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

[Smithy]

10 hours ago, heidih said:

 

I think this was a "good answer" from an exerienced baker https://forums.egullet.org/topic/155077-your-daily-sweets-what-are-you-making-and-baking-2017-–/?do=findComment&comment=2273782

 

Thanks! I had missed the fact that she'd gotten an answer.

[ElsieD]

On 11/22/2020 at 7:39 AM, teonzo said:

Definetely too high, the flour / baking powder ratio should be around 50:1. One of the many reasons why it's better going metric.

 

 

 

Teo

 

 

@teonzo   I agree with you that metric is better but imperial measurements is what the recipe is in.  The recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of flour which as per the King Arthur Baking site is 420 grams.  They list flour as weighing 120 grams per cup.  Using a 50:1 ratio, that means using just over 8 grams of baking powder.  King Arthur says 1 teaspoon of baking powder equals 4 grams so I would use just over 2 teaspoons.  Is that correct?  The recipe, calling for 1/4 cup means it is calling for 12 teaspoons, 6 times as much.  Googling around, I see most scone recipes call for 1 tablespoon of baking powder.  Thank you for your help.

Edited November 26, 2020 by ElsieD (log)

[RWood]

Pumpkin Caramel Tart with hazelnut crust and candied hazelnuts. Not that into pumpkin pie, but this was pretty good. Something different.

 

[blue_dolphin]

10 minutes ago, RWood said:

Pumpkin Caramel Tart with hazelnut crust and candied hazelnuts. Not that into pumpkin pie, but this was pretty good. Something different.

 

If I saw that on a menu, it would be my first choice and if I saw that photo, I'd buy the whole thing!

[teonzo]

On 11/25/2020 at 5:35 PM, ElsieD said:

 

@teonzo   I agree with you that metric is better but imperial measurements is what the recipe is in.  The recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of flour which as per the King Arthur Baking site is 420 grams.  They list flour as weighing 120 grams per cup.  Using a 50:1 ratio, that means using just over 8 grams of baking powder.  King Arthur says 1 teaspoon of baking powder equals 4 grams so I would use just over 2 teaspoons.  Is that correct?  The recipe, calling for 1/4 cup means it is calling for 12 teaspoons, 6 times as much.  Googling around, I see most scone recipes call for 1 tablespoon of baking powder.  Thank you for your help.

 

The recipe you want to recreate has definetely an error in it, most probably it's due to the conversion from metric to imperial. All professionals use metric measures for the ease of it, and they make much bigger batches. So when they are asked to give a recipe for the home users they need to scale down the quantities and convert to imperial. Seems like an error escape through those 2 passages, or they did not scale down the baking powder quantity, or they made an error during the conversion.

If the 50:1 ratio would call for just over 2 teaspoons, then I would suggest to use 2 1/2 teaspoons. According to google a tablespoon should be about 3 teaspoons, I would not go over that amount.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Jim D.]

13 hours ago, RWood said:

Pumpkin Caramel Tart with hazelnut crust and candied hazelnuts. Not that into pumpkin pie, but this was pretty good. Something different.

 

 

Looks beautiful (like all your work) and sounds delicious.  Any chance you can provide the recipe?

[rotuts]

@RWood 

 

best looking pumpkin-is tart Ive ever seen.

 

that frosting/whipped cream looks perfect in every way.

 

congratulations.

 

if you shared any of it , you made others smile.

[RWood]

2 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

Looks beautiful (like all your work) and sounds delicious.  Any chance you can provide the recipe?

Thanks! This is the original recipe but I modified the spices and it worked in a regular tart pan instead of a springform.

 

Pumpkin Tart

Edited November 27, 2020 by RWood (log)

[shain]

Blintzes with tvorog cheese and sour cream. Cherry preserve. 

 

 

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, shain said:

Blintzes with tvorog cheese and sour cream. Cherry preserve. 

 

 

Oh. Please.

 

[shain]

I have more left in the fridge, you can jump over and grab some

[David Ross]

A favorite holiday cookie my Mother always made, that I thought needed a bit of a refresh and new style.  I made this cookie last year, and will be making it again this season.  The buttercream is very rich!

