Baked anything tasty lately?

Tried the eclairs again and they went much better still had a few collapse but the ganache worked perfectly using proper chocolate this time! I ran out of cream halfway through so I made a sort of 'Boston cream' type filling for the rest which worked ok!

pwurple

Deleted User wrote: »

Tried the eclairs again and they went much better still had a few collapse but the ganache worked perfectly using proper chocolate this time! I ran out of cream halfway through so I made a sort of 'Boston cream' type filling for the rest which worked ok!

They look great!

I wanted to pass on my dairy milk melting tip too, for when that’s what you have for melting.... my granny showed me this actually. Heat water and sugar in a pan. About two tbsp water and two teaspoon granulated sugar... add this to your big dairymilk while it is melting. And use water-bath for melting, it it gentler than the microwave. It leaves the chocolate slightly soft and shiny, which i love on an eclair!

pwurple

pwurple wrote: »

They look great!

I wanted to pass on my dairy milk melting tip too, for when that’s what you have for melting.... my granny showed me this actually. Heat water and sugar in a pan. About two tbsp water and two teaspoon granulated sugar... add this to your big dairymilk while it is melting. And use water-bath for melting, it it gentler than the microwave. It leaves the chocolate slightly soft and shiny, which i love on an eclair!

Ah great, I distinctly remember making chocolate biscuit cake with dairy milk before so I was wondering how it was possible! Thanks

Was at a great wedding yesterday, and feeling a bit hungover (Not helped by my daughter wanting to play at 6am), so today is all about the heavy bready foods.

Did some chocolate banana bread here, have some more of the ballymaloe treacle brown bread to go in the oven, and I think we'll order in a mad greasy pizza later.

RacoonQueen

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I used to use theirs but have started using the Lily O'Briens 'buttons' which are tastier and work out cheaper then the Lidl/Aldi chocolate.
https://lilyobriens.ie/all-chocolates/by-type/baking/chocolate-drops-for-baking-assortment

I've never paid 20€ for both bags as there is always some sort of 'offer' on. They do a pop-up shop in Kildare village at christmas and easter too so you can save on postage (if any, there is always something else to buy too on their site ). I think even at €20 for 1kg if works out cheaper than 8 x lidl/aldi 125g bars?
I still buy the odd bit of lidl/aldi stuff but the main buik stuff I make with choc (brownies, choc biscuit cake) is better with the Lily O'Briens

Lily's are doing 30% off for Black Friday with the code BLACK30; just bought 2x baking chocolate bundles (4kg! ) and a box of 24 chocolates for my OH's mother's bday all for €35 with free delivery! That should see me through my Christmas baking anyway

Thanks again for the tip RacoonQueen!

missmatty

Thanks a mill RacoonQueen, I just ordered two of the twin bundles (ie 4 big boxes of chocs) for 28e which is brilliant. I'm giving them to our sections in work with a thank you card for their card & huge gift for our wedding so hopefully there will be happy faces all round!

Gloomtastic!

Little G! No.1 had a cupcake challenge in Home Economics last week. These are just a few of what she had left ie brought home.

She won!

RacoonQueen

Deleted User wrote: »

Lily's are doing 30% off for Black Friday with the code BLACK30; just bought 2x baking chocolate bundles (4kg! ) and a box of 24 chocolates for my OH's mother's bday all for €35 with free delivery! That should see me through my Christmas baking anyway

Thanks again for the tip RacoonQueen!

missmatty wrote: »

Thanks a mill RacoonQueen, I just ordered two of the twin bundles (ie 4 big boxes of chocs) for 28e which is brilliant. I'm giving them to our sections in work with a thank you card for their card & huge gift for our wedding so hopefully there will be happy faces all round!

I need to remember to go in on Fri (pay day) and get more

I got their advent calendar in my last order. CAN NOT WAIT TILL DECEMBER 1st!!!

banoffe2

your scones look very tasty and pleasing to the eye Dónal any chance you could post the magic potion please!

banoffe2

banoffe2 wrote: »

your scones look very tasty and pleasing to the eye D any chance you could post the magic potion please!

