Beebox

Hier geht's zur deutschen Version dieses Posts (folgt noch) After sadly slacking off last year, I hope to be a more productive blogger in 2017. My cookie baking activities are usually restricted to the time before Christmas (except for NYTimes Chocolate Chip Cookies ), but I DO like brownies. Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen promised a cookie with "everything that we expect from a great brownie, a slight crackly exterior, and a plush, fudgy interior". That sounded very enticing, and I was eager to tackle " The Browniest Cookies " - our Avid Bakers ' February project. But I didn't look at the recipe carefully enough, and, instead of mixing the sugar with the melted chocolate-butter, I added it to the dry ingredients. Overmixing the batter was a no-no, and I feared that the undissolved sugar might give the cookies an unpleasant grittiness (it didn't!).  I reduced the salt to 1/4 teaspoon and added some espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavor.  ...

Hier geht's zur deutschen Version dieses Posts In 2016 we Avid Bakers have a new challenge for breads and pastries: Weekend Bakery.com from the Netherlands. This is especially interesting to me, since Amsterdam is one of my favorite places. I have traveled there several times, and love what it has to offer, amazing art, a beautiful, walk-able city, and lots of good food. Hanaâ , our "head baker", chose rondos, buttery pastry filled with almond paste - very appealing to a marzipan fan like me! The little cakes, very popular in the Netherlands, are supposed to have a texture like Dutch apple pie - I never had one, so I can't comment on that, but they are certainly delightful. Dutch bakers have special pastry rings to make rondos (or kanos, if they are ovals). Lacking these, I used my (slightly larger) English muffin rings (the other option would have been baking them in a muffin tin). There are two choices for the marzipan filling, either the traditional almond past...

Hier geht's zur deutschen Version dieses Posts (folgt noch) I found the  Spiced Apple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake , October project of the  ABC-Bakers , very intriguing. Topped with apples, sautéed in butter with cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg - that sounds delicious! A coffee cake is a bit of a  strange concept for a German - aren't all cakes meant to be enjoyed with coffee? And what is a non-coffee cake? To gain more insight, I checked  Wikipedia : A one layer bundt coffee cake:  Red Wine Cake   "Coffee cake is a common cake or sweet bread.....it is generally intended to be eaten with coffee or tea..... ".  Hm! I can't really say I see any sense in singling out some cakes as suitable pairing for coffee or tea, and others - pies, tortes, bars? - are not. But wait - here's more:  "They are typically single layer cakes.....square, round or ring shaped.... flavored with cinnamon or other spices, nuts, and fruits. These cakes sometimes have a crumb t...

After missing the ABC-Bakers' May challenge - I made the Brown Butter Banana Bread , but went on my trip to Germany before I could post it - the June project, Tender Loving Crackle Cookies came just right to cure my baking withdrawal symptoms. Three weeks without touching a mixer or kneading a dough! I rarely bake cookies other than around Christmas - except, the famous NY Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookies''. The crackled cookies looked really attractive, so I decided to give them a try. Maine's own Allen's Coffee Brandy To enhance the chocolate flavor, I added 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder , and, being a Mainer, for good measure, threw in another 1/2 teaspoon of Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy . Otherwise I didn't change the recipe. Christina's cookies are perfectly risen small mounds - mine, alas, turned from nice little balls into this: Flounders! They spread like flounders, especially the ones I shaped last!   Who was to blame? I found the answer on...