#baking reference

crollalanzaa replied to your post “My reading group is having a Christmassy meeting next month and I said...”

Okay, if you have a christmassy cookie cutter (like a star) then make biscuits. Icing them with white icing and silver balls is dead easy. Also if you punch a hole in the dough before you bake them, then you can thread ribbon through.

other than that, basic fairy cakes in christmassy cases, with butter icing and silver decorations.

there are some great chocolate truffle recipes, which are quite easy but look and taste fantastic (you can add booze to them too. Or chocolate brownies with icing sugar sprinkled on them.

FINALLY! a Yule log. Either make or buy a swiss roll, ice it with chocolate butter icing. Make it look like bark with a fork, then before you present it, sieve some icing sugar on it. Add a christmas robin and you’re done!

These are fantