2011 Wrap-up! My year in baking...(part 2)

And thus we come to the latter half of the year in my annual baking review. July 

As posted I proclaimed July Gluten-Free baking month! And as noted flour substitutions for gluten-free items from the book Gluten-Free Cookies by Luane Kohnke got kind of pricey. In particular xantham gum ($13 at Whole Foods! Aye!).

First up was jam thumbprints.

These were tasty! Nice butter cookies with a granular texture. Many enjoyed them and I'd make these again. Thing with gluten-free dough from this book was that all doughs needed to be refrigerated for at least an hour. So no baking and then going on the run. You had to let things sit for a bit. And also the mixing of flours and thickeners gets kinda messy. Just sayin'.

Next up was macadamia white chocolate blondies. These were super sweet even for me. Because of the lack of thickener from regular all-purpose flour and the fact that the measurements didn't provide for a lot of substitutes of gluten-free items it was quite dense, more so than you may want in a blondie with a kind of doughy, undercooked texture to it which increases the sweetness of it. My co-workers enjoyed it though.

Follow up to that was sweet cinnamon snickerdoodles. These were good and very much like what you'd expect a snickerdoodle to taste though add the granular texture and them being a bit lighter as well. Whereas the Sweet Melissa snickerdoodles I made had more bite to them these didn't leave you feeling as heavy. I made them for a friend who is a snickerdoodle addict and loves it in all forms. Something else to note with these gluten-free cookies is that they are precious cargo. So make sure to pack them tightly and carry carefully. I gave a couple to a friend who then stuffed them into her purse and then had crumbs within the hour.

After that was flourless peanut butter cookies. I added chocolate chips just 'cause. These were interesting to do as there are a handful of flourless recipes in Gluten-Free Cookies. And it introduced me to the fact that you can make items without flour that aren't meringue. You have to watch these cookies while they bake because they will burn in seconds if you do not take care. Also the peanut butter flavor was booming! With nothing to combat it (even the chocolate chip cookies were dormant) it was all peanut butter in every bite. Again, delicate to transport but good to eat!

And the last item for gluten-free baking month was chocolate peanut butter cups. A chocolate cookie with peanut butter filling inside. Any leftover peanut butter filling can be used to make flourless peanut butter cookies, but these were lighter because the peanut butter filling had egg whites in it.

I liked these. The cookie isn't overly sweet due to the unsweetened cocoa powder so you kind of rely on the peanut butter to give you a kick on the sweet side. Good and not chewy really, a disappointment for me, but somewhat crispy cookie. Better to transport because it's packed more but a big hit with my co-workers at the time.

And although this item was not gluten free I did owe two of my buds (shot out to ALev & Dessert Landscape) for their impending nuptials and so made them one of my fave recipes: dulce de leche & chocolate chunk bread pudding courtesy of Bon Appetit Magazine (March 2008 issue).

This is all kinds of perfection. The perfect solid yet chewy texture that makes a great bread pudding. The mixture is made of a crapload of caramel with cream and you use challah bread to soak up the mixture which is sweet and buttery in itself. Add in chocolate chunks and then sprinkle powdered sugar when done and you have yourself the perfect bread pudding in my opinion. In all honesty I have yet to try one that even compares to the one I've made from this recipe three times. I certainly need to make it more often. But it's hard to part with. Every time I make it I have to give the bulk of it away and only get a taste. Perhaps it's for the best...

August

I improvised a recipe from the basic chocolate chip one and made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies since I had items left over from the blondies I made in July.

These were okay. I found that with using only white sugar instead of brown sugar it took away some of the flavor you get from the cookie so I'll have to work out the recipe again since I am a fan of the combination. Plus I had less macadamia nuts than I'd like.

Another item was double chocolate muffins from one of my go to books Cakes and Bakes. I had to stay up to make these and I have to say I was none too happy with the results. Even for a muffin they weren't very sweet. The double chocolate comes in because the muffin itself has chocolate and you top it with a white chocolate frosting that's really melted down white chocolate via a double broiler (or in my case a makeshift double broiler).

