What a week so far. Monday I attempted to bake the Chocolate Hazelnut (Almond) Cake with Chocolate Filling and Hazelnut (Almond) Buttercream. Did not get much further than the Chocolate Sponge Cake. As you can see, it did not come out too pretty. SO, I decided to move on. You might remember my mentioning that the Devil's Food Cake was the prettiest cake I have ever made, well maybe that was a fluke. Moving on, I have decided that my strength is in baking Cookies. A friend has asked me to make desserts for her birthday party in April, including a few gluten free items.
Yesterday I conducted a test, I took my favorite Chocolate Chip cookie recipe and substituted Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour one to one for standard All Purpose Flour, also I added one half teaspoon Xanthan Gum as recommended on the Bob's package. The cookies came out awesome, flavor is same, the texture is the only change, when using wheat flour they were chewy, with the gluten free flour they are crisp.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
(America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book)
10 2/3 ounces Flour (2 cups plus 2 tbs) * if using gluten free add 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum*
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups Semi Sweet Choclate Chips
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt & xanthan gum if using in medium bowl. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugars. Once smooth beat in egg, yolk & vanilla until combined. Slowly add in dry ingredients once combined stir in chocolate chips. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough, roll into ball and place on parchment lined cookie sheet, space cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake 15-20 minutes, rotate sheet halfway through. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
Today is my friend Dee's birthday and since she has been lamenting the absence of Pineapple Pie at her family's Thanksgiving celebration, I decided to make one for her birthday. I had never heard of Pineapple Pie, so I looked up the recipe at
http://allrecipes.com/ and found a recipe that made sense and had positive comments. The pie came out beautiful and filled my house with this delicious buttery aroma this morning.
Pineapple Pie III (from Allrecipes.com)
1 recipe Pastry for 9 inch double crust pie
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbs cornstarch
20 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs milk
1 tbs granulated sugar
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In medium saucepan combine 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, pineapple with juice and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, boil for 1 additional minute. Cool slightly and pour into pastry-lined pie pan. Cover with top crust and seal. Cut a few steam vents in crust, then brush with milk and sprinkle with tablespoon of sugar. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Tomorrow I need to work on chocolate for my course that I am taking, I will post pictures and recipes as I complete them.
No comments:
Post a Comment