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

[heidih]

@Pete Fred  It does look awfully brown.I've not made it in a long time but usually the concern was "too juicy" - never crisp so aside from overly dry dough perhaps the filling was not very juicy?  It really is a slap it together easy thing. I've done my own dough and it is eay but yields a thicker result based on my liited skills

[Pete Fred]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

perhaps the filling was not very juicy?

 

It was ok. My woes lie entirely with the filo. Dry and papery on top, tough underneath. If I'd done a better job with the cooking I'm still not sure it would be to my taste. I'm looking for something lighter.

 

The method involved layering multiple sheets of filo and rolling into a log. I think I might prefer it made with a single, very thin sheet of strudel dough rolled around the filling. This appears to be the traditional way as opposed to the more modern filo 'hack'. Although filo and strudel dough are similar-ish, the number of 'purists' saying filo is inferior has made me curious.

[Kim Shook]

4 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

 

It was ok. My woes lie entirely with the filo. Dry and papery on top, tough underneath. If I'd done a better job with the cooking I'm still not sure it would be to my taste. I'm looking for something lighter.

 

The method involved layering multiple sheets of filo and rolling into a log. I think I might prefer it made with a single, very thin sheet of strudel dough rolled around the filling. This appears to be the traditional way as opposed to the more modern filo 'hack'. Although filo and strudel dough are similar-ish, the number of 'purists' saying filo is inferior has made me curious.

I've sent you a PM, @Pete Fred.  Hope it helps your problems with the strudel!

[pastrygirl]

4 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

My woes lie entirely with the filo. Dry and papery on top, tough underneath

 

Did you butter every layer?  I like filo, but feel it really needs butter, otherwise it’s just plain boring dough. 

[heidih]

OK I totally agree thta the "stack hack" is likely the issue! I had not heard of that technique. We always rolled.

[Pete Fred]

4 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Did you butter every layer?  I like filo, but feel it really needs butter, otherwise it’s just plain boring dough. 

 

Yup. I'm not particularly well versed in filo but have had decent results in the past. I'm still blaming the method (well that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

 

Should I revisit filo strudel, @Kim Shook has given me a few pointers that would likely solve my issues. But at the moment I think I'm just gonna glance wistfully in the rear view mirror and chalk it up to experience.

 

To stave off the blues after a baking fail, I reached for my current go-to, Ottolenghi 'Sweet', and alighted on the Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake.

 

 

I must have angered the baking Gods of late because this is the first one from the book that I've been less than happy with. It was perfectly fine but the batter didn't really come together as described in the recipe, and the finished cake looks a little different to his, texture-wise. So I made another two (!) which are currently cooling. Sadly, I doubt I'll be troubling the board with tales of redemption. Nothing much seemed to change. The losing streak continues.

[Kim Shook]

Starting to stock the freezer for the bake sale I manage every year for our church Holiday Market.  Pineapple Upside Down Biscuits:

These are made with whomp biscuits - they aren't cakey, more like a sweetish roll.  Nice with baked ham.

 

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Loaves:

Think monkey bread.  Also made with whomp biscuits.  Hey, I'm making a TON of stuff - I gotta take shortcuts where I can.  

[heidih]

@Kim Shook  Oh understand shortcuts in your situation as most people can't tell the diff anyway.The concern area I  experienced in the past was the saltiness of some of that packaged  stuff.  Had to up sugar or inject some acid someway to balance it. Sure it will be gobbled up

[Kim Shook]

Last thing out of the oven tonight:

or 

White chocolate cranberry bread with white chocolate chips and fresh cranberries.  Cooling now.  I hope this stuff sells.  Last year was weird - no one bought cupcakes or muffins, but the coffee cakes and quick breads sold out.  So I'm making lots of that kind of stuff and a few kinds of cookies.  

[jmacnaughtan]

It's squash season, so as usual I made a cake.

 

I wanted to play around with milk chocolate a bit.  I've come to realise that I much prefer it to dark, and it works better with more delicate flavours.

 

Chocolate, orange and squash cake

 

 

Milk chocolate orange biscuit base

Génoise sponge soaked with orange juice and chacha

Orange and butternut marmelade

Orange and butternut curd

Milk chocolate mousse

Glaze

More marmelade

Candied clementine

 

Really good, but the glaze went too thin and the mousse barely held together...  I need to stop trusting Francisco Migoya's recipes.  But still, one of my better cakes

 

[Kim Shook]

More church bake sale stuff – Chocolate Mocha cookies:

 

Dream cookies:

I've

I'm sure I've talked about these before.  They are the favorite cookies in our home.  They look like nothing, but are absolutely delectable - VERY buttery and crisp.  Almost like a thin shortbread.  I've been making them since I was a little girl.

[kayb]

Made the molasses spice cookies last night, from this recipe. It says bake them dark, but I prefer the lighter, chewier ones.