The unsweetened cocoa powder was something you tasted more than anything and could've used more sugar or chips or something inside to pump up the chocolate flavor. Also the white chocolate did not melt as easily as bittersweet or milk chocolate has for me which made the smearing on top quite difficult and irritating late at night. My new co-workers enjoyed them enough as I had made them for my boss before he "retired" but I felt as though I could do better. And I will. This...I vow.

September

This month brought birthdays and fall! So you know that meant some pumpkin cookie action. All good things to those who wait...

Before pumpkin there were Chocolate (chocolate) chip cookies. I added nuts inside to add some crunch and because I just like nuts. This was a recipe from Cakes and Bakes and inside the cookie you had the addition of almond extract instead of vanilla. This made these cookies a hit!  I made these for a friend's birthday and she and her fiance enjoyed them thoroughly. I was informed in many Jewish treats almond extract is a key ingredient. The cookie itself was chewy but firm and the nuts and chocolate chips inside made these a nice treat when biting into it. Add in the almond extract and you get a new flavor that you weren't expecting and all of them work together yet don't overpower one another. Very nice.

Next up is another Cakes & Bakes recipe which was cinnamon seed bars (sans seeds). I'm not a fan of seeds in my goods so I don't really use them even if called for. Perhaps one day I will. This was more cake than bar I have to say and that may be because of the fact that sour cream is involved which automatically enhances moisture. These were very light so I just started calling them cinnamon cake after awhile. And while there is a boat load of cinnamon (a few tablespoons) it has a great taste and cinnamon doesn't seem like the only thing you savor. You get moist cake and cinnamon and it's great with tea/coffee/hot chocolate. And they keep well. I sent them to a friend in Australia (yes, another continent) and her and her husband enjoyed them a couple weeks down the line. Of course I saran-wrapped the hell out of the tupperware holding said cake. Nothing was getting in that box.

And to end September with an Original Creation! As blogged about previously I made a couple cookies based on books I enjoyed this year. The Cold Kiss coconut cookie is something that I have to give credit to the author of Cold Kiss Amy Garvey for creating such a lovely book and for letting me know she's a huge fan of coconut.

This is a soft cookie (you know I love those!) with a nice balance of coconut and vanilla. I wanted to make sure not to overdo the coconut so used coconut and vanilla extract but for the glaze atop it used vanilla only and sprinkled with coconut flakes. It worked perfectly and I wouldn't change a thing about this cookie. You can read Amy's responses in my blog post on these. She's a fan. Again, just sayin'.

October 

October was a heavy baking month for me.

As with the Cold Kiss cookie, I made a book based on another fave young adult novel that released this year. This one by Laini Taylor entitled Daughter of Smoke and Bone called the Blue Karou chocolate hazelnut cookie.

Again, rather than repeat myself from my earlier post in October I am going to provide you the link here. As mentioned I was somewhat disappointed with this cookie as all the flavors I had hoped would come through didn't. But I was quite happy with the picture. Did you see it?

Next up was my latest attempt on the banoffee pie.  I love banana and toffee and all things sugary sweet. So this is a fun pie to make. It came out better than the one I made via the Claire Robinson recipe last year. This time I went with the tride and true Paula Deen. And yup, this recipe had a boatload of butter. Seriously, it was oozing out of the graham cracker crust. As mentioned I made this pie for the Pie Party Live event that Jackie (aka The Diva that Ate New York) started with Ken (HungryRabbitNYC). It was super fun and I met super great people. It was a great and fun-filled as well as food filled time. Really great.

The problem with banoffee pie is that it is meant to be eaten immediately and needs to stay chilled. Since this was a pie party there was a lot to choose from and while it tasted fine after a couple hours it became a soggy mess. Lesson learned. I really need to make banoffee pie that will be eaten soon after I make it rather than piecemeal or at a large convention o' pies. Still sweet and good and everything you'd expect from Paula Deen in the dessert category.

Last but not least was one of my first new pumpkin recipes of the year: pumpkin snickerdoodles. My best friend sent me this recipe via recipegirl.com knowing my love of all things pumpkin.

