Baked anything tasty lately?

woodchuck

reap-a-rat wrote: »

Woodchuck, TheKBizzle and anyone else who does scones - any tips for a good rise? Mine taste lovely, bit they are always a bit flat. I actually don't mind that but it annoys me that while they taste good, they don't look sconey enough.

I always wonder what it is I'm doing wrong and one thing is maybe I'm not rolling it thick enough - how high is the rolled dough for you guys before you cut?

I don't think I do anything in particular. I use self raising flour and don't add any extra raising agents. I do take a lot of time and care turning the mixture into "breadcrumbs" before making the dough though and make sure to lift it up into the air with my fingertips when I'm working the butter to get it light and aerated. I cut mine roughly a half an inch to an inch thick, but the ones I make are smaller than average (I use a little juice glass to cut out the circles!).

I think you're meant to chill the dough, but I usually forget to do that I make sure not to overwork the dough though and I think that helps. I use the leftover bits of dough to make more, but the last ones never turn out as well as the first ones and I'm assuming that's because those bits of dough have become overworked.

phormium

Scones must be cut high, they will not rise as much as you think they will, I cut them to the depth of the scone cutter which is about inch and a half or so. I don't even use a rolling pin as it's too easy to roll them too thin, just pat the mix down a little.

I spent many summers showing new staff how to make scones, invariably they rolled them out too thin and expected miracles in the oven Start high!

sporina

"I make sure not to overwork the dough though and I think that helps"

the above x 10... makes all the difference.. hence I could never match my Mum's scones.. I am too heavy handed whereas she is light..

phormium

Yes there should be no working of the dough as such, you pour in liquid and use the blade of a knife to just mix it around until it sticks together, 3 or 4 stirs is all it should take, then dump it out and just gather into a ball and pat down. No kneading or anything like that needed.

I actually form it into a long sausage rather than a ball shape, about the width of what will be one scone, patted slightly to good thickness, cut out the scones then just push in both long strips that are left along the side of the cut outs against each other, the cut edges stick, flip it sideways and you have another length to cut a few more from.

You can't keep gathering together scraps and re-rolling them or they will tough as hell. I just do the two cuts, original one and second one from those leftovers, anything left after that I just squish gently into the scone cutter to form shape of another scone or two and push out through cutter, these are the cooks ones

TheKBizzle

Few early morning bakes. Scones, porridge bread and some vegan sausage rolls...

sporina

TheKBizzle wrote: »

Few early morning bakes. Scones, porridge bread and some vegan sausage rolls...

fair play - all looks great - esp the sausage rolls.. hmm hmm.. i want one

reap-a-rat

Thanks for all the scone tips! I've a few in the oven now and yeah I think I was expecting miracles in the oven as someone said - I just needed to cut them thicker!

I didn't use a rolling pin and there's a few cracks appearing so I might use the pin the next time for even tops but the rise is looking great!

Thanks everyone (I'll post pics when I get a perfect batch).

woodchuck

Coffee slices

Dizzyblonde

They look delicious

woodchuck

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

They look delicious

Thanks! It was just using puff pastry from the supermarket. Our work organised a virtual cooking class last night, but I had technical issues dialling in. I missed the part where you're supposed to preheat the oven, so ended up being 15mins behind everyone else and trying to bake these and cook a Thai green curry at the same time Luckily nothing spicy ended up in the dessert by mistake!

But I made my icing and had to leave it to one side before spreading it on the coffee slices (while taking care of the curry) and of course it went hard. Luckily I was able to rescue it with a splash of boiling water and remix it into something spreadable.

They'd be easy enough to make under normal circumstances, but the stress of last night!!

ellejay

woodchuck wrote: »

Thanks! It was just using puff pastry from the supermarket. Our work organised a virtual cooking class last night, but I had technical issues dialling in. I missed the part where you're supposed to preheat the oven, so ended up being 15mins behind everyone else and trying to bake these and cook a Thai green curry at the same time Luckily nothing spicy ended up in the dessert by mistake!

