Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2015 – 2016)

[Franci]

Lunita, welcome to the forum. I'd like your almond croissant right now!

 

Nice Panettone, Patrick. Did you use wild yeast?

Over the years I ventured in stuff like fugazza veneta, which  required a lot of work and multiple dough rising but not as complex as panettone. I killed my wild yeast year ago and to be honest, I'd love to go back to it but I don't have the time for it.

 

 

Edited January 5, 2016 by Franci (log)

[Patrick S]

12 hours ago, Franci said:

Nice Panettone, Patrick. Did you use wild yeast?

Over the years I ventured in stuff like fugazza veneta, which  required a lot of work and multiple dough rising but not as complex as panettone. I killed my wild yeast year ago and to be honest, I'd love to go back to it but I don't have the time for it.

 

 

 

Thank you! I used a plain packaged dry active yeast. I haven't worked with wild yeast before, but I do plan on creating a starter soon and exploring the sourdoughs.

[Patrick S]

20 hours ago, cakewalk said:

A thing of beauty that is, Patrick. Well worth waiting for.  Did you hang it upside down? Did it "behave" as you expected?

 

Thank you! I didn't invert it, and it didn't really deflate much at all as it cooled. But of course, I think that is only because the crumb is more dense than it should be - it was more like a brioche or challah than the commercial pannetone I fell in love with. I'm excited to try the recipe Franci posted in the bread topic, with its fantastically open structure. In terms of the dough's development during preparation, it was very well-behaved in the sense that the recipe accurately described the way the dough would look and rise during the process.   

[Kim Shook]

PC – your cakes get more beautiful each time you post them!  You are truly accomplished and I’m always impressed.

 

Chris H – your cookies were beautiful.  Especially loved the looks of those Andes mints ones.  I love the height you got (flat cookies are a perennial problem for me).

 

rajoress – I thought your holly cookies were lovely!

 

kayb – Bacon fat gingersnaps.  I’ve printed THAT one out to try for sure.

 

My Christmas goodies -

Lemon chess tarts:

 

Sugar cookies:

 

My PB cookies that I’ve already posted about.

 

Chocolate and Reeses Cup fudge:

 

Iced almonds:

 

Pretzel pecan turtles:

 

Candied pecans:

 

Sponge candy:

 

“Happy Accident Candy”:

Made with Cadbury chocolate and the shards from breaking up the sponge candy.

 

Peanut brittle:

Darienne’s  Enstrom-Style Toffee:

I think that I went a little heavy with the cocoa that is dusted between the toffee and the chocolate layers – my chocolate came off in sheets!

 

I also made GF sugar cookies for my niece.

 

Some food gifts – Jayme’s Caramel Corn:

Chai spiced Chex mix:

[ElainaA]

Orange pecan scones for our New Year's brunch

 

 

[pjm333]

Caramel Brownies !

[Franci]

It's not really carnival yet but I can find all the excuses to make chiacchiere.

 

 

[Franci]

Today there was a food festival at my children's school and I brought beside the chiacchiere above also two trays of tortelli milanesi. Basically fried pate a choux rolled in sugar. Half of them were fille with a rich pastry cream.

 

 

[Shelby]

As someone who has quit eating anything sugary (for a while) and as someone who adores cream puffs, you're killing me Franci.  Those look so dang good.

[Franci]

Oh, Shelby, when you are back on sugar and have a party to bring them -so you don't eat them all- you need to try this one!

[haresfur]

The plums were early and small this year, but we came across them at the farmer's market and made my father's plum cake.

 

[Ann_T]

Kim, you out did yourself.  Everything looks wonderful

.

Elaine, I love scones.  What a great combination, Orange and Pecan.

 

Pjm333  I'm imagining one of your brownies with my morning coffee. And one of Franci's cream filled treats.

 

Haresfur,  Beautiful!!! The plum placement is perfect. 

 

Had a craving for apple pie yesterday. 

 

 

 

 

[ChocoMom]

Ann T...that pie looks delectable!  Mmmmm! 

 

While all of you were making those fantastic pastries, cakes and pies above....I was testing out the horsepower on the new Kitchenaid Beast. =)  

Made 2 angel food cakes, testing out the whisk attachment. Hubby likes that cake iced, so I opted to make fluffy buttercream frosting. (I never iced or frosted angelfood before I met him...so that still puzzles me.)  Cranked up on high, that whisk attachment is sick! Just love it!

Then, tested the dough hook out on a loaf of honey wheat/rye/flax bread...which the family promptly gobbled down.

And then, the darling teenagers started arguing over whether to ask me to make brownies or cookies. I ended up testing out the paddle attachment on Ruth Wakefield's Chocolate Chip Cookie bars.  Brownie like texture, only blonde. Added chocolate discs.  Everyone was perfectly content with the compromise.

Gosh, I just love that mixer! =) I polish it up every time I use it.

[Kim Shook]

ElainaA – those orange pecan scones look and sound wonderful.  Do you share the recipe?

 

pjm – lovely smooth cut on your brownies.  I’m all admiration!

 

Franci – your chiacchiere are lovely.  I had to look the word up, but was fairly confident that it was some kind of fried pastry. 

 

Chocomom – so glad you are enjoying your new toy!  I grew up eating naked angel food cake, too.  Maybe an occasional glaze, but not frosting.  Mr. Kim’s family tradition is drizzling it with warm caramel.  I quickly became a convert.

