After last week's successful bread-making, I was all set to do more. I wasn't sure what "more" was going to look like, but I started casting around for ideas. And I found some great recipes to try this weekend.
And I even found somewhere that I could buy a large amount of yeast - which has been such a hot commodity lately. (In case you're wondering, I found it at The Golden Fig in St. Paul, MN - an amazing specialty food shop that we love visiting in the best of times, and where the world seemed to be alright for the half hour that we shopped last week. Not to foreshadow too much, but it was "comforting" to be there.)
But, well, the weekend came and I really just wanted to not deal with hours' worth of working on yeasted doughs that might or might not turn out. I bake to relieve stress (which, when we're both going to our offices has a tendency to make our coworkers very happy), and I realized that I wanted to make something tried and true.
I did *not* drink out of the jug. I promise. (I honestly just don't have that much dexterity.)
So (as you might have guessed from the photo above) I dove back into a recipe that first appeared on this blog in September of 2017: Betty Crocker's 1950 Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Basically, I wanted some "comfort" in my baking this week. Let me explain.
I really look half asleep in that screengrab, don't I?
If you didn't watch the video (I know not everyone does), you will have missed my quick and easy tip for refreshing cookies which have dried out. I got it from a friend of mine a number of years ago. I don't know why the chemistry works, but it does. (No - I'm not telling you the tip. You're going to have to sit through the video if you want to find out.) If you *did* watch the video, I feel I should mention that I only put that slice in for about a day prior to the video.
As for my foray into yeasty baking... I do plan to try to tackle more yeasted bread products next week. I'm sorting recipes and figuring out which one(s) to attempt first. I just need to get myself into the right headspace before trying something that might be a spectacular flop.
In the meantime, since we're talking about comfort, and since I only have the one new photo of cookies to share, I offer you this photo of a sleeping Cocker Spaniel. May we all feel that level of peace and calm sometime in the coming week.
----- Donuts and croissants and pain au chocolat - oh my! I wish I could give you a teaser of what I'm going to make next week, but I really have no idea. What's happening in your kitchen?
The people I work with are a fairly varied group. Different ages, different backgrounds. But for the most part we do have strong opinions about food. (Thus we have the occasional bake-off as discussed last week.)
We also have discussions that come up such as "What do you call that peanut butter and chocolate bar that has cereal in it?"
You know, these bars:
Are they Scotcheroos or Frosted Chews*? (spoiler alert: that photo is both)
Let me explain...
For starters as we discuss how great these are - whichever cereal you use - we should discuss how few ingredients they have:
The recipes are the same (and are both on the Kellogg's website), but here they are. (Get the feeling that one of the sites is expected to bring in more money than the other?)
**REMINDER: This post is focused on two half batches, each one using a different type of cereal. If you're working with full batches... well... you'll have twice as much.
In case you're wondering what a pan full of sugar products looks like, here you go (it's a half cup of white sugar and a half cup of light corn syrup):
While that is on the stove over medium heat, it's a great time to grease your pan. Yes, I use old wrappers from margarine or butter for this (instead of sprays) when working with flat pans. And - yes - Christopher gets frustrated with all of the wrappers stored in the fridge. It's a give and take.
But - the actual point, here - you have to grease the pan (one way or another) or these bars will seriously stick.
So often my photos get weird because of the outside light. I love how in this one the light actually accents the margarine on the pan.
Checking back in on the stove, we have now melted the sugar, and are to an all-syrup stage.
Somewhere around the point when it's finally beginning to bubble around the edges, I tend to start getting impatient. But you need to just keep stirring and waiting.
It's bubbling - but only around the edges. This is not good enough.
Luckily, it doesn't take too long for it to go from there to where it needs to be:
See? Bubbling all over the pan. That's what we were waiting for.
I have a few different recipes that I tend to make at about the same time of year that involve this same type of process, but with one major difference: This only needs to be brought to a boil - and then it's done. The other recipe needs to be boiled for multiple minutes.
