What are you baking these days? November 2011, part 2

Question

Hi everybody, here we go with the second part of November, when things usually get hot and heavy in the baking department.  What are you planning in the way of holiday treats?  What are you keeping your cookie jar and cake keeper full of?  Let's discuss.

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Does anyone have a good link or reference to laminating dough in a somewhat easy fashion? I know it colder in most places given the season, but I don't know if that helps keeping the butter cold. Along those lines has anyone ever used a pasta machine for something like this or for something other than pasta?

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Just renewed my relationship with the best dessert book ever, Richard Sax' Classic Home Desserts. This weekend witnessed Austrian Walnut Torte with Coffee Whipped Cream and Lemon Icebox Crumbles and the Ginger Oatmeal Shortbread (completely addictive). That is a spectacular book for baking inspiration.

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I'm making a peanut butter cheesecake with chocolate topping and pumpkin whoopie pie with a maple filling.

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Just finished up my fruitcake for the season. Will be traveling over Thanksgiving, and am working later this week, so wanted to get it done. I use a pound cake based quite loosely on James Beard's recipe, but didn't use as much sugar or butter, or flour (about 3/4 of the recipe), used whole wheat flour, and dried fruit soaked in brandy.... apricots, cherries, cranberries, blueberries, dates. Spiced it with cardamom, cinnamon, and allspice. I made some mini cakes, mini loaves, and a couple of other medium sized loaves. I dunked them in a warmed jelly, a mix of what was in the fridge, seedless strawberry and raspberry, apple jelly with vanilla, and brandy. Used walnuts and some hazelnuts.

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After a very successful rum cake, I decided to make a somewhat boozy chocolate version - this is a chocolate espresso kahlua cake. It's a mouthful, but tastes so good. It's a dense cake that tastes quite good by itself, but it needed that extra touch. I did a kahlua-rum syrup and here's is is 'resting'. This was my first attempt at the cake and I decided to turn it into a plate because I was worried it might stick to the pan. Not at all. I've made this cake a couple more time and it's unbelievably delicious.

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As I'm trying to slim down slightly before fattening up at the holidays, I've cut back on baking, but did make gingerbread today, plain old fashioned no frills gingerbread, from James Beard's American Cookery, very quick and simple to make, one bowl, no eggs, nice and gingery, done in 35 minutes. I'm going to try to abstain from the huge amount of whipped cream I usually need with gingerbread.

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Today I baked Martha Stewart's Blueberry Muffins. This the best recipe I've used so far. I don't ever have a problem with the blueberries sinking, her batter is on the thick side so they stay put. The house smells amazing! Tomorrow, if I can find a decent muffin recipe for Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins, that's on for tomorrow. I had another thought after I posted this. I have a jar of lovely dark cherries from Trader Joe's that I need to use. There's a bundt cake recipe in MS Baking HB using cherries, Cherry Streusel Coffee Cake. I'm wanting to take her recipe, somehow get cream cheese in there, and make a cake Cherry Cream Cheese Streusel loaf or taller muffins using my popover tray. Must think more about this....

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Components for Chocolate Blackout Cake (recipe from Cook's Country) are cooling right now.

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Did these this afternoon: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/doughnut_muffins.aspx very nice, very well received! I just brushed the tops with butter and cinnamon sugar, didn't roll the whole muffins in butter as recipe calls for!

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Well, thanks to Buttertart's suggestions, I returned from NYC with chocolate from Trader Joe's (among other things)... and also picked up some baking stuff at Target that we get here (namely chocolate covered heath chips and andes mint chips). The question now is; how to use them???

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I baked another loaf of my multigrain bread today to bring with me on a road trip this weekend. We're planning on having an indoor picnic instead of eating out at restaurants for every meal, so I volunteered the bread. I also need to bake a loaf of pumpernickel and if I don't get off my diff soon to start that, I suspect I will be up until the wee hours of the morning doing that, but that's a labor of love, not a chore. lol I also promised to bring brownies and I think I will try out some sort of Almond Joyesque version with layers of coconut, chopped almonds and chocolate shavings.

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Homemade pizza today: spicy bbq chicken and cheese

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As a thank you to a friend I made RLB's Golden Grand Marnier Cake, but with some modifications. He has a delicate condition - he's allergic to chocolate, so I left out the chocolate. He's also a teetotaller, so I left out the GM; okay, it's really just an orange cake. I've made the cake many times before, and was really surprised that it was not as high as it usually is (same pan). Does anyone have any idea why? Why would some chopped chocolate influence how high a cake rises?

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Cookies ... lots of cookies in preparation for the munching hordes next week. :) -triple-pb chip with peanut m&ms -Dorie's perfect pb cookies -choc. chip but with millions of choc. slivers instead of chips

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I am making three cakes between today and tomorrow for a family and friends (his and ours) birthday celebration with about 30 people. One of our guests has a birthday on Monday, so the third cake will be for him -- his very favorite, Boston Cream Pie. The other two will be the old stand-by, the Epicurious Double Chocolate Cake with vanilla flour frosting, and Nick Malgieri's Coconut Cake with coconut flour frosting. The chocolate cake is very large, and for the Coconut Cake, I'll be doubling the recipe. In between, I will mix up pie crust to freeze and take with me to San Diego on Tuesday to make 5 pies on Wednesday. It's much easier working in my kitchen than my SIL's, so I hope the crusts make it cross country in good shape!