Snowy Mexican Tea Cookies with Dulce de Leche Buttercream-

For the Cookies-

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups finely chopped pecans

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup softened butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Powdered sugar for dusting

2 tbsp. finely ground pecans for garnish substitute walnuts

1 tbsp. gold cookie glitter crystals for garnish

 

For the Dulce de Leche Buttercream-

8 oz. Mexican Dulce de Leche

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. heavy cream

 

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Add the flour, chopped pecans, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon to a large bowl and stir to combine.  Then in the bowl of a mixer, add the butter, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar and beat until the butter is combined and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and combine with the butter.  With the mixer on slow, gradually add the flour mixture and blend into the butter to make a soft cookie dough. 

Dust the counter with flour and roll out the cookie dough to 1/4 ” thick.  Use a round 2 ½” cookie cutter and cut the cookies.  Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, just until the edges start to brown.  Remove the cookies from the oven and place on a cookie rack to cool. While the cookies cool, make the buttercream.

 

Add the butter to a mixer.  Slowly add the powdered sugar while mixing at low speed. When the butter and sugar are combined, add the vanilla and cream and mix until combined.  Add the dulce de leche and continue to mix to create a creamy buttercream frosting.  Add more heavy cream if the frosting is too thick.

Dust the tops of the cookies with powdered sugar.  Pipe a rosette of the buttercream on top of each cookie.  Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with some ground pecans and gold glitter crystals.

[heidih]

That cookie w/ the Dulce de Leche. sounds fun. Have you considered the goat version which may have a bit of tang? Nice presentation.

[David Ross]

1 minute ago, heidih said:

That cookie w/ the Dulce de Leche. sounds fun. Have you considered the goat version which may have a bit of tang? Nice presentation.

interesting, no I haven't is that a recipe using goat cheese?

[heidih]

39 minutes ago, David Ross said:

interesting, no I haven't is that a recipe using goat cheese?

Just Dulce de Leche made with goat milk. More specific term is Cajeta  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajeta  Easy to make like the cow milk version and commercially available.  A thought for future experimentation  

[David Ross]

I'm not sure why, but I've been on a holiday cookie baking binge.  This was a new cookie I just made up, Creamy Pistachio-Pecan Thumbprints.  I can still taste Mother's thumbprint cookies.  Made the same each year and always with raspberry jam in the middle.  Raspberry jam she had made in the summer with local berries.  One of these cookies is about all I can eat at a time because they are so darn rich.

For the Filling-

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

 

For the Cookies-

1 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cardamom

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. chopped pistachios

1 tbsp. chopped pecans

 

Make the Filling-

In a mixer, combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla and cream until blended.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar to make a creamy frosting, then add the chopped pecans.  You can make the filling ahead of time and keep covered in the fridge. 

 

Make the Cookies-

Heat the oven to 350.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy.  Add the egg yolks, vanilla, salt and cardamom and beat until thoroughly combined.  Slowly add the flour and beat until the dough is blended.

 

Shape 1” balls of dough, then gently flatten.  Toss the cookie in the chopped pistachios.  Press your thumb down in the center of each cookie.  Bake for 12-14minutes until slightly browned.  Press your thumb down again in the center of each cookie. Let the cookies cool on a rack.

 

Spoon the filling into a piping bag with a star tip and fill the center of the thumbprint cookies. Sprinkle with finely chopped pecans.

[chromedome]

My Christmas baking is underway for the year (belatedly). Turned out 10 dozen cookies this evening after work, divided between sugar cookies (for grandkids and neighbour kids to decorate) and gingerbread cookies. Made a couple of pounds of brown butter for tomorrow's shortbreads and what my GF calls "Russian tea cakes," which are shortbread-y balls with walnuts in them which are rolled in powdered sugar when done. I've seen many recipes with different names, but all very similar (the brown butter version was how a long-ago friend's mother made them, and is her favorite). Linzer cookies and zimtsternen to follow after I re-stock on ground almonds.

 

Mini loaf cakes will have to wait until I've re-organized my freezer to make room.

[heidih]

Can you remind me how you do your Linzer.  My family history is from Linz an der Donau and I normally do Linzer bar cookies. The cinnamon stars sound good as I am a Zimmt person though our go to was a similar dough but hand formed into little half moons rolled just after baking in powdered sugar that had dated a vanilla bean for a good couple months.  - Vanillekipferl. Similar to this https://www.daringgourmet.com/vanillekipferl-austrian-vanilla-crescent-cookies/

[Chris Hennes]

I just finished making Eric Gestel's Croissant recipe from The Rise:  it has a couple of things that were unusual (to me) in it. First, it has two separate overnight refrigeration stages, one just after making the the dough and before doing the lock-in, and the second after all the folds are complete, but before shaping. These long cold-proofs give the dough a great flavor, but also give the croissant surface that bubbly texture characteristic of cold-proofs (and to me, uncharacteristic of croissants).