But I made my icing and had to leave it to one side before spreading it on the coffee slices (while taking care of the curry) and of course it went hard. Luckily I was able to rescue it with a splash of boiling water and remix it into something spreadable.

They'd be easy enough to make under normal circumstances, but the stress of last night!!

They look gorgeous!!
Could you post the recipe please / steps please.

Gloomtastic!

woodchuck wrote: »

Coffee slices

I think coffee slices are my favorite bake.
You should see the size of slices in Nolans in Clontarf, mostly cream. My Friday treat.

woodchuck

ellejay wrote: »

They look gorgeous!!
Could you post the recipe please / steps please.

No problem!

Ingredients:
Ready-to-roll Puff Pastry (I got a pack from Tesco and only needed to use half of it to make 4 decent sized coffee slices with a little left over)
250ml cream
1-2 tbsp icing sugar
Raspberry jam

Ingredients for the coffee glaze:
1-2 tbsp boiling hot strong coffee
25g butter
100g icing sugar, sieved

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200°C (I wasn't sure if this was meant for fan assist or not... I went for 190C fan to be safe).
2. Cut pastry into 8 even strips (approx 9cm x 5cm each).
3. Place the pastry strips on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the pastry with a second sheet of parchment paper and weight it down by resting another baking sheet on top (to prevent the pastry puffing up). Bake in the preheated oven for ~15 minutes until golden and risen (the top layer of parchment and baking tray can be removed for the last 5 minutes of baking to help give a golden colour to the pastry). Remove from the oven and allow to cool, transfer onto a wire rack after 5 minutes.
4. Whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks. Stir in 1-2 tablespoon of icing sugar to sweeten the cream to your taste (I added the icing sugar before whisking)
5. For the coffee glaze: add the butter into the hot coffee and stir until fully melted (alternatively briefly microwave, until the butter melts). Stir in the sieved icing sugar to create a smooth thick liquid glaze, whisk to remove any lumps and add more hot water if the mixture is too stiff. Set aside to cool slightly.
6. To assemble the coffee slices, spread half the baked pastry strips with a layer of jam. Spread whipped cream evenly over the jam.
7. Lastly, spread coffee glaze over the remaining strips and place them over the cream (coffee side facing upwards). Transfer to the refrigerator for the icing to set and until ready to serve.

Michellenman

Cake for what should have been our wedding yesterday

I’m not brave enough to bake my own for the actual wedding

Vanilla sponge made using the reverse creaming method. Gives a great finished texture and crumb.

Filling and covered in a whipped white chocolate ganache.

mvl

Prinsesstårta and Rapsberry Charlotte - first tries ...







Do have a question perhaps someone here can help: any recommendation to where I could buy edible flowers (online Irish sources preferred) ?

phormium

For edible flowers bumblebeeflowerfarm.ie

uiolfg

Looks too perfect

Gloomtastic!

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I think coffee slices are my favorite bake.
You should see the size of slices in Nolans in Clontarf, mostly cream. My Friday treat.

Heart-attacks-waiting-to-happen!

youngblood

Anyone have a goto recipe for Keylime Pie?

jellybear

Pavlova

First time making it and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out.
Apologies for the crappy pic!

Caranica

Cinnamon twists. Barely count as baking. Ready rolled in puff pastry, 50g of sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon. So easy. Need to work on my twisting technique and get the egg wash more even.

So delicious, perfect with coffee.

JustAThought

I have to say since IKEA closed I really miss my occasional trip for free coffee and 50p cinamon bun. Or a microwaved ready made packs of mini cinamon buns on from their food ‘hall’. Sighs.

I made rice for sushi yesterday, left it to simmer, sat in the garden in the sun and remembered it an hour later when it was a flat brown rice saucepan shaped pancake! Had it for ‘dinner’ with seeet chili dip sauce poured all over it & kippers. Not the best but not the absolute worse ‘meal’ ever.

