Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

 

They look tasty. The very combination of the phrases "lifeguard",Ontario Canada and December  17 send this wimpy Califrnia girl running

 We do have indoor pools you know!

[Tri2Cook]

7 hours ago, Anna N said:

We do have indoor pools you know!

Now Anna, we have to be considerate... most people outside of Canada don't realize our igloos are that big. 

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

Now Anna, we have to be considerate... most people outside of Canada don't realize our igloos are that big. 

 But I do think that if you are accustomed to year round access to outdoor swimming facilities then it’s hard to imagine lifeguards on duty in an indoor pool. These kids even lifeguard while the pool is being maintained so that the maintenance people are safe.   Sometimes they have to work through the night now you wouldn’t imagine that if you took a job as a lifeguard would you?

 

 Anyway to drag this back to food. I just learned that one of the celebrants is allergic to eggs so no brownies for that person!   Might have been able to  accommodate them had I known.  

[BeeZee]

Made a batch of brownies for the office (holiday lunch tomorrow) and added peanut butter chips. I used box mix due to 1) knowing my audience 2) time constraint. I can confirm that if using box mix, Ghiradelli is far better than Duncan Hines, these were pretty weak in flavor.

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, BeeZee said:

Made a batch of brownies for the office (holiday lunch tomorrow) and added peanut butter chips. I used box mix due to 1) knowing my audience 2) time constraint. I can confirm that if using box mix, Ghiradelli is far better than Duncan Hines, these were pretty weak in flavor.

I agree completely.  I honestly haven't ever made a better tasting brownie than Ghiradelli.  So, that's what I do now.  

[MelissaH]

Agree—a tarted-up Ghirardelli mix is my go-to for when I don't feel like/have the time to chop chocolate to melt and go all in.

[BeeZee]

Well, no fear, as of 11:30 a.m. this is what is left of approx. 16 brownies

 

[RWood]

Today was my mom's cousin's husband's 🙃 birthday. He is 85. He's gone through some health issues lately, but is doing OK.

I wanted to make a cake for him that represented some of the things in his life. So, while I had more things I could have done, I only had time for two things on the cake. 

He is retired from the Air Force, and has black belts in several martial arts. 

He was in the interment camps as a child, worked as an interpreter for the embassy, trained gymnasts for the Olympics, taught flying, sailing and got a PhD in kinesiology and taught body conditioning and judo until he retired. So, he's been through and done a lot. 

And of course he told me no, the knot on the Gi was not right 😋, as I knew. Thanks Jimmy 😊. 

 

[caroled]

That cake is fantastic and he's as cute as can be!

 

[IowaDee]

What an amazing resume that man has.  And the cake is stunning!

[pjm333]

Bialy

[shain]

Brown butter blondies. Along with the butter they contain brown sugar and milk powder, pecans, walnuts, chopped white chocolate and a bit of chopped dark chocolate.

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2018 by shain (log)

[Anna N]

I can honestly say that I almost never bake with out knowing there is a recipient waiting in the wings. But these  have been on my mind ever since they were posted.  All I had in the house in terms of oats were simple old-fashioned rolled oats. I toasted these for about 10 minutes before using them. 

 

 Straight from the oven I found these cookies to be somewhat disappointing but as the day goes on they seem to improve. I had to use unsweetened coconut and this will be one of the few times when I think that a little more sweetness would not have gone amiss. 

 

 

 

[MelissaH]

17 hours ago, Anna N said:

I can honestly say that I almost never bake with out knowing there is a recipient waiting in the wings. But these  have been on my mind ever since they were posted.  All I had in the house in terms of oats were simple old-fashioned rolled oats. I toasted these for about 10 minutes before using them. 

 

 Straight from the oven I found these cookies to be somewhat disappointing but as the day goes on they seem to improve. I had to use unsweetened coconut and this will be one of the few times when I think that a little more sweetness would not have gone amiss.

Cookies look great. Did you use the prescribed colonial style fine cloth bolted pastry flour and the Euro butter, or the more plebeian grocery store versions thereof?

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

Cookies look great. Did you use the prescribed colonial style fine cloth bolted pastry flour and the Euro butter, or the more plebeian grocery store versions thereof?

😂😂😂   Marketing can get carried into ridiculous orbits sometimes. They are  cookies for heaven’s sake.  Oatmeal cookies.

