Baking with me! Part 5! ~^-^~

Mom's Custard Pie

This recipe is very odd, because it needed severe attention to detail for such an overall simple dish.

For this recipe you will need:

A pie crust (Search up a recipe or buy one in the frozen aisle)
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 and 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (for decoration)

"Just a single bite of this traditional dessert takes me back to the days when Mom would fix it for Dad and me" (Hyatt 487).

Step one: Separate one egg and set the white aside for later.

Step two: Mix the 3 eggs with the one egg yolk from the separated egg with the sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla.

Step three: With the one egg white, whip it until it has stiff peaks.

Step four: Fold in the egg white with the mixture.

Step five: Carefully pour in the mixture into the pie crust and then put foil on the edges of the pie.

Step six: Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes, and then remove the foil. Then bake the pie for another 15-20 minutes.

Step seven: Sprinkle the top with nutmeg or anything else to decorate the pie and refrigerate.

This recipe, if I'm being 100% honest, was an udder disaster. When I poured the filling in the pie crust, there was a layer of bubbles. Little did I know, that layer would burn. So I had to carefully remove it from the pie and bake it again. Then it said to test if it's done, jiggle it. If the middle slightly jiggles, it's done. I had no clue when it was done, but thankfully it also said you can pierce it with a knife in the middle, and if it comes out clean it's done. Also if you weren't careful enough like me, and jostled it around by accident while trying to put it in the oven, it spilled everywhere. Lesson of the day: Calm and collective wins the race instead of frazzled and panicked.

(Final Product)

My question for you is this: What is the hardest thing you've ever made? For me, it'd have to be this pie, because it requires a certain skill set I'm lacking. Which is Grace and Gentleness while making this pie. 

Hyatt, Barbara. “Pies and Tarts.” The Taste of Home Cookbook: from the World's #1 Cooking Magazine, Reiman Media Group, Greendale, WI, 2010.

Back at it again with cookies! Part 3! :D

Oatmeal chip cookies

Okay I know what you're thinking. Oatmeal cookies? Gross. *SMACK* DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER, because these cookies are just as tasty as any other cookie.

For this recipe you'll need:

1 cup of butter, or two sticks of butter

1 cup of sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups oats

2 cups (or however much you want to add) of chocolate chips

"When our house was for sale, I made a batch of these cookies just before a showing. Not only did the people buy the house, they requested the recipe!" (Fridirici 548)

Step 1: Cream the butter and the sugars together until well combined. 

Step 2: Mix in the eggs and vanilla into the mixture.

Step 3: Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until well combined. 

Step 5: Mix in the oats and the chocolate chips

Step 6: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 11-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown.

These cookies were really simple, and they were extremely scrumptious. These cookies did not rise as much as the other cookies I've made, but they did expand and flatten out. Like the other post, I made 12 cookies in a muffin tray, just to see if it works the same or if it would be a complete bust. Surprisingly, it worked and I made over 30 cookies with the muffin cookies. Now, these aren't the chip off the block cookies. They are light, and have just the right amount of sweetness to them that makes it a good cookie in my book.

(Final product, total count: 30+ cookies)

My question for you guys is this: Have you ever made food to share with others? I ask this because I didn't see this recipe made around 4 dozen cookies... but in my book it's worth making more because you can share the food you made! 

Fridirici, Nancy. “Cookies and Bars.” The Taste of Home Cookbook: from the World's #1 Cooking Magazine, Reiman Media Group, Greendale, WI, 2010.

Cookies! Part 2! *u*

Soft Buttermilk Sugar Cookies 

For this recipe you will need:

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

cinnamon (Optional) 

"My grandma used to make these family-pleasing cookies. The memory of her and these cookies go together!" ( Rowlett 547)

Step one: Cream together the shortening and the sugar until well combined.

Step two: Add in the eggs and vanilla to the mixture.

Step three: Sift the dry ingredients together. So that would be the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. You want to do this so that you don't get clumps of flour in a cookie, because then it would taste like you stuck your face in sand at the beach.

Step 4: Alternate adding in the buttermilk and the dry ingredients. So put half of one mixture and mix, and then add half of the other mixture until there is no more ingredients.

Step 5: Grease a pan and add the cookie batter. You then can add a mixture of cinnamon sugar on top of the batter in this step if you want to. (I'd say add it, because I made them and it's really tasty). No bias at all, but sugar and spice make everything nice.

Step 6: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and then cook the batter for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies begin to brown.

THESE COOKIES ARE SOOOOOO GOOD. Like I'm not bias or anything, well, okay yeah I am, BUT THEY ARE SOOOOO GOOD.  They taste amazing and they are light and fluffy. This recipe was super easy to follow and I'd 100% make these cookies again in the future. One quick tip: they puff up and expand about double the size they were before they got cooked, so give them space between each other. 

One thing I did do to alter the recipe, was I put some of the batter in a muffin tray. I did this because I'm lazy and I didn't want to waste time for a second batch of cookies. They cook the exact same way the normal cookies were cooked, and they become lovely little muffins. I already feel my lifespan shortening as I eat these yummy treats.  

(Final Product)

      My question is this: Since its finals week, how do you guys prefer studying? My preference is not at all, but that'd get me an F so I actually have to study. ;-;                       

Rowlett Traci. “Cookies and Bars” The Taste of Home Cookbook: from the World's #1 Cooking Magazine, Reiman Media Group, Greendale, WI, 2010.

