Small-batch baking: pies, cakes, cookies, bread and bread rolls, etc.

[Pete Fred]

A half-batch date, chocolate and honey soda bread by Benjamina Ebuehi, made with rather good Medjool dates left over from Christmas and local lavender honey from a lady at the market...

 

 

Nice. Will make again.

[ElsieD]

Made what is called Sparkling Gingerbread from Snacking Cakes.  This was really good.  The spices were cinnamon, cloves, ginger powder, fresh grated ginger and crystallized ginger.  I'd make this again in a heartbeat.

[Tropicalsenior]

This morning I made some passion fruit (Maracuya/Liliko'i) bars.

I cut the recipe in half and made a couple other changes but now I wish I hadn't cut it in half. They are delicious and they aren't going to last long.

[Tropicalsenior]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:41 PM, ElsieD said:

Sparkling Gingerbread

With that much ginger, it's got to be Dynamite.

Would it be possible to share the recipe?

Edited February 12, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[ElsieD]

45 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

With that much ginger, it's got to be Dynamite.

Would it be possible to share the recipe?

 

Check your PM

[Maison Rustique]

@ElsieD and @Tropicalsenior, I would love both those recipes, please, if you're sharing.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

26 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

if you're sharing

More than happy to share. I used this recipe for Liliko'i Bars. I made half a batch and the only change that I made was to put 1/2 tsp of baking powder in the filling. I don't know what you have available for passion fruit juice, but I used this concentrate that we can get here.

One suggestion that I would make is, do not pack the crust down. It makes a lighter bar and by packing it down it can turn into a concrete like substance.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[ElsieD]

9 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

@ElsieD and @Tropicalsenior, I would love both those recipes, please, if you're sharing.

 

Check your PM.

[ElsieD]

Yesterday I made two individual Tarte Tartines.  I used mini bundt pans which was a mistake.  Some of the caramel lealked out but I just spooned it over the tarts.  I had never made this before but I thought the recipe had the bak!e time wrong  so I increased it by 10 minutes and it still could have used more time.  We were only so-so on this recipe.  However, I'm going to make it again using a different method.  One question I have is this supposed to be sweet at all?  I thought it could use more sugar, but not having had it before, I have nothing to compare it to.

[blue_dolphin]

I took @ElsieD's advice and baked a half-scale recipe of the Sparkling Gingerbread in a 6-inch round pan and I don't regret it one bit!  I am a ginger-lover and this is a ginger-lover's cake!  

I had been making full-scale recipes from this book and baking them in 3 small loaf tins so I could have one to eat and two to freeze. Nice to have another option. 

[ElsieD]

@blue_dolphin. What size were the loaf pans that you used?

 

I made the Salty Caramel Peanut Butter Cake from Snacking Cakes.   I made 1/2 of the recipe.   We liked the cake but scraped off the icing as we did not like it.  I have made two of her icing recipes and did not care for either of them.  Too sugary, if that makes sense.  I will give similar icing recipes a miss.  Next time I want a peanut butter flavoured cake I'll make the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake again.

Edited February 28, 2023 by ElsieD
Fixed a typo (log)

[blue_dolphin]

48 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

@blue_dolphin. What size were the loaf pans that you used?

 

I made the Salty Caramel Peanut Butter Cake from Snacking Cakes.   I made 1/2 of the recipe.   We liked the cake but scraped off the icing as we did not like it.  I have made two of her icing recipes and did not care for either of them.  Too sugary, if that makes sense.  I will give similar icing recipes a miss.  Next time I want a peanut butter flavoured cake I'll make the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake again.

 

 

I had a bunch of aluminum foil 6 x 3.5 x 2 inch pans (like these (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)) that I used mostly for gifts.  I finally washed and reused the last few to their limit. I can't decide whether to get 3 of these reusable ones (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) or another 50-pack of the foil ones for around the same price. Reusable is better for the environment but the foil ones are very handy to give away. 

 

I noticed that peanut butter cake has a jam swirl option and was thinking of trying it (without the icing) but my PB&J mood passed 🙃

 

I also wanted to add that I felt like I was making something for an EasyBake oven while measuring 50g sugar, 40g molasses, 95g flour, etc and mixing everything in a tiny bowl with my immersion blender whisk!  And speaking of the immersion blender whisk, it works  great to whip 1/4 cup of heavy cream in a 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup to make enough whipped cream for a couple of servings!

 

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by blue_dolphin
to add missing link (log)

[ElsieD]

Well, if I don't happen to have the set of three little pans!  I had not thought to make a full recipe and bake it in three little pans, freezing two for another time.  Gingerbread coming up!

