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

[lemniscate]

There was no thought pre-Holiday to a dessert due to unplanned circumstances.   Darn.   I had 5-6 small apples, walnuts, a jar of cookie crumbs from an over baked batch, quick oats and condensed milk.   Apple Crisp!

 

I coated the apple chunks with the condensed milk instead of sugar.  I layered chopped walnuts over those.   I mixed the cookie crumbs, quick oats, and condensed milk for the topping.  I used an 8 inch pyrex pie plate.

 

I was afraid the condensed milk would have made the filling soupy, it did not at all.

 

Quite proud of myself using existing pantry items for a quality dessert that will last us a couple days in servings.

Edited November 24, 2023 by lemniscate
quick oats, not oatmeal. (log)

[Pete Fred]

Lunch today was a plain cheesecake, zhuzhed up thanks to my stash of sour cherries...

 

 

I just cooked down their syrup until thickened a little...

 

 

Earlier in the week I made a gluten-free pain d'epices...

 

 

After splashing out twenty-bucks a kilo for the chestnut flour I was hoping for more, but the result was decidedly meh. It was sprinkled with a generous quantity of pearl sugar going into the oven but, as you can see, most of it disappeared into the cake. When it comes to spice cakes, I'll be sticking with my beloved Parkin.

 

Brown-butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookes were another bust...

 

 

The butter was browned with extra milk powder, giving a flavour boost according to the recipe. I was not convinced.

 

Infinitely better were a batch of an old favourite, Pasticcini di Mandorle...

 

 

These Sicilian almond cookies are ridiculously easy to make and punch well above their weight.

[Smithy]

35 minutes ago, Pete Fred said:

zhuzhed up

 

That is a delightful expression, and I plan to steal it! Glad the cheesecake zhuzhing worked. 

 

Too bad about the browned-butter cookies and the bread, but I'm very curious about almond cookies that punch well above their weight. Got a recipe, or a link to one?

[Pete Fred]

6 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I'm very curious about almond cookies that punch well above their weight. Got a recipe, or a link to one?

 

I hope I haven't oversold them. At the end of the day they're just a regional variant of amaretti. But they come together in seconds and I find them incredibly moreish.

 

 

Original recipe here.

 

[RWood]

Quick birthday cake for my moms friend. Shooting for a winter, snow drift theme since it’s December. 

[Tropicalsenior]

2 hours ago, RWood said:

Quick birthday cake

I hate it when I see that you have posted. Each time the envy and the longing for whatever you made gets worse.

[RWood]

14 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I hate it when I see that you have posted. Each time the envy and the longing for whatever you made gets worse.

Sorry ☺️

[Tropicalsenior]

No you're not. I know that you're just going to keep on posting those beautiful gorgeous desserts and cakes and making me miserable. But that's okay they are gorgeous.

Whenever I see that you have posted I will just grab an extra towel to wipe the Drool off my telephone.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[OlyveOyl]

Raspberry tart with a pâte sucrée crust.  About one pound of raspberries ,  sugar; tapioca flour was used for thickening the juices. I baked this covered for at least half the baking time as the crust was rapidly browning.  Delicious by itself, a little scoop of sour cream or ice cream would do no harm.

[Pete Fred]

Egg custard tart...

 

 

 

This one is made with whole eggs, which means that it definitely tastes 'eggy'; a good thing in my book. I make another one that is really just a crème brûlée mixture in a tart shell; another good thing, just different.

 

(Those striations on the custard, by the way, are where I hesitantly sliced with the knife. I really should be more bold for a clean cut when posting to eGullet!)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

11 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

Egg custard tart...

 

 

 

This one is made with whole eggs, which means that it definitely tastes 'eggy'; a good thing in my book. I make another one that is really just a crème brûlée mixture in a tart shell; another good thing, just different.

 

(Those striations on the custard, by the way, are where I hesitantly sliced with the knife. I really should be more bold for a clean cut when posting to eGullet!)

 

Why do you do this to us?

 

[gulfporter]

Orange and Cardamom rolls.  Cheated with frozen bread dough.  Used my friend's generous gift of his homemade Orange Marmalade.  

 

I don't bake much and haven't in decades, but our new (to us) house in Tucson has a Viking convection oven and wanted to test it out.  Came out as expected, though I never made it before and made a lot of changes to recipe (I can't help myself!).  

