Baking and Books discussion

Today we got free cobnuts in our fruit box :) They're a species of hazelnut, rather elongated in shape, and grown in Kent (so a fair way south of me and I've not come across them before).

I'm going to make Kentish Cobnut Cake & Apple Compote with them, which sounds delicious! I might even mull some cider if it's chilly.

What are you making this weekend?

I think I'll probably do the weekend challenge from Serious Eats. But I'm not sure...

I give most of my baked goods away...not willing to risk the extra weight gain and it makes for good friends! So they will more than likely go to a good home.

I just made a pumpkin pie!!! At the same time I made applesauce/apple purée (don't know which word is the right one, or is it the same thing?) I've got like a kilo of pumpkin left so I guess I have to take care of that tomorrow, maybe I'll make some muffins. :)

Mmm, those Palmiers look lovely.

My cobnut cake is in the oven :) It smells great. Works out at 1000kcal per slice, lol. Guess we'll be having teeny slices!

So what is 'double cream'? I think castor sugar is just extra fine sugar, yes?

I think you say "heavy cream"? Although looking at this lovely handy Wikipedia table, it's an even higher fat content: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream#Un...

Amusingly I asked DH to get me "double cream" and he picked up "extra thick" - same fat content but it's not pourable. Measuring it out was...challenging.

Caster sugar is just very fine sugar, yes.

I really think it would be fun to make some goodies from other countries. I was looking at your lovely cake but I couldn't get the cobnuts. So if there is any 'typical' item you could suggest, I'd love to try.

And any of the rest of you in another country. I'd love to try some things from your countries.

Oh, cobnuts are pretty hard come by here too! You could substitute hazelnuts. As it was I didn't have enough cobnuts and all I had in was almonds. It seemed fine. I'd love to try things from other countries too!

I promised you my mum's scone recipe, I'll go and look that out that later. What else...let's find you some regional recipes from Oop North ;-) The BBC website is a great resource, btw, I quite often make it my first stop if my books fail me.

Eccles Cakes are from my county, Lancashire: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ecc...
Yum. :)

Parkin, from Yorkshire (the next county East and a ferocious but fairly good-natured rival) is delicious: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/19...

I don't make a lot of that as my OH doesn't tolerate ginger too well atm, but it's lovely.

Stotty or Stottie Cake - not really a cake but a big round, flattish bread - is from Northumberland, my OH's home county. You rarely see them anywhere else: http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/295/St... (but read the comments because the instructions aren't quite right, they miss out the milk). My in-laws eat this with pease pudding, which I can't stand, but it's a bit of a staple food up there!

That should keep you going for a bit :) Am I right in thinking mince pies (for Christmas) aren't that common in the US? I may be thinking of a Canadian friend who told me that, though.


One thing I've never been able to crack is sugar cookies, which I see a lot on US sites - they seem to come out terribly soft for me.

Wow~! Thank you. I will put these on my list.

We have something called Mincemeat pie which I think is the same thing. It's still made, but it's not as popular as a lot of the other pies.

Do you want the crisp sugar cookies? Are you using butter or another type of fat? I have used this recipe and it was pretty good.

Ah! Here we go with the differences again :) I think Mincemeat Pie is a savory, isn't it - using minced beef? That's what it was at Christmas originally. I have Tasting the Past: British Food from the Stone Age to the Present which is full of that sort of thing.

The mince pies we have at Christmas now are little cupcake-size pies with sweet pastry and "mincemeat" - a kind of jam of raisins, sultanas, candied peel and spices. You usually have it with cream or brandy butter. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/min...

I love them, I adore mincemeat...I quite often make a quick-and-dirty bread & butter pudding with it which I found on a Welsh site (Pwdin Briwfwyd)

Cheers for the link, I'll give it a go! I only ever use butter or oil for baking - never margerine, yuck.

Today it's D&D night so I'm baking Plum & Almond cake, which is a slight adaption from the Cherry & Almond cake in Red Velvet And Chocolate Heartache. It's the first one I've tried which is based on potato, so I'm curious to see how it turns out.

I made White Chocolate Cherry Scones . Which I'm sure are not anything you'd find at a British Tea.

lol. They're not quite traditional, no - "proper" ones would be with raisins and sultanas, or plain, and round. But I do remember making cherry scones in home ec as a kid, with glace cherries. And cheese scones. I never understood those.