These were interesting to try. They aren't overly orange and the pumpkin taste is light but there even though you have the standard pumpkin powders. Not only do you put them in the cookie dough but you roll the cookie in sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and allspice.

And going back to the FoodNetwork I plucked a nice banana bread recipe (I replaced pecans with the ever indelible chocolate chips) from The Neely's. I had a bunch of bananas left and didn't want them to go to waste and made some scrumptious banana bread that also called for sour cream in the recipe. These became a fast fave and I ate half a loaf for dinner with milk. So good. The chocolate added to it. If you like bananas and chocolate this is the perfect recipe because the moisture is there. It's very much a bread and not a cake but is so delicious and sweet (in a subtle not overt way) that you cannot help but continue to gorge on it. I can't wait to make this again.

November and December were months I baked but nothing new. I baked a couple days of lemon ricotta cookies for friends and as christmas gifts. You can see from last year that these are a fast fave of mine and anyone who tries them. Thanks Giada! I also made some stuff from boxes. I had intended to bake something new this past weekend but a sudden hospital emergency threw that off. I doubt I'll do any new baking this year and will make sure to get right back to it in January. I mean I have to make up for lost time after all.

While I may be done with baking there are plenty going strong. Particularly one of  the new baking blogs I enjoy Mercedes' Satisfy My Sweet. She has a bunch of pumpkin recipes. Hoorah!

I leave you with a lovely and wonderfully good linzer sandwich cookie my aunt made that I thoroughly enjoyed when she had us over for lunch one day. I have to credit my aunt with my interest and perhaps borderline (read: full on) obsession with baking. My earliest memory is of her helping me bake brownies using an EasyBake oven. Man those were tasty. She got the recipe for this cookie from The Barefoot Contessa. Another one who could do no wrong.

Peace and love and lots of baking to you and yours!

2011 Wrap-up! My year in baking...(part 1)

As is the norm, I am scribing this year's baking hits (and misses). It's a fun thing to look back at the year and see review. And now that I have annual goals I write for myself it's good to hold myself accountable for some of the many things I exclaim with excitement that I want to do. This year I got to do a good amount of baking although I went on a bit of a hiatus after my return from my residency. Here are some pics and assessments of my baking this year and also where you can find the recipes. I have to admit the first half of the year was somewhat sparse.

Here goes:

Perish the thought but I did no 'from scratch' baking in January even though it's the month of my birthday. This year I threw a brownies vs. blondies competition and enjoyed many sweets though. :-)

February

I bought oatmeal via the Target Marketplace brand and decided to try out the recipe for oatmeal cookies on the canister. This was a good recipe for the old school oatmeal cookies you may be used to (sans raisins of course, bleh). They were of the chewy variety and stayed as such for a few days. I brought these in on a really gross, slushy, cold, windy day at work and received heaps of praise. It may have been for the cookies or just because of the weather. Who knows. These things just bring smiles on people's faces.

An original recipe I did for February was coconut chocolate chip blondies! I had coconut and coconut extract from a recipe I tried last year and these things keep well. I decided to try and spice up a blondies recipe for a co-worker who'd gotten another job and they turned out delicious. I used a base blondie recipe from Bon Appetit since it proved to help with the moisture and have more of a slightly dense texture (it helps to melt butter and add the sugar while it's still warm in a sauce pan). Coconut extract is not over powering so it added a nice sweetness with the shredded coconut to the blondies and frankly chocolate can never do wrong so these were a hit with my, now former, co-worker.

March

Unfortunately more co-workers left my job, and soon I would too. But before they did I made cookies and cream cupcakes courtesy of Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor.

These were a cool experiment in utilizing one baked good in another and in the case of "stacking." By that I mean that there's half an Oreo at the bottom of the cupcake, crushed Oreos in the batter, and crushed Oreos on top of the frosting (as you can see). I used reduced fat Oreos for the first batch I made and people loved them.  I mean loved them. I was told "This is the best cupcake I have ever had." And while I cannot take credit for the inventiveness of the recipe at least I can take a bow for the proper execution.