 

My Breville hand mixer came with a whisk that fits into a I-cup measuring cup and I use it whenever I want a 2 serving size of whipped cream.  It also, believe it or not, came with a dough hook which I have never used.  I can't imagine such a little dough hook working on bread dough.  Having just typed that last sentence, I'll try that little dough hook next time I make what I call my wee loaf.  If nothing else, it should be good for a laugh.

[ElsieD]

@blue_dolphin. I have a dumb question.  When you bake a full recipe from Snacking Cakes in 3 mini loaf pans, how high up the sides have the loaves risen when they have finished baking?

[blue_dolphin]

7 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

@blue_dolphin. I have a dumb question.  When you bake a full recipe from Snacking Cakes in 3 mini loaf pans, how high up the sides have the loaves risen when they have finished baking?

A little?  Sorry, not helpful 🙄

Take a look at the photo in this post about the grapefruit cake and see if it gives you enough of an idea. 

[OlyveOyl]

Plum tart, because I couldn’t resist the large bag at Costco by way of South Africa.  This is a six inch tart which took about thirty minutes to bake, the juices had bubbled up nicely when I removed it from the oven.   In addition, I made some plum sorbet with the remaining plums, a small sample prior to freezing tasted pretty darn good. The plums are reasonably tasty as long as you are cooking them with a little sugar. Will tide me over until July/August when local plums become available.

[ElsieD]

Today I did a repeat of the Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cake.  I did not make the dulce de leche icing, but rather served it with whipped cream sweetened with some cinnamon sugar.  The recipe is from Small Batch Cakes by Edd Kimber.

[blue_dolphin]

Made a half recipe of the Swirled Jam Cake from Snacking Cakes in a 6-inch pan with Trader Joe's ginger spread which is full of crystalized ginger - love the way they sparkle on top!

[ElsieD]

I made another batch of the lemon bars from Small Batch Baking.  Oddly, while we really liked the first batch, we were not as enthused about this batch.  I didn't change anything in the recipe but I found the lemon taste overwhelming.  Time to make something I haven't made before.

 

[blue_dolphin]

I've been seeing a lot of brownies in the main baking topic and it got me thinking about my favorite brownies, made from a recipe that used to be printed on the back of Nestle's chocolate chip bag in which half of the chips are melted and go into the batter and the other half get stirred into the batter.  I started making these when I was a teenager! The recipe has been absent from the bag for years but I found it online and scaled it in half for a 6-inch square pan.  Here's a link to the full recipe and here's my half-scale version.  I'm sure I could round those flour and butter gram amounts but I just did a straight conversion for the first pass. 

 

Nestle Double Chocolate Brownie Recipe (half recipe for 6-inch pan)

 

47 g unsifted flour
1⁄8 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
57 g butter
75 g sugar
1 T (15 ml) water
170 g (6 oz, 1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe's 72% cacao dark chocolate chips)
1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract
1  egg
1/4 cup nuts, chopped

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a small saucepan, combine butter, sugar, and water. Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat. Add 85g (1/2 cup) chocolate morsels and vanilla extract. Stir until morsels melt and mixture is smooth then transfer to a bowl.
Add the egg and beat well then blend in flour mixture. Stir in remaining 85g (1/2 cup) of chocolate morsels and the nuts. Spread into a greased 6-inch square baking pan.
Bake 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting. 

 

The look like I remember, with that shiny surface. 

They're not quite cool yet.  I'll come back and add another photo when they're ready to cut.

 

Edited to add:  Ta da!  Very chocolatey and those 72% dark chocolate chips make them pretty decadent. 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by blue_dolphin
to add photo of cut brownies (log)

[SLB]

@ElsieD  If it's ok, would you PM me the recipe for the Sparkling Gingerbread?  If it's not, I totally understand. 

 

I have someone moving on into dementia who LOVES gingerbread but hates life right now, and I am hoping to visit her for her birthday next month.  With FOOD.  

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, SLB said:

@ElsieD  If it's ok, would you PM me the recipe for the Sparkling Gingerbread?  If it's not, I totally understand. 

 

I have someone moving on into dementia who LOVES gingerbread but hates life right now, and I am hoping to visit her for her birthday next month.  With FOOD.  

 

You can find it online here.

[SLB]

Duh! 

 

Thank you.  

[ElsieD]

34 minutes ago, SLB said:

Duh! 

 

Thank you.  

 

I would have, had @blue_dolphinnot beaten me to the punch.  My MIL was moved to a dementia ward last week. She said she didn't like it because everyone is old.  She'll be 101 in May.  She has a love of date muffins and I have made them for her many times.  John will be going to see her soon and I'll be sending down a batch with him.  I believe that food memories bring them some cheer.

[SLB]

I do, too.