 

Mr. Kim needed chocolate/chocolate cupcakes for his office.  I didn’t want to go shopping or wait for butter to soften, so I did a search for cocoa and oil cupcakes.  Found a Hershey’s recipe that I’m going to name “Last Minute Cupcakes”.  The cake requires cocoa and vegetable oil and the icing cocoa and melted butter.  I almost always have everything in the ingredients on hand and start to finish they only took about an hour (including cooling time).  They tasted pretty good, too.  I’m not going to blame this unsightly sinking on the recipe since it happens to me with other recipes lots of times:

 

The crappy, faded out look of the cupcake liners pisses me off, though.  Why bother to even sell liners with designs on them if they aren’t grease-proof?  Icing covers a lot of sins:

 

[nakji]

I'd eat those! Sprinkles also cover a lots of sins. 

 

I got a new waffle iron, so I did a test-run of Liège-style waffles while I'm waiting for a delivery of pearl sugar to make them properly. They were very rich - the recipe called for a full cup of butter! Totally worth it though. We guilded this lily with Maple Syrup because: Canada. 

[pjm333]

Franci, 

  Thanks !!  There is no yeast in the recipe..

[Kim Shook]

nakji – Thank you!  Yes, frosting and sprinkles have save me many times!  Love the look of that waffle.  I believe strongly that no lily should go ungilded.

 

Cookies that a lady at church ordered:

They were incredibly easy.  She wanted cookies and then decided on sugar cookies.  I wasn’t about to cut out a bunch of cookies this soon after Christmas, so I looked for a recipe for drop sugar cookies and found this one.  They didn’t even require the use of a hand mixer.  The bowl, a spoon and a couple of measuring cups/spoons were the only tools needed.  Tasted pretty good, too!

[weinoo]

I don't bake pies and/or tarts much, but for a dinner last night, this is a lemon tart (excuse me, Tarte au Citron). The crust is a mash-up of a few different recipes (Nick Malgieri, Bourdain, Beranbaum, et. al.). The lemon curd is from David Lebovitz. Surprisingly, delicious...

 

 

 

[Tri2Cook]

10 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I don't bake pies and/or tarts much, but for a dinner last night, this is a lemon tart (excuse me, Tarte au Citron). The crust is a mash-up of a few different recipes (Nick Malgieri, Bourdain, Beranbaum, et. al.). The lemon curd is from David Lebovitz. Surprisingly, delicious...

 

 

 

Very nice. That was a close one though... you almost just called it a lemon tart.

[love&flour]

This is a tray of Baklava we did over the Christmas break. It hasn't had the syrup glaze, yet. Enjoy !

 

 

[ChocoMom]

Since DH and kids are still on a cookie-binge this week, I fired up "The Beast" (the new mixer), and made Sugar Puffs. In the KAF Cookie Companion, they've catagorized the "essential" cookies (Chocolate Chip, Sugar, PB, Oatmeal, Molasses).  Sugar Puffs fall under the Sugar Cookie category. They are incredibly light, despite being reminiscent of Shortbread.  I am slightly ashamed to say that I burned my tongue on one, because I couldn't wait for it to cool off before I tried it. That buttery goodness is addicting!

Those aren't going to last more than 10 minutes. So, I made the dough for "The Essential Chewy Oatmeal Cookie", (sans raisins and nuts.)  Those will go into the oven next. Half of them will be plain; the other half are going to get a cup of milk chocolate discs. =) 

  So much for the lo-carb eating plan.

[excv_]

Coffee macarons. It's actually my first proper attempt at making macarons and I'm quite happy with the result, considering their temperamental reputation- wasn't nearly as hard as I'd expected!

I originally wanted to try plain vanilla ones for my first batch but thought it'd be better to do something darker to allow room for some accidental browning, so coffee it is. Any advice/suggestion would be welcome.

 

Things that need improvement/ some questions:

- Quite a lot of the cookies turned out to be a weird, slightly oblong shape as they rested and baked; probably just poor piping skills, but I'm not completely sure what exactly caused it. I should try using a template or buy one of those macaron mats. Oh, well- they still have their own charms.

- Some of the shells were a bit difficult to release from the parchment without having the tender insides ripped out, although I'm quite sure they weren't undercooked. Does anyone have an answer for that? Most did come off swiftly after they were cooled so it might be just that, but I think I've heard that they're supposed to release easily while still hot?

- I found that the feet sort of spread out to the side while baking and forming actual feet, instead of rising more upwards. None of the troubleshooting posts I've read seem to cover the exact causes of this problem- How can I prevent this?

 

====================================================

The batter

 

Shells baked & before filling

 

Finished cookies! I sprinkled cocoa nibs on about a quarter of the shells before baking, and brushed some of the rest with a mixture of coffee flavoring and gold lustre dust after they were baked and cooled. The filling is a Kahlua and caramel ganache.

[Patrick S]

Those look great, excv! I have whites aging in the fridge for vanilla infiniment macarons tomorrow. As for the oblong shape, the only time I've had that happen was when the surface I piped the shells on wasn't perfectly level, for instance if the baking sheet was slightly warped or the countertop had a slight grade. 

[Patrick S]

The feet protruding to the side rather than tucking underneath seems to be associated with higher moisture recipes or recipes that don't use Italian meringue. Even the ones in the Herme macaron recipes in his macaron book that use fresh whites and no meringue have those protruding feet, like the one below (the lenotre recipe).

[excv_]

10 minutes ago, Patrick S said:

The feet protruding to the side rather than tucking underneath seems to be associated with higher moisture recipes or recipes that don't use Italian meringue. Even the ones in the Herme macaron recipes in his macaron book that use fresh whites and no meringue have those protruding feet, like the one below (the lenotre recipe).

That's interesting, the recipe I used was indeed a french meringue one; I should try Italian meringue- based recipes sometime later as well. Good to know that it (probably)wasn't an error on my part or anything. As for the moisture/fresh whites part, would it help to let the egg whites age uncovered longer? This time I only gave them about 3-4 hours at room temperature- minimum time suggested by the recipe- so maybe overnight or so the next time.