Breaking the Canines

26 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by lewstories in Food, Photography

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Baking, Cinnamon rolls, cooking failures, Great grandmother, Rollemups

Well, strike two. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Instead of a cinnamon roll type dessert, I created……….

………..doorstops.

I thought it might be my using Almond Milk instead of regular cow’s milk; but the internet tells me it should not make a difference. And it knows everything!

I supposed I could try again with regular milk just to see.

Again, following the recipe precisely, I did not have “dough” to roll out. I had liquid. And this is a different recipe, so it must be me. Adding enough flour to make it dough made it too tough to eat. Even my dog, Murray, had trouble getting these down – and he eats tin cans.

Oh well. My main objective in this project are the photographs – but with food you, want them to at least LOOK like they taste good. These fall short of that goal, I’m afraid.

I also used regular all purpose flour this time, vs. the gluten-free flour I have been using. Still screwed it up.

Rollemups

2 cups flour
1/3 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 cup milk (I bet that’s too much)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in butter and then add sugar and mix until soft.

(Maybe I should have beaten this with the kitchen aid mixer. Hmmm. I just cut in the butter and stirred in the sugar)

Add milk and egg. Roll 1/2 inch thick on floured board or wax paper. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. (Extra brown sugar??? The card does not specify. . . so I did.)

Roll into a long roll, press edges tightly together and cut into 3/4 inch slices. Lay slices cut side down on greased pan. (I used parchment paper)

Bake about 20 minutes in a “quick oven.”

I did finally look up what, “Cook in a quick oven vs. slow oven,” means.

Here’s Wikipedia’s chart on oven temperatures:

Cool oven – 200F / 90C
Very slow oven – 250F / 120C
Slow oven – 300-325F / 150-160C
Moderately slow oven – 325-350F / 160-180C
Moderate oven – 350-375F / 180-190C
Moderately hot oven – 375-400 / 190-200C
Hot oven – 400-450F / 200-230C
Very hot oven – 450-500F / 230-260C
Fast oven – 450-500F / 230-260C

Anyway, I know it’s possible to do. My great grandmother wrote this one out on an index card – so I KNOW she used this recipe.

The challenge is on to figure out what I’m doing wrong.

Dough, Grease and Powdered Sugar

24 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by lewstories in Food

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Antique recipes, Fried food, German Crullers, Southern food

This is my second attempt with my great grandmother’s cookbook, “Rumford Complete Cookbook.” Whose name I find ironic since they seem to leave a whole lot of information out of each recipe. But perhaps things that are “understood” at the time don’t get passed down with the generations. No times; no temperatures. “Fast,” “Moderate,” and “Slow” ovens is all I have to go on with these recipes.

Be that as it may, these are German Crullers. Or are supposed to be. I think I made several mistakes. The first one being, I chose the recipe in the first place. I had never heard of crullers, and decided to just wing it and go by the recipe alone. And that should be enough, but apparently it is not.

I think they are fancy doughnuts. And they are supposed to be light and flaky. I read and re-read the recipe. I did everything it said to do. It just didn’t work out.

Maybe there was a typo, but I had to alter this recipe to get the dough thick enough to roll out. After mixing everything together, the “dough” was the consistency of a milkshake. There was no “rolling out” of that. But I probably added too much flour. They are really dense, but tasty anyway.

German Crullers

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

Beat the eggs till light and mix them with the milk and butter. Sift together the flour, salt, spice and baking powder; add the sugar and blend the two mixtures. Roll out, cut into rings and fry in hot fat till golden brown. Drain well and dust with sugar.

I had to add flour / by 3 cups to get the dough thick enough to roll out. I also added another cup of sugar, as well as another teaspoon of cinnamon. I must have not beat the eggs long enough to make them “light.”

I also did not fry them in fat, which I’m sure meant Crisco. I used canola oil. Oh! And the best part – I do not have a ring cutter, so I used an upside down glass for the main cut; and then used a knife to cut a hole in the center of each one.

I burned the first batch; got grease and dough all over the kitchen, and stunk up the house with a 1970’s fried food smell. I think I’ll stick with baking deserts from now on. Joe and I are trying to cut down on cholesterol.

