The Cooking/Baking Thread

[PerryToxteth]

Shoot! Busy day in the kitchen but I forgot to take pics!

Lunch was homemade green chorizo sopes.

Dinner was Beef Bourginoun with a twist. I made it in a pressure cooker. Never used one before but Holy Smokes does that ever expedite the cooking time. 35 minutes compared to hours and hours!

- And let's solve this chocolate chip cookie dilemma, are you looking for thin and crispy, or thick and chewy? I've got a recipe for both.

[Kittens Are Awesome]

Thick and chewy.

[PerryToxteth]

Croque monsieur turned out bomb. The mornay sauce and dijon mustard is mandatory. The croque madame is the version with a fried egg on top. Be wary though, you must come hungry if you intend on eating the whole thing. Also, there is a crap load of mornay sauce left. Oh yea, we were unable to find emmental  cheese so, we had to use sharp cheddar for the cheese inside the sandwich. I won't lie, it was a lot of work for a fancy ham and cheese. You gotta have someone to help in the kitchen. Mountain of dishes happen out of nowhere. Totally worth it.

 

 

That looks good but I'm a sucker for melted cheese on just about anything. It looks similar to a Hot Brown sandwich, a local specialty in Louisville. Of course, every restaurant will have their own version but if you ever get to Kentucky, they are worth a try.

[Kittens Are Awesome]

That on top of the sandwich is mostly mornay sauce. The cheese actually slid off to the side in the broiler on the top pic. That mornay was amazing.

[MesopithecusUK]

Croque monsieur turned out bomb. The mornay sauce and dijon mustard is mandatory. The croque madame is the version with a fried egg on top. Be wary though, you must come hungry if you intend on eating the whole thing. Also, there is a crap load of mornay sauce left. Oh yea, we were unable to find emmental  cheese so, we had to use sharp cheddar for the cheese inside the sandwich. I won't lie, it was a lot of work for a fancy ham and cheese. You gotta have someone to help in the kitchen. Mountain of dishes happen out of nowhere. Totally worth it.

 

 

 

Husband was looking over at my screen when I opened your post and said that's the best looking sandwich he's ever seen  It looks incredible and bet it tasted as good as it looks.

 

I didn't get chance to get pictures of the pretzels I made as they all got eaten up hot out of the oven

[PerryToxteth]

On this Election Day, what unifies Americans more than chocolate chip cookies?!?

Here's Thick and Chewy Cookie Recipe

- 10 2/3 oz. AP flour

- 1/2 tsp. Baking soda

- 1/2 tsp. Salt

- 12 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled

- 7 oz. light brown sugar

- 3 1/2 oz. sugar

- 1 egg, 1 yolk

- 2 tsp. Vanilla extract (splurge on the good stuff. McCormick's is made from wood. Yes, wood. As in trees.

- 9 oz. chocolate ships, semi-sweet

- Oven at 325 degrees

- using stand mixer with paddle, mix butter, sugars at medium speed for two minutes. Add, egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. Turn mixer to low and add flour in three increments. Flour should be added until just combined, do not over mix. Add chocolate chips and mix by hand.

- Bake 15 to 20 minutes on cookie sheet with parchment. Check at 15 and pull if edges are set and centers are just beginning to brown but still are soft and puffy.

- cool on cooking sheet for 10 minutes. Eat!

- As a rule, should always weigh baking ingredients to ensure exact measurement amounts.

- Here's my secret weapon in cookie making. Vollrath cookie sheets. You can find them on Amazon. You want the natural finish aluminum one. The lighter color of the sheet prevents the bottoms from burning. The aluminum also retains the heat better. These really have transformed my cooking making into what my wife says "bakery quality."

As a test, I baked one batch on my Vollrath and another on a regular non-stick cookie sheet and they came out as two completely different cookies.

Enjoy!

[Kittens Are Awesome]

I love recipes that use weight instead of volume, however, 10 2/3 oz flour? My scale doesn't do 2/3 oz. Google is telling me 302 grams. Does that sound about right?

[MesopithecusUK]

On this Election Day, what unifies Americans more than chocolate chip cookies?!?

Here's Thick and Chewy Cookie Recipe

- 10 2/3 oz. AP flour

- 1/2 tsp. Baking soda

- 1/2 tsp. Salt

- 12 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled

- 7 oz. light brown sugar

- 3 1/2 oz. sugar

- 1 egg, 1 yolk

- 2 tsp. Vanilla extract (splurge on the good stuff. McCormick's is made from wood. Yes, wood. As in trees.

- 9 oz. chocolate ships, semi-sweet

- Oven at 325 degrees

- using stand mixer with paddle, mix butter, sugars at medium speed for two minutes. Add, egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. Turn mixer to low and add flour in three increments. Flour should be added until just combined, do not over mix. Add chocolate chips and mix by hand.

- Bake 15 to 20 minutes on cookie sheet with parchment. Check at 15 and pull if edges are set and centers are just beginning to brown but still are soft and puffy.

- cool on cooking sheet for 10 minutes. Eat!

- As a rule, should always weigh baking ingredients to ensure exact measurement amounts.

