Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Kim Shook]

Thank you! To be honest, I wasn't expecting a box, and haven't used on in forever, but I'm suddenly nostalgic for Funfetti And I love the idea of a pretzel crust. Can't wait to try it with brownies!

Oh, dear, I'm an idiot! I directed you to a completely wrong recipe - I sent you to my MIL's Margarita cake instead of MY Daquiri Cake - here is the correct link! I'm sorry!

[deensiebat]

I helped a friend decipher her grandmother's loose recipe for Floating Islands:

[Aloha Steve]

All American - All Delicious Apple. Recipe from Dorie G. Baking From My Home to Yours.

Delicious it is

[gini]

I made David Lebowitz's Chocolate Cake this weekend to delicious results. And it wasn't a pie.

[gini]

Gini, those pies look so good. I don't know if i've ever had a straight cherry pie. But I very much want to, along with a scoop of my vanilla icecream.

Wow Gini those pies look great! I love cherry pie and your lattice ( i think that's what it's called) looks great too!

Rena

Thanks! The cherry pie is an old minute tapioca recipe that my grandmother gave me.

[PopsicleToze]

I started the Christmas candy cooking with pralines.

They tasted terrific. I don't know why they have the little pox marks. They get like that when they dry. It bothered me last year, but I'm over it. They do it everytime. If anyone knows how to fix that, it would be very much appreciated.

Rhonda

[deensiebat]

I baked a batch of ruggelach for our annual latkesplash party:

[Aloha Steve]

I baked a batch of ruggelach for our annual latkesplash party:

Denna, a couple of questions:

What type of flour to use ?

The picture is of a cooked one ? I'm asking cause the dough after being cooked that I am use to seeing is darker.

Thank you for the recipe I can't wait to make it !

[deensiebat]

Denna, a couple of questions:

What type of flour to use ?

The picture is of a cooked one ? I'm asking cause the dough after being cooked that I am use to seeing is darker.

Thank you for the recipe I can't wait to make it !

I just use a general all-purpose flour. The picture is of a cooked one -- I took them out when they were just barely beginning to color. You can let them get a little darker (I usually do, but this time impatience won out).

Let me know how the recipe works for you! They disappeared pretty quickly last night. Now I'm wishing I had stashed some in our freezer....

[Aloha Steve]

Denna, a couple of questions:

What type of flour to use ?

The picture is of a cooked one ? I'm asking cause the dough after being cooked that I am use to seeing is darker.

Thank you for the recipe I can't wait to make it !

I just use a general all-purpose flour. The picture is of a cooked one -- I took them out when they were just barely beginning to color. You can let them get a little darker (I usually do, but this time impatience won out).

Let me know how the recipe works for you! They disappeared pretty quickly last night. Now I'm wishing I had stashed some in our freezer....

I sure will and thank you for the info.

I'm also going to make baked sweet potato latkes... Hopefully both tomorrow.

[emmalish]

I made the chocolate fudge from Anita Chu's (PastryGirl) Field Guide to Candy.

I don't have fond memories of homemade fudge. My mom's fudge was always hard and grainy, so for years I swore by the sweetened condensed milk no-fail fudge recipe, because you couldn't possibly get something so smooth and creamy the old-fashioned way, right?

So this was my first attempt at "real" fudge. I actually ended up making 2 batches. The first one went haywire through my own fault. I didn't realize it would boil up so much and I started with too small a pot. When it was around 230° it was threatening to boil over and I had to pour it into a larger pot – it ended up getting sloshed around and dropping temperature and raising again... it turned out somewhat grainy. So just to prove to myself that YES, I can make fudge, I immediately made another batch. It's sooo smooth and creamy. I took some into work and one of my coworkers said "this isn't fudge – this is little squares of icing". I'm assuming he meant that in a good way. There were lots of "mmmm" sounds anyway.

[Kim Shook]

Rhonda - I think your pralines are lovely! I have that cigar box on my worktable - it was my granddaddy's and I loved the artwork and him and the smell of his cigars, so I snitched it when he passed. Are you packing the pralines in it, or do you just love the artwork too?

emmalish - I, too, am not a fan of gritty, hard fudge. That is the traditional fudge of Mr. Kim's family and the first time that our daughter tasted it (at age 4, having been raised on my family's smooth, creamy fudge), she exclaimed, "Momma, there's something wrong with this fudge!" I shushed her and said, "Yes, but they like it that way." Yours looks delicious - perfect texture and deeply chocolate! I've made that mistake myself with the wrong size pan. I've finally learned that I need to indicate which pot to use in my recipe - it has saved a lot of heartache over the years! Thanks for the link to the book - I've just added it to my wishlist !

[emmalish]

Thanks Kim! I'm really happy with how it turned out, but shocked at how long the entire process took. Worth it tho.

I've started writing pot sizes in my recipes too. And timing (so I know that while it's cooling to 110°, yes I do have time to go watch some tv). You're going to love Anita's book. It's so adorable!

