Flashback Friday: Good Jumbo Raisin Cookies

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

These cookies more than make up for that disappointing Mock Angel Food cake I told you about last Friday.  I expected a rather plain and boring old-lady cookie full of nuts and raisins, but boy was I wrong.  Each lovely bite was soft and just a hint chewy, but not cakey.  You know, like all the goodness of a fresh, warm cookie....only they stayed that way even when they weren't straight out of the oven.  And believe me when I say I taste tested them at multiple stages; as dough, straight from the pan, cooled 5 min, cooled 10 min, 30 min later, 2 hours later, breakfast the next morning, within 20 seconds of walking in the door after work, and, well, you get the idea.  Not even possible to just eat one.

Tuesday's Twist: Cupcake Project

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

Instead of testing out recipes this weekend, I baked and decorated around 250 mini cupcakes.  These bite-sized desserts weren't blogging related, they were requested for a private party.  I decided to snap a few pictures to share with you before I delivered the order.

There were 4 kinds of cupcakes: 

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and chocolate sprinkles.

Almond-flavored white cake with an almond buttercream and decorating sugar crystals.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate curls.

Lemon cake with a lemon cream cheese frosting and yellow decorating sugar.

The lemon was my favorite, but I must admit I had fun using my vegetable peeler to make the chocolate curls for the red velvet cupcakes.

The whole process went fairly smoothly.  I made the frosting earlier in the week, then baked the cupcakes the night before the event.  The original order was for 10 dozen, but I didn't realize one batch made 5 dozen of the mini size.  With 4 flavors I ended up with 20 dozen cupcakes spread across my table and counter.  Umm yeah, only double what I needed.  But now I know for next time.  The next morning I frosted and finished each cupcake.  Of course I doubted myself and freaked out that I wouldn't have enough frosting.  After all, I had prepped for 10 dozen not 20.

So I hastily made one more batch of frosting and then rewhipped each previous batch, adding just a little more butter and powdered sugar to stretch it.  My brain, however, was still in frosting conservation mode and I went light on the frosting while decorating.  I ended up with way too much leftover.  Oops, guess I should have stuck with the original plan and gone with my instinct, not the doubt of the last minute rush.   Hmmm, I've never said that before.  Oh and by last minute rush, I actually mean cram everything into half the time and  have it done several hours early.  I had a little too much fun using that extra time to play with my camera.

Food for Thought: "Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice reduces the imperfection." -Toba Beta

Flashback Friday: Mock Angel Food

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

While paging through an old cookbook a recipe for Mock Angel Food caught my attention.  Boiling water is poured over a flour and sugar mixture which then sits overnight.  The remaining ingredients are added in the morning and baked in a pan that has been rinsed in cold water but not dried.  All of this sounded a little odd to me so I decided to give it a go.  Well, except for the part about starting "about 5 o'clock' in the afternoon."   Because in my book 5 o'clock isn't afternoon, it's evening (but somehow 4:59 is still afternoon?).

 Anyway, I stirred up the flour/sugar/water mixture in the morning before work and baked  the cake later in the evening when I got home.  I believe the idea is to let the mixture cool to room temperature.  As for egg whites, you'll only need 4 instead of a dozen.  I interpreted, "beaten not too dry" to mean beaten to stiff peak stage.  But let's just skip the details and get to the cake.  Sound okay?

Random Recipe Wednesday: Lemon-Fennel Cottage Bread

While the Internet is a great recipe resource I've more recently found myself lost in the pages of a good cookbook or magazine.  Not everything can be found online.  Lately I've been testing an awful lot of recipes straight out of cookbooks.  I'm not quite sure how the copyright aspect works so I haven't been posting them here.  Sometimes I think I can only tell you about recipes I've changed and developed, but that's silly, like a musician only playing songs he wrote himself.

I'm currently loving The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book.  As in I'm actually reading it page by page, not just flipping through to glance at recipes.  There's just so much practical information on bread baking.  I get this dorky, excited sparkle in my eye as I digest the wealth of knowledge in every chapter, as if someone were sharing a vast secret with me.  A thorough understanding of the hows and whys is the key that unlocks, well everything.  Okay, maybe not everything, but it gives you the power to create and fix and improve to your heart's content.  Plus, everything about making bread just feels so...right.

Since I can't post the copyrighted recipe here, I'll just tell you about this loaf. (For the recipe and fail-proof instructions check out The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book from your library, renew several times, then finally give in and buy yourself a copy.)  I've been planning all along to post a recipe for a yeast bread made with cottage cheese.  When I got to the chapter on dairy products and read the recipe for a lemon-flavored loaf utilizing cottage cheese, I just couldn't resist any longer.  Later I saw a lemon-fennel loaf and knew I had to try the flavor combination.  The cottage cheese, which completely disappears, gives extra rising power while boosting the protein and calcium in each slice.

Mindful Monday: Choosing Thanks

Mindful Monday: On Monday's I'm going to share what's been on my mind. I by no means have any of this figured out, I'm just thinking out loud here.

To be honest I'm not in a very thankful mood right now.  Hopefully by the time I finish this list my attitude will  have changed for the better.

fresh air
sunshine
new books
a neighborhood with a trail to walk on
decreased humidity
pleasant conversation
thoughtfulness of a neighbor
the fragrance of peonies wafting though the air
my dad (Happy Father's Day again)
reconnecting with friends
a new mixer
kneading bread dough by hand
freshly baked bread
pink and purple tinted clouds
the outline of the moon
learning opportunities
color
quiet morning space
potential change
patience
grace
hope

Food for Thought: "When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." -Anthony Robbins