Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

Busy week here, so I'm just posting a couple of links to Fancy Desserts. Please post your own favorite!

Back in the 90s, I found this 'Chocolate Truffle Loaf with Raspberry Sauce' in a magazine ad. There are many versions of it now, but this one is the exact recipe I've used for years; it's not difficult, and makes an elegant, do-ahead dessert for a dinner party:

http://www.kraftcanada.com/recipes/bakers-chocolate-truffle-loaf-84706

I once made an alligator cake for a kid's birthday party. It was made by using several pans of different shapes, and cutting the cake up to create the critter - I remember it had candy corn for teeth, and was so long that I had difficulty finding a sturdy piece of cardboard to cover with foil and carry it on.

But if I were doing a 'kid cake' today, I'd try this cute little cyclops 'Minion' cake:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/how-to/tipslibrary/baking-tips/despicable-me-minion-sheet-cake

[Jamestown1630]

Well, I think when I say ‘fancy’, I mostly mean presentation.
Good food is good food, and one of the most wonderful party desserts I’ve had was a peanut-butter pie that a friend made.

-JT

[Hardens Hollow]

Same here - I’m not big into decorating or spending a lit of time making things look pretty. But I admire those with the skills.

[Stand Watch Listen]

CARAMEL APPLE PIE

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (glass pie pan to avoid spillage)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water (less 1 tsp because of added vanilla)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• pinch cloves
• 1/4 cup water (less 1 tsp because of added vanillla)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed LIGHT brown sugar
• 5 Granny Smith, 3 Honeycrisp (medium sized) apples - peeled, cored and all thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F’. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Use eggs whites to coat bottom...bake for 5-8 minutes (to prevent soggy crust). .
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Use 2/3 of caramel syrup to coat apples. mounded slightly. Cover with prepared strips for lattice work crust. Use remaining 1/3 syrup to brush on lattice crust.
3. Place middle of oven…Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F’. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft When pie is almost done lightly sprinkle lattice with sugar
Hints/Options:
• keep syrup warm otherwise will thicken up too much Work quick and/or have someone stir syrup
• Alternative: Substitute 1 cup of apples with one cup of reconstituted ‘Craisins’
• When baking, make sure to cover the edge of the crust with aluminum foil so that it doesn't burn (it tends to with this recipe for some reason).

[Hardens Hollow]

Now that’s a fancy cake! Beautiful and the recipe is LONG.

[Roos_Girl]

Fancy, like banana puddin’ kind of fancy? :)

[JRandomFreeper]

Prayers always help and I encourage that in everyone.

Lord knows that I need them.

/johnny

[Aliska]

Hello Kitty cupcakes for me :-)

In the "queue" is a burnt sugar cake which really isn't elegant, or would you rather have a flan cake with very firm flan that doesn't have cream cheese to stiffen it up but 8 egg yolks?

The winners when I ever get to it would be these Pavlovas (and I have plenty of egg whites). My mother used to make the lemon angel one for her club and sometimes special occasions, and I learned it from her. But now the chocolate one looks delish like Silk Pie filling.

I have not cooked for guests for years, and I miss it. The best I've managed was cooking the usually pumpkin pies for family gatherings (mine are to die for if I do say so myself and my mom got the recipe from an older BH&G cookbook which I very slightly adjusted) :-). I am relearning how to make pie crust the old way and roll to perfection. I'm aiming for an all Crisco crust that rolls nice and large and doesn't crack, am getting there. They changed the Crisco formula so it doesn't taste as good as it used to imo (transfats and flavor taken out).

Oooooh, I missed this one: Raspberry Curd Pavlova:

WSJ - Raspberry Curd Pavlova

I had to go in the back door by googling because was blocked by subscription. I have these all saved in my recipe folder.