These cupcakes have a lot, but not too much going on. I think the added crunch of the cookie inside it and atop it make it stand out and they look pretty darn tasty I have to say. Oreos are a good cookie to bake with as they don't become soggy when baked (or fried) but retain a somewhat crispy texture that is a nice contrast to moist cake. I may have to play around more with Oreos when I bake.

April

After the success of the cookies and cream cookie and as a native New Yorker I decided to make a black and white cupcake around the Cake Mix Doctor's recipe.

I liked this cupcake okay, and co-workers enjoyed it enough, but I feel I have to play with the cake mixture more to enhance the moistness. I may add sour cream or pudding in the mixture. I added mini chocolate chip morsels and did chocolate and vanilla frosting a la New York City's Black and White cookie.

While in Wyoming I did some baking. Some fave repeats. But as we often ate meals together many of us residents found that we had extra items left over that we wanted to use. Karen had left over sour cream so I looked up a recipe and found one for sour cream chocolate chip cookies on allrecipes.com.

Wow. Whatever I knew about chocolate chip cookies was obliterated once I tried this recipe and added sour cream in the mix. I am a fan of the cakey type cookie and seek to create more recipes like this so trying this really opened my eyes to the possibilities. Delicious and they stayed moist for days. And as I learned when stale you can nuke it and eat chewy again. Always learning.

That's it for the first half of the year. In part 2 I'll cover July-December which includes gluten-free baking month.

As a side note I was watching ABC's Up Close with Diana Williams this morning and see that places such as The New York City Food Bank are in need of donations. Both monetary and produce-wise. Having been part of this statistic in my youth and being blessed with not currently being afflicted by hunger during this bad economic turn it's great to help those in need while we post about our successes with food.

Please consider donating since as many as 1.5 million New Yorkers are going hungry these days and up to 3 million are on the cusp. Encourage your employer or school or friends & family to donate if you have the ability to do so. And if you are in need of their services definitely contact them. I know I will.

See you in part 2!

Gluten-Free Baking Month!

Gluten-free baking month, a self-imposed title, is gone. And I'm kind of bummed about it to be honest. Gluten-free baking is something that is not as hard as you might think. The month of July encompassed me making five (the goal was six, fail) desserts that were gluten-free. Gluten-free cooking/baking is nothing new, but like most things has received wider attention because of access to the worldwide web and the information available from the medical side. Those who suffer from severe reaction to gluten in terms of digestion and absorption of nutrients have celiac disease. A friend of mine informed me she was diagnosed with it late last year. And it completely changes your way of living/eating. There are many distractors and gluten, like dairy, is everywhere!

At Book Expo this past May one of the cookbooks I scored was Gluten-Free Cookies by Luane Kohnke. And what type of Baker would I be if I didn't indulge in all types of baking? A bad one? Indeed.

I haven't had many, if any, gluten-free items outside of flourless chocolate cake or other. But here was my chance to indulge and I have to say the results were pretty darn good. Anyone who may hesitate at the thought of gluten-free should think again. Of course, anything can be bad. Gluten-filled, gluten-free, vegan or other. But it takes skill, period, to make something taste good no-matter-what. So I have to say that Ms. Kohnke did a great job with her recipes because I enjoyed them all for the most part. And once I got beyond texture it was golden!

Now, the basis for most of Luane's recipes that contain wheat flour substitute(s) are as follows: brown rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, xantham gum, and almond flour (often added at the end of sifting the first four ingredients). Now these aren't the only flour(s) you can use but these were the ones referenced most in her recipes so I stuck to the book. As Luane lists in the frontmatter of her book you can also get gluten-free flour, cornmeal, guar gum, hazelnut flour. She provides flour blend measurements in the front which is quite helpful to get a sense of balance.

Note: The one downside to gluten-free baking with these specific flour mixtures was pricing. I spent about $30+ on flour alone. A half pound of xantham gum cost more than $10 and one of the flour substitutes was equally pricey. The others like brown rice flour came in around $4+ at 2 lbs. So when doing gluten-free baking on a budget definitely do your research to see if you can easily switch out an item or two or have to really restructure a whole recipe. There are many ready-made gluten-free mixes but it's nice to make stuff from scratch every so often so you know exactly what's in your food.