Not a lot of baking done this weekend. With it being rather chilly and fortified by a trip to the farmer's market, it was more a soup-making and vegetable-roasting weekend. I did make some quick little biscuits to crumble into the bean and pasta soup. Most times I just use Ranch dressing, but I had some Asiago/Black pepper dressing this time.

2 1/4 cups baking mix (like BisQuik or Jiffy's)
1 tsp salt-free seasoning mix (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional)
1/4 cup creamy salad dressing
milk if necessary

Mix together dry ingredients. Knead in salad dressing, adding milk a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Form into 8 balls, place on baking sheet, and flatten with hand to about 1cm thick. Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

The biscuits are pretty dry but very flavorful, so make excellent additions to soup.

Oh, and I usually make my own baking mix and keep it in the fridge/freezer. There's recipes for it all over the internet, but here's a pretty good one:

http://kitchensimplicity.com/homemade...

Saturday I made cream of carrot and tomato soup. I was adding some rotted foodstuffs to a compost bin in my local park when I spied over a dozen perfectly good carrots. Because I'm poor and shameless, I reached over and snatched those carrots out of the bin and took them home with me.

I pulled out this recipe for soup that I'd recently found and whipped it up in about a couple of hours. It is soooo good, with chunks of carrots and tomatoes floating about in a rich dairy broth (made out of milk, heavy cream and butter). The recipe states it can be eaten cold, which is something I have to try.

Today I made "Cosy Soup" (curried butternut squash - my eldest named it when she was three :)), with soda bread; and Raspberry & Vanilla Cream Swiss Roll from Red Velvet And Chocolate Heartache. Another winner - it was absolutely delicious. I've never made Swiss roll before and was a bit scared it would crack, but it went perfectly.

I had two slices. :D

I'm currently trying to perfect my brownies. I'm not having much luck so far.

Jon wrote: "I'm currently trying to perfect my brownies. I'm not having much luck so far."

Brownies are tricky; success varies widely. In a taste test, I tasted two different kinds of brownies made by two people, a man and a woman. The woman's brownies were dry and crusty on the edges (burnt, rubbery or over-dry edges being a common problem). The man's brownies, on the other hand, were moist all over, yielding, fudgy and absolutely delicious.

I should have taken the time to ask him what he did to get them like that. The information would have been very useful.

So what's the problem with your brownies? Maybe you could share the recipe(s) and we could look them over and see what's going wrong.

Anyone doing anything good this weekend?

Probably not the weekend but on Monday it's gaming day :D so I'm planning to make the eponymous Chocolate Heartache. It's an aubergine-based cake, which I've never done before, so I have no idea how it'll come out!

I just made Morning Maple Muffins

Although I misread the recipe and put in 1TBLS of vanilla instead of 1/2 teaspoon. :)

I am supposed to be studying at the moment, but I whipped up some chocolate chip cookie dough and now it's baking.

Computers I use and my kitchen are not in the same place (or even in the same zip code). So I'm going to be making a plum cake to use up all those plums I found. I'll let you people know the outcome.

The Chocolate Heartache was amazing. I saw a write-up that described it as "the love-child of a Victoria sponge and a chocolate mousse" and it was spot on. I must admit I myself am mildly dubious still because I found it to have a slight aubergine (eggplant) aftertaste - maybe it was more noticable to me because I don't like them. I thought my gaming group were going to melt under the table! And even my little girls scoffed the lot, which I was really surprised by; I thought it would be way too bitter for them. It does need a good vanilla ice-cream or Greek yoghurt with it, imo.

Seawood wrote: "The Chocolate Heartache was amazing. I saw a write-up that described it as "the love-child of a Victoria sponge and a chocolate mousse" and it was spot on. I must admit I myself am mildly dubious s..."

I really want to get a copy of that book!

I made Plum Upside-Down Pudding Cake which I found through foodferret.com. It’s a great website for getting recipes and this one was perfect. I had to make a few adjustments, though. The plums I used must have been too large because I saw right away they wouldn’t fit into a nine-inch skillet. So I used the next larger size, a 10-inch one, and that worked very well. The cake is rather low and reminds me of apple tortes that I frequently make for my friends but it tastes delicious (according to my co-workers).

I'm going to work on making Puff Pastry. I've never done the homemade stuff before so I'm kind of hesitant about how well this will turn out. :)

This morning I used a layer cake (that I found), whipped cream that I made fresh today and some sliced strawberries (that I also found). It made for delicious strawberry shortcakes, which is not a bad way to start the morning.