Last recipe I made was this, with 75g of currents added.

http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/baking/devonshire-scones

My wife bought me a packet of dime (daim) bars from Ikea during the week, so rather than me eating them all I made them into Dime (Daim) Blondies.

Michellenman

^^ now there's an idea!!

It's movember Friday in work tomorrrow so made some vanilla shortbread and topped them with water icing. First time trying the outline icing and then pooling the centre with a thinner consistency and it worked well!

Made this Nutella swirl bread last night. Delicious as breakfast this morning. The bread itself is really soft and fluffy, like a cross between bread and cake!

confusticated

That looks amazing piratequeen, any chance of the recipe?

confusticated

confusticated wrote: »

That looks amazing piratequeen, any chance of the recipe?

https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/chocolate-twist-loaf

^ that's the recipe I followed, although I ended up having to add a lot of extra flour when making the dough. Not sure if an error in the recipe or if I made a mistake when measuring!

Edit: oh and I skipped the glaze part of the recipe, I tried making it but it cooled too fast and solidified so I threw it out. I don't think it needs it tbh!

dee_mc

So I tried Nigella's Emergency Brownies (linked above but here it is again https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/emergency_brownies_43976)
Obviously, this being a baking emergency, I didn't have exactly the right size tin (a few cm bigger than it should've been), had to use soft dark instead of soft light brown sugar, and I had no walnuts so used pecans instead.
They're easy to make but a tiny bit faffy (2 bowls and a small saucepan on the go; some things measured by weight and some using spoons).
Turned out really nice, although I would say if, like me, you're using a larger tin, you need to make sure you get them out of the oven as soon as they begin to look a bit dry around the edges - mine are a bit on the thin side, and definitely leaning slightly more towards dry and set than gooey and super-moist.
Oh, and IMO half the quantity of nuts would be plenty if, like me, you're here for the chocolate!
It's a nice recipe and I'll be picking up some little foil trays for the next time!

Shenshen

Christmas is approaching, and I can't deny my German nature. I started the first batch of Plaetzchen (christmas cookies) yesterday - the pic shows only 2 racks, but there are actually 2 more I couldn't fit into the picture.
I'll be doing at lest 2 other kinds over the next few weekends, possibly more.

French_Girl

Shenshen, wow!
Just wow.
Looks like something out of 'How to do Instagram like a boss' manual. ðŸ˜

Michellenman

Shenshen wrote: »

Christmas is approaching, and I can't deny my German nature. I started the first batch of Plaetzchen (christmas cookies) yesterday - the pic shows only 2 racks, but there are actually 2 more I couldn't fit into the picture.
I'll be doing at lest 2 other kinds over the next few weekends, possibly more.

Unbelievable! Any chance of the recipe? How long do they keep for?

Shenshen

Michellenman wrote: »

Unbelievable! Any chance of the recipe? How long do they keep for?

Sure, it's pretty straight forward:

350g of flour
200g of grated almonds
200g of cold butter
200g of sugar
2 - 3 tbsp of cold water
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ground cloves

Jam of choice for sticking them together (I used home-made raspberry, blackberry and Amaretto jam, but any jam will do, really)
Icing sugar for the top

Mix all the ingredients to form a shortcrust pastry. Roll out (if, like me, you don't have an industrial-size kitchen, you can roll out maybe a quarter of it first) and cut the shapes. Line a baking tray with baking paper, then put the stars on them. Bake at 200 degrees for around 7 - 8 minutes (you only want them slightly brown round the edges).
Put half of your stars upside down on a cooling rack, and place a little bit of jam in the middle of each. Then place the others on top, and press down very gently to spread the jam out a bit.
Repeat this until all your pastry is used up.
Once they're all cooled down, sieve ca 1-2 tbsp of icing sugar over the top of them.

