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

[Shelby]

17 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Made a pie from a 2003 Taste of Home “Quick Cooking” magazine that I brought home from my NC Grandma’s sometime years ago.  Cooking from those magazines brings back memories of her – she subscribed to all of the different Taste of Home publications and read them so carefully.  I honestly don’t know that she ever actually COOKED from them, but she loved talking about the recipes and encouraging me to make things that she’d noticed.  David Ross was also a fan of the magazine and I remember his excitement and pride when he had a recipe published.  The pie was Peanut Butter Cup Pie:

 

Just a toss together in 5 minutes, instant pudding, Cool Whip, freezer pie, but it was creamy and chocolatey.  It needed more of a peanut butter punch so next time I’ll double the Reeses cups and add either a PB ribbon or some PB powder. 

This looks right up my alley.  Easy and delicious.  Is it a graham cracker crust?

 

I used to subscribe to Taste of Home, too.  Probably 20 years ago?  I have TONS of them stored in a chest upstairs.  Should throw them out...but boy, at the time, I looked forward to every one of them.  I also have the end of the year hard cover books with "the best of" recipes.

[Kim Shook]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

This looks right up my alley.  Easy and delicious.  Is it a graham cracker crust?

 

I used to subscribe to Taste of Home, too.  Probably 20 years ago?  I have TONS of them stored in a chest upstairs.  Should throw them out...but boy, at the time, I looked forward to every one of them.  I also have the end of the year hard cover books with "the best of" recipes.

The crust is one of those chocolate cooky crusts.  You can make it or buy it (I bought mine).  Here's the recipe.

 

I have a hard time tossing the old Taste of Home magazines.  I associate them so strongly with my grandmother.  

Edited March 14, 2023 by Kim Shook (log)

[RWood]

Day late because of stuff, but this is my birthday cake this year. 
I dug out my Cocolat cookbook because I was thinking Marjolaine. Which this is pretty much except I added a chocolate crème fraiche cake layer. Along with hazelnut and almond meringue, praline and chocolate buttercreams and caramelized hazelnuts. Really good 😋.

[Smithy]

@RWood, once again I find myself wishing we had a WOW!!! emoji. That's beautiful!

[ElsieD]

I'm salivating.

[kayb]

Happy birthday! Gorgeous cake.

[Kim Shook]

18 hours ago, RWood said:

Day late because of stuff, but this is my birthday cake this year. 
I dug out my Cocolat cookbook because I was thinking Marjolaine. Which this is pretty much except I added a chocolate crème fraiche cake layer. Along with hazelnut and almond meringue, praline and chocolate buttercreams and caramelized hazelnuts. Really good 😋.

Amazingly lovely!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  🎂

[TdeV]

Happy Birthday @RWood.

I'm coming right over. 🤣

[ElsieD]

11 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Happy Birthday @RWood.

I'm coming right over. 🤣

 

Please pick me up on your way!

[Pete Fred]

Still working my way through a freezer drawer of egg whites. This is a Macaroné du Poitou...

 

 

Fancy name but it's pretty much just a big slab of amaretti or a giant almond macaroon, consisting of ground almonds, sugar and egg whites. Simple and tasty.

 

 

[heidih]

@Pete Fred Lot of egg whites and lots of baking. Are you doing this professionally?

[Pete Fred]

5 minutes ago, heidih said:

Are you doing this professionally?

 

Nah. Just a hobby. Too much free time! 🙂

[TdeV]

@Pete Fred, more delicous for us this way!

[Pete Fred]

OK, I may have finally run out of things to do with egg whites (for the time being 🤥).

 

I was curious what Œufs à la Neige/Îles flottantes/Floating Islands would be like with the meringue cooked in the microwave. Turns out it works rather well. Who knew?!.

 

 

I didn't have any flaked almonds to hand otherwise I would have toasted a few and strewn them atop. The one on the left was drizzled with a traditional dry caramel, but I find that too crunchy and tooth-bothering, so the other was squirted with a tube of salted butter caramel. Both islands floated on shop-bought crème anglaise. Do not judge me.

 

The last couple of whites were used up in a dozen sour cherry amaretti from an Ottolenghi recipe...

 

 

 

 

 

[heidih]

Always thought Oefs ala Neige sounded interesting but never enough to try. However the amaretti w/ sour cherries!  What form are the cherries in?

[Pete Fred]

Lidl occasionally have Amarena cherries in syrup. I usually buy half a dozen jars. So good. 

[Pete Fred]

From "Casablanca: My Moroccan Food" by Nargissa Benkabbou, Rose and Almond Ghriba...

 

 

These are quite soft and cakey. No fuss, just make a paste from almonds, sugar, butter, baking powder, egg, rosewater. Simple. Quite nice.

[TdeV]

@Pete Fred, do you normally peel almonds before you use them in desserts?

 

[Pete Fred]

32 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@Pete Fred, do you normally peel almonds before you use them in desserts?

 

For almost everything that calls for ground almonds I just buy a bag of the stuff made from blanched almonds. Very occasionally I might make my own if something a little more rubble-y might be nice (there's a Tarta de Santiago and a couple of almond tarts that I do it for). I probably should experiment a little more with unblanched or roasted as I often read about the benefits of leaving the skins on and blitzing your own. The handful of times I've bothered, though, I'm not sure it was worth it; but that may be down to the quality of the supermarket nuts I have access to <shakes head ruefully>.

[Pete Fred]

Romkugler (Danish rum balls)...

 

 

Blitz together old cake or Danish pastries, oats, jam, rum and cocoa. Roll in coconut or cocoa powder. In this instance I used walnut cake, cherry liqueur and some syrup from a jar of sour cherries. The texture, despite appearances, is actually quite smooth and truffle-y. Pleasant.

[TdeV]

@Pete Fred, could you please provide portions for those delicious-looking cakes? I.e. recipe.

[Pete Fred]

How to turn stale cake into Danish truffles. (A pinch of salt and a generous hand with the jam and booze won't do you any harm either. 😉)

[Elkyfr]

I travel with my soul to the Far East, to be able to be inspired by a canned cake that has caught my attention... and that at the moment is only sold in two cities in Japan...

 

It is a canned strawberry shortcake, it is the same size as a Coke. They are beautiful, with different designs, in which you can see the strawberry hearts, they are very striking and force you to taste them and see what is inside.

 

[ElsieD]

10 minutes ago, Elkyfr said:

I travel with my soul to the Far East, to be able to be inspired by a canned cake that has caught my attention... and that at the moment is only sold in two cities in Japan...

 

It is a canned strawberry shortcake, it is the same size as a Coke. They are beautiful, with different designs, in which you can see the strawberry hearts, they are very striking and force you to taste them and see what is inside.

 

Are these frozen?  They look interesting.

[Elkyfr]

3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Are these frozen?  They look interesting.

Yes, they are sold frozen in vending machines in only two cities in Japan, also online delivery.

 

They do not use and I have not used anything to keep the cream from falling off, That is why it expires the next day or if you freeze it it would be about 3 months.

 

I have surprised my friends, who did not know if it was decoration or real strawberries stuck to the wall.

 

In the end it is just a shortcake in a clear container tin. I think it will spread all over the world, it is very nice.