I am really enjoying baking and posting vlogs. It has been a nice way to reconnect with people online.
My most recent vlog (#10) was a bit different because I was not baking anything. I actually taste-tested and ranked girl scout cookies with my brother's girlfriend, Quinn. It was a nice change of pace and not planned. My dad sent us a box of girl scout cookies for Valentine's day and I thought it would be fun to rank them all. Absolutely delicious!
This past weekend I made two desserts which I must say, was a first. Two rather time intensive treats in two days... Both were for good reason. I really wanted to bake on Saturday, but Sunday was my brother's birthday. So I made the lemon poppy seed bread on Saturday and my brother's birthday cake on Sunday. The lemon poppy seed bread is now pretty up there for me and my new favorites. For whatever reason I have not been craving chocolate, so the bright and fresh acidity of the lemon cake hit the spot. It was SO light and fluffy. I thought it was going to be dense, but not at all. It was probably lighter because of the whipped heavy cream. I also have this deep love for desserts with poppy seeds. For whatever reason I think it creates the most magical and sweet combination, that I love. The first time I had a dessert with poppy seeds was in Budapest. I almost refused to even try it because seeds in a dessert... no shot. But I am so glad I tried it. It was sugary and light in taste. I do want to try other poppy seed desserts without lemon so I can see what else it pairs nicely with. Vlog #7. My phone ran out of photo storage, so I was going through and deleting the baking videos off my phone and realized that I completely forgot to share the chocolate banana pecan cookies I made 2 weekends ago...
How could I forget about these cookies? I have no idea. Before the snickerdoodle cookies, I thought these were the best cookies I had ever made... They were so incredibly delicious and gooey. They had a deep, rich flavor. They were not terribly hard to make and came from my cookbook. It was the first time I added banana to a cookie. I think that added to it's soft gooey texture. Now that I think about it, the preparation was a mix between a crinkle cookie and the snickerdoodle cookie. That is because I had to roll them out in the chopped pecans and then in powder sugar. The process was similar to the snickerdoodle because of the coating process and similar to the crinkle cookie because of the powdered sugar. They were not the prettiest things, but so good! The batter did not make too many, only 1-2 dozen so I would need to account for that if I had to bring them somewhere. Oh, and one note is that these are best if you consume day of. Maybe that is why the batch was so small. I recommend these for a crowd with a less sweet pallet. They were definitely sweet so don't be fooled, but the chocolate was so dark that I think it can appeal to that crowd. I have been baking from my new "Sweet", cookbook and have only been picking the easiest recipes. I picked an apricot, almond cake with a cinnamon topping thinking it looked straight forward. Even looking back, it seems straightforward. But for whatever reason, I skipped steps and combined ingredients in the wrong order.
When making the cinnamon topping I added the egg long before it was supposed to be included. I was supposed to heat the butter and sugar mixture alone, let it cool, then add the egg at the end. Because I added it while it was melting on the stove, the egg was slightly cooked. It had a gross, gelatin consistency. Once I moved on to the cake batter, I thought it was going well until I added the batter to the pan. I realized I forgot the almond meal. A key ingredient in the apricot "almond" cake. So I poured the almond meal over the batter and mixed it in the pan. It took an hour to bake, and I used that time to edit my 5th vlog. As it was baking, I completely forgot to monitor the cake to make sure it did not over cook. I waited until the timer went off, then removed it from the oven. It was pretty brown and looked over cooked. I also used a smaller pan than it called for, undoubtedly changing the cooking time. I made sure to let it sit for 20 minutes before removing from the spring-form pan. When I took the first bite, I hoped it would be sweet and delicious. I even recorded it to capture the moment of pure bliss. But, it was not a moment of pure bliss, it was only "okay". I was disappointed in the flavor profile and wished it was sweeter and had more depth. I questioned how last week's snickerdoodle cookies could be so mouthwatering with so few ingredients, and how this cake with more prep time and intended care came out only being "okay". It reminded me slightly of a store bought angle food cake. I am tempted to make it again, but also want to venture on to other desserts and find more hidden gems in my cook book. I have been wanting to bake, but only the easy things. So I have turned to Google for simple recipes.
This past weekend I wanted to go as simple as I could think and wanted chocolate chip cookies. But, once I pulled out the ingredients I had on hand, I did not have chocolate chips... So chocolate chip cookies were not an option. I wracked my brain for other cookies I could make with just the core baking ingredients. I thought I could try snickerdoodle cookies. I have never made them before, and have only ever had them a few times. This girl I went to elementary school would always bring snickerdoodle cookies for bake sales, and I always wondered what the hype was about. They didn't have chocolate so I never tried them. I always went to the tables with brownies instead. Boy was I wrong to never try their snickerdoodle cookies. These cookies were so easy, and only took 8 minutes to bake. I kept them undercooked and let them cool completely before transporting them to my taste tester, Quinn, my brother's girlfriend. I know she likes under cooked cookies, so I kept her in mind. I did not try one until I got to their apartment, and when I finally did, I was shocked. These might be the best cookies I have ever had. Now don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, but these cookies packed a sweet punch. They were soft and sugary. That is really all I am going for now a days in sweets. 10/10 recommend you bring these to your kid's bake sale! I recorded the speedy process and made my shorted vlog yet! Many new traditions this Christmas! Quinn and I made chocolate crinkle cookies on Christmas day. My dad always used to buy me crinkle cookies when I was growing up so when Quinn proposed the idea I thought it must be fate!