They will keep a few weeks if you hide them well. They will intensify in taste, but go slightly soft and cake-like. So if you want them with a snap, you need to eat them straight away.

Wow Shenshen they look amazing! Im definitely going to give them a try.

I've actually been thinking about making lebkuchen. I think that's what they're called. I've only had shop bought ones but I really like them. Would you have a recipe for them by any chance?

Shenshen

Deleted User wrote: »

Wow Shenshen they look amazing! Im definitely going to give them a try.

I've actually been thinking about making lebkuchen. I think that's what they're called. I've only had shop bought ones but I really like them. Would you have a recipe for them by any chance?

I'm afraid not. My grandmother makes them, but my mom doesn't, so I haven't really had any first-hand experience.
The thing about them is that you need to start preparing them at the end of October, the mixture takes a long time to mature. And you need a rather odd ingredient called "Hirschhornsalz" (literally : stag horn salt), which google tells me is ammonium carbonate. Not sure where I could pick that up around here.

Shenshen

Shenshen wrote: »

I'm afraid not. My grandmother makes them, but my mom doesn't, so I haven't really had any first-hand experience.
The thing about them is that you need to start preparing them at the end of October, the mixture takes a long time to mature. And you need a rather odd ingredient called "Hirschhornsalz" (literally : stag horn salt), which google tells me is ammonium carbonate. Not sure where I could pick that up around here.

Oh really? Ha shows how much I know. I guess I'll put that on hold until next year then! Thanks for getting back to me. I'll try those lovely stars you shared instead

Shenshen

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh really? Ha shows how much I know. I guess I'll put that on hold until next year then! Thanks for getting back to me. I'll try those lovely stars you shared instead

Happy baking!
I promise I'll post pictures of the next lot, too

RacoonQueen

Finally made my christmas cakes last night...one of the main reasons I hadn't made them was because I thought I'd run out of nutmeg, finally remembered to buy some at the weekend and opened the press to get the mixed spice and saw enough nutmeg left in the jar to make christmas cake... :rolleyes:
Apartment still smells like Christmas this morning though.

arian

Ammonium Carbonate

Lots on Ebay, but dunno about postage.

The Wiki page on it is interesting (well, maybe ); amongst other things, the ammonium carbonate now sold for baking no longer contains any ammonium carbonate

Cocksy

i just made chocolate cookies

Latest attempt to get my daughter to eat more veg: brown bread with carrots, courgettes and red onion

Banana bread with mixed berries and a lemon glaze

RacoonQueen

Flour free choc orange cupcakes with whipped choc orange ganache today...I originally piped these but it is actually years since I last piped and they were a mess piped, especially since they were flour free as a couple of them sank...so spread the ganache instead.
Nice and airy cupcake. Nice and airy frosting. Rich with all the dark choc but nice undertone of orange from the orange zest to take away from the darkness of the choc.
Definitely making these again. Need more practise piping sure.

Not really happy with how these look, but long, long time since I made cupcakes of any kind.



Also have crunchie fudge in the fridge, will photo that tomorrow.

Shenshen

On Sunday, I made the second batch of German christmas cookies : Vanilla crescents.
Now, these are kind of absolutely essential. While every German family has different types pf cookies/biscuits they make, I don't honestly know of one that would even consider christmas without these.

LirW

VANILLEKIPFERL

I'm gonna start making mine in 10 days or so. The only thing I'd do different is using powdered sugar to coat them in.

Also planning on Husarenkrapferl, Kokosbusserl and something with chocolate, undecided what though. Oh and maybe Linzer stars.

Shenshen

LirW wrote: »

VANILLEKIPFERL

I'm gonna start making mine in 10 days or so. The only thing I'd do different is using powdered sugar to coat them in.

Also planning on Husarenkrapferl, Kokosbusserl and something with chocolate, undecided what though. Oh and maybe Linzer stars.

Ah, the Austrian way My grandmother from the Waldviertel would make them the same way, but my gran from Northern Bavaria (and my mom) always made them with crystal sugar.

