The Baking Thread

[owlchick9]

For all bakers and those who enjoy baked goods...

(and a good sugar cookie recipe, is nayone can find one for ne)

[merrymarge]

Hello, did you ever find a sugar cookie recipe? Now that is is the Christmas holidays sugar cookies are good to bake and eat.

[mexicant]

I baked up a storm for Christmas. Batches and batches of chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread men, sugar cookies, and banana nut bread. All told, I had to have been baking for at least eight hours. But it was fun!

And I had plenty of goodies left over from gifts to give away to eat a little of everything myself. My son was especially fond of the sugar cookies and gingerbread men.

[Fawkesfan1]

Not sure if this would quite fit here in this thread... but I've had this recipe for years now and Halloween is coming up -- So I figured, what the heck, might as well share this funny little recipe here on the boards... my thanks and credit go out to the person who orginally posted it .

'Kitty Litter Cake' (no this is not a joke either -- it's a real cake)

Cake ingredients:
1 box spice or German chocolate cake mix
1 box white cake mix
1 package white sandwich cookies
1 large package vanilla instant pudding mix
A few drops green food coloring
12 small Tootsie Rolls or equivalent


Serving 'dishes and utensils'
1 NEW cat-litter box
1 NEW cat-litter scooper
1 NEW pooper scooper


1) Prepare and bake cake mixes, according to directions, in any size pan. Prepare pudding and chill. Crumble cookies in small batches in blender or food processor. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup cookie crumbs. Mix with a fork or shake in a jar. Set aside.

2) When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with half of the remaining cookie crumbs and enough pudding to make the mixture moist but not soggy. Place liner in litter box and pour in mixture.

3) Unwrap 3 Tootsie Rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable. Shape the blunt ends into slightly curved points. Repeat with three more rolls. Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture. Sprinkle remaining white cookie crumbs over the mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top.

4) Heat 5 more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from the litter box. Heat the remaining Tootsie Roll until pliable and hang it over the edge of the box. Place box on a sheet of newspaper and serve with scooper. Enjoy!

[OldMotherCrow]

Does anyone else make gingerbread houses? My family always make a few for the holidays (although they tend to take the form of castles, churches, barns, trees, campgrounds, and fishtanks rather than houses), but I also always forget to write down the gingerbread recipes I've scrounged off the internet.

I have a good dark gingerbread cookie recipe, but I need one for light gingerbread. Anyone have one?

Also, I could use a dark gingerbread recipe that uses oil rather than shortening or butter, because I think that type is softer and conforms to the surface it is on better.

My daughter wants to make a gingerbread fossil dinosaur thing, so the idea is to make light gingerbread "bones" with dark gingerbread "stone" around it.

[merrymarge]

I am not that creative. I make just regular gingerbread cookies, not houses. And the kittylitter cat, I wouldn't even attempt. I am not baking too much yet.

[exl2398]

the kitty litter cake sounds good!

[OldMotherCrow]

I got a few good gingerbread recipes from a friend that look like they will work. Baking commences tomorrow. The big difference between gingerbread cookies and houses is that the cookies need to taste good, but the houses don't, they just need to be sturdy. By the time I get them back from the gingerbread show they are so stale their only good use is squirrel food.

I've had a kitty litter cake before-- another friend of mine made it for a Halloween party-- and it was pretty good.

[Morning_Star]

I think we'll be making a gingerbread house this year too, as we've done for the last ten years or so. I wonder how it'll look this time (we usually go with the same shape for the house, but the decoration differs a lot from year to year).

The most fun part is when we smash the house after Christmas is over. The last couple of years I've lost my liking for gingerbread cookies, but not houses. I don't know why, perhaps it's the melted sugar that glues the house together that makes the difference.

[MiracleNye]

cooks.com

[Schlubalybub]

What about it, MiracleNye?


Ooh, does anybody know a good recipe for gingerbread? I've got a craving now that it's been mentioned here...

[PoFoSho]

I love to bake! But I am new at it. Does anyone have any good baking recipes? I really like to make cookies and cakes.
Any ideas anyone? And keep in mind that I probably need something on the "easier" level. Haha. I'm still learning!

[RosieWildsmith]

I don't know if you guys know of this site but I always find Joy of Baking a great site for delicious recipes:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/

I've made their yellow butter cake loads of times and people always love it. It's a way of combining the ingredients so that instead of creaming (mixing the butter and sugar together and then adding the eggs and flour) you add the butter to the flour first (I think - been a while since I've made it) and it makes a much moister (is that a word?) cake which stays moist for several days, unlike the traditional method, where the cake tends to dry out after about a day.

[Siriusandme]

Originally Posted by PoFoSho

I love to bake! But I am new at it. Does anyone have any good baking recipes? I really like to make cookies and cakes.
Any ideas anyone? And keep in mind that I probably need something on the "easier" level. Haha. I'm still learning!

I you bake a bundt cake I suggest one minor change. Grease the cake pan with melted butter by using a brush. When that’s done take some type of rusk or other really hard biscuit and crumble it. Use the crumbs all over the inside of the cake pan. They’ll stick now that you’ve used the butter. It will give the cake a really nice crispy layer.

