Bakegab: The Bellgab Bakeshop

[pate]

My sister made me a couple boxes of Christmas cookies;  I had eaten half of them before realizing that I had photographic evidence of my favorite family cookie what we call "Danish Bar Cookies."

[attachment=1]

Both of these were full, mostly, of cookies when I received them from my brother-in-law yesterday:  I doubt he ate any but you can never be sure.

[attachment=2]

This is what is left as of a few minutes ago all consolidated into the one box.  Clockwise from top-left:  Butter cookie Christmas Trees, Peanut butter cup cookies, Butter cookie Wreaths, Miniature Pecan Pies, Danish Bar Cookies (!!!!), Some sort of flavorless Crescent Moon thing (?never seen these before?), Butter cookie Exploding Star of Bethlehem, and Pecan Butter Toffees.

The best are of course the Danish Bar Cookies, I would have been quite pleased if both boxes had been full of those.  The Miniature Pecan Pies, Peanut butter cup cookies and Butter cookie Wreaths are pretty damn good too.

Her attempt at my patented Butter Toffees are okay, but mine are better of course.  I am eating one as I type and they are a bit grainy and slightly under-cooked:  the full caramelization didn't happen (or she started to burn it at the very bottom and quickly stirred it all together and poured it out;  a common rookie mistake that can have mixed results).  Also she used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of milk-chocolate chips which I find does not complement the butter toffee flavor as well.  And not enough Pecans;  you need at least 1:1 pecans to toffee ratio, if not 2:1 or higher.  But a nice try, baby sister!  (I ate all the toffee writing this... heh).

All of these are family standards, except this new Crescent Moon Cookie thing, which is clearly some sort of butter cookie but it has almost no sugar in it and perhaps some finely chopped pecans?  And a dusting of powdered sugar on top, which did little to increase the sweetness.  Maybe they are supposed to be like that?

Also included were some Divinity Chunks that were left-overs from the edges or something?  I dunno, not a huge fan of the Divinity:



That is some random picture from the intar-webs, not my sister's.  It is basically sugar and egg-whites cooked (I suppose Italian Meringue style) then dumped on some nuts and allowed to set.  WAY too sugary for me, I may give the small amount I got to my oldest brother who loves the stuff...

Merry Christmas!



-p

[K_Dubb]

My sister made me a couple boxes of Christmas cookies;  I had eaten half of them before realizing that I had photographic evidence of my favorite family cookie what we call "Danish Bar Cookies."

[attachment=1,msg1448214]

Both of these were full, mostly, of cookies when I received them from my brother-in-law yesterday:  I doubt he ate any but you can never be sure.

[attachment=2,msg1448214]

This is what is left as of a few minutes ago all consolidated into the one box.  Clockwise from top-left:  Butter cookie Christmas Trees, Peanut butter cup cookies, Butter cookie Wreaths, Miniature Pecan Pies, Danish Bar Cookies (!!!!), Some sort of flavorless Crescent Moon thing (?never seen these before?), Butter cookie Exploding Star of Bethlehem, and Pecan Butter Toffees.

The best are of course the Danish Bar Cookies, I would have been quite pleased if both boxes had been full of those.  The Miniature Pecan Pies, Peanut butter cup cookies and Butter cookie Wreaths are pretty damn good too.

Her attempt at my patented Butter Toffees are okay, but mine are better of course.  I am eating one as I type and they are a bit grainy and slightly under-cooked:  the full caramelization didn't happen (or she started to burn it at the very bottom and quickly stirred it all together and poured it out;  a common rookie mistake that can have mixed results).  Also she used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of milk-chocolate chips which I find does not complement the butter toffee flavor as well.  And not enough Pecans;  you need at least 1:1 pecans to toffee ratio, if not 2:1 or higher.  But a nice try, baby sister!  (I ate all the toffee writing this... heh).

All of these are family standards, except this new Crescent Moon Cookie thing, which is clearly some sort of butter cookie but it has almost no sugar in it and perhaps some finely chopped pecans?  And a dusting of powdered sugar on top, which did little to increase the sweetness.  Maybe they are supposed to be like that?

