What are you baking? January 2024

Sourdough conchas. These are amazing. And I don’t even like conchas normally because they’re too sugary, flavorless, dry, and loaded with too much yeast. Homemade produces something worth eating, and sourdough are especially delicious.
I had some trouble with the topping because I will absolutely not use shortening, and it holds up much better to the long proofing times and at higher than typical proofing temps. I used butter and a little lard for crispness, and the topping was melting off. Sticking the second tray in the fridge helped and a freezer would have been even better.
These are mostly blueberry and chocolate with a couple of strawberry because I got distracted when I was dividing the cookie topping.

7 Likes

That looks and sounds great; I’m partial to almond paste. Mind posting the recipe, please.

It’s February 4th (here in Japan, at least) and though I tried, I couldn’t find a “What are you baking? February 2024” thread, so I’m posting something here (I didn’t feel it was my place to begin such a thread, either.)

Anyway, I’m staying with friends who love sweets, but only have a toaster oven…which limits me as to what I can bake for them. They also have a very small kitchen with other equipment limited as well and are rather health-conscious.

So I made them two small snack cakes (I made 2 rather than try to halve the recipe I found online) free of butter or oil. The only ingredients are Japanese hotcake mix (sort of a sweeter version of Bisquick), eggs, Greek yogurt, coconut sugar and peach jam.

It was extremely easy to make and the level of sweetness was just right.

I’d be happy to post a translated recipe if anyone is interested.


12 Likes

Whoops, it’s February!

2 Likes

Thank you! Should I delete the above post I made and post it in the new thread or leave it as is? I don’t mind either way…it’s your call.

Those look AMAZING :heavy_heart_exclamation:

1 Like

It would be lovely to see your cakes start off the February “what are you baking” and they look delicious!

1 Like

Thanks so much!! I’ll do that in a bit!

@harters, above is a poppyseed and cherry Schnecken recipe that is baked like sticky buns, placed tightly together in a pan.

Most Schnecken I’ve purchased look like this, baked on a sheet, not touching one another. Not too sweet.

images (1)
nuschnecke

Whereas my ideal sticky bun at Balthazar in NYC looks like this

5 Likes