Light Chocolate Cake and Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

From RV&CH as usual, for my eldest's birthday. I love the icing on the cake but it is a really hard job to do quickly.

I found The Ultimate Soup Bible last month Wednesday, October 24th when I was walking downtown. So I got it for free (my second favorite word) and decided to make the broccoli and bread soup after I found two stalks of broccoli, a loaf of bread and enough cast-off greenery at my local farmers market to make the vegetable stock (more free stuff—yay!). I was up until after 3:00 a.m. this morning but it was worth it. Nothing beats soup on cold days.

Soup is good! And it's surprising how healthful and low calorie a lot of soups are.

Well, my puff pastry got changed at the last minute to pate a choux. I'd never made cream puffs or eclairs before and I had a fun time doing it.

The first batter I made I didn't let it cook long enough and it was too wet. I'm not sure if it's salvageable. I thought I might try making some crepes with it. The second attempt was good and the puffs turned out perfectly! I'll definitely make these again.

Seawood wrote: "
Light Chocolate Cake and Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

From RV&CH as usual, for my eldest's birthday. I love the icing on the cake but it is a really hard job to do quickly."

Thank you for the uploading of this picture. Those goodies look scrumptious.

I made Alpine Mint Brownies from a recipe on Serious Eats

Ingredients
For The Brownies
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For The Mint Filling
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract
2 drops green food coloring (optional)

For The Ganache Glaze
6 ounces chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
3 ounces butter
Procedures

For The Brownies:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9”x13” glass or light-colored metal baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

Put the chocolate and butter in a large bowl and melt it over a saucepan of simmering water, or in the microwave (heat for 1 minute, then stir and heat in 15-second increments until melted). Add the sugars and whisk to combine.

Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined (make sure not to overbeat, or the brownies will be cakey). Sift the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture; fold gently with a spatula until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly; bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through. The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan.

For The Mint Filling:
Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined and creamy. Add a tablespoon of cream, the mint extract, and the food coloring (if using) and beat until combined. The filling should be just spreadable; if it’s too thick, add a little more cream.

Spread in an even layer over the cooled brownies and place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to firm up.

For The Ganache Glaze:
Combine in a small bowl and melt in the microwave; 30 seconds on High, then 10-second increments until melted. Allow to cool to room temperature and pour over the firm mint filling, spreading in an even layer.

Allow the brownies to set in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. Using a sharp knife, and wiping with a warm towel between cuts, cut into pieces and serve.

They look *gorgeous*.

Those brownies look truly divine. I may have to start taking pictures of my food just to compete. :)

I'm going to make Curried Meat Balls. I have ground beef thawing in my refrigerator and waaaaaay too many apples. Thus, I looked on foodferret.com to find a way to dispose of them both.

Unfortunately, this recipe requires only one apple so I'll have to look around for something else that doesn't require butter or eggs, since which I'm in short supply of both. Maybe I've got pork somewhere in my overstuffed freezer...

I got home late last night (or was it early this morning?). Usually I don’t cook under such circumstances. I think it’s dangerous to be near open flames when you’re tired and logy. But I was so hungry and didn’t want to warm a bare plate of meatballs.

I opened the first cookbook that came to my hand, Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook: 11th ed.. I had Brussels sprouts that I wanted to get out of the fridge before they spoiled. I found “Creamy Brussels Sprouts” on pg. 1036 and whipped them up in 30 minutes.

They weren’t a perfect accompaniment to the meat balls but, as I stated, I was hungry. The vegetable dish had the benefit of being quick, cheap, filling and satisfying. It was just the right thing for a post-midnight meal.

Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes from Red Velvet And Chocolate Heartache as usual - it's gaming night with the gluten-free folks. :)

I am making a Bourbon Chocolate Cake. The icing is ganache. I usually make it for Thanksgiving because my dad loves it, and I love making him happy.

It is an old Southern recipe. This one is from Square Table: A Collection of Recipes from Oxford, Mississippi Yoknapatawpha Arts Council of Oxford MS

Seawood wrote: "



Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes from Red Velvet And Chocolate Heartache as usual - it's gaming night with the gluten-free folks. :)"

Goodness, this looks so delectable. I want to lick the screen. :P~~~~

I found a lot of pears, three peppers and a package of tomatoes. I have recipes set up for pear coulis and soup for tomatoes and peppers. Time is of the essence since both the pears and the tomatoes are on the verge of spoilage.