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I made KA's Sweet and Salty Cookies: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/salty-sweet-butter-pecan-cookies-recipe I LOVED them. For the second batch, I used only 1/4 cup of shortening, vs. 1/2 cup, because I wanted them a little bit less "greasy" and I wanted them to spread a bit less. My "tasters" loved them too, except for one woman who does not like butterscotch.

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Eh, I just posted this to part 1. Alice Medrich's Brownies.

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Just took a Railway Cake, aka Spotted Dog out of the oven. Used a recipe from Darina Allen's "Forgotten Skills of Cooking." Can't wait to taste it!

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Mark Bittman's (from "How to Cook Everything") cornbread. Not too exciting, I know, but I was struck by the first sentence of his introduction: "This is one of the most important recipes I know." He explains that it is little work, and can be used in many situations, like brownies. To me cornbread is just a once-or-twice-a-year dish--with pork and sauerkraut or a new chili recipe. But his is a good version--it rose and browned nicely and is moist. (I used the basic recipe -- he includes lots of options.)

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Didn't do any sweet baking this weekend (still eating up the stuff on hand), but needed bread, and the whole-wheat with wheat germ bread I winged last week was rather unprepossessing so I made that into melba toast (made great melba toast, per the sampler). Made no-knead on Saturday am and it didn't rise very much, so let it sit overnight and it did rise nicely. Yesterday am added about 2 c water, more flour, and a bit more yeast, and made a boule, a loaf, and a pizza caccia nanza out of it. Question: Why do breads made on a starter base seldom brown as well as the straight-dough ones? Does part of the carbohydrate get eaten up or something?

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Looking for good pumpkin (non pie) recipes. I thought I saw one that was a good cake but it got poor reviews in Saveur.

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Nanny's oatmeal cookies, but with shredded coconut (1/2 cup) and chopped dark chocolate feves (1/4 cup) instead of M&Ms. Used my brandy-new Zeroll cookie scoop and they are picture perf!

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This week I am baking Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake and mostly likely Sweet Potato Bourbon Cake. I want to do two of each (one for home, one for work) but it will mostly depend on total cost. The Holidays are so expensive!

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I have a hankering for carrot cake cupcakes, but really don't need a full batch of them, so I'm going to see how successfully I can reduce a recipe to yield about 3 or 4.

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I needed bread for my stuffing so I baked baguettes this weekend, using an old recipe that came with the first set of baguette pans my mom bought for herself back in the 70s. It's not my favorite bread recipe anymore (no-knead with whey is pretty much the only bread I make for eating these days), but there is something about the texture of both the bread and the crust that makes it FABULOUS for my rustic stuffing. I usually knead it by hand but I had other things to do so I let my Kitchenaid do the work, and the texture is much better, I think, than when I do it by hand - I must be a lazy kneader! Anyway, I also made pie crust and the dough for olive cheese balls, all of which went into the freezer for use on Wednesday. 1.5 lbs of butter gone in less than an hour. 'Tis the season!

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Made gluten-free pumpkin pie for a harvest-themed cooking club gathering yesterday -- and it was a big hit! For the crust, I used a mixture of almond flour, brown rice flour, teff flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum. For the filling, I used a fresh sugar pie pumpkin, halved, wrapped in foil, and baked on a cookie sheet for an hour and a half. Also made a loaf of GF bread last week -- Sour Cream and Chive bread, using 2 C. of leftover roasted garlic sour cream I'd made for a catering event. It's dense and tasty, sort of a cross between bread and biscuits.

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I had some ricotta and sour cream to use up before we leave town tomorrow, so I made muffins for the road trip, and will leave a few at home for the kids (grown, at the house). I dumped the ricotta and sour cream into a bowl, added some Bisquick (yes), some milk, a couple of eggs, some sugar, a bit of oil. Baked at 450F for 17 minutes. Oh my. mmmmmmmmmm.

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Carrot cake ... planning ahead for Thursday. Cake is made (three layers) but not frosted, and now in the freezer resting comfortably. Also made a triple batch of cran-orange-ginger sauce, though that wassn't baked.

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Just made an apple cake to use up the last of the apples we spent way too much picking ourselves. Yum, yum! So moist.

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Cornbread last night for stuffin' muffins today. I totally love this recipe and have mentioned it here on the playground in the past. Thank you, Virginia Hanker, whoever you are! Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow baking friends! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/sweet-corn-bread/Detail.aspx

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Right out of the oven -- I always make and bake a little face from scraps ahead of time, then plunk it on the hot pie. This is plain ol' Libby's canned pumpkin recipe, but I have real lard this year so the crust is special.

