Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[JRandomFreeper]

LOL! They taught two basic things at both of the culinary schools I graduated from.

1) A falling knife has no handle.

2) There are no chairs in commercial kitchens.

I've lived with both those rules and rarely get cut. I will break the chair rule. ;)

/johnny

[kalee]

My mother made that when I was a little girl.

[kalee]

My mother-in-law was Texan, 4th generation born and raised, and she said it that way.

[Daffynition]

We used to use butter cream frosting.....FYI....When you make the *ears* the oil from the frosting *creeps* up the ears, so we used to wrap the end of the ear that you poke into the area behind the cupcake with a little bit of clear plastic wrap. Problem solved.

Maybe, if you had access to a coated white bakery box, that wouldn't happen. :)

[kalee]

My grandmother used to put flour frosting on her red velvet cakes.

[kalee]

Hope you like it! It’s my favorite!

[kalee]

Hope you like it!

[Daffynition]

Time to pass the tradition on to your *grands.* Great fun. :)

[NorthstarMom]

Thanks. I’ve followed the Weston Price school of thought for about 10 years, so already eat pretty well. I need to get back to raw milk, it’s so time consuming to get it, but I know it’s worth it.

[greeneyes]

I love carrot cake! Will I ever make it? Probably not, because then I would eat it and I need to loose weight to help get my Blood Pressure under control. Also, I don’t like grating anything, although I sometimes do it to make hash browns.

This weeks treats are 1 butter finger bites and 1 Tablespoon peanut butter on a cracker per day-that about 100 calories.

[greeneyes]

If I think about it, I say wash. If I’m not paying attention I revert to warsh. Grew up in Hillbilly country. LOL.

[greeneyes]

I have about 80 extra pounds, that I wish I could give you! Glad to hear you are able to gain some pounds.

[doorgunner69]

"I could really use some help deciding which blu-ray player to buy. lol."

Cheapest Sony at Costco.

Enought hijackin already!

[pugmama]

I am a big fan of using olive oil in cakes. This is a nice recipe. i serve it with a fruit compote and maybe some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Maialino’s Olive Oil Cake from Food52.

Olive oil cake at its best has a crackling crust and an aromatic oil-rich middle, which, if it held any more moisture, would be pudding. Pulling this off should be easy — there aren’t even egg whites to whip and fold, or butter to cream — but it isn’t always. This one, however, is perfect, and will ruin you for all others.
Recipe from Maialino Restaurant in New York City. Maialino also serves it at breakfast in muffin form, and they’ve been known to turn it into a birthday cake, layered with mascarpone buttercream.

Makes a 9-inch round cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup Grand Marnier

Heat the oven to 350° F. Oil, butter, or spray a 9-inch cake pan that is at least 2 inches deep with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. (If your cake pan is less than 2 inches deep, divide between 2 pans and start checking for doneness at 30 minutes.)
In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder. In another bowl, whisk the olive oil, milk, eggs, orange zest and juice and Grand Marnier. Add the dry ingredients; whisk until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, until the top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and let cool for 30 minutes.
Run a knife around the edge of the pan, invert the cake onto the rack and let cool completely, 2 hours.

[pugmama]

This recipe gets requested every time I make it.

Pecan Pie Cheesecake

1 store bought 1 lb pecan pie ( I used Trader Joe’s pie)
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half and half (I used whipping cream)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
2 T. flour
20 pecan halves

Preheat oven to 325F.
Cut pecan pie into 10 pieces. I just used the insides of the pie-left off crust and top hang of the crust.
Stir together graham cracker crumbs and next 3 ingredients; press mixture onto
bottom and 11/2 inches up sides of a 10 inch spring form pan.
Arrange 10 pecan pie wedges in a spoke design in prepared pan, placing 1 cut side of each wedge
on graham crust with narrow end towards center of pan.
Beat cream cheese until smooth; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
Add sour cream, half-and-half, and vanilla; beat until blended. Fold in powdered sugar
and flour. Carefully pour cream cheese mixture evenly around and over pecan pie wedges in pan, making sure wedges remain in place. Arrange pecan halves evenly around edge and center.
Bake at 325F for 50 minutes. Turn off oven, and let cheesecake stand in oven 1 hour.
Remove to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Chill at least 8 hours or
overnight before serving.

I bought candied pecans from Trader Joes and added them on the top of the cheesecake after it was baked.
I also got some store bought caramel sauce, heated it and put in a plastic squeeze top container. I did a design on the top of the cake with this warm sauce and anchored the pecans with this sauce.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

Or if you’re like me and are easily distracted, you can make Dulche de Leche in the Crock Pot, and save the walls!

Crock Pot Dulce de Leche

Open 2 - 14 oz. cans of sweetened condensed milk and pour into three half pint canning jars, dividing evenly. Put on lids and rings.
Place jars into a crock pot.
Fill crock pot with water so that it covers the top of the jars.
Turn crock pot onto low and set timer for 10 hours.
After 10 hours and remove jars from crock pot.
Open the lid and grab a spoon!

[libertarian27]

I love carrot cake! Will I ever make it? Probably not, because then I would eat it.....

I hear you with that!
I steer away from cakes and make cupcakes instead...
I tell DH to "Get these things out of the house" and bring them to work....but we'll still have a few for a couple of days at the house.
It's easier to give-out cupcakes than cake. If I do make a cake the whole thing sits there on the counter, taunting us to finish the whole thing, with vigor.
It's usually; keep 6 cupcakes - get rid of 18.
1 Cake = 24 Cupcakes

[NorthstarMom]

Probably more people move to Minnesota from Iowa than from Texas and that limits my exposure. It was just one more way to mock Iowa ;).

[smokingfrog]

Costco has pretty good carrot cake too.

WiFi or no WiFi?

[Trillian]

Carrot Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
For the Cake:
2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cup shredded carrots
1 cup Fisher Chopped Pecans

For the Filling:
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

For the frosting:
4oz cream cheese, softened
3 Tbsp milk
2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Fisher Chopped Pecans

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan generously with baking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combined all the ingredients for the cake, mixing until well combined. Batter will be very thick! Set aside.

For the filling, beat cream cheese with sugar, vanilla and egg until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

To assemble, fill bottom of sprayed bundt pan with about 3/4 of the batter. Spoon the cream cheese into the pan, being careful not to let it touch the sides of the pan. Spoon the remaining batter over the cream cheese layer. It’s okay if it doesn’t cover completely.

Bake cake in a preheated oven for 60-65 minutes. Cake will be browned and will pull away from the pan when done. Remove from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.
Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, beat cream cheese, milk and powdered sugar together until smooth and creamy. Pour frosting into a large ziploc bag and snip off the corner. Pipe onto cake, generously. Sprinkle immediately with chopped pecans.