture of my results:

French Yogurt Cake with Raspberries...

Pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

[Just loafing]

Apologies if there has been a cheesecake discussion in the 79 pages ... haven't had time to search through them all. But here's what happened:

My staffer was making a cheesecake for her mom's birthday ...

using Dorie's recipe which she says she read and re-read to make sure she'd being doing it properly.. Ingredients included 32-oz of

cream cheese and 1-1/3 cups of sour cream, heavy cream or a

combination, three eggs and lots of lime zest. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to what she was doing, but the batter looked like

cheesecake batter ought. However, as it was baking, it broke, like hollandaise might. A

lot of fat oozed out of the one pan ... the smaller pan didn't leak, so the

oil just sat in the mixture. The bigger cake apparently tasted good, but

the texture was like scrambled eggs.

I haven't made that many cheesecakes, but I've never had one break like

that. Any ideas? I wonder about the amount of sour cream ... (She made another one that night, using a different recipe, and says it turned out great.)

Susan

[alanamoana]

it is possible to "break" cream cheese by over mixing. if the mixture was lumpy (the cream cheese wasn't softened before adding the sour cream/cream and eggs) and your staffer tried to whip or paddle it smooth, that could have been the problem.

[RuthWells]

Another ice cream recipe tried -- honey peach. This is a classic custard preparation, with peach puree mixed into the custard. Very delish.

[thecoffeesnob]

I got my copy of this book last December and i absolutely love it! I've since made several things from it.

The first thing i made from it- the devil food cake with marshmallow frosting. This was so much fun to make. I didn't get a chance to taste it but the close friend whose birthday it was for offered to invest when i start my own bakery

The chocolate chocolate cupcakes i made for my little cousin's 4th birthday. I swear she ate her weight in them.

Mini madeleines and the chocolate cupcakes once again for a small dinner party i threw. I loved the madeleines- they were really soft, moist and had a nice crust.

The cocoa buttermilk birthday cake i made for a joint birthday party my best friend was hosting. I wasn't crazy about the slight grainess of the frosting but my best friend got back to me saying everyone loved it- someone even thought she bought it from a bakery!

I've stopped baking from this book for a while but this thread has got me all revved up to start again!

[laniloa]

Had my first opportunity to bake for my new classmates and decided to give the chocolate caramel crunch tart a try. What a great tart - the honey-roasted nuts really set it off. It got rave reviews and this is one of my favorite things about this book -- I don't have to worry about trying a new recipe even when I have to serve it to guests as I know it will come out great.

[Pucca]

Has anyone made Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookie? If so, what were your thoughts & experiences in working with the dough and how did it taste? I am considering it for using cookie cutters on it. Thanks.

[Marmish]

Has anyone made Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookie?  If so, what were your thoughts & experiences in working with the dough and how did it taste?  I am considering it for using cookie cutters on it.  Thanks.

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I noted sugar cookies in the list I compiled, so if you search back or use the google search you should find something. I haven't made them myself.

[RuthWells]

Has anyone made Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookie?  If so, what were your thoughts & experiences in working with the dough and how did it taste?  I am considering it for using cookie cutters on it.  Thanks.

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I make this dough, chill it, and scoop with a disher. The cookies are great, but tend to dry out quickly on me. I think it will be fine for cookie cutters as long as you chill the dough down when it softens on you.

[viva]

I made the French Pear Tart today, using the Sweet Nut Tart Crust variation, and also poaching the pears in syrup in advance. I also added some sweet dessert wine to the poaching liquid, which added a nice flavor. Would have added Poire William if I had some. Yummy!

[viva]

And today I made the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters, with the added suggestion of chopped peanuts and raisins. Kind of like a kitchen sink cookie, and a great way to clean out random amounts of things in the cupboard! This is a great cookie.

I could see cooking my way through this book fairly quickly... maybe I should follow Tuesdays with Dorie too...

[RuthWells]

And today I made the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters, with the added suggestion of chopped peanuts and raisins.  Kind of like a kitchen sink cookie, and a great way to clean out random amounts of things in the cupboard!  This is a great cookie.

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This cookie is an absolute winner -- I don't add the nuts and raisins, and it's always the most popular cookie I make.

[Spring]

Got my copy today, what a lovely book. Its just a shame that all the recipes dont have photos Not sure what Ill make first, its v exciting

[Spring]

Yesterday I made the chocolate biscotti and the carrot spice muffins. Not too thrilled with the biscotti but I suppose slightly burning them didnt help! . I found the muffins a little bland I think I need to add more carrots and raisins although the spice flavour was strong enough. I thought they were lovely and moist. Might try the other biscotti next.