 

 

And I made Ultimate Brownies from Recipe Gullet , except I pimped them out a bit with a topping of chocolate chips,  butterscotch chips and coconut. 

 

 These are some fine brownies. And would be so without the topping, too.

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by kayb (log)

[andiesenji]

I have noted several mentions of buttering filo dough to get the right texture and flavor.  I thought I had mentioned this a couple of years ago, but maybe it was further back in time.

I used to do a lot of things with filo dough when I was catering, both sweet and savory and I was always frustrated with the stuff tearing when I was brushing on the melted butter.

Some time in that period I had a brainstorm and began using an oil sprayer and GHEE, since it is already liquid and all the particulates that might clog the sprayer have been strained out. The local Indian grocery carried the best quality ghee in quart jars.

Spraying it on the sheets give an even coverage and it is so much quicker - I could do the pastries in half the time. So much time had been taken up with brushing and often re-melting the butter because I worked in a rather cool kitchen. 

Neither I or any of my clients ever noticed any difference in the more delicate sweet pastries and certainly not in the savory pastries.  

I got one of the trigger type sprayers that I think held a pint of oil. Since I don't use so much now I have one made by Evo that is smaller. I clean it after each use and store the ghee in its original jar.

 

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, andiesenji said:

I have noted several mentions of buttering filo dough to get the right texture and flavor.  I thought I had mentioned this a couple of years ago, but maybe it was further back in time.

I used to do a lot of things with filo dough when I was catering, both sweet and savory and I was always frustrated with the stuff tearing when I was brushing on the melted butter.

Some time in that period I had a brainstorm and began using an oil sprayer and GHEE, since it is already liquid and all the particulates that might clog the sprayer have been strained out. The local Indian grocery carried the best quality ghee in quart jars.

Spraying it on the sheets give an even coverage and it is so much quicker - I could do the pastries in half the time. So much time had been taken up with brushing and often re-melting the butter because I worked in a rather cool kitchen. 

Neither I or any of my clients ever noticed any difference in the more delicate sweet pastries and certainly not in the savory pastries.  

I got one of the trigger type sprayers that I think held a pint of oil. Since I don't use so much now I have one made by Evo that is smaller. I clean it after each use and store the ghee in its original jar.

 

 

Genius!

[Pete Fred]

Today's nostalgic treat was a Bakewell Tart.

 

 

And, obviously, if you're gonna go full retro with the feathering, might as well stick a cherry on top!

 

[Kim Shook]

More church bake sale stuff for the freezer - Ginger Chewies with Sugar Babies:

 

Lois' Best Coffee Cake:

Old standby @maggiethecat recipe.  

 

[kayb]

Ooooohhhhh...Sugar babies in cookies! I'm THERE! Is that recipe in Kim's Cookbook? If not, would you please share it?

 

[Shelby]

38 minutes ago, kayb said:

Ooooohhhhh...Sugar babies in cookies! I'm THERE! Is that recipe in Kim's Cookbook? If not, would you please share it?

 

I have had this recipe bookmarked for YEARS.  I NEED to make it.  I never can find Sugar Babies at the store and I never go to the movies (which is where they usually have them).  I'm going to order off Amazon and finally make my dream come true lol.

 

http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/COOKIES/Super-Sized_Ginger_Chewies.html

[Kerry Beal]

 

Birthday and anniversary season in our house - so it was time to bake 'the cake'.  Known to MacGourmet Deluxe as Gary's Chocolate Cake - it is always well received. The child will be wearing it very soon.

[Kim Shook]

@kayb and @Shelby - So glad these are appealing to you!  They are really, really good.  Two things to know.  Make sure to not overcook them - they should be fairly soft out of the oven.  Also - you can make these messy or you can make them neat.  If you don't care what they look like, mix the Sugar Babies in and bake.  They will melt and the ones near the edges will spill out over the edges and make these lacy little crisp caramel ruffles.  We count these as a delicious little treat.  If you want them neat (which I did for the bake sale), you can just press a couple of the Sugar Babies into the cookies before putting in the oven.  For that matter, you could probably place them on top of the soft cookie when it comes out of the oven - like you do Hershey Kisses in PB blossoms.

 

And, I always find my Sugar Babies at Dollar Tree, if that helps.

[kayb]

Thanks, y'all. I have to remember to buy extra Sugar Babies, because I'll eat half of them out of hand. Love the dang things.

 

[ElsieD]

I had never heard of Sugar Babies.  Learn something almost every day on this forum.

[Shelby]

I'm sure these are a bit over priced and if you don't have Amazon Prime, probably more so, but I bought 'em because it's easier than driving all around the big city trying to find them

 

Sugar Babies

[Kerry Beal]

 

She liked it!

[kayb]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

I'm sure these are a bit over priced and if you don't have Amazon Prime, probably more so, but I bought 'em because it's easier than driving all around the big city trying to find them

 

Sugar Babies

 

Walgreen's. If they have Walgreens in your world.