Primitive baking

Although the apartment is almost bare I've been in the mood to bake. Tim and I had packed all of the baking supplies with the exception of the perishable foods, so we weren't completely without the basics. After a quick run to Goodwill we had some mixing bowls and needed to find a recipe that would work with the few items we had. Luckily I remembered that we had some Baker's chocolate in the cupboard and went to their website to see what recipes they had to offer. A quick browse returned the Santa Ana Cookies. Simple. No vanilla, no baking powder. We could do this. So I whipped the butter and sugar by hand (measuring everything with a liquid measuring cup). Brewed some coffee in our french press and set the oven to 375 degrees. The first batch didn't have enough flour and turned out a little more like a muffin than a cookie. But that's an easy fix. The second set was much more solid and cookie like. Tim says they're great with coffee or tea. I just loves the simplicity and the fact that these are truly from scrath!

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

It's late at night and suddenly you've got a serious sweet tooth - what do you do?  Bake of course!  But as you sit down to find a suitable recipe you realize you're out of a key ingredient - vanilla.  Oh no!  What will you do?!?!?  

This is the situation Tim and I found ourselves in the other night. We were both jonesin' for some sugar and had chocolate cookies on the brain. Then I remembered we were out of vanilla and had forgotten to restock while we were at the store. Not wanting to walk to Winco (or lose our parking spot) what were we supposed to do?  And then it dawned on us: we've got almond and peppermint extract - wouldn't those work just as well?  Turns out - they will!  Tim was the man in charge (no really - he did everything, I sat on the couch and read my kindle). Now we've got a delicious bag of almond chocolate chocolate chip cookies on the counter!  These are seriously amazing!  I'm thinking hazelnut or peppermint extract would be amazing here.  

So the next time you get the urge to bake and discover you're missing a few key ingredients - get creative!  What's the worst that could happen?

Baking Triumph

I have to give credit where credit is due. After reading the blog of my best friend (and Matron of Honor), Dessert Diva, I had an urge to make snickerdoodles. So while the fiance was at work for the day, I picked up my trusty spatula and got to work.

I've made snickerdoodles plenty of times in the past and I always encounter the same flaw: they go flat. I seem to recall that a certain aunt of mine (who may or may not read this blog - seriously, is anybody out there?!?!?) has mastered the art of the fluffy snickerdoodle, but I have yet to see that recipe. So I turned to the tried and true: AllRecipes.com

After sifting through plenty of options (hahaha, see what I did there?), I finally settled on the Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodle Recipe. It's fairly simple for a snickerdoodle recipe. I noticed that not many people had made comments regarding alterations to the recipe, so I figured it must be pretty good. (The comments on allrecipes are key to success. A recipe can be "ok" but with the comments from others you can end up with a stellar product. So pay attention to them!). I noticed that some people commented on the "flat snickerdoodle" dilemma that I've been dealing with. Huzzah! I'm not alone in my strife. Turns out this is a common complaint and some people noted that if you don't have fresh baking soda - the cookies will end up flat (btw - fresh means that if you throw a dash of the baking soda into water it fizzes immediately. If this doesn't happen, your baking soda's gone flat and so will your cookies).

I have to admit - although this recipe isn't perfect (the cookies weren't as fluffy as I imagined) it was by far the best I've ever used. These cookies are slightly crunchy on the outside and soooo chewy and delicious! Definitely give them a chance.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened (room temp)
  
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs (room temp)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon (or less to taste)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. By hand - Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. By hand - Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon into a zip-lock baggie. Roll balls of dough in mixture, covering completely. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 minutes (this is exact). Remove immediately from baking sheets and place on wire rack to cool. Store in air tight container.

White Friday

I know a lot of people who participate in the shopping frenzy on Black Friday. Heck, I used to be one of them. Up by 3 or 4 in the morning, shopping through the day until we finally divided the stash later that evening at one of my aunt's or my grandma's house. It was a great excuse to spend the day with my aunts and cousins shopping for Christmas presents.

In the past few years (last year excluded as I had just come back from Belize) I've been partaking in a different tradition. A clerk at the grocery store the other evening had the perfect name for it: White Friday. See instead of waking at the crack of dawn to wait outside in the snow and cold, I wake up, head to my kitchen and fire up the oven. I spend the day doing what I love to do: baking. I bake numerous different kinds of cookies and candies in preparation for Christmas. Most of these are treats I only make this one time of year, so they really are special.

This year the baking is going slower, and I'm not enjoying myself quiet as much. I'm thousands of miles from home and missing my baking buddies. I also miss the space that having a house affords. Apartments weren't designed for the magnitude of baking that I do. Regardless I've already made the peanut butter cookies and the peppermint swirls. Now I'm just waiting for the peanut clusters to firm up before I move on to a Christmas favorite: Christmas Testicles (they won't be the same without you Laura).

Holiday Cookies

I think it's apparent that I love baking. I could bake all day, every day. In fact, my friend and I have talked about opening a bakery someday and I'd love to see that dream come true. I think with enough hard work and savings it could happen. We've thought of all sort of names and concepts for the place, we just need the time and money to make it happen. Short of opening a bakery, I make sure to take time at least once a week to bake something and when I saw my emails start coming in with my daily holiday cookie recipes I knew I'd be busy.

So the first cookie I decided to attempt this year is a chocolate chip meringue cookie. I've always been mildly afraid of making a meringue cookie because they seem so easy to mess up. But the simple ingredients in this recipe made me want to try it. So last night, to the sounds of Grey's Anatomy, I heated up the oven and started cracking eggs. Despite their delicate look, these delicious morsels were quite easy to make and I'm excited to try them again. I think they'd be wonderful with peppermint extract instead of almond to give them a little bit of a holiday feel.

Check them out and give them a try. I promise you won't be disappointed.

"Fall" cut-out cookies

With the air getting cooler, the leaves changing colors and the rain starting (stupid rain) I'm in a spectacular baking mood. This had led to numerous consecutive days of baking. Sunday night Tim helped me and we made cut-out sugar cookies. I tried a new recipe (the one from Crisco) and have to say I was mightily disappointed. The dough was too sticky and the cookies didn't keep their shape as they baked. So now we've got these oddly shaped things. To top things off, we were out of powdered sugar (which has since been remedied by my fiance) so these are naked (read no frosting) cookies. Not sure what kind of frosting I want to make for them though - if any. I'm considering leaving them as they are and making a better batch (read recipe from Williams Sonoma) this weekend.

On the topic of this weekend it just so happens to be a certain someone's birthday! I've got a cake planned for Friday/Saturday. I'm still waiting on the materials to make the birthday present. And I'm not sure what we plan to do this weekend... I'm hoping the weather might stay a bit decent so we could hit up a pumpkin/apple farm on Sunday. I just bought a new pie plate and I'm itching to be able to use it. Which reminds me, I need to check with Katy to see if she's still got that amazing pie crust recipe (why yes, I make them from scratch).

Anyhoo, back to the grind. I can't believe it's only 9:30am, feels like it should be 4 or 5pm. Darn long days!