Husarenkrapferl are on my list, too
I've already made Hildatoertchen (similar to Linzer Stars, I think), and I'm thinking of making a similar pastry, but with grated pecan nuts, and sticking them together with Nutella. Not yet sure what I'll call those, I don't think they exist yet

RacoonQueen

Where do we get a recipe for them, the look lovely.

Here we have experimental Cadbury Crunchie spread fudge. So bloody delicious.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

All these traditional German things look amazing.

There aren't any traditional Irish Christmas baking things, are there?

RacoonQueen

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Where do we get a recipe for them, the look lovely.

Here we have experimental Cadbury Crunchie spread fudge. So bloody delicious.

Oooh looks incredible! Could you post the fudge recipe please?

Shenshen

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Where do we get a recipe for them, the look lovely.

This is pretty close to the ones I made. Only I don't use powdered sugar to coat them, though, just regular vanilla sugar.
You can make that by getting a vanilla bean, cutting it open, getting the seeds out and mixing them with caster sugar in a sealable jar. I usually also shove the husk in, that's got flavour, too, after all.
You need to let that infuse for a good few days (weeks, if you have them). Then you can take the husk out and the sugar will have an amazing vanilla aroma.

RacoonQueen

Dónal wrote: »

Oooh looks incredible! Could you post the fudge recipe please?

1 x tin condensed milk
200g milk choc
100-150g crunchie spread
25g butter (I used salted but unsalted will work too)
125g icing sugar
vanilla extract

Melt condensed milk, choc, spread and butter together until all melted - I used a saucepan but I guess you can use mircrowave too
beat in the icing sugar and vanilla extract..make sure icing sugar is sifted
Into a lined tin and into the fridge

Mine was in fridge for ~24 hours before cutting. Could probably have done with a little less spread as it is a wee bit soft but it is still delicious.

Few broken up bits of crunchie would be nice in there too as only some small pieces in the spread

CastielJ

yeah chicken with apples and potatoes

Space Dog

I have cravings for Weihnachtsplätzchen now thanks to Shenshen's pictures, Vaillekipferl and Hildaplätzchen are my faves, too. I also love Heidesand and Spritzgebackenes, I hope my mother will make some for when I'm going home!

RacoonQueen

Choc caramel torte, theres a thick layer of caramel in there somewhere too....
That's it for me now while I finish off the christmas stuff....

Tree

Baked a bunch of different cookies lately. Plain with chocolate chip. Peanut butter with chocolate chip. Pictured: ginger cookies (less than 30min out of the oven and there's a few missing already...)

Wife forgot that a friend is coming over tomorrow, so a few quickfire scones were on the cards

joombo

At the moment, there are cheesecakes in the oven. Later today it will be bagels, empanadas, and if I'm feeling special, a mandarine chiffon cake.

Cocksy

i baked potatoes with bacon and cheese

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone here has made/is planning on baking for some of their Christmas gifts this year. I'm planning on baking for a few of my presents as it's a bit more personal (and I hate shopping!). Looking for ideas- I'm planning on biscuits and fudge but I'd like to include something like truffles either? Ideally something that will keep a little while and doesn't need to be eaten straight away. Most truffle recipes I've seen need to be kept in the fridge and only for a few days.

Cocksy

baked pizza

pigtail33

Deleted User wrote: »

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone here has made/is planning on baking for some of their Christmas gifts this year. I'm planning on baking for a few of my presents as it's a bit more personal (and I hate shopping!). Looking for ideas- I'm planning on biscuits and fudge but I'd like to include something like truffles either? Ideally something that will keep a little while and doesn't need to be eaten straight away. Most truffle recipes I've seen need to be kept in the fridge and only for a few days.

Although not truffles, I can definitely recommend these https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8022/fruity-christmas-biscotti
They last weeks, once kept airtight and look lovely in little cellophane bags. And the recipe makes loads!

CastielJ

french bread with chicken cheese inside

Sinister Kid

Cornbread... simple & delish