You’ve christened the new oven !
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I find it more than a bit irritating when someone I (used to) trust tells me something is a “best evah!” (KA, ATK, others) then I make it and it’s a dud, and then I go to the comments, and hundreds of others are also saying it’s a dud.
How does an entity that’s supposed to really know baking/cooking get something so fundamentally wrong?
FWIW, the very best “regular” chocolate chip cookies (regular = like Tollhouse version, not comparing them against, e.g., Chang’s chunky Lolas, which my daughters make a fair bit) that my family ever had was when my son, kid #4 was about 15, made them.
He followed the ingredients pretty closely but figured the instructions weren’t necessary, so he dumped everything together all at once.
We only learned about this when he started complaining about how hard it was to mix and one of his sisters figured out he hadn’t creamed the butter/sugar first, etc.
Well, in the end it took him a bit of elbow grease but he finally got the concrete mixed up and dolloped onto a sheet tray, and the rest was history.
We’ve never replicated them (no one wants to deal with the process), but they were head and shoulders above regular choc chip cookies.
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Roman gnocchi, slightly modified from a Serious Eats recipe.
After chilling for more than an hour, the door was still a little sticky and hard to transfer to the oiled baking sheet. But overall I was pleased with it.
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My son has a 3D printer so i asked him to make me a cookie cutter to use for french butter cookies using dimensions of one for sale on amazon. Made a quarter of a recipe just to see how it works. A few less minutes in the oven next time but they are much better than the french imports i bought.
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Jumbo pumpkin muffins for my sister’s luncheon. One bowl, quick batter. I found the recipe on the pumpkin purée inside label years ago. I add ground mace to up the spice list.
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That’s pretty incredible that he could make it with a 3D printer. They look so cute.
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Yes, incredible. I am still trying to understand 3D printers!
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Back from another stint at King Arthur’s baking school. This time the topic was “pan breads” (i.e. yeasted loaves). Not as intense (or as photogenic) as that last pastry class, but it was fun and I picked up some new skills and knowledge.
We baked 8 breads in all, the best of which (I thought) were:
Babka with almond filling.
Cinnamon Swirl Brioche.
Marble Rye.
Crescia al Formaggio.
The only one I haven’t tasted yet is that Italian cheese loaf. It’s probably the one I’m most excited about. It smelled like heaven coming out of the oven during the last minute of class. It was too hot to cut into last night, and with so much bread around, some things had to go in the freezer once cooled. I’ll report back once I taste it, but I’m optimistic.
There were some other loaves, as well:
Pain de Mie
Whole Wheat with Tangzhong
Molasses Seed Bread
English Muffin Loaf
The English Muffin Loaf was super quick and easy, and made a nice toasting bread. I might revisit that one again, as well. (ETA: It doesn’t taste like an English muffin, but has a nice, holey texture - good with butter and jam.)
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Beautiful bakes, MR! Very professional looking bread , sounds like you had fun!
That Italian cheese bread is a knock out, I think it’s calling my name.
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OMG, these look heavenly!
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The cheese bread was calling my name so loudly that I just went to KA and printed the recipe! Thanks as always, Munchkin!
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Which TJ’s chips did you use?
I made a batch of choc. chip cookies with their 72% chips and found them to be disappointing. They were very one note, tasting similar to over roasted coffee, with none of the fruity, brighter notes of more balanced chocolate. For reference, my go to is Ghirardelli for most uses.
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for chocolate chips I tend to stick to President’s Choice, a brand only available in Canada…
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They all look delicious. The marbled rye looks like perfection.
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What a great way to spend a few day! It all looks delicious
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Man every time you post about this, I think “I need to do this!”
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I am so glad you old CH bakers saved the recipe. As a novice baker these were my.pride and joy contribution to an old school holiday bizarre and bake sale that
sadly was discontinued at the onset of COVID. I think I’ll see if its back up and running. People loved the name Bars of Shame!
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And it’s back…burnt Basque cheesecake with a twist. Pumpkin purée is added to the cheese, eggs and sugar, I added a t. of vanilla. Four ingredients + make it really quick to put together, the processor was my choice to mix. The pumpkin flavor is very subtle and hard to detect, it would never be acceptable at TJ! This is half, made in a 4 x 4 “ loose bottom pan. Creamy interior as you can see, I will definitely make this again if for no other reason than to use up the opened can of pumpkin! It is as pleasing as a standard Basque, I would image sweet potato would also work well, from kirbiescravings.com
My plans are to make a pumpkin seed brittle to serve alongside.
ETA The pumpkin replaces the heavy cream.
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More gluten formation, probably. That’s why some recipes call for resting the dough and/or using bread flour, I think.
I’ve never had Basque cheesecake but I really want a bite of that right now.
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