The Baking Thread

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LyceeFruit PE said:
I usually cut then freeze for like 15-20min - this is for any recipe that requires really cold butter. I don't make a lot of pies. But I did make the SK pop-tarts a few weeks ago, so that's almost a pie lol 

What do you use in pie crust?
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it's my grandma's recipe.  solid Crisco, flour, water, and a pinch of salt.  

 
Yayy for the turntable, JayKay! I actually just ordered one too, but it wasn't gifted to me. I did it for myself. Which is fine! Because I really think I'll appreciate it for that Russian Honey cake.... Which was a BITCH to spread out into extremely thin layers! I ended up only doing a half recipe for it, which I was hoping to get six layers from... Well, I ended up with four useable layers and two layers that were nothing resembling the 9" circles of thinly spread out cake that they should have been. People said it was difficult to spread in the comments, and boy, they weren't kidding! Especially without an offset spatula (I used a combination of a spoon and my fingers... Not the greatest combo).

I'm going to make the frosting and assemble the cake tomorrow night. Wish me luck!

 
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I wonder if you could spray your cakes with frosting using a drywall texture gun for a perfect finish.  

 
Supe said:
I wonder if you could spray your cakes with frosting using a drywall texture gun for a perfect finish.  
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Perhaps. But this is a frosting that had a whipped cream base... And I don't have a drywall texture gun. My sense is that it would just sputter everywhere?

 
I present to you all, my Russian Honey Cake:

E604167E-C4C8-4187-AAB7-A3FFCCA4FA3C.jpeg

It’s now in the fridge for it’s overnight rest! It’s supposed to be served chilled anyway.

I will follow up with a slice picture when I get the chance. I think that will be more fun to look at, with the layers of the cake and frosting!

 
Ah!!!  Medovik!!!!  I made that a while ago, an 8-layer version, by Natasha's kitchen.  The main thing is making sure you have all the parts 'ready' since it's a fairly quick turn around making it.

I made oatmeal butterscotch cookies yesterday night!  I don't like butterscotch, but someone from work specifically asked for them.  I modified my normal oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe and added some almond extract/upped the molasses, and then chilled the batter for around a half hour before I started baking (because I had to shower and because it was a super sticky dough).  Also attempted flattening, but it made the spread crazy, so I left as balls and they baked up really nice!

 
That cake tasted way better last night (after a meal of broccolli and cheddar soup) than it did after a meal of takeout Omakase sushi!

 
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I've never mailed sourdough bread before, but I know people have done it! The most I've done is fly on a plane with it, once. For that, I froze the loaf in advance and took it with me in my carryon.

 
maryannette said:
My daughter, with my guidance, baked two pies - a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie. I wasn’t up to baking this year, so she filled in for me. Pies (mostly the scratch-made crust) are sacred in our family. She did an excellent job!!!

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Ah, this pie looks excellent! Kudos to your daughter for helping you out. And homemade crust is TOTALLY the way to go! It's really not hard!

My cheese puffs and sourdough brioche cinnamon rolls were a success! The cinnamon rolls are so ridiculous good (who knew orange would be such a complimentary flavor?) and the cheese puffs are pretty dang addicting to eat. Like an upscale cheddar bunny/goldfish.

Recently, I was gifted a fancy doughnut pan and doughnut baking book... So don't be surprised if you see some doughnuts make an appearance here in the near future!

 
made gluten free dinner rolls from scratch last week.  took almost 3 hours with all the proving and cooling.  They turned out okay a little too yeasty of a taste for me, but one roll really fills you up.   I cheated with a gluten free cornbread mix for thanksgiving, I didn't have time for made from scratch.  THat was actually really good.

 
leggo PE said:
I've never mailed sourdough bread before, but I know people have done it! The most I've done is fly on a plane with it, once. For that, I froze the loaf in advance and took it with me in my carryon.
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I've literally walked onto a plane with two dozen bagels without freezing or anything for a 7+ hour trip.  Everyone was super jealous/angry because they smelled super good, but I would not share.

@maryannette THAT PIE LOOKS AMAZING AND THE CRUST LOOKS SO GOOD.  My crust always flattens during baking, but tastes good, so I don't really complain too much.

 
Because I'm insane and apparently don't really want to sleep any more, I have decided to embark on making cookie boxes for my friends who are local.

I have now purchased ten cookie tins, two silpats (I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to get some silpats!), two new baking sheets (because I'm guilty of using the crappy old ones that I got from the grocery store when I was in college, that warp when in the over for too long -- and I've also been gradually replacing our crapping bakeware anyway, like an upgrade for the 9x13 pan I got earlier this year), and a cookie press.

Now, I'm trying to decide what cookies to make, roughly using Melissa Clark's "How to Make the Perfect Cookie Box" as a guide for types of cookies.

Here's what I have so far:

Non-negotiable cookies: gingerbread cookies (w/ icing/sprinkles), vanilla spritz cookies (with sprinkles), and peanut butter cookies (the peanut butter cookies are a non-negotiable per Mr. Leggo)

Possible others: almond thumbprint cookies (with apricot jam to check the fruity cookie box), fudge bourbon balls (because they sound and look delicious), and the bestest ever chocolate cookies -- aka the "Tiny, Salty Chocolate Cookies" as can be seen here: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020520-tiny-salty-chocolaty-cookies

But yeah, I'm not sure I want to make many dozens of 6 types of cookies? Especially when I'm planning to start studying for the S.E. this weekend, and all the cookies will need to be baked on approximately the same day, and then cooled and packaged to be delivered within a day or two. Some of the recipes, like the bourbon balls and the gingerbread, actually improve if chilled overnight (or up two 2-3 days for the bourbon balls), so that is a definite advantage!

So tell me, what would be in YOUR ideal holiday cookie box?

 
You can DO IT @leggo PE!  Silpats are the bomb too.

So I think I mentioned last year my wife and I made around 60 dozen cookies.  And two giant batches of chex mix.  And snappy cheese wafers that my wife really likes.

For me the must-haves for Xmas are the standby chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter with heresy's kisses.  I also get nostalgic about walnut balls because my grandma always made them.  My wife likes to make mini baklava tarts (we cheat by buying pre-made phyllo shells), and I like to make peanut butter/chocolate no-bakes (with dark cocoa.)

We didn't do any spritz cookies last year, but you can easily pump out tens of dozens of those, so I'd think those are a good filler cookie if you don't have enough of the others to fill your boxes.  Since we're not visiting any family this year my wife wants to make her grandpa's bourbon balls too.

We usually get started in the morning and just keep rotating through all the different cookies--one of us mixing up dough and the other cycling the cookie sheets through the oven.  Takes pretty much all day on a Saturday and a portion of Sunday.  It's less work and more fun than canning tomatoes at least (which we did dozens of hours of this year.)

 

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