I mention this because if you boil THIS for multiple minutes you'll end up with something more akin to a brittle - which is not what you're going for.
With the heat turned off, you can stir in the peanut butter.
I prefer creamy, but I'm sure chunky would work for this, too.
It's a bit odd watching the peanut butter melt. The middle stage is weirdest.
It's still a little like peanut butter, but it's also kind of liquid. But not really either one.
Eventually, though, it's... well... let's just say that this next photo makes my mouth water.
For our first half-batch of these, the next step included adding in FOUR cups of Special K.
You've got options on this. You could put the cereal in a bowl and then pour the liquid over the top and stir. Or - as I do - I just plan to use a large enough pan so that I can pour the cereal directly into the liquid and mix there. One less thing to clean up - and, frankly, I think I'm able to incorporate more of the liquid without losing it to the sides of the containers during the various transfers.
Yes, I know it looks like you'll never get it all coated. You just have to keep stirring.
Tipping it out into the pan, it looks a bit odd and lumpy. And that's okay, because you need to press it down into the pan.
CAUTION: This stuff is hot as lava at this point - or at least as hot as boiled sugar - so you're better off using a spatula for this step.
I've also been known to put my hand into a baggie and then use that - because that way you can just pat the mixture down without worrying about it all sticking to you. But the spatula is probably wiser.
The recipes talk about making these pretty thick, but we like them somewhere in between. A good gauge is to make them about level with the sides of the pan. (This also makes it easy to get more bars out of one pan.)
Yes, I know that this is precariously close to the edge of the cabinet. Do you know who else thought it had a chance that it might fall?
Ever hopeful in the kitchen...
As we discussed earlier, the recipes are identical until you get to the cereal. For a half batch, of Scotcheroos, the peanut butter mixture gets just THREE cups of Crispy Rice.
Though I mention in the video at the end that I think Rice Krispies might be gluten free - and I still think they might be - I've seen some things online saying that they're not. So please do your research if you're trying to make these gluten free.
Again, they look a bit odd when they first land in the pan...
...but with a good spatula-ing...
...they turn out pretty respectably.
Though, they do look a bit naked, don't they? So it's time for some topping.
By the way: The recipe calls for Chocolate and Butterscotch chips - not Chocolate and Peanut Butter. In part, I'm sure this is because there weren't any Peanut Butter chips when the recipes were created. But - I have to admit - I've tried it both ways, and the Butterscotch chips give this a much better flavor. Using Peanut Butter chips left these really kind of flat and boring, in comparison.
Consider this to be a Double Boiler - it's a metal pan on top of a saucepan of boiling water. My favorite way to melt chocolate.
As with the melting of the peanut butter, there's a point in this process here it really seems like the chips are never going to melt.
But, eventually, they do.
Once it's smooth, it's time to spread this onto the now-cooled bars.
With the topping on them, it's kind of hard to tell which is which, isn't it?
Please ignore the chocolate chip cookies on the side of the photo. It was a busy night in the kitchen. (Though, if you're wondering, those are the Betty Crocker 1950 Chocolate Chip Cookies we've talked about in the past.)
Now the hard part: Letting them cool so that the top hardens.
Once they're cool, I like to use my "Bash 'n' Chop" (that's the brand name of the old counter scraper that I have) to cut them, because you get good straight lines and have a lot of control, even with something fairly thick.
Since I was taking these to work, I needed to figure out a way to keep them separate. I went with some waxed paper - and flipped half of them upside down.
If you look closely, this gives you a chance to tell which side is which bar.
So, what's the difference between the two? Let's discuss:
Do I think one is necessarily better than the other? I'm not sure. I really enjoy the crunchier, more "substantial" dessert-bar texture of the Special K Frosted Chews. But the more candy-like texture of the Scotcheroos is nice, too. I think this may need more testing as time goes on...