How To Make: Lemon Meringue Pie \(^.^\)

Hello and welcome back to my blog. If you're new here, welcome! 

Today I will show you guys how to make a lemon meringue pie. 

For the crust: 
Buy one at the frozen section or search up a recipe

For the filling you will need:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch 

Pinch of salt

2 cups of water

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of lemon peel 

1 teaspoon of butter

For the meringue you will need:

3 egg whites

6 tablespoons of sugar 

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

"This is my grandmother's recipe. it's a lovely, special dessert that feels like home" (Dyck 488).

This recipe gave me such a hard time, it felt like I was battling the ingredients because I am a simpleton who gets stuck on the smallest details possible.

On a scale from 1 to 10 on how long this took me, it was a solid 7. 

When life gives you lemons, you make pie, not lemonade, because pies are better.

Step one: Bake your crust according to the directions on the packaging or on the recipe you used online.

Step two: Mix the water, sugar, and the cornstarch in a pan and heat up until it looks translucent and thick.

Step three: Pour half of the heated mixture into the eggs and STIR STIR STIR. This prevents the eggs from cooking and turning into scrambled eggs.

Step four: Pour out the other half of the mixture and like step three STIR LIKE YOU MEAN IT. 

Step five: Add the other ingredients to the new mixture which should be the butter, lemon juice, and lemon peel. 

For the meringue: Add the egg whites, sugar, and the cream of tartar into a bowl. Then just continue whipping the mixture until you can make stiff peaks. This process takes a long time, like 10-15 minutes. I was using a electric mixer on maximum speed too. So if you're doing this step by hand, well, good luck. At first it will look like nothing is changing, but keep going because slow and steady wins the race. Eventually it will become white and then after a couple of minutes become meringue with stiff peaks. 

Step six: Once everything is ready, pour the filling into the pie crust. Then put the meringue on top of the filling and make whatever design you want.Then bake this in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around 15 minutes or until the top of the meringue becomes golden brown.

Step seven: Enjoy a slice of this pie after chilling it for at least 3 hours.

(Final Product)

(Filling)

(Meringue)

Since the new year is literally in a few hours, my question to you is this: What's your new years resolution, and how will you achieve it in 2017? 

Dyck, Merle. “Pies and Tarts.” The Taste of Home Cookbook: from the World's #1 Cooking Magazine, Reiman Media Group, Greendale, WI, 2010.

トリプルチョコレートチップクッキー (TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES) <(^.^<)

                         


                          Hi, welcome to this blog. Enjoy my journey into cooking and baking.
                             
           I love cookies, and I love chocolate. When I saw this recipe, it was a match made in heaven.
          In the cookbook "The taste of home cookbook" by Readers Digest, Paula Zsiray's recipe says "My daughter was awarded first prize in the cookie division of a local Chocolate Festival with this                                  recipe. We think the scrumptious cookies are a winner, too!" (Page 545)  
                                  These cookies butter be good. (Ha get it? Butter? No? Okay...)

                                                                        YOU'LL NEED:

                                             -1 cup or 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips                                                                                          -1/4 cup butter, preferably softened                                                                                                           -1 and 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

                                                        - 6 tablespoons of canola oil
                                                        -3/4 cup packed brown sugar
                                                        -1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
                                                         -1 cup white chocolate chip
                                                        -1/4 teaspoon baking powder                                      
                                                    -1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
                                                                   -1/2 cup sugar
                                                                        -2 eggs

                                                Things are about to get sticky... literally.

                                                        This recipe yields 42 cookies                                                                        
Step 1: mix the sugars with the butter and oil and beat them together until it looks like wet brown sugar
                 
Step 2: add the eggs and the vanilla extract to the mix and beat the new mixture until it looks like a nice brown gooey soup
                     
Step 3: take the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder and sift it together

Step 4: take half of the dry mixture and mix it in the wet batter (preferably hand mixed at this point)

Step 5: take the other half of the dry mixture and dump it in the batter
         
Step 6: now fold in the semisweet chocolate chips and the white chocolate chip in the batter

OVEN INSTRUCTIONS:
-preheat oven to 350° F
-spoon the cookies on a baking sheet
-bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes depending on how you like your cookies

                                                                           (Step 1)

(Step 2)

(Step 4) 

(Step 6)

(baking the cookies)

(Final product)

I liked these cookies because it was so chocolatey, and was really easy to make. The recipe states that it'd make 42 cookies, but I only had 29. I think this is because I like my cookies a medium size, while their cookies look like they were just a small dollop when they put it in the oven. If you want the full amount, you should use a spoonful of batter, unless you have a preferable size for a cookie. If you do make the cookie bigger, the time may increase to 15 minutes or higher. You can tell the cookie is done when the outside is crispy and the inside isn't gooey. 

I would rate these cookies 8/10 because of how I made them because the texture wasn't right for me. For difficulty, I feel like this cookie gets a 2/10 because it was really simple and was just a process of adding ingredients to a bowl and baking it afterwards. Overall, I found that this process was fun because to me, cooking and baking is a relaxant to the stress of school and other issues outside of school. 

What do you do to relax from stress?  Would you make this cookie in the future?                          Leave it in the comments below!

 C is for.... COOKIESSSSSS NOM NOM NOM :3

Zsiray, Paula. "Cookies & Bars." The Taste of Home Cookbook: From the World's #1 Cooking Magazine. Greendale, WI: Reiman Media Group, 2010.