- Here's my secret weapon in cookie making. Vollrath cookie sheets. You can find them on Amazon. You want the natural finish aluminum one. The lighter color of the sheet prevents the bottoms from burning. The aluminum also retains the heat better. These really have transformed my cooking making into what my wife says "bakery quality."

As a test, I baked one batch on my Vollrath and another on a regular non-stick cookie sheet and they came out as two completely different cookies.

Enjoy!

 

 

Your recipe is pretty much identical to the one that I swear by (I posted a few pages back) but with the cup measurements swapped for the exact amounts.  It's funny, because my husband worked in a bakery for a portion of his life and has said the cookie is the best he's ever tasted, so would definitely agree with the bakery quality comment.

 

I've experimented a little bit with the base recipe and came up with a chocolate-orange variety and a date and walnut, but nothing beats the traditional chocolate chip.  I do a twist where I add cocoa powder into the base mix and then drizzle with a peppermint glaze when they come out of the oven.  The guys I used to work with would demolish them

[PerryToxteth]

I love recipes that use weight instead of volume, however, 10 2/3 oz flour? My scale doesn't do 2/3 oz. Google is telling me 302 grams. Does that sound about right?

I just measured some coffee to confirm, you're right on it!

Your recipe is pretty much identical to the one that I swear by (I posted a few pages back) but with the cup measurements swapped for the exact amounts.  It's funny, because my husband worked in a bakery for a portion of his life and has said the cookie is the best he's ever tasted, so would definitely agree with the bakery quality comment.

 

I've experimented a little bit with the base recipe and came up with a chocolate-orange variety and a date and walnut, but nothing beats the traditional chocolate chip.  I do a twist where I add cocoa powder into the base mix and then drizzle with a peppermint glaze when they come out of the oven.  The guys I used to work with would demolish them

I like the variety, not sure my kids would be happy if I threw a curveball at them though. I can't emphasize enough how much my cookies improved with the Vollrath cookie sheet. And I promise, I don't own shares in their company.

One other trick I have done in cookie recipes is after rolling them in a ball, pull them in two and then adjoin them back together, but having the pulled sides facing up. The peaks and grooves of the pulled face give the cookies a more appealing shape and they flatten less.

[MesopithecusUK]

I just measured some coffee to confirm, you're right on it!

I like the variety, not sure my kids would be happy if I threw a curveball at them though. I can't emphasize enough how much my cookies improved with the Vollrath cookie sheet. And I promise, I don't own shares in their company.

One other trick I have done in cookie recipes is after rolling them in a ball, pull them in two and then adjoin them back together, but having the pulled sides facing up. The peaks and grooves of the pulled face give the cookies a more appealing shape and they flatten less.

 

I'll definitely have to check out that cookie sheet, once we have moved I want to get some new kitchen equipment so I'll add that one to the list.  

[Kittens Are Awesome]

So, after my croque monsieur escapade, i only had enough ham to make one more the next day. However, I still had a lot of mornay sauce left over. Gotta love YouTube. I typed in "mornay sauce" and found most people use it for mac n cheese. I also had some shredded parmesan left over so, instead of the usual bread crumb topping, I used that. It was by far and away the best damned mac n cheese I'd ever had.

 

[MesopithecusUK]

That Mac n Cheese looks incredible!

 

 

Lately, I've been making some herb and cheese bread and decided last week to plait it, turned out amazing (excuse the poor lighting in the photo)  We ended up having two loaves with salad and cheese

 

 

 

 

Also, I thought it would be a good opportunity to show off husbands cooking skills too as he baked me an incredible birthday cake yesterday

 

   

Edited November 15, 2016 by Rach

[Kittens Are Awesome]

snip

Aww...so cute. Happy belated birthday.

One of the other channels i subscribe to on YouTube is SciShow. I love those guys. I thought one of their latest videos was interesting and pertained to this thread greatly. I implore you amateur bakers to check it out.

[30 Year Old Boomer]

That Mac n Cheese looks incredible!

 

 

Lately, I've been making some herb and cheese bread and decided last week to plait it, turned out amazing (excuse the poor lighting in the photo)  We ended up having two loaves with salad and cheese

 

 

 

 

Also, I thought it would be a good opportunity to show off husbands cooking skills too as he baked me an incredible birthday cake yesterday

 

   

 

The bread and cake look soooo good.

[Fatty_Fatness]

I agree... that mac 'n' cheese and cheese bread both look FREAKIN DIVINE. 

 

 

I'm waiting on Fatty_Fatness reporting back on some of his dishes from the cookbook he bought.

 

 

Soooooo... it doesn't really count, but last week I DID follow one of the "recipes" in the book, using the following ingredients:

 

And the end result:

 

 

... plus a nice buzz, along with the loss of a few (more) brain cells. 

 

I AM in the process of gearing up (lol... literally) for the first "real" recipe though!

It's funny, how shamefully LACKING my kitchen is after my partner moved out, as far as common appliances/kitchenware go. 

Once I have a food processor and some bakeware, (SH)IT'S GOING DOWN.