Also included were some Divinity Chunks that were left-overs from the edges or something?  I dunno, not a huge fan of the Divinity:



That is some random picture from the intar-webs, not my sister's.  It is basically sugar and egg-whites cooked (I suppose Italian Meringue style) then dumped on some nuts and allowed to set.  WAY too sugary for me, I may give the small amount I got to my oldest brother who loves the stuff...

Merry Christmas!



-p

Thank you for the look at the Danish Bar Cookies!  They do look like a variation of hindbærsnitter, only folded so you see a strip of filling on top.  The spritz are lovely!  I am just learning how to make them.

The crescents look like kipferls, a very old cookie, but those are supposed to have a strong vanilla flavor and are usually very tasty.  I am sorry they are disappointing.

[whoozit]

Pork pie making this weekend.  I just got some pork belly, a pork shoulder and some neck bones to make gelatin.  I should have enough pork shoulder left over to make some chili verde too.

[K_Dubb]

Pork pie making this weekend.  I just got some pork belly, a pork shoulder and some neck bones to make gelatin.  I should have enough pork shoulder left over to make some chili verde too.

That does sound fun, and delicious!  I hope you post a picture.  I imagine you are going after pheasants in shooting socks and a fine pair of brogued pebble-grain boots and eat the pies cold out of hand behind a hedgerow, washed down with sloe gin from a silver monogrammed flask.

[K_Dubb]

Far too much advertising ink has been spilt on the subject of non-stick bakeware and the desirability of various coatings.  If you use non-non-stick bakeware (old tins of the kind that are difficult to find new, with actual square corners and handy removable bottoms, actually made of tin, with no pretense to non-stickery) to make something terribly sticky (a fruitcake with a high proportion of syrup in the batter, for example) a liberal application of the mixture sometimes called "baker's joy", which is equal parts flour and shortening and a little oil whipped to a froth, your cake will slide out merrily like a greased pig.  I rarely even bother to paper them in a single layer of parchment, let alone the multiple layers of greased paper the old recipes call for.

Papering the outside of the tin, however, as Pye suggested with her cake bands, works rather better as an insulator to encourage even baking and to prevent over-browning of the crust.  If your crust is over-browned, though, you can wrap the cake while still slightly warm and it will gently steam itself soft again.  Aging has much the same effect as, when wrapped tightly, moisture levels throughout the cake will tend to equalize, especially if you have soaked your raisins in something tasty (like port -- this year's inspiration) and they can function as tiny reservoirs of humidity.

Of course slaking the cake (I do not know why people speak of "feeding" the cake here) with liquors at regular intervals and tightly re-wrapping helps things, too.

[whoozit]

I made my first batch of marzipan. 

[albrecht]

I made my first batch of marzipan.

A pig? For Christmas?

[whoozit]

A pig? For Christmas?

I did not know marzipan pigs were a thing.  It’s for holly leaves and berries. I understand I shouldn’t decorate with real ones, as I found out one awkward Christmas.

[albrecht]

I did not know marzipan pigs were a thing.  It’s for holly leaves and berries. I understand I shouldn’t decorate with real ones, as I found out one awkward Christmas.

Ha. So we shouldn't really deck the halls with boughs of holly? Yes, mazipan pigs are a big deal in some regions. I'm not sure if k_dubb Xmas Goat Special broadcast will address them also.

[K_Dubb]

I made my first batch of marzipan.

Congratulations!!!

I am going to make a big log of it to put in the stollen (with rosewater this time since WOTR said his oma put it in) and another fat layer for the top of a dark fruitcake.  Maybe I will try some hollies, too!

[pate]

What solution for a "shitty" spring-form round that needs to be waterproof for the waterbath required for a cheesecake?

I try doing an improvised "wrap" of the pan with a big-ass roll of "food service safety film" before putting it in the water-bath, but I think water seeps in anyway;  which ruins the awesome graham cracker crust I painstakingly construct before adding my filling.