Good luck.

[SadiraSnape]

I have several recipes I'd love to share, for brownies, spice cookies, sugar cookies, and Chicago-style pan pizza, among other things. For a taste, here is a recipe for The Best Brownies In The World, courtesy How To Cook Like Your Grandmother:

Nom Nom Nom:    

---

Ingredients 1½ cups sugar (287.5 gm) ¾ cup all-purpose flour (75 gm) ¾ cup cocoa powder (83.4 gm) (Ghirardelli is best, but Hershey's will do) 3 large or extra-large eggs ¾ cup butter, melted (172 gm) pinch of salt ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (135 gm) (definitely try to get Ghirardelli) 1. Preheat oven to 325° F (160/170°C, gas mark 3, or moderate) 2. Put all dry ingredients in bowl, whisk together until well combined. 3. Add wet ingredients, gently fold with a spatula until combined. Do not beat -- you don't want to form gluten at all. Add the chocolate chips and gently fold until combined. 4. Line a 9x13 (22x33 cm) pan with parchment paper -- you want it to stick up on all sides. 5. Pour the batter into the pan, and spread it out. You'll want to kind of poke at it with the spatula, because if you try to literally spread it the paper will move around. 6. Bake for 20 - 40 min until a toothpick inserted in the highest point comes out clean. Remember you have chocolate chips in there, so poke in several places. NOTE: set your timer for 20 min, and if it's not done keep adding 5 min and checking until it's done. Don't overbake! 7. Remove from oven when done, then remove from the pan using the parchment paper. Let cool before slicing. 8. Oil your knife to keep the brownie from sticking. Slice into 12 portions. Or smaller if you're not as big a pig as we are. 9. Pour a nice glass of milk and eat.

Make these brownies! You'll never make a boxed mix again.

[CuddleBug88]

Those sound amazingly yummy in my tummy! haha

Since I haven't had brownies in a while, I may make these this weekend. Thanks for sharing!

[CookeM]

here is the recipe of my fav cookies

Banana Cookies
you'll need:
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of flour pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 cup of pecans (walnuts and chocolate chips are fine alternatives)

1st Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2nd In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.
3rd Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.
4th Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.
Makes about 30 cookies.

Hope you like it

[Quickquill]

Purim is coming up, so here is a recipe for Hamantaschen (triangular filled cookies)
Use your favorite pliable cookie dough or the following recipe:
Dough:
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil or 200 gr. margarine or butter
2 cups brown sugar
approximately 1/2 cup fruit juice (I use orange juice)
1 tbls. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 1/2 - 5 cups whole wheat flour

In a large bowl mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and fruit juice.Add the baking powder and the salt. Sift the flour,adding it gradually to the mix. Add just enough so that the dough is still soft but not sticky. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the meantime make fillings. Here are a few:

Strawberry filling

1/2 kilo strawberries
1 cup brown sugar
the juice of 1/2 a lemon or 1/4 orange

Clean and cut up strawberries into a small saucepan. Add the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer stirring frequently until the strawberries have cooked down to about half their volume and the mixture has thickened til it coats a spoon. Cool slightly and then pour into an oiled jar or an unoiled plastic container. Cover and cool before use.

Lemon filling

The juice and pulp of 2 lemons
1 banana - mashed
a large dollop of honey (about 1/2 cup)
1 tsp. vegetable oil

In a small saucepan bring to a boil and simmer stirring frequently until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. Store in a small container until ready to use.

Poppy seed filling (traditional - Mun is poppy seed in Yiddish)

100 gr. ground poppy seeds
1 cup either milk or fruit juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 inch of vanilla bean
1 tsp. vegetable oil or butter

Bring to a boil in a small saucepan and simmer stirring frequently until all the liquid is absorbed. Pack into a container and cool before using.
Some people add white raisins before using. If it's too stiff, it can be loosened up with a little honey.

Date filling

1/2 a brick of pitted dates or 1/4 kilo of dates - pitted
1 cup of fruit juice (orange , lemon, mango, pineapple...)

If using the commercially pitted dates sold as a brick, cut up the date brick and soak in the fruit juice for about half an hour before trying to mash the fruit juice into it. Once it's spreadable, press through a strainer to remove any pits and caps missed by the packager.

If pitting the dates yourself, put the pitted dates into the blender or food processor with the fruit juice and puree. You want it to be fairly thick so it's not runny. If it's too thin either add more dates or add grated coconut. Put in container and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Chopped walnuts can also be added in before using.
In general, I like to thicken runny fillings with coconut and loosen stiff ones with honey.

The same recipe can be used with other moist dried fruits like prunes and apricots.

Once your dough and fillings are all cool and you've got sufficient time available, on a floured surface roll out 1/4 of the dough about 4 or 5 mm. to 1/4 " thick and cut circles with a floured glass or circular cookie cutter.

Place about 1/2 teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle (more if you're using a wide glass).

Fold up three sides and pinch from the outer edge towards the center leaving the very center open. The cookie will resemble a tricorn hat.
bake on a cookie sheet at a medium temperature about 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Cool and serve or store in a cookie jar. They will keep for a few days. This recipe makes about 60 or 70 hamantaschen.