[MesopithecusUK]

I agree... that mac 'n' cheese and cheese bread both look FREAKIN DIVINE. 

 

 

 

 

Soooooo... it doesn't really count, but last week I DID follow one of the "recipes" in the book, using the following ingredients:

 

And the end result:

 

 

... plus a nice buzz, along with the loss of a few (more) brain cells. 

 

I AM in the process of gearing up (lol... literally) for the first "real" recipe though!

It's funny, how shamefully LACKING my kitchen is after my partner moved out, as far as common appliances/kitchenware go. 

Once I have a food processor and some bakeware, (SH)IT'S GOING DOWN.

 

I'd definitely say that counted, I love Kahlua so my question now is...where was mine?     Could always come and move next door to you and trade baked goods for delicious drinks 

[Kittens Are Awesome]

Yall knew this was coming. Thanksgiving day meal with the honey and me. Since it was just the two of us, we didn't do a bird or ham. Just kept it simple. However, the bread and pie was mandatory. Enjoy!

 

Smoked pork ribs, Syracuse potatoes, salad with vinaigrette.

 

Just got the pies out of the oven. They're still a tad puffy. Settling to occur shortly. Despite the appearance, the bread was freaking awesome. So flavorful.

 

Doesn't it look so pretty? Still too warm to eat though.

[PerryToxteth]

One of these days, I'll actually remember to take pictures of my creations!

 

I was tasked with bringing the pies to the in-laws.  I chose to make a French Silk and a Bourbon Pecan Praline.  Both went over well!! But I truly hate pie crusts. There are just too damn finicky for my liking.  And, I can never got my edge design to come out as I had hoped.

[Kittens Are Awesome]

*snip

 

Pie crusts should never be glorified. Just see them for what they are and you'll be successful. Theyre a delivery system for something special. Never try to make a fancy design. There's no need for all that. The second tip for a successful pie crust is the freezer. Freeze your butter beforehand and you'll get a wonderful crust. If you don't have a food processor to incorporate frozen butter, use a box grater followed by a pastry cutter.

 

Those are my tips at least. I like making pies periodically, however, pumpkin pie is reserved for Thanksgiving only. Pecan is acceptable only if accompanied by a pumpkin pie. 

 

That's just my own personal tradition. Probably has something to do with my upbringing.

 

Anyways, yes! Please take photos and share. I can't wait to see Rach's pics. I hope Fatty_Fatness posts some pics too. I can't be the only weirdo taking pics of his Thanksgiving concoctions.

Edited November 25, 2016 by PhilDeezEnYuTees

[MesopithecusUK]

I will grab some pics of the leftover apple and blackberry pie, although my crusts are no way near as pretty as your pumpkin pies  Our dinner was pretty simple, husband is a vegetarian so we had mounds of stuffing and loads of roasted/steamed vegetables.  

 

I agree with you about freezing the butter beforehand.  I found if I made pastry any other way, then it is harder to work with.  I also try and chill the pastry in the fridge for as along as possible before using it.

 

I'm actually baking again today - this time garlic and herb bread and home made vegetable noodle soup, thought it would be a good way to use up the leftover veggies.

[Kittens Are Awesome]

Because why not. I baked an apple pie today.

 

 

[Kittens Are Awesome]

This thread has been dead for too long. I went all out for dinner tonight. Took 3 hours to make everything, but it was way worth it.

 

Beef stew on a bed of garlic and green onion mashed potatoes. Your toothless grandma could have eaten the beef, it was so tender. The flavors in this dish were amazing. Definitely a 10/10 tonight.

 

Spoiler

 

[MesopithecusUK]

2 hours ago, PhilDeezEnYuTees said:

This thread has been dead for too long. I went all out for dinner tonight. Took 3 hours to make everything, but it was way worth it.

 

Beef stew on a bed of garlic and green onion mashed potatoes. Your toothless grandma could have eaten the beef, it was so tender. The flavors in this dish were amazing. Definitely a 10/10 tonight.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

I want to put my face in it....looks so amazing!

 

I made chocolate fudge today   

[Kittens Are Awesome]

Since we have too many eggs in the house and they are starting to get old, I figured I'd make french vanilla ice cream.

 

Pic is of the yummy concoction turning in my Cuisinart ice cream maker. Got it for free from a couple who it was gifted it on their wedding day. They aren't big on having fun in the kitchen.

 

Spoiler

 

[Fatty_Fatness]

 

On 11/17/2016 at 10:49 PM, Rach said:

 

I'd definitely say that counted, I love Kahlua so my question now is...where was mine?     Could always come and move next door to you and trade baked goods for delicious drinks 

 

If a few drinks is all it took for such a trade, I'd be down for that IN A HEARTBEAT!!  

 

 

Sooooooo... the piecing together of my kitchen has (obviously) been a very slooooooow process. BUT this just arrived on my doorstep yesterday, and I'm super-excited... and figured it would best go here instead of the "Look What Came In The Mail Today" thread:

 

 

I know there's better brands etc., but an 8-cup for under $20, and my first food processor ever, I figured it's worth it.