I am tempted to find some high-temp silicon RTV normally used for automotive stuff to make a "custom" gasket for the pan, I figure if I leave it to cure long enough any weird carcinogens will have evaporated.  And honestly, it would only be an incidental food contact during the relatively short time it takes to set the custard/cheese, which is probably no more dangerous than this "food service safety film" kludge that I currently use.

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Tonight's projeckt:

[attachment=1]

Finishing off that bottle of "Concho y Toro" 2019 Malbec that I needed 1 cup of for my venison marinade ($4.39, screwtop);  drinkable once it has been allowed to breathe.  I opened it this afternoon and poured out 8 ounces (fluid) for the venison marinade, and spashed a bit in a glass to see how it tasted (never cook with something you would not drink!) and it was awful, but had improved significantly by 8-9pm when I started making this pizza.

Pizza is my old French Bread recipe (proportioned for a 14" round, but made to fit in a half sheet-pan:  couldn't find my "new" pizza dough recipe), made with some really old frozen whey liquid that I need to start using for something (I think this batch of whey liquid was from circa 2018, tastes fine), par-baked the crust for 10 minutes with steam before adding sauce, 1 lb mozzeralla, ~4oz Emmentaler cheese, 6oz Pepperoni, 8oz thin sliced mushrooms, and one small onion diced fine, plus a bit of a seekrut ingredient.  And baking an additional half hour or so (two standard 6oz glasses of wine) for the cheese to brown, allowed it to rest about 15 minutes (one standard 6oz glass of wine) and cut as shown, but decided it was damn greasy so I slid it onto the wire rack so it could "drain" a bit.

It is pretty damn good, I have almost eaten half of it while writing this and exhausted the wine bottle;  it also pairs well with Pilsner Urquell beer...

Happy Friday!

-p

[Jackstar]

it also pairs well with Pilsner Urquell beer...

Leprosy.

[whoozit]

Congratulations!!!

I am going to make a big log of it to put in the stollen (with rosewater this time since WOTR said his oma put it in) and another fat layer for the top of a dark fruitcake.  Maybe I will try some hollies, too!

If there is no rose water it is just almond paste.

[K_Dubb]

OK don't laugh



This is my first attempt at bizcochitos, from this recipe https://ladailypost.com/liddies-traditional-new-mexican-dishes-bizcochitos/

Obviously need to work on my shaping a little but damn, they are tasty -- thank you Metron!  Lard FTW.

The puerquitos were an experiment using all piloncillo like they did in Old Mexico instead of cutting it with sugar and molasses, and spicing the old-fashioned way steeping cinnamon sticks and anise in the melted boiling sugar and straining them out instead of grinding and putting in the dough directly.  It was not a success, entirely too subtle and the piloncillo is not sweet enough on its own.  They taste more like biscuits with a delicate touch of honey instead of a spice cookie.

[WOTR]

Congratulations!!!

I am going to make a big log of it to put in the stollen (with rosewater this time since WOTR said his oma put it in) and another fat layer for the top of a dark fruitcake.  Maybe I will try some hollies, too!

Cool. This kind of makes me sad smile.* You will have to let me know if you prefer it or not.

[whoozit]

Pork pies and gingerbread done.  The secret to gingerbread is black pepper.  I have to make crackers and tomorrow I’ll make a Tunis cake.

[pate]

...  The secret to gingerbread is black pepper...

Next time you make it try cayenne pepper instead with a smallish test batch.  You will want to use so very little of it that you would only notice it if you knew it was there, and even then perhaps you still would not taste it.  If you get the proportion correct with that you will be amazed at what it can do for gingerbread/spice cake.

*btw;  this is an old secret, don't tell anyone.

-p

[K_Dubb]

Pork pies and gingerbread done.  The secret to gingerbread is black pepper.  I have to make crackers and tomorrow I’ll make a Tunis cake.

Good job!  I first put black pepper in my pfeffernuesse a couple years ago which was odd but then you recognize the flavor from the imported stuff. I have to remember to go easy on the anise, though.  I like anise, and in the beginning it blends well (there is also nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and allspice) but after a week or so they just taste like anise cookies as it seems to take over no matter what you do.

And star anise might look pretty but compared to the little seeds it tastes like soap.

