THICK MOLASSES SPICE COOKIES from Smitten Kitchen Keepers
I made these earlier in the week to bring in to work. They were really easy to put together because they use melted butter and mostly pantry ingredients, though I discovered too late, to my disappointment, that I did not have crystallized ginger in my pantry after all. Anyway, they are designed to be very soft and Deb says to pull them out when they seem very underbaked, which I did, though I cooked them for the longer time specified (12 mins).
I ate them about 12-18 hours after I made them and was a tad underwhelmed with them (thought they were fine), but have been snacking on them everyday since and they’ve just been improving every day. This is definitely one of those recipes where the spices and salt really need to meld. The texture has stayed excellent, too. I am a fan and looking forward to making them again with the ginger.
I bake a small loaf of bread (3 cups of flour) once a week. Very little sugar, and some almond flour substituted for the wheat. Eggs and oil to reduce the carb load. No dairy. Zojirushi breadmaker is quiet and idiot-proof. Both are necessary in my house. Also, after the bread is finished, I leave it in the breadmaker overnight to cool off. I find this distributes the moisture in the loaf perfectly. This bread has a texture which has small air pockets, yet slices thinly with a MAC breadknife. After all these decades, I finally got my breadmaking s*** together.
Now that the weather is cooler, I also make muffins with 2 whole oranges vitamixed to a slurry - peel included - to be the liquid in place of water or milk. No dairy. No sugar. Chopped pecans are thrown in if I remember.
I’ve made this (easy) apple cake/quick bread before. Very nice!! I imagine you could put a lemon or cinnamon glaze on top to make it sweeter (if you wanted).
Here is mine, that I made a little while ago. Again, quick & easy and tasty!!
Hah! This was one of the first ones that came up when I searched. I’m tempted to just go for it given the ease and popularity, especially as I’m not a fruit baker.
ETA @Stef_bakes how do you think this would do very thinly sliced (on mandoline) apples instead of cubes? Or fine dice in mini FP?
I’m a fan of both Dorie Greenspan recipes, which have just enough batter to hold the fruit together. If you’re looking to make a small cake, the custardy apple squares will work as given, as would halving Marie Helene’s apple cake. I always add the suggested dark rum to the custardy apple squares.
Ive used slices of apples that were a bit thicker than ones sliced on a mandolin. Granny and a firm golden delicious hold up well. I think other varieties might turn mushy.
I have yet to find a cake recipe which incorporates fresh apples in the batter to my liking. I’m finding something about the texture consistently off-putting. Too moist, too custardy.
OTOH, I find Dorie Greenspan’s Everything cake with the apples placed on top one of my favorite cakes (with 2 T. brandy added to the batter and drizzle of apple-ish or lemon-ish glaze on top).
I went with half a recipe of Dorie’s Marie Helene cake, using an apple and an asian pear (small dice for a marginally more refined texture than big chunks, or so I’m hoping), with cardamom added (my friend was remembering a Danish apple cake her late mother used to make, and her mom’s birthday is tomorrow, so I thought the flavor combination might be a happy memory).
Also added a little sour cream based on the recipe Scott linked to, for a bit more richness for a dinner party dessert rather than a tea cake. Maybe I’ll pick up vanilla ice cream on my way (this is not a creme fraiche crowd).
Thank you, everyone! Fingers crossed, and I’ll post a picture later.
It’s not going to be eaten hot, so I did a sugar sprinkle instead for a crunchy top on the Dorie recipe.
I’m going to try the YouTube recipe in a week or two when my whole family is together — lots more apple dessert eaters there, and I think using full fat yogurt for the sour cream will make an eggless version more palatable (some of them are no-egg vegetarians).
The Dorie cake is very moist and rich (there’s a bit more butter than flour), so I wouldn’t have added sour cream to it, but I’m sure if it was only a little it didn’t make too much difference.
I am not into oil-based cakes, but the CI French apple cake has rave reviews:
Stella Parks cream scones with milk chocolate. I’ve made these once before on a recommendation from @Shellybean. I found them so decadently good, I’ve been afraid to make them ever since. That first time I made minis, but what the heck – it’s the holidays, so I made them full size.
ETA: I used the last two Jelina milk chocolate bars out of my freezer. I checked their website, and it looks like they’ve quit making it. I’m crushed - it had become my favorite milk choco for baking. I suppose that explains why I found them discounted by half at World Market.