Just had a muffin and its tastes as fresh as it did yesterday, Im really impressed and have decided it doesnt need any more raisins or carrots

Edited August 30, 2008 by Spring (log)

[viva]

I made the Thumbprints for Big Guys yesterday and they disappeared quickly. I substituted almonds for the hazelnuts and peach-hibiscus jam for the raspberry. Definitely a winner and very easy.

[Spring]

viva: They are definately on my list of things to make, I love baked jam biscuits/cookies. Did you make the peach-hibiscus jam yourself? What flavour does the Hibiscus give?

[viva]

You should definitely try them - not only is it a good cookie, but the cookie holds up well when made a little larger, so you have a nice big thumbprint to put lots of jam in.

I did make the jam myself - it's a variation from one of the Mes Confitures recipes "White Peach with Rose de Chine Tea" - except I used yellow peaches and hibiscus tea instead. Hibiscus tea is very tart and a lovely ruby color, and worked well in the jam.

I like jam cookies too, and think I will fool around with another recipe soon!

[Spring]

oh the jams sound gorgeous. I cant have sugar so have a very limited choice of jams

I made the thumbprint cookies for big guys and they were an utter, utter disaster! Im still in shock and cant think what i did wrong. The batter came out like cake batter so i added osme flour and nuts but it didnt work so I put it in muffin cases and ended up with a batch of crumbs!

[viva]

Gosh, that's terrible to hear! I definitely had a standard cookie dough batter that was easy to roll into balls between my hands and shape into thumbprints. I did not mess with the proportions at all, except for the suggested substitution of ground almonds for ground hazelnuts.

On a separate note - have you tried making jam with Splenda? They don't keep as well (in my experience), so I make smaller batches, but that's one way to get jam with less sugar.

Good luck!

[juliachildish]

I haven't posted on this thread in forever!

I'm currently living in a co-op and one person has a peanut allergy, so I decided to experiment making the oatmeal peanut-butter chocolate chipsters with almond butter instead. I used chunky natural almond butter (don't think there's any non-natural almond butter), and they came out fabulously! I think the texture was actually about the same, and the roasted almond flavor was subtle and really went well with the oatmeal. I may experiment with other nut butters now...

[prasantrin]

oh the jams sound gorgeous. I cant have sugar so have a very limited choice of jams

I made the thumbprint cookies for big guys and they were an utter, utter disaster! Im still in shock and cant think what i did wrong. The batter came out like cake batter so i added osme flour and nuts but it didnt work so I put it in muffin cases and ended up with a batch of crumbs! 

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Maybe your ground hazelnuts turned into hazelnut butter?

I can't for the world of me think what might have happened, except that maybe your butter was too soft.

Last night, I made the Korova cookies, but since it's so hot in Japan, my butter got very soft very quickly. Instead of a crumbly cookie dough, like I usually have, it was more like regular cookie dough (but even softer). My cookies turned out OK, though they spread more than usual (even though I baked them right out of the freezer).

So it seems what happened to you and what happened to me are sort of similar.

[Sararwelch]

I made the double chocolate chunk and allspice crumb muffins for an office breakfast. Both muffins were great! I only had milk chocolate on hand, so I used that for the chocolate muffins, I think bittersweet would have been better, but these were still good. I also increased the amount of chocolate chunks in the batter. Both kinds were eaten immediately!

[Spring]

oh the jams sound gorgeous. I cant have sugar so have a very limited choice of jams

I made the thumbprint cookies for big guys and they were an utter, utter disaster! Im still in shock and cant think what i did wrong. The batter came out like cake batter so i added osme flour and nuts but it didnt work so I put it in muffin cases and ended up with a batch of crumbs! 

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Maybe your ground hazelnuts turned into hazelnut butter?

I can't for the world of me think what might have happened, except that maybe your butter was too soft.

Last night, I made the Korova cookies, but since it's so hot in Japan, my butter got very soft very quickly. Instead of a crumbly cookie dough, like I usually have, it was more like regular cookie dough (but even softer). My cookies turned out OK, though they spread more than usual (even though I baked them right out of the freezer).

So it seems what happened to you and what happened to me are sort of similar.

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Just saw your reply. I was thinking that the butter must have been too liquid. Ill try it again with non liquid butter. T hanks for the tip

 

 

 

 

[Moderator note: This topic continues here, “Baking: From My Home to Yours” (Part 3)]

Edited August 4, 2014 by Mjx
Host note added. (log)