WSJ - Lemon Angel Pie and Others

Also Meringue Shell with Mixed Tropical Sorbets
Chocolate Merinque Angel Pie with gorgeous curlz lol
Mixed Berry Pavlova
Classic Meringue Shell
Pavlova Shell

Recipes and pictures for all at links. The Angel Pie I sometimes take a shortcut and use Jello Lemon Cooked Pudding and Pie Filling and fold real whipped cream into that or could use Cool Whip (I have discovered the Extra Creamy which is nice).

Now to see what others have been up to while I labored over my post!

[bonfire]

Hey there, friend! I was thinking the same thing today. All I have are canned peaches but they are fine for cobbler.

Good to see you posting!

[JRandomFreeper]

I only use canned peaches at this point.

Works well enough for me.

/johnny

[bonfire]

I thicken the juice with a little corn starch and add cinnamon. Yum!

Now if only the fairies would visit and clean the pans and bowls afterwards. ;)

[bonfire]

oh my! slobbering here...

[JRandomFreeper]

I only use disposable cooking dishes so I can just throw stuff away. Think Styro and plastic and disposable foil.

I'm lazy that way.

/johnny

[Jamestown1630]

That is Gorgeous! And it has peanut butter :-)

I wonder how you make a sugar Morning Glory...

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

I love that show! But I most love how she does all of that in such a tiny space - and her dresses!

-JT

[CARDINALRULES]

Here is my favorite pound cake recipe. It is a dense cake the way I like pound cake to be. And it isn’t too sweet.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/winning-cream-cheese-pound-cake

I like to slice, spread butter on it and then put on the griddle. Can make a glaze for it. Made it for Father’s Day and had with strawberries and whipped cream. Can vary the extracts. I like pure Almond.

It also freezes fairly good.

[Aliska]

Here's another to die for I just found. I started with the raspberry chocolate link and was chasing my tail all over some recipe pages, madly copying a few and saving photos to my file.

I'm fussy about bananas only in certain things but I think I might like this or substitute something else:

World's Best Cake with Bananas and Coconut

I have some big coconut shavings in the fridge, went to the health food store for it.

I shouldn't do foodies when I'm hungry. Had two hot dogs I broiled to char and the only sweet I have is a package of brownie mix.

[Jamestown1630]

I like Banana Pudding, and Banana Cream Pie.

“Fancy” is just in the presentation.

When I first became intimate with an Asian family, and was learning to love their food, I had a hard time getting my mind around the whole idea of Chopsticks.

I wondered why such an ancient and intelligent culture - which could certainly invent spoons and forks - would choose to eat this way.

I decided that it had to do with a certain aesthetic about food (and I have nothing in science or anthropology to back this up - it’s just an opinion.)

Using chopsticks forces one to savor and, if you will, ‘honor’ food. I think it stems from the same civilized impulse that created our European development of elaborate table settings - a fork or spoon for every course, the notion of ‘courses’ itself, etc.

It’s just a FANCY thing to do, to celebrate FOOD, and LIFE :-) And we make ‘fancy food’ occasionally, for the same reason: Celebration.

Will you post your Banana Pudding recipe?

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

That looks like a great recipe, and I will try it. Pound cake is so useful in many desserts; and I’ve always loved it just on its own.

-JT

[mojo114]

Hi so happy to see you;) You doing ok hopefully. We all love you and pray for you.

[Roos_Girl]

I hear ya. I’m not too much into the presentation, I have too far to go into consistently making things taste good.

LOL, banana pudding recipe is the one from the Nilla Wafers box (or maybe it’s the Jello pudding box). Last time I tried to make pudding from scratch I don’t know what happened, but the texture was horrible from the corn starch. I can’t say it was grainy, but it wasn’t smooth. Kinda scratchy is the best I can describe it. So nilla wafers, Jello non-instant vanilla pudding and fresh banana slices. Layer in a pan like lasagna and let set up.

Now, when you want a killer recipe for pulled pork I just made the best batch I’ve ever made over the weekend. I’ll be happy to share that one. :)