I am in awe of the time and care bakers put into creating specialized cookbooks while making sure the end result tastes good.  Good job, Luane!

First up, Jam Thumbprints (actually jelly because I didn't feel like buying jam just for this recipe).

Well these are just magical cookies! Magic, I say! They are buttery (1.5 sticks to be exact) and chewy yet crispy if that's even possible.

Note: Something I noticed about gluten-free baking, at least with these recipes, is that the transport of said cookies meant you were carrying precious cargo. They were brittle, not always to the touch but not able to take shuffling, even the lightest bit, and when biting into them would crumble.

I believe the almond flour/meal I got was the element that added a granular texture to the cookies I made. And it was most apparent in these because it was my first recipe (a) and because of the fact that the cookie was butter, basically plain (b). But  none of this took away from the taste!

Next on the list, Macadamia Nut Blondies. These blondies also had white chocolate bits (gluten-free!). I had to say that the texture was quite dense. But all I tasted was sugar. And for me even that was a bit much. It was like a shot of sugar, though my co-workers did not complain. Not bad, just too sweet for my taste and that is saying something. 

Note: When baking with flour for cookies I found that I had to pre-make the dough and then chill it for at least an hour or overnight. This resulted in me searching for some quick recipes and the blondies were one of them.

Onward to Sweet Cinnamon Snickerdoodles! Again, the transport factor weighed heavily on these cause I had to transport them to Brooklyn and gave some to a friend. After stuffing said cookies in her purse (in ziplock) they became dust. Tasty dust as I was told.

For me the cinnamon permeated in these cookies. More so than in the snickerdoodles I've made using the Sweet Melissa recipe (a fave of friends). Not bad, just too cinnamony for me. But enough butter inside and tastiness that I'd make again and that guests went through the cookies in minutes. Minutes! 

And then we have Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. I wanted to make sure to do at least one flourless recipe and ended up making these since I love peanut butter. The issue in the baking is knowing when these are done enough so that they're not too chewy but don't get burnt and firm up too much. I found a balance after the first batch and even if a recipe says wait until edges are brown that isn't necessarily par for the course. It depends on your oven and your methods. But these came out tasty. I added chocolate chips (gluten-free!) also because I just love the taste of both. The peanut butter was overwhelming in these, not a bad thing. When I make peanut butter cookies with flour there's a slight dilution of the peanut butter because of gluten and plus you don't need as much. But when they are flourless the peanut butter takes center stage and you have a mouthful of it. I barely taste the chocolate chips I put in because peanut butter had to be a diva.

And lastly we have Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. These were the pièce de résistance. Chocolate cookies with a dollop of peanut butter mixture in the middle. Much like a Reese's peanut butter cup. Everyone loved these. Chocolate and peanut butter can do no wrong. Ever! 

Two stages to this one since you pre-make and chill the dough and then right before putting the cookies in the oven you make the peanut butter mixture to put inside it. Leftover peanut butter mixture makes a nice, light flourless peanut butter cookie that I liked a bit better than the Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie recipe I used because it was not as heavy on the peanut butter and had egg whites in it which helped with density.

The chocolate powder in the cookie mix isn't too overwhelming with the chocolate and neither is the light peanut butter mixture so it's a perfect balance I think. And they come in a petite size (or were supposed to as I'm heavy handed) and are a nice treat to pop in your mouth. Good times.

Even though Gluten-Free Baking Month is over in my household I still have many of the flours left over to make more items. I'm think I may try her Chocolate Cookie Cake next.

So that was Gluten-Free Baking Month. Delicious desserts with no loss in flavor at all! I'd highly suggest using and/or testing Luane's recipes for yourself. But as noted earlier in this post if you're going to invest you might as well go full on and do so for your own Gluten-Free Baking Month! I still have leftover xantham gum if you need any.

There are many resources you can find for gluten-free baking such as Gluten Free Baking, Lauren McMillan's website, Gluten Free Baking 101, Luane's website, and a host of other sites you can find via any search engine and also on sites such as Epicurious and Food Network.

Happy Baking!