Hi,

I'm starting to plan for my frenzy of holiday baking and gift-giving and need some recipe advice.

Last year, I made my father-in-laws favorite very traditional (i.e., pre-war english bookbook) English Christmas Cake for everyone.  This is highly sought-after in South Africa, where we spent the previous 11 Christmases, and extremely delicious (being filled with real dried and candied fruit as opposed to glaceed cherries in unnatural hues) so I gave nary a thought to it being confused with what is called fruit cake here.  

Unfortunately, there were two major hurdles for most recipients before they could even test if they liked it or not.  If they managed to get through the hard Royal Icing shell (and without being pricked by the holly) and past the stereotypical aversion to anything called "fruitcake", they probably tasted it and loved it.  Certainly the generous lashings of brandy applied over the month before shipping would have had a mellowing effect.  However, overall we seemed to have a 50-70% hit rate and in some circles I became known as the weird old auntie who sends fruitcakes in the mail.  

This year, I'm looking to do something more universally acceptable, and will save my Christmas cakes for those "in the know" and those with English backgrounds.   DH suggested stollen would be a better alternative for the fruitcake-resistant.  

Which FINALLY brings me to the point of writing to this forum.....

Do any of you have a stollen recipe you recommend highly?  The more traditional the better IMO.    Or another Christmas-related treat that would ship well across the USA?  If all else fails, I may turn to my second option - candies.

Thanks!

MommaT

im in themarket for a sheeter to start experimenting with pastries. does anyone have any recommendations?

thank you

Does anyone advocate the use of a pastry cloth to roll out pie crusts as opposed to just using either a floured board, or sandwiching the dough between two sheets of wax paper, plastic wrap or parchment paper? Would it work better with sticky doughs? What is the best way to clean the cloth after use to prevent a rancid odor from developing after many uses?

I admit not being a fan of cheesecake but DH loves it!  I decided to give M. Suas recipe in chapter 15 a try....actually had to doubled the try, for 14 adults and 9 children, enjoy:

Irish cream instead of lemon flavoring with caramel and walnuts & oreo for the kids...perfect size imho:

I milled a couple of pounds of soft wheat into pastry flour today to bake these scones.  This is my first try at these using home-milled flour.  I think they came out quite nice.  (My apologies for the poor pictures.  My wife is the pro photographer, but she's asleep!)

and

I used the recipe from Crust and Crumb by Peter Reinhart, and just like everyone else that bakes this recipe, I always have to add nearly twice the liquid to get the dough workable.  It was no different this time with home-milled flour than it has been in the past with AP flour.  I think the taste is richer though with the fuller flavor of the home milled flour.  I made these with dehydrated blueberries, straight from the bag, but they came out nice and moist, albeit a bit chewey, without soaking or boiling them first. 

My wife requested the square shape instead of the traditional pie slices because they are easier to stack for freezing.  I'm baking most of these for a family gathering this coming weekend, and there will not be enough time later in the week to do much baking.  So a short freeze, then a warm up in a hot oven Sunday should make them (almost) good as new.

OldWoodenSpoon

Baking, bread, cookies, cake

Hello everyone,

Hope you all are doing well. Hey does anyone know any Egyptian bread cook book or an African bread cook book or at least a website that deal with nothing but African bake recipes? Thanks and look forward in hearing from you.

Thanks! !

Hello everyone, Hope you all are doing well. Hey does anyone know any Egyptian bread cook book or an African bread cook book or at least a website that deal with nothing but African bake recipes? Thanks and look forward in hearing from you.

I found this recipe I really like and it is easy and fast to make, I found it on a recipes exchange site you can find more there, I hope you like it.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
half cup sugar
1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant pudding, any flavor
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 pkg. (12 oz.) mini morsels
Directions
Step 1 Preheat oven to 375F.
Step 2 Beat butter, sugars, pudding mix, and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs; mix well. Gradually add flour and baking soda, beating until well blended. Stir in mini morsels. Drop dough by teasponfuls, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets.
Step 3 Bake at 375F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets. Cool on wire racks.

Is there a technique for avoiding the "mountain bulge" in the middle of the cake when baking? How do you achieve a cake with a flat evenly baked top?

I need to make a batch of cinnamon buns to be delivered early tomorrow morning and I would like to deliver them fresh from the oven.  Is it OK to make them tonight and let them do the final rise overnight?  Should I just bake them tonight and deliver them at room temp tomorrow?