[albrecht]

Next time you make it try cayenne pepper instead with a smallish test batch.  You will want to use so very little of it that you would only notice it if you knew it was there, and even then perhaps you still would not taste it.  If you get the proportion correct with that you will be amazed at what it can do for gingerbread/spice cake.

*btw;  this is an old secret, don't tell anyone.

-p

That could be interesting!

I like salt (normal and also the NaCl found in this like Nordic licorice.And especially the kind that they mix with 'pepper'.) One time years ago family was at a rental near a ski resort and my aunt made scones for breakfast. She thought the jar was large crystalized sugar, it actually was large crystal seasalt. It was unmarked and not near pepper- n her defense. Anyway I awoke early, hungover and tired from skiing, and butter and wolf down a few with my coffee before the rest had come down for breakfast. She came in compliment her- these are awesome. Normally I don't like scones really. Others come down take a bite and spit out and say ughh. She tastes and discovers her problem. Apparently it runs in the family as I heard then that my mom as a newlywed hosting a dinner party made some kind of dessert and used salt instead of sugar.

ps: I think this is more by people who aren't precise or follow recipes well. If there is no label one would think you would taste it before using.

[albrecht]

Good job!  I first put black pepper in my pfeffernuesse a couple years ago which was odd but then you recognize the flavor from the imported stuff. I have to remember to go easy on the anise, though.  I like anise, and in the beginning it blends well (there is also nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and allspice) but after a week or so they just taste like anise cookies as it seems to take over no matter what you do.

And star anise might look pretty but compared to the little seeds it tastes like soap.

They make some good anise black licorice. It is strong though. More anise than licorice. But good if you are into it.

[K_Dubb]

it was a little chewy

[pate]

it was a little chewy

They look nice though.  I managed to get the old family recipe for our Danish Bar Cookies, they are incredibly simple:

Rasberry Bar Cookies (325-350F)

1 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 1/2 Cup Flour

Cream together butter and sugar, stir in flour.  Divide in 4's put 2 pt on each cookie sheet.  Roll length of sheet 3" wide make dent in center & fill with jam*.
Bake 325F-350F 20 mins DON'T OVER BROWNE  *Seedless Red Raspberry Jam

1 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 teaspoons Almond Extract
+ H2O (1 1/2 Tablespoons)

Drizzle over(?) Belle(?) when out oven
1 1/2" Slices  Cool completely


It doesn't say that you are to mix together the powdered sugar, almond extract and water to make the glaze.  You are supposed to

know.

Anyway, that is petty much verbatim what was written on the back of a yellowed sheet of Presbyterian Church stationary sometime in the late sixties to mid-seventies (judging by who was the Pastor listed).

No folding or layers, although I suppose you could just smear the jam on one of the 3" wide length of sheet cookies and not the other, bake and then stack them and glaze...  Sounds like a lot of work when they are just fine per recipe.  I will probably fiddle with this at some point, all I really wanted was the dough recipe which is as I remember just a shortbread, no eggs...  I think I will try this with my custom pastry flour, although the original probably assumes you are using AP.

Prosit!

-p[/list]

[whoozit]

I have less tha 1/2 a bag of Peet’s Holiday blend left.  And I ate the last bit of my homemade bacon.  I’m going to have to buy another pork belly.

[WOTR]

You can thank me later, K_Dubb...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNIvtkADcCA

[Jackstar]

You can thank me later, K_Dubb...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFL4ATmHkFI

[K_Dubb]

You can thank me later, K_Dubb...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNIvtkADcCA

Thank you!  Happy coincidence as I was contemplating some historical experiments.  Though I will be hard-pressed to top  my "small gingerbread poos" from last year.

[Jackstar]

https://twitter.com/superbranch/status/1346341851297697792

[Silphion]

https://twitter.com/superbranch/status/1346341851297697792

The stuff of nightmares

[attachment=1]

[Jackstar]

The stuff of nightmares

Gluten free.

[Nyewalker]

They look like a variation of hindbærsnitter,

No thanxs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I3hZXQTjd4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3sGocnMP3A