You ever bought something from the store (or restaurant) and then brought it home and passed it off as homemade to your guests or loved ones?
Heavenly Hungry Onion, I do confess, for I have sinned.
On one of my dates with someone I was trying to impress, and who I knew had a love for all things Chik-Fil-A, I bought two of their chicken sandwiches, and used the patties, and plated them as part of my “homemade chicken and waffles” (with Kellogg Eggo Waffles).
Sort of?
Does telling co-workers that my brownies are homemade when they are actually from a slightly doctored up Ghiradelli mix count? Because adding a little instant coffee and some toasted nuts to the mix really jazzes it up.
Boxed cake/brownies/cookies taken to the office and passed as ‘homemade’ (well, you made them at home!) is a tradition that is as old as workplaces and boxed baking mixes have existed, I’d wager. A number of tv/youtube cooking folks have said it is almost impossible for a home baker to EVER get anything as good as a boxed cake mix, because industrial food is simply NOT THE SAME as homemade. Most people don’t have soy lecithin or other industrial emulsifiers, moisturizers, etc. sitting in the pantry.
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
9
Dangit - I wanted CAKE, not facial cream!
I wonder if this is truly so, but don’t really have a great way to judge. My daughter’s homemade cakes always seem as good/better than Duncan Hines. If you posted this in the “What are you baking?” thread, do you think you’d get strung up by your thumbs?
“as good”? That is subjective.
“NOT THE SAME” I would agree with.
I generally don’t like the boxed cake mixes, but there’s something about the brownies that I really like. They are softer and fudgy without being too rich.
I always thought homemade cakes tasted better because of the creaming of the butter and sugar.
Firstly, you’re using butter.
Secondly, the aeration of the two produces a texture that is very different from the mix.
Now the above is specific to layer cakes (white, yellow, chocolate etc.) where you use the traditional creaming method. I’ve never made pound cake or angel food cake from a mix.
I take immense pride in my brownies, and even I will say that Ghirardelli mix is, like 90% of the way there. A little espresso powder, some extra chocolate chunks, and it’s, like, 95%. If I want to experiment with adding, say, cookie dough or caramel ribbons or something, I’ll happily use box mix the first few times til I’m confident in my process. And if I were to ever want to really get good at cake decorating, I’d DEFINITELY use boxed mix to practice. WAY less hassle.
I don’t bake with chocolate often enough to merit keeping ingredients like cocoa powder on hand, and I cannot conceive of any brownie being better than the Ghirardelli mix. But rather than presenting a batch as my own, I enthuse over the quality of that mix! My tweak is virgin coconut oil, shredded coconut, and chopped walnuts. How much instant coffee do you use in yours?
If someone asked for the recipe I would tell them it’s the mix, but I don’t advertise it as such.
I put about 1/2 tsp of instant espresso powder, or I sub cooled brewed coffee for the water in the mix. Just enough to boost flavor without adding a coffee taste.