Oh. And if you've read this far along, you may be interested to know that I did not win the cupcake bake-off at work. I actually came in 3rd (out of 4) - with the tiramisu cupcakes coming in first. Basically, the two cupcakes that came in first and second had almost equal amounts of frosting and cake. Mine - and the one that came in fourth - had much smaller amounts of frosting in comparison. I'd like to think that - and, well, the fact that mine had turned blue - had something to do with my placing.
As for the Scotcheroo/Frosted Chew debate, at work the Frosted Chews got about 2/3 of the votes.
*I feel I should mention that, in our family, these are always referred to as "Joy's Frosted Chews" (not "Special K Frosted Chews") because a family friend made these every fall and so they've always been connected to her. Sentiment aside, though, they're really good no matter what you call them.
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Is there something you've always wanted to try in your kitchen, but you wish someone else would do it, first? Let me know and I'll be your guinea pig!
I'd love to blame the Polar Vortex for the lack of post last week, but it went back up to the Pole a couple of weeks ago.
Unfortunately, Christopher has been battling a cold-type thing since before Christmas. And in the past few weeks the cold has decided that maybe it should try tackling me, as well. So, while we were battling the windchills of -50 degrees a week and a half ago, and then two days of major snow this week, we've been cheering ourselves if we can stay awake until 9pm.
I thought about taking a photo of a shopping bag filled with Milk, Bread, and Toilet paper to commemorate the weather. But decided that was more Baltimore than Minneapolis.
So today - as I'm feeling a little bit more back to normal - I decided to push forward with some traditional Valentine's Day cookies. Or at least they're traditional for my family.
These are made with a basic sugar cookie (you can use a family recipe, or just some of the ones you can buy in the grocery store), and then an even more basic frosting (margarine, milk, and powdered sugar), which I pipe on using the frosting gun I used for the brownie bites.
And, yes, these will mostly be getting shipped. Not in the "wreath" style of most of my cookies - because they'd stick together - but in layers separated by waxed paper.
They're not the prettiest cookies you'll probably see this week, but they make me happy - and hopefully will make their recipients happy, as well.
Hopefully we'll back on our feet - and I'll be back to blogging - in the immediate future.
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Is there a comfort food that gets you through when you're under the weather? Anything I should know about?
I was talking to a neighbor earlier this week, and she was asking whether the cookies I'd been making were going to be on the blog. I wanted to say yes, but I've honestly been pushing so hard to get things done this year that I haven't had time to take photos while baking.
I didn't even take any photos while making the dipped pretzels featured in this post. But - since they have to sit out on wrapped paper to harden, at least I do have post-prep photos.
Let me explain the idea behind them:
So... yeah... you melt the white stuff (I use a double boiler on the stove, but you can follow the package directions for the microwave if you have one), and you dip stuff in it, then let them to dry/harden on waxed paper.
Can you guess where on the prep table the bowl used to be?
It's pretty easy and fairly fast. Dipping these pretzels by hand, I made 90 of them in about 45 minutes - and that included the stovetop melting process.
I mentioned in the video that these are Gluten-Free. But, even so, can you imagine anyone turning them down? Seriously. You can do a lot of Gluten-Free stuff pretty easily - sometimes even by accident!
Frankly, that's what I need this time of year, because my brain starts to not want to process more difficult tasks. The lead-up can be pretty darned frantic, and you sometimes forget to take a little time to just enjoy it all happening. The best I can do in these cases is plate things.
Umm... This batch of Spritz cookies is also Gluten-Free! Bonus!
And wrap them in plastic.
And hope to remember to take them with me when I leave the house specifically with the intention of taking them to the neighbors. (Who among us hasn't walked out the door and realized a present/bag/set of keys was still on the counter this time of year?)
Luckily, a lot of my baked goods tend to go into the mail (or to the neighbors), so that means that in the final few days before Christmas I have nothing left to do but sit back and enjoy the world going by. Christopher and I have made a kind of tradition of going out to dinner a few days before Christmas. We try to go somewhere we might not usually go. It's a great way to take a step back, breathe a little, look at the lights, and let someone else deal with prep and delivery for a bit.