 

 

The recipe also has you work with the butter much colder than I am used to, with 30 minute refrigeration in between every fold, plus rolling straight from the refrigerator in the morning both days. It seems to me it was developed for people working in a vey warm kitchen. I followed the recipe as written, but the layers of the croissants sort of blur together.

 

[eugenep]

On 11/16/2020 at 9:00 AM, shain said:

Zapekanka. A cheese cake of Russian origin made of tvorog (farmers cheese) and sour cream with semolina. Flavored with vanilla and orange zest, along with various inclusions - I added brandy soaked raisins, prunes, candied orange peel, Amarena cherries, candied blueberries and dark chocolate. I like it best when served slightly warm.

 

 

Hello Shai N. That is a great looking piece. 

 

Need some help here. 

 

I soaked brandy and prunes for 24 hours and used it to make a prune clafoutis based on Michel Roux's recipe. 

 

The clafoutis came out great tasting but the prunes were bitter. 

 

Did I soak the prunes too long? 24 hours? 

 

Or was it because I was using some cheap E&J brandy? And I need to use a pricier brandy? 

 

Not sure if it's because the baking in the oven 40 min at 370F wasn't long enough to cook the bitter alcohol out? 

 

I tasted the prunes before soaking and they taste good - no bitterness. So I think it's the brandy. 

[shain]

20 hours ago, chromedome said:

Linzer cookies and zimtsternen to follow after I re-stock on ground almonds.

 

Ever tried making linzer with ground hazelnuts? (you should :P)

[shain]

@eugenep I'm not really sure. I don't think it's an issue with under baking. Try first soaking some plums in water to see if any bitterness becomes notable once the sweetness is diluted. If they taste good, you can try soaking the fruit in another spirit like rum, or even water. I don;t think it's an issue with under baking.  Sorry that I have no concrete answer to give, never had this happen. Although I did have some terribly bitter fresh plums ruin a clafoutis once.

[heidih]

21 minutes ago, shain said:

 

Ever tried making linzer with ground hazelnuts? (you should :P)

 

Yes!  I adore hazels. We usually do/did with walnuts as the cheapest available shelled nut.  The American  company Smuckers used to make a red currant jelly and that was our go to. Now I add lemon juice and zest to sour cherry or raspberry.  You may have seen people wax poetic about the market chain Trader Joes here - affordable quality hazelnuts. Though I do like to keep some unshelled in a bowl because they are so beautiful.

[chromedome]

34 minutes ago, shain said:

 

Ever tried making linzer with ground hazelnuts? (you should :P)

I've had 'em that way, and enjoyed them, but in my neck of the woods ground almonds are easier to find and cost less (and I can usually find them on sale somewhere).

 

20 hours ago, heidih said:

Can you remind me how you do your Linzer. 

 

I looked at a bunch of linzer cookie recipes and kind of "averaged out" the ratios of ingredients.

 

I have nesting cutters in a number of shapes, so I do equal numbers of each shape (stars, squares, scallop-edged rounds, etc) and then match them up afterwards with the jam in between. When I say "jam," that can be either red currant with the skins sieved out or raspberry with the seeds sieved out. Then I dust them with icing sugar before serving.

[shain]

36 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

Yes!  I adore hazels. We usually do/did with walnuts as the cheapest available shelled nut.  The American  company Smuckers used to make a red currant jelly and that was our go to. Now I add lemon juice and zest to sour cherry or raspberry.  You may have seen people wax poetic about the market chain Trader Joes here - affordable quality hazelnuts. Though I do like to keep some unshelled in a bowl because they are so beautiful.

 

We buy hazels (with skin) at 6.5$/lb. Walnuts are 5.4$. Peeled hazels are 7.6$.

I love baking with all nuts, and I don't think any is inherently better - it depends on the use case. But I do think that pecans and hazelnuts are those that manage to come through best.

Strawberry jam is most commonly used in Israel, and I enjoy it on the rare occasion it's a really good jam (ie home made - I never found a decent store bought strawberry jam). My mother used to use apricot jam, or less often plum, always home made. I'm pretty sure she never used nuts in her dough, though. And surely not hazels. I'll have to ask her.

Edited December 7, 2020 by shain (log)