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Here's my Annual Tgiving Pecan Pie: crust is the all-butter one from CI More Best Recipes - had to add 3-4 tb of frozen vodka over the liquid called for to get it to come together, but man is it good, brittle/flaky/tender - and the filling Fannie Farmer Baking Book "Golden pecan pie" - light corn syrup and 1/2 c white sugar, 4 tb melted butter, 3 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 1/4 c (lightly toasted) pecans. Also made some Parker House rolls from the same book, good but not all that photogenic.. If you don't have the FF Baking Book, strongly suggest you get it - the recipes work and there are lots of interesting ones in it. I have never been disappointed with anything from it. If I were to be limited to one baking book (perish the thought) this would be it.

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Oops, the pie...

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been doing a lot of baking as of late, especially a lot of experimenting. most obviously for thanksgiving... for the family, it was a Pumpkin Pie (mine isn't traditional, but was very well-received) and a White Balsamic Custard Fruit Tart with a Plum Butter glaze. used a pate sablee which rolled out and baked beautifully. when possible i will definitely be using this dough recipe. work related - pumpkin scones with a spiced glaze, cream scones, cranberry biscotti with a cream cheese drizzle, and a whole host of gluten free stuff. did a nice gluten-free cream scone. only gluten-free failure was last week -- made a no knead bread that i accidentally made too chewy... imagine that. oh well, i know exactly what i did wrong... won't happen again. today, i played with leftover stuff to use up... -Plum Tiramisu -- am I the only one that could possibly sip Amaretto straight like a cocktail? -Coeur a la Creme -Hi-Ratio Strawberry Cake - i'm waiting to cut this til tmrw. Wanted to do a high ratio cake, using strawberry powder, and butter instead of shortening... normally i'd add an extra yolk, but didn't want that to compete with strawberry flavor. So fingers crossed, I'm hoping I pulled off a hi-ratio white cake with butter... and strawberry. It set, so I'm over one hurdle. I used the combination method... mixed my dry, cut in my butter, then added the mixed liquids in thirds. Time will tell. -White Chocolate Malted Tunnel of Fudge Cake -- i've been wanting to futz with this for a while, and had the extra time today... i don't know if it remained with a gooey core or not... will not be glazing and cutting til tmrw... basically i subbed white chocolate for the semisweet, subbed white chocolate chips for the nuts, subbed malted milk powder and nonfat dry milk for the cocoa powder... and upped the baking temp to 375, hoping i could get the outside to set first and pull it out when the inside was still gooey. if nothing else, i'm sure it has a pudding-y inside, but fingers crossed here too that just maybe there's a little goo... has anyone else tried a white chocolate version of the tunnel of fudge cake? with or without nuts... tomorrow... a cinnamon roll cake, and likely something with amaretto... if anyone has any favorite recipes using amaretto, i'm all eyeballs! happy day after Thanksgiving to all! may your food comas be wearing off...

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Emme ... As always, your baking list is both impressive and delicious-sounding! For Thanksgiving this year I made: -a three-layer carrot cake -pumpkin chiffon pie -classic apple pie -apple crumb pie/cake w/cheddar crust -chocolate-cran-pecan pie -raspberry key lime tart -mocha buttercrunch pie

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Birthday cakes and pies. November is for birthdays in my house, and Thanksgiving in my SIL's La Jolla house.

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US baking buddies please note - this company has some of the best dried fruit and nuts you'll ever lay tooth to: http://apricotking.com/ Not affiliated in any way, just a happy customer. greygarious turned me on to them, for which, thanks.

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This past week I felt that I never actually left the kitchen with all of the baking/cooking and cleaning that comes with the holidays, but it was well worth it. For thanksgiving this year I settled on making the following: Epi's chocolate glazed chocolate tart, CI's Pecan Pie, Pioneer Woman's Rum Cake, Apple Pie, and Epi's Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Swirl I also made Cranberry Orange Muffins and Pumpkin Cranberry Pecan muffins for breakfast/brunch friday for the big game and also whipped up some choc. chip cookies for game night. I am looking forward to a break sometime in the near future;)

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Apple-cranberry crisp with almonds. The "before" is prettier than the "after" BUT "after" tasted great! ;)

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After many months of staying away, I made canelés again! This time, using the pointers from the last canelé thread, they came out beautifully! Maybe it was all my fond thoughts of Cynsa, souschef, trewq, et al that did it. Sorry, no photos, but I'll post some if the the remaining batter works out as well. Fingers crossed--we all know how temperamental those little cakes can be.

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Just started my Christmas baking with peppermint bark. I made chocolate toffee pretzel bark last Christmas for the first time, and I remember that I tried a few varations, and one was better than the others. Of course, looking at my recipes and notes... I have no idea which of the 3 versions was best! Sigh..

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A friend is looking for a good Venetian/rainbow cookie recipe, anybody make them/got one?

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had a few extra minutes today while some things were baking/cooling etc. i originally wanted to do a Balsamic Cookie, first turning reduced balsamic mixed with melted butter into a powder with tapioca maltodextrin, but i didn't have enough time to let the mixture cool to add the TM. so instead i just used the syrup in a melting momentish preparation. took me all of 3 minutes to make, well 6 including the 2 minutes to reduce the balsamic and another to cool it slightly. chilled the dough, rolled in powdered sugar and baked. made them on the fly, and am going to have to make them again to remember and weigh the exact amounts i used.

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New December thread coming!

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