However you plan to spend the next few days - whether in the kitchen whipping up a few last-minute festive treats or on the road/in the skies or avoiding it all with a cocktail, I hope you get to enjoy it.
Merry Christmas!
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What are you up to for the Holidays? Do you celebrate Christmas, or some other event? Or do you avoid them all and just take advantage of the sales?
Just so you know, I'm making a New Year's resolution to be better about my blogging. I'm not planning to define "better" just yet, though. ;-)
Does it seem to anyone else that this year went from dragging along to kicking into overdrive all in about 30 seconds?
I've been thinking that I was really running about on track for getting things done. And I am still getting things done - like the foods in these photos - but that's not allowing me much time to put together decent blog posts.
Here's what I can offer you this week:
So, for now, we have about 5 dozen of those Peanut Butter Blossoms, 3 dozen Brownie Bites...
And 2 full pans of Special K Frosted Chews (which will cut into about 3 dozen each).
And I still have 16 days until Christmas.
Good luck to all of us!
----- Thanks, again, for your help with the GoFundMe pages - sharing and even donating! Keep up the good work! How are you doing with plans for the Holidays? I hope you're having better timing luck than I am!
Sorry this is so late. As you'll see in the first video, Christopher and I were out of town this past week. I thought I'd have no problem tackling a blog post from where we were staying, but the video uploads were a bit daunting on shared wi-fi, so I decided to delay until we got home.
So, without further ado, let's get into these perfect cozy treats.
And - to prove that we were away, here's some video of me by a fire:
Now, before we go any further, I want to remind you all that in November (humor me and pretend this post went up on November 30th like it was supposed to), I've been sharing some GoFundMe projects. And - if you shared the blog posts they were in - you could be entered into a chance to win a plate of cookies.
I'm not including any new donation sites this week, but here is a recap of the ones we've seen so far:
Last week, we had Bobby and his family, who lost their home while he was fighting the fires in Northern California:
Although there aren't any new links this week, the idea is the same: If you share out this post, you can be entered into the cookie drawing. This week, though, even if you just want to share (or donate to) any of the GoFundMe sites (with or without sharing my blog), just let me know (possibly mention it in the comments on this post) and I'll enter you into the drawing. (After all, the point of this is really to amplify the stories of these three sites.)
But now, back to this week's food. I'm sure you all know that there are three basic ingredients:
Or, four, really:
The fire source can change, but there does need to be a good heat source.
I decided to be organized for this (typically, I'm in mid-marshmallow-roast when I realize that the other pieces are still in the kitchen), so here are the steps I followed with you in mind:
1) Graham crackers:
2) Hershey bars:
3) Marshmallows:
3.1) Marshmallows on a long stick:
Not only did the grilling fork have a heat-resistant handle, it also held two marshmallows at a time! Bonus!
4) Fire:
In trying to do this all proper-like, I even pulled the marshmallows out before they went up in flames. This way, they were simply hot, melty, and malleable.
At this point, it's all about assembly, or what I like to think of as the "slide and smoosh" steps:
a) slide:
b) smoosh:
Note: Apparently marshmallows smell really good to some dogs. This is the very hopeful look I was getting through most of this process:
She couldn't reach the mantle, thankfully.
And, just because, here's the wrap-up video, so you can see me get the marshmallow stuck in my mustache:
Oh. Okay. I can't lie. I did do a few extra marshmallows to a more well-done state. Some things you just have to do...
Because, really, the charred outer layer is just the best, isn't it?
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*Disclaimer: I'll be trying to draw a winner each week before the next post goes up. Everyone who shares the post (or one of the GoFundMe sites) in a way that I can track it (or who lets me know that sharing has happened) will be entered into the drawing for the plate of cookies (shipping within the US, only). One entry per share, so feel free to share multiple times. No extra entries for making a donation to the fundraising pages, but don't let that stop you.
**Week Three's winner is Jessi B. from Alaska. She'll be getting something in the mail as soon as I make my next batch of cookies (which, this time of year, could be at any moment)!