Side note: We actually do have Rumford Baking Powder in town. Huh. I’ve just never noticed it. Arm & Hammer, Clabber Girl and Calumet are the only ones I’ve ever heard of. I found this at Wal-Mart. Is it just me, or does $3.97 seem high for baking powder?

Coffee Layer Cake

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by lewstories in Food, Photography

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Coffee Layer Cake, Family recipes, Mocha Filling and Frosting

I have moved temporarily to my great grandmother’s cookbook – “Rumford Complete Cookbook,” published in 1908. Rumford, from the Rumford baking powder company. I’ve never heard of Rumford baking powder. I’ve always used Calumet. Perhaps I just never noticed it in the store.

At any rate, this cookbook was originally my great grandmother’s mother’s book – so my great great grandmother’s. I wanted to start trying these recipes just to see if they were as good as our recipes today. This is my first attempt, and it is pretty good. However, it calls for molasses which gives the cake a more spice cake flavor vs. the coffee taste I was expecting. But it is still really good.

The challenge in using these old recipes is the instructions. The assumptions are different today, so there is some guesswork involved. I will type the instructions verbatim, but also add what I ended up doing.

Coffee Layer Cake

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup mollasses
1/2 cup made coffee
2 cups flour (I used gluten-free all purpose flour – with xanthan gum to keep flour together. The package says to use 1/2 teaspoon per cup of flour for cakes)
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices (Mixed spices???? I used what I had – apple pie spice – which yesterday I thought said, “Apple Allspice.” Typical. Note to self: pick up some allspice at the store.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Rumford baking powder (I used Calumet)

Beat the butter and sugar till creamy; add the eggs, then the molasses and coffee and, lastly, the flour, salt, spices and baking powder sifted together. Bake in layers about twenty minutes, and put together with frosting.

At the beginning of the cake chapter, it said most cakes require a moderately hot oven, but should not bake too quickly at first. As soon as the cake has risen well, the heat may be increased a little to give it a good crust. SO, I started with 350 degrees and then bumped it up to about 375 after the cake rose and got a little firm.

Oh, and here’s my favorite part. The instructions said to test the doneness of the cake with a broom straw. A BROOM straw???? I hope the assumption was a NEW one vs. one from the one you use on the floor.

I used a toothpick, thank you.

And miraculously it finished baking after 20 minutes. Which I found amazing because my oven it not very accurate with the temperature.

Mocha Filling and Frosting

6 tablespoons butter
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 tablespoons dry cocoa
3 tablespoons liquid coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the butter to a cream, adding one cup of the sugar; then sift and add the cocoa. Beat well, put in the coffee and remaining sugar, and then the vanilla. Spread between and on top of the layers of cake.

Nibby Nut and Raisin Cookies

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by lewstories in Food, Photography

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Chocolate chips, Cookies, food photography, Ghirardelli, Nibs

I made some cookies yesterday that were not from one of my great grandmother’s recipes ( the photo project I’m currently working on ); but I liked the photo so much, I decided to include it here.

I had never heard of a cocoa nibs, (bits similar to crushed coffee beans) so I had to look it up. And of course I did not have any, so I settled for the only thing I had – Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips. I also didn’t have any raisins, so I used craisins. So I have no idea if the cookies taste anything like what they are supposed to, but they’re pretty good. But then again, it’s hard to mess up a cookie.

Nibby Nut and Raisin Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter melted and still warm
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa nibs
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 cup dried currants or raisins

Mix flour and baking soda together and set aside.

In large bowl, combine the melted butter, sugars and salt. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened, then stir in the nibs, nuts and currants. If possible, cover and chill overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator and let soften while the oven preheats to 375 degrees. Scoop up level tablespoons of dough and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake between 8 and 10 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and no longer look wet on top. Use a metal turner to transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Photos and migraines

~ a blog in search of creativity

Monthly Archives: June 2014

Breaking the Canines

Dough, Grease and Powdered Sugar

Coffee Layer Cake

Nibby Nut and Raisin Cookies

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