 

The house smells so darn good with that flavor combo.  

 

 

[minas6907]

This ones a little out of left field for me, but I made a chocolate babka. I think the idea was in my head from seeing that Seinfeld episode a while back where Jerry and Elaine are in the bakery. Specifically, I made the babka recipe from On Baking with the chocolate filling from CIA's Baking and Pastry.

 

It came out nice, though I think I overdid it on the filling. If I did it again, I'd roll the dough alot thinner to get more layers, and hold back on the filling a little, or just try the cinnamon filling that was in On Baking (another babka?)

 

No glamor shot on this one, just just plopped on the cutting board! What I would actually like to do is make a sourdough babka, that sounds delicious.

[Kim Shook]

We finally had our Trim the Tree chocolate fondue last night.  When we first started doing beef fondue for dinner and chocolate fondue for dessert, we had many fewer ornaments and much more energy!  Not to mention larger appetites!    We managed to have an early dinner and to stay alert until 8pm for the fondue!  The chocolate sauce was just some Smucker’s hot fudge sauce and a chocolate fondue that Santa put in my stocking LAST Christmas (it was still within its OK date).  The dippers:

Angel food cake, pound cake, Peeps, cinnamon-sugar pretzels, animal crackers, bananas, dried figs/dates/apricots, maraschino cherries, and strawberries (not pictured).  We didn’t go all out this year, but it was still TOO much.  Most of it got put away to have later.  This ONLY way I eat Peeps:

I think that @Shelby mentioned discovering this method.  We've been doing it every since they started coming out with Christmas Peeps! 😄

[Pete Fred]

Dorie Greenspan's Pear Tart with Crunchy Almond Topping...

 

 

 

I didn't like the look of her pastry so used my own with some ground hazelnuts. I also cooked the pears in more butter, and used Armagnac... because France.

 

It was nice. Next time I'll increase the amount of pears so it fills the tart more generously.

[rotuts]

@Pete Fred 

 

Wow.

 

''''    Next time I'll increase the amount of pears   '''

 

for sure.

 

make two .  Ill polish off one for you.

 

w a small  Armagnac chaser .

 

you know . to ' burn a hole '

Edited December 15, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[Pete Fred]

Steamed Cranberry Pudding...

 

 

 

For once, a blogger's hype actually delivered. I don't know what kind of diabolical alchemy is at play here, but it was delicious.

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

Steamed Cranberry Pudding...

 

 

 

For once, a blogger's hype actually delivered. I don't know what kind of diabolical alchemy is at play here, but it was delicious.

 

The blogger's hype is entertaining to read. This isn't something I'm likely to make but it looks delicious. Thanks for posting about it!

[Kerry Beal]

6 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

Steamed Cranberry Pudding...

 

 

 

For once, a blogger's hype actually delivered. I don't know what kind of diabolical alchemy is at play here, but it was delicious.

That is the same recipe that my mom made, my dad made and now I make. It is obligatory at Christmas for family - even if I don't attend I am expected to drop it off.  Actually one slight difference the amounts of baking powder and baking soda are backwards. And my sauce has twice as much light cream and no vanilla. 

 

Can cook it in the instant pot - here are my directions for that - 15 minutes steam (saute instant pot), pudding not covered, not under pressure. Then 35 minutes high pressure, natural release - then leave in the pressure cooker to cool so that the top doesn’t get hard. It’s uncovered the whole time - you need to be careful that it doesn’t get the water dripping into the pudding.

[Jim D.]

On 12/15/2023 at 1:12 PM, Pete Fred said:

Dorie Greenspan's Pear Tart with Crunchy Almond Topping...

 

 

 

I didn't like the look of her pastry so used my own with some ground hazelnuts. I also cooked the pears in more butter, and used Armagnac... because France.

 

It was nice. Next time I'll increase the amount of pears so it fills the tart more generously.

 

The tart looks delicious.  I am quite impressed with the perfection of your crust.  How do you get that ultra-smooth exterior?  and keep it from slumping down in the tart pan as it bakes?  If you have posted about this previously, please just point me to the post.

[Pete Fred]

2 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

How do you get that ultra-smooth exterior?  and keep it from slumping down in the tart pan as it bakes? 