[PopsicleToze]

Rhonda - I think your pralines are lovely! I have that cigar box on my worktable - it was my granddaddy's and I loved the artwork and him and the smell of his cigars, so I snitched it when he passed. Are you packing the pralines in it, or do you just love the artwork too?

Love the story of your memories of your grandfather, but, alas, I don't have a good story. I was just looking for a backdrop and loved the design. I wrapped the pralines in tissue paper and gave them away in decorated Christmas tins.

Rhonda

[CalumC]

emmalish - I, too, am not a fan of gritty, hard fudge. That is the traditional fudge of Mr. Kim's family and the first time that our daughter tasted it (at age 4, having been raised on my family's smooth, creamy fudge), she exclaimed, "Momma, there's something wrong with this fudge!" I shushed her and said, "Yes, but they like it that way." Yours looks delicious - perfect texture and deeply chocolate! I've made that mistake myself with the wrong size pan. I've finally learned that I need to indicate which pot to use in my recipe - it has saved a lot of heartache over the years! Thanks for the link to the book - I've just added it to my wishlist !

Couldn't agree more, crumbly fudge is one of my all time hates, rooting back to a hot day and a whole bag of the stuff. It did not end well.

Soft, chewy fudge on the other hand is brilliant, and that looks like a great batch.

[violetfox]

'Salty Oats' cookies from Gesine Bullock-Prado's excellent website (and book)

http://confectionsofamasterbaker.blogspot.com/2009/04/sowing-my-salty-oats.html

[Aloha Steve]

Denna, a couple of questions:

What type of flour to use ?

The picture is of a cooked one ? I'm asking cause the dough after being cooked that I am use to seeing is darker.

Thank you for the recipe I can't wait to make it !

I just use a general all-purpose flour. The picture is of a cooked one -- I took them out when they were just barely beginning to color. You can let them get a little darker (I usually do, but this time impatience won out).

Let me know how the recipe works for you! They disappeared pretty quickly last night. Now I'm wishing I had stashed some in our freezer....

Hi Deena, I finally made them today, just finished a hour ago. They came out great, thanks very much for the recipe. Ran out of Apricot Jam, so I used Strewberry-Mango for the last 1/4 of the dough. I used too much jam as it leaked out of some during cooking. But I cannot remember anyone in my family making them before now so I'm very happy to have made a start.

Before going into the oven:

Cooling on rack:

My wife just walked by and said "Now you need to make Hamantashen" ! LOL Oh Vey.......before she met me she did not know rugelach from rumplestiltskin :wub:

Edited December 21, 2009 by Aloha Steve (log)

[gini]

During the snowstorm on Sunday, I made chocolate chip Heath Bar crunch cookies. Just something to warm up the house.

[dystopiandreamgirl]

this winter's buches de noel...

royal icing snowflakes:

shooting star mendiants with candied violets, gold dragees, and freeze dried strawberries, mangoes, & blueberries

(this looked better in person, and WAY better in my head when i imagined it):

white chocolate holly leaves:

caramel cage (and with a nod to the botanical origins of the cakes, a caramel tree ring):

wishing everyone a lovely holiday!

[Aloha Steve]

this winter's buches de noel...

royal icing snowflakes:

shooting star mendiants with candied violets, gold dragees, and freeze dried strawberries, mangoes, & blueberries

(this looked better in person, and WAY better in my head when i imagined it):

white chocolate holly leaves:

caramel cage (and with a nod to the botanical origins of the cakes, a caramel tree ring):

wishing everyone a lovely holiday!

They all look mouth watering great!

[DeliciouslyLekker]

this winter's buches de noel...

royal icing snowflakes:

shooting star mendiants with candied violets, gold dragees, and freeze dried strawberries, mangoes, & blueberries

(this looked better in person, and WAY better in my head when i imagined it):

white chocolate holly leaves:

caramel cage (and with a nod to the botanical origins of the cakes, a caramel tree ring):

wishing everyone a lovely holiday!

Everything looks great! The white one and the one with the caramel cage are my favourites

Happy Holidays!

[DeliciouslyLekker]

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Recipe here)

[Darienne]

Christmas didn't turn out quite the way we had hoped this year, but at least tonight I made this Christmas Cranberry Galette from RLB's Pie and Pastry Bible. I made one last year too, but was too embarassed to post the photo. I kept last year's photo to keep me humble. I'm going to try for some vanilla ice cream (cornstarch base) to go with it.

[Lior]

very nice Darienne! Hope the holidays were okay. Your are on my mind a lot. Keep making life sweet for everyone!!

[RichardJones]

Great stuff, dystopiandreamgirl, lovely looking logs.

Here's how I spent Boxing Day:

A chocolate mousse on the bottom, a layer of chocolate biscuit à la cuillère (imbibed with a tropical syrup), a mango mousse, chocolate décor with mango gelée. There's also a thin biscuit around the edge of the bottom half. The mousses are cream and Italian meringue based.

Edited December 27, 2009 by RichardJones (log)