I sometimes peel 2/3 oranges into the processor with a small amount of sugar and let it rip. The sugar doesn’t freeze solid so it’s easy to remove a few tablespoons.
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Do you have a recommendation for a simple shrub?
I have cake strips as well but rarely use, maybe triple fold aluminum foil strips and give it a go next time.
Can you access Bon Appetit? Here’s a link to their Any Berry Shrub.
Also, the book Shrubs has a lot of great recipes, as well as history and general info on shrubs.
They’re a great way to preserve your summer harvest, and it’s fun to play around with the different vinegars and add-ins.
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Thanks, MR, I’ll take a look!
Oh YES!
Here and here for a start. This is the book but many of his recipes are online, like the ones I just linked.
I like cold shrubs – the fresh fruit flavor comes through. Lighter vinegars pair better with lighter fruits (rice or white for lemon, cider can work for orange but I still prefer rice, and so on; rice takes less time to mellow than white, etc).
I’ve talked about them in a few places, like here and a list of my favorite flavors below.
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One last thought re: doming, have you removed some of the batter prior to baking. A lesser amount might preclude doming.
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I baked up the KA cream tea scones from the freezer. (They were shaped and cut, then frozen.)
I might have liked these more than the ones I baked fresh out of the mixing bowl. Absolutely excellent. Very welcome development in terms of my big tea event, because now I have confidence I can make 100% of them in advance if I so desire, and bake them off the morning of the party.
ETA: the texture was a bit drier and that’s what I want in a scone.
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Revisiting KAF’s Tuscan Coffee Cake recipe, but this time I made the loaf into buns. Modifications included a bit of unfed sourdough starter added to the preferment, and an overnight retard in the fridge for a second rise. I also cut the fruit and nuts into much smaller bits to make it easier to work them into the scaled-down size. A half-recipe yielded 6 buns baked in a burger-bun pan.
I’ve made the dough before, love it, and this will be a much more manageable size for us (mini-bake qualifier?).
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Dry scones get my vote, too. Nice work!
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For Catering Events that is exactly what we do.
Scones/Shortcakes are sheeted out already glazed and sprinkled with Coarse Sugar. They go straight from the Freezer to Oven to Table.
Chocolate truffle cookies, from a recipe my mother picked up who knows where. They don’t look like much, but they are the fudgiest, most delicious chocolate bombs ever. With just a quarter cup of flour to 16 oz of chocolate, how could they not be?
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Recipe please?
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I beg to differ, they look extremely enticing !!
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I know I have seen this recipe, based on the 16 oz and 1/4 cup amounts. I almost want to say it was on Epicurious, but I cannot check due to paywall.
Sure, here you go (I misquoted the 1/4 cup of flour - it’s actually a half cup!):
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
3 eggs
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. butter
2 T. cocoa
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
Melt unsweetened chocolate, butter and 1 c. of chocolate chips, cool for 10 minutes. Beat sugar and eggs; add vanilla and chocolate mixture. Add the dry ingredients, then stir in the remaining chocolate chips. Chill dough for at least 3 hours. Roll cold dough into 1 inch balls. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until puffed and lightly set. Allow to cool on pan 3-4 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.
ETA: The rolling step can get a little messy. I usually chill the dough for about an hour and then use a disher scoop to portion it out onto a parchment lined sheet, then chill those scoops fully before rolling. I dust my hands with a little cocoa to keep anything from sticking when rolling.
As for the source, @CaitlinM , I know my mother wouldn’t have gotten it from Epicurious, though it may have made its way there by now. She would most likely have clipped it from a newspaper or magazine sometime in the 1990s.
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Hi everyone!
We are hosting a cocktail party in two weeks, and I will have been traveling before then. Can you think of a super fun dessert that I could freeze? Thanks!
Any specs? Chocolate? Not chocolate?
For a cocktail party, bite-size brownies or bouchons (you can “fun” them up with additions) will freeze well. I’ve made my favorite Medrich brownie recipes in mini tins for a party, or there are the various bouchon recipes (Bouchon Bakery, Gateau, LPQ’s Belgian brownies, etc).
Cheesecake bars of some sort? Or also assembled in mini muffin tins / liners as bite-size.
What about an icebox cake? Or something like that also in bite size form. There’s a whole thread about them, and also this SE Ritz cracker pie recipe that would be easy to stack individually (and alter flavor profile on).
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!
Lemon buttermilk cake from Rustic Desserts. A fine textured crumb with a thin crust. The glaze is white chocolate with some freeze dried strawberries. There is a ribbon of freeze dried strawberries/sugar in the center of the cake, the sprinkles are berry flavored from De Ruijter and are very flavorsome. I imagine without the glaze and sprinkles this would freeze well.
@adawks
Add images here
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This is my favorite lemonade recipe (I know, not baking…)
It’s from Artichokes to Za’atar, by Greg Malouf and Lucy Malouf, “Middle Eastern Lemonade.” No sugar syrup; well, you are making your own to start with just lemons and sugar. Use organic lemons because the peels are essential. It’s a process that includes an overnight, so prepare for that. I find this intensely lemony and not-so-sweet lemonade delicious. Easily diluted with more water if you prefer less tart.
The proportions in the recipe are 5 whole lemons (no weight given, and lemons do vary a lot by weight and size), 1 cup superfine sugar (I use regular granulated sugar), and 3.5 cups of water added later. Optional drops of orange blossom water. Can be scaled up or down.
The technique is to wash and dry the whole lemons, then cut them into 8 pieces each into a mixing bowl. I cut off the ends and cut them smaller since they are all peel. Then put in the sugar and massage very thoroughly, releasing the oil from the peels. While you are rubbing in the sugar, squeeze out as much juice as possible. Keep going for about 5 minutes or until the sugar turns into a thick syrup.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (I’ve let it go overnight sometimes). Then add the water and refrigerate again, overnight.
To serve, strain and add orange blossom water, if desired, to taste (start slowly with very few drops). Add crushed ice and alcohol, or not!
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