 

Hmmmm, I think in a proper kitchen I'd probably get a saucepan chucked at my head for too much fussin' and wasting time. However...

 

I still prefer doing it the old-fashioned way, i.e. rolling out a circle and lifting it into the ring, rather than cutting out strips and discs. I'm quite methodical about gradually easing the pastry down into the corners so that it doesn't stretch or introduce folds. Once there's a nice right-angle, I'll kinda work my way around, pulling the pastry away from the ring and pressing it back from the bottom to the top, trying not to trap any air pockets. The excess pastry is then trimmed away with a knife. Some days are better than others, but that's my routine for getting it as smooth as possible.

 

After a rest in the fridge, the tart shell gets blind baked. Press together two or three large sheets of clingfilm (plastic wrap) and line the pastry right into the corners. Fill with rice up to the height of the ring; this is important because, as the pastry cooks it will stay tight against the ring and even grow upwards a little. I like to cook it long with the rice (~40 mins in a 170C/340F oven) until quite set. Carefully use the clingfilm to lift out the rice then return to the oven (150C/300F) for the base to take on some colour (still inside the ring). Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully. The rim of the tart shell will be overcooked, but if you place it on a flat surface (your baking sheet might be a bit wonky) you can trim it away with a microplane until it's perfectly level against the top of the ring.

 

I adjust the blind bake as needed. The custard tart, for example, gets fully blind baked until deep brown and biscuity because the filling is cooked at 90C/190F so the pastry won't take on any more colour. But I held back with the pear tart because the pears were added then cooked at 180C/350F for another 25 minutes and I didn't want the pastry to over-brown (apart from the rim which got microplaned at the end).

 

I've just read all that back and it sounds faintly ridiculous. Saucepans are no doubt bouncing off laptop screens at this very moment, quite rightly.

 

I hope it wasn't too opaque, and there was something in there you found useful. 👍

[oli]

3 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

 

Hmmmm, I think in a proper kitchen I'd probably get a saucepan chucked at my head for too much fussin' and wasting time. However...

 

I still prefer doing it the old-fashioned way, i.e. rolling out a circle and lifting it into the ring, rather than cutting out strips and discs. I'm quite methodical about gradually easing the pastry down into the corners so that it doesn't stretch or introduce folds. Once there's a nice right-angle, I'll kinda work my way around, pulling the pastry away from the ring and pressing it back from the bottom to the top, trying not to trap any air pockets. The excess pastry is then trimmed away with a knife. Some days are better than others, but that's my routine for getting it as smooth as possible.

 

After a rest in the fridge, the tart shell gets blind baked. Press together two or three large sheets of clingfilm (plastic wrap) and line the pastry right into the corners. Fill with rice up to the height of the ring; this is important because, as the pastry cooks it will stay tight against the ring and even grow upwards a little. I like to cook it long with the rice (~40 mins in a 170C/340F oven) until quite set. Carefully use the clingfilm to lift out the rice then return to the oven (150C/300F) for the base to take on some colour (still inside the ring). Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully. The rim of the tart shell will be overcooked, but if you place it on a flat surface (your baking sheet might be a bit wonky) you can trim it away with a microplane until it's perfectly level against the top of the ring.

 

I adjust the blind bake as needed. The custard tart, for example, gets fully blind baked until deep brown and biscuity because the filling is cooked at 90C/190F so the pastry won't take on any more colour. But I held back with the pear tart because the pears were added then cooked at 180C/350F for another 25 minutes and I didn't want the pastry to over-brown (apart from the rim which got microplaned at the end).

 

I've just read all that back and it sounds faintly ridiculous. Saucepans are no doubt bouncing off laptop screens at this very moment, quite rightly.

 

I hope it wasn't too opaque, and there was something in there you found useful. 👍

Here's my version

 

 

 

[Katie Meadow]

7 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

 

Hmmmm, I think in a proper kitchen I'd probably get a saucepan chucked at my head for too much fussin' and wasting time. However...

 

I still prefer doing it the old-fashioned way, i.e. rolling out a circle and lifting it into the ring, rather than cutting out strips and discs. I'm quite methodical about gradually easing the pastry down into the corners so that it doesn't stretch or introduce folds. Once there's a nice right-angle, I'll kinda work my way around, pulling the pastry away from the ring and pressing it back from the bottom to the top, trying not to trap any air pockets. The excess pastry is then trimmed away with a knife. Some days are better than others, but that's my routine for getting it as smooth as possible.