Before this year the only cookies I had ever made were chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Maybe I think in collage I made Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies, but that might have been it. I often forget about all the different types of cookies so I don't think to make them. But these crinkle cookies had one unique step. They called for banging the pan with the cookies on the counter to make them spread out. But you don't do this at the logical point. You don't do this when you are rolling the cookies out. You do this after they are almost completely baked in the oven. You take them out at 9 minutes, bang them, then put them back in for 2 minutes. They came out great and were a crowd pleaser. I think I might like them better than chocolate chip cookies because these were gooey. I have been trying to make gooey chocolate chip cookies with absolutely no success. I did not vlog this one because I am at my parent's house and all five of us were in the kitchen so it would have been a nightmare to try and video. This is only the second time I have made sugar cookies from scratch. I'll let you in on a secret, they are actually really easy.
I don't know why I thought sugar cookies were complicated, but they are not at all. I was rushing making them because I wanted to finish before my roommate got back and needed the kitchen. Well it was a good motivator to work quickly. This did lead to skipping some steps, but you wouldn't know the difference in the end. I did not let the dough chill in the fridge and I don't think it really needed it anyway. It helped that the butter was pretty firm and did not come to room temperature completely. I really enjoyed cutting the Christmas shapes out. A small tip is to really flour the surface you are rolling them out on. The dough was really soft so adding extra flour when rolling helped tremendously. I think I will make this a December tradition! Making Christmas sugar cookies and decorating them. Lots of fun and very festive! Even vlog # 3 was much quicker this time. Thank goodness! I think this might be the world's best chocolate cake...
When I told my roommate that she laughed and asked me who said it was the world's best chocolate cake? My answer was, "well... the person who made the recipe in my cookbook said that". Her and I just laughed. But, after making it and having a non-biased taste tester, aka, Quinn, my brother's girlfriend try it, I truly think it might be the best chocolate cake. This recipe is from a new cook book I just ordered. It is from "Sweet", which is the same author as my other cook book, "Jerusalem". This book is THICK. I only skimmed it and haven't looked at all the recipes yet. As I was flipping through I saw this gorgeous photo of a chocolate cake so I decided to read the notes and saw it had been dubbed the "World's Best Chocolate Cake" in a magazine. The author noted it should be called the world's easiest cake, which sold me instantly. After spending only about 30 minutes making the cake with a few ingredients, I would say this was pretty easy. My arm was definitely tired after all the whisking and sifting by hand, but it was easy enough. The taste however almost created a sense of nostalgia, the texture and rich, dark chocolate flavor brought me back to all the chocolate lave cakes I ate as a child. Quinn suggested I add another name to this cake and call it "restaurant cake", because for her, it reminded her of a fancy cake she would get in a restaurant. That was all the compliment I needed to feel I had accomplished creating another tasty treat! In the spirit of trying new things, I made my 2nd vlog. I figured why not vlog as I bake. I do not know how many times I need to remind myself of this, but I need to read the entire recipe before baking.
I finally made the Chocolate Krantz cake that I have been ogling for months. Of course, I was missing certain ingredients and needed to do things like let it rest...over night...but I did the best I could and it actually came out really tasty! Just because it is funny, I will share all the substitutions I had to make. I had to use lime zest instead of lemon zest, bread flour instead of all purpose flour, and then I forgot to add pecans and sugar when I was supposed to. What was nice about this was that the recipe made enough dough for two cakes. This was cool because I could see the variation in each cake. One thing I should mention is that the first line in the recipe is "Chocolate Krantz cakes are not easy or fast". Well they sure as heck are not. It took me all weekend to make the cakes. The actual prep and baking weren't that cumbersome. But having it chill in the fridge overnight and letting it rise the next day really threw me off. Each of the cakes were prepared just a little differently. The dough for the first one chilled for half a day, then I rolled it out and braided it and put it back in the fridge to chill over night. It was too late at that point to have it rise for an hour and half and then bake. So back in the fridge to chill it went. Then the next day I took the remaining chilled dough and rolled it out and prepared it. I let both rise for an hour and a half and baked one at a time just to see how they turned out. The second cake turned out much better. I think this was because I prepared it more closely following the recipe. The dough chilled over night and was braided tightly. I also let it rise in a more warm area. I do want to try making it again, and see if it goes any smoother! But per usual, I am glad I tried it! I finally made the brandy spice cookies from the Jerusalem cookbook yesterday. I also had another first, and made my first vlog. The socially distant lifestyle is not for me and I decided to start vlogging as I bake. I actually enjoyed this a lot more than just baking, because it helped me be more present while baking.
Per usual, I did not have all the ingredients I needed. That was the main reason I did not bake these two months ago, but it was time for me to just do it. I could not find ground ginger and figured I would just have to forgo the 1/2 tsp of ground ginger. I do wonder if you could taste the difference if I included it... but I guess we will never know. I enjoyed trying out the new recipe, but I did not love what the cookies actually tasted like. I think I like chocolate chip cookies too much to enjoy these cookies that had raisins in them... I do recommend these cookies if you like gingerbread cookies or ginger snaps. VERY ironic because the one thing I forgot was GINGER. But they tasted exactly how you'd think spice cookies would taste. |
RACHEl QuinnFeeding my soul |