Tonight I'm making this: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/20...

simply because we were watching the Buffy episode "Hush" last night: one of the side-characters says "...and you know I make an empowering lemon bun." We got the giggles, I went searching for a lemon bun recipe and stumbled over this twist on one of our favourite puddings.

I made poached pears in a raspberry coulis from a 4-ingredient cookbook. I didn't have white grape juice or Riesling or raspberries. Instead I used homemade dandelion wine and thawed mulberries. This is a recipe notable for its ease of preparation, few ingredients and shortness of prep time: about 30-35 minutes.

I finally made the soup. It was last Saturday but I kept getting distracted and really busy. This is another recipe from The Ultimate Soup Bible . It’s Chilled Tomato and Sweet Pepper Soup. It’s rather bland, actually, even with additional salt and pepper. The best thing that can be said about it is that I found most of the ingredients I used for it so it was very cheap to make.

Soups are awesome this time of year.

One of my favorite soup cookbooks is 300 Sensational Soups

Best Pot Roast

Ingredients:

Cooking oil
A hunk of good beef, chuck roast or brisket (briskets are usually cooked longer and shredded in their juice; chuck roasts are sliced against the grain)
Root vegetables such as beets, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, onions, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, shallots or turnips (carrots, celery, garlic and onions are a popular combination with pot roast)
Liquid (beer, stock, wine, water)

1. Brown a hunk of good beef in hot oil. Brown it deeply for best flavor.
2. Remove the beef.
3. Cook some onions, carrots, celery, garlic, or other root vegetables in the oil until softened.
4. Add liquid (beer, stock, wine).
5. Bring to a light simmer.
6. Add the beef back.
7. Cover the pot.
8. Cook on very low heat for several hours. (I prefer to cook it in the oven; the all-over heat seems to do good things. The next best is the slow cooker, in my opinion.)

One final note of advice: Read up on braising, where you can get more details on this, but remember never to cook your pot roast at too high of a heat. It will interrupt that slow melting cooking process and make your roast tough and stringy. Never let it boil; just cook at a long, slow, low heat.

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/go...

Notes: I pulled this recipe from an online suggestion. The instructions are vague and it gives no amounts nor specific cooking time. So why put it here? I suppose I like the idea of a challenge!

When Alton Brown cooked a pot roast using chuck meat in his episode “A Chuck for Chuck”, season four, episode seven, he relied on a large cast-iron skillet for cooking the meat on the stove and wrapped the meat in foil for oven roasting. This was a basic recipe for a college student living out of a trailer so he made it very simple indeed. I could try that with this recipe if I don’t want to fuss with a large pot.

11/30/2012 – I made this last night, although I ended up finishing it in the wee hours of the morning. I had found a beef brisket, shallots, garlic cloves, carrots, celery, a sweet potato and red wine. So I used all of that to cook this pot roast. It took a while. Since this recipe didn’t come with time setting, heat levels, amounts or oven temperature settings, I had to wing a lot of the instructions. However, it all came out very well!

The brisket was about 1½ pounds. I heated ¼ cup of olive oil in a heavy 11-inch cast-iron skillet on medium-high heat until it was smoking. I cut up two small shallots, crushed three garlic cloves, pared and sliced one sweet potato and one celery stalk and set them aside in a bowl. When the brisket was browned, I tossed the cut-up root vegetables into the oil and cooked it for about 5-7 minutes (if I had to do it over, I would put in the harder veggies first, like the potatoes and carrots, and let them cook before adding the softer foods like the celery, garlic and shallots.) For step four, I used leftover beef broth and added some red wine to make one cup of liquid.

Then I added the brisket back, clapped an iron lid over the entire pan and stuck it in a preheated 200°F oven for about six hours. It came out juicy, tender and swimming in a thin broth that cries out to be sopped up with bread.

Sounds like it would be very tasty!

It does!

For gaming group yesterday I tried out spelt flour, something I've not used before. I made honey, ginger & sunflower seed scones, and syrup scones, both from RV&CH. They tasted nice - especially with jam and cream! but they didn't rise like proper scones. I think that's my fault rather than the recipes, though - you need a light touch with scone dough. I got distracted by youngest whilst I was bringing the mix together and absent-mindedly started pummelling it like bread dough! Whoops. The syrup ones rose better but still not as much as ordinary scones.

I want to try making the chuck/pot roast recipe again, only this time with beer as the flavorful liquid instead of wine.

However, I believe that beer would require different "chunkies", as Alton Brown would call them. So what spices, herbs and vegetables would be the best additions with Amstel Light beer? Any suggestions?

I love french onion soup