 

After a rest in the fridge, the tart shell gets blind baked. Press together two or three large sheets of clingfilm (plastic wrap) and line the pastry right into the corners. Fill with rice up to the height of the ring; this is important because, as the pastry cooks it will stay tight against the ring and even grow upwards a little. I like to cook it long with the rice (~40 mins in a 170C/340F oven) until quite set. Carefully use the clingfilm to lift out the rice then return to the oven (150C/300F) for the base to take on some colour (still inside the ring). Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully. The rim of the tart shell will be overcooked, but if you place it on a flat surface (your baking sheet might be a bit wonky) you can trim it away with a microplane until it's perfectly level against the top of the ring.

 

I adjust the blind bake as needed. The custard tart, for example, gets fully blind baked until deep brown and biscuity because the filling is cooked at 90C/190F so the pastry won't take on any more colour. But I held back with the pear tart because the pears were added then cooked at 180C/350F for another 25 minutes and I didn't want the pastry to over-brown (apart from the rim which got microplaned at the end).

 

I've just read all that back and it sounds faintly ridiculous. Saucepans are no doubt bouncing off laptop screens at this very moment, quite rightly.

 

I hope it wasn't too opaque, and there was something in there you found useful. 👍

Duck, here comes one now!

[Jim D.]

16 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

 

Hmmmm, I think in a proper kitchen I'd probably get a saucepan chucked at my head for too much fussin' and wasting time. However...

 

I still prefer doing it the old-fashioned way, i.e. rolling out a circle and lifting it into the ring, rather than cutting out strips and discs. I'm quite methodical about gradually easing the pastry down into the corners so that it doesn't stretch or introduce folds. Once there's a nice right-angle, I'll kinda work my way around, pulling the pastry away from the ring and pressing it back from the bottom to the top, trying not to trap any air pockets. The excess pastry is then trimmed away with a knife. Some days are better than others, but that's my routine for getting it as smooth as possible.

 

After a rest in the fridge, the tart shell gets blind baked. Press together two or three large sheets of clingfilm (plastic wrap) and line the pastry right into the corners. Fill with rice up to the height of the ring; this is important because, as the pastry cooks it will stay tight against the ring and even grow upwards a little. I like to cook it long with the rice (~40 mins in a 170C/340F oven) until quite set. Carefully use the clingfilm to lift out the rice then return to the oven (150C/300F) for the base to take on some colour (still inside the ring). Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully. The rim of the tart shell will be overcooked, but if you place it on a flat surface (your baking sheet might be a bit wonky) you can trim it away with a microplane until it's perfectly level against the top of the ring.

 

I adjust the blind bake as needed. The custard tart, for example, gets fully blind baked until deep brown and biscuity because the filling is cooked at 90C/190F so the pastry won't take on any more colour. But I held back with the pear tart because the pears were added then cooked at 180C/350F for another 25 minutes and I didn't want the pastry to over-brown (apart from the rim which got microplaned at the end).

 

I've just read all that back and it sounds faintly ridiculous. Saucepans are no doubt bouncing off laptop screens at this very moment, quite rightly.

 

I hope it wasn't too opaque, and there was something in there you found useful. 👍

 

You won't get any complaints about over-complexity from me (I make chocolates--complexity is a given and obsessive attention to detail is a requirement).  One issue:  Cling wrap (at least in the U.S.) is not considered oven-safe.  Some experts say a low temp is OK, but that wouldn't work for pie crust.  Rose Levy Beranbaum says to use parchment, maintaining that foil doesn't let air through and creates a cardboard crust.  I've never been sure I agree with her, but I do use parchment with dried beans.  Unfortunately parchment doesn't fit tightly against a crust.  Another problem I have is that fussing with the crust too much (to get it into the cracks and crevices) causes it to soften (I make a mostly butter crust with just a little shortening to make it pliable--Julia Child recipe).

 

In any event, I will use your directions to work on my crust, and I thank you for them very much.  Your creations are impressive.

[FrogPrincesse]

Chocolate crack cookies for a cookie exchange. Lots of them.

 

Before baking

 

After