[andiesenji]

Yesterday I made an experimental stollen, a NON-Yeast recipe that I started with and then revised, using some of my ideas.

I used mostly self-raising (Odlums) flour but after measuring out, put 1/3 the volume back and substituted some bread flour (for structure) and mixed that with boiling water to make an elastic paste, which I beat into heavy cream, sour cream, flavors and sugar, before mixing in the self-raising flour.  this produces a dough that has almost the elasticity of yeast dough.  It was still quite sticky so I heavily floured the board with all-purpose since there was plenty of leavening in there already, kneaded it a bit to get to a less tacky stage and then kneaded in the candied peel and citron and toasted slivered almonds.  

It turned out surprisingly like regular yeasted stollen.  Took 50 minutes to bake in a 350°F oven.

I even got the traditional stollen shape.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by andiesenji (log)

[oli]

1 hour ago, andiesenji said:

Yesterday I made an experimental stollen, a NON-Yeast recipe that I started with and then revised, using some of my ideas.

I used mostly self-raising (Odlums) flour but after measuring out, put 1/3 the volume back and substituted some bread flour (for structure) and mixed that with boiling water to make an elastic paste, which I beat into heavy cream, sour cream, flavors and sugar, before mixing in the self-raising flour.  this produces a dough that has almost the elasticity of yeast dough.  It was still quite sticky so I heavily floured the board with all-purpose since there was plenty of leavening in there already, kneaded it a bit to get to a less tacky stage and then kneaded in the candied peel and citron and toasted slivered almonds.  

It turned out surprisingly like regular yeasted stollen.  Took 50 minutes to bake in a 350°F oven.

I even got the traditional stollen shape.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by oli
Cancel (log)

[oli]

Nice job and yes it looks like the traditional Stollen. I have made it in the past with a bunch of marzipan.

Edited December 24, 2018 by oli (log)

[ChocoMom]

Christmas dinner desserts.....

Edited to add the log is a dark chocolate sponge filled with vaniljla-marscapone, and cherry; the cake is actually layer of cheese cake with a layer of a dark chocolate-passionfruit gateau. 

Edited December 26, 2018 by ChocoMom (log)

[Tacey]

A pavlova wreath for Christmas. I marbled the cream with Myer lemon curd and brushed the grapes and blackberries with gold luster to enhance the look. 

[pjm333]

Florentine

[shain]

@pjm333 Beautiful

[pjm333]

Shain - Thanks

 

 Here is the recipe if anyone is interested.

 

Shortbread / 325 degrees

600 grams Butter / unsalted

375 grams  10X

150 grams eggs

125 grams almond flour / blanched

1 Kilo a.p. flour

This recipe is enough for 3 - ½ sheet pans.

Cream Butter & 10X add the eggs mix till blended. Mix Flour’s together and add to butter mixture. Chill 2 hrs , spray ½ sheet pan with non stick spray & add parchment paper and spray again. Roll dough ¼” thick and fit to ½ sheet, chill ½ hr. bake 10 to 12 minutes light brown.

Florentine / 325 degrees

250 grams milk

375 grams sugar

200 grams glucose

200 grams honey

500 grams butter / cut into small pieces

1 tsp salt

600 grams toasted almonds / I use chopped pieces

   Cook milk sugar glucose & honey to 257 degrees, add butter salt & nuts. Weigh out 900 grams for each ½ sheet pan then  add to ½ sheet spread evenly.  Bake 15 minutes brown around edges and set in center. Cool down then invert, cut away edges & spread thin layer of chocolate mix over & use comb to decorate.

Chocolate Coating

500 grams milk chocolate melted

20 grams oil

[Rajala]

I made a tart with caramelized apples, zéphyr caramel ganache, salty caramel and hazelnut praliné.

 

Three different ones, at first I kinda liked the one with the red/pink background the most, but I kind of lean towards the one with the apple crisps on top right now.  

 

[BeeZee]

More healthy muffins, these are made with whole wheat flour, mashed bananas, and pumpkin puree (since I had a cup leftover in the freezer), and are sweetened with a little maple syrup. Had a bit too much batter so I put the excess into a non-stick foil lined loaf pan and basically made a big muffin top. Cut piece from that on top of the pile. They are moist, but pretty flat in flavor, next time I would up the amount of spices or maybe add some minced crystallized ginger.