Looking forward to better things tonight - if I remember!!!! Roll on restaurant openings.

the beer revolu

JustAThought wrote: »

I have to say since IKEA closed I really miss my occasional trip for free coffee and 50p cinamon bun. Or a microwaved ready made packs of mini cinamon buns on from their food ‘hall’. Sighs.

I made rice for sushi yesterday, left it to simmer, sat in the garden in the sun and remembered it an hour later when it was a flat brown rice saucepan shaped pancake! Had it for ‘dinner’ with seeet chili dip sauce poured all over it & kippers. Not the best but not the absolute worse ‘meal’ ever.

Looking forward to better things tonight - if I remember!!!! Roll on restaurant openings.

I never, ever put on rice without a timer.

I may be guilty of, on occasion, turning off the timer but leaving the gas on under the rice!

JustAThought

the beer revolu wrote: »

I never, ever put on rice without a timer.

I may be guilty of, on occasion, turning off the timer but leaving the gas on under the rice!

If I stay in the kitxhen I have a hope - I do the dishes or something to keep me rooted to the area buy it’s often touch and go! I once kept watching a pavlova and waited about an extra hour for it to cook properly and go brown!!! Total brain baking fog!!! My worst was probably when I put on the expresso thing on the gas hob and went out for the day!! I came home to a smell of expresso and metal and the gadget had literally melted into ash and a fused cone of pointed metal above the still lit gas. I didn’t even come home because I’d remembered - I TOTALLY forgot. I shudder to think of what wpuld have happened if the gas light had blown out or been smothered by the ash - I would literally have been blown away in a gas fireball when I switched on the light or another hob :0

Guardian angel working overtime!!


So far today I’ve scrambled eggs with fresh dill and buttery toasted bagels - safe bet & still delicious!

conor_ie

I've made a load of chocolate chunk and mixed nut cookie dough and stuck it in the freezer.. handy to have in case we have people calling!

I was watching telly over the weekend and spotted Nadiya Hussein making this..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/crispy_chocolate_and_87547

It does look amazing!

tickingclock

conor_ie wrote: »

I've made a load of chocolate chunk and mixed nut cookie dough and stuck it in the freezer.. handy to have in case we have people calling!

I was watching telly over the weekend and spotted Nadiya Hussein making this..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/crispy_chocolate_and_87547

It does look amazing!

I love recipes like that that don't have a huge list of ingredients. I'm making it today. I love crisps so it'll be interesting. Thanks for the recipe

conor_ie

tickingclock wrote: »

I love recipes like that that don't have a huge list of ingredients. I'm making it today. I love crisps so it'll be interesting. Thanks for the recipe

I'm not a fan of dark chocolate so when I get round to making it, it will be with milk chocolate!

Make sure to post pics!

Dizzyblonde

youngblood wrote: »

Anyone have a goto recipe for Keylime Pie?

This is the recipe my daughter uses and it's really lovely.

300g Hob Nobs
150g butter, melted
1 x 397g tin condensed milk
3 medium egg yolks
finely grated zest and juice of 4 limes
300ml double cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
extra lime zest, to decorate

Preheat oven to 160ºC (140ºC if it’s a fan oven) Bash the hob nobs until a fine crumb, mix with melted butter and then use a glass/spoon to press it into a 22cm tart tin (I used 24cm. I’m just crazy like that). Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and cool.

In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks for 1 minute. Add the condensed milk and whisk for a 3 minutes. Finally add the juice and zest of the limes and whisk for a further 3 minutes. Fill your base with the lovely lime-y goodness and pop it back into the oven for 15 minutes.

Cool in the tin and then place in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving. Whip double cream and spread in a disc shape in the middle of the pie before serving. Optionally sprinkle with some extra lime zest.

youngblood

https://imgur.com/ASGwa0C

I used that exact recipe
Got it from BBC
tasty & would def recommend

Dizzyblonde

I didn't bake this, my daughter did for Mr Dizzy's birthday yesterday. It's a cherry bakewell tart and it was fabulous, I'd highly recommend the recipe

http://makesbakesanddecor.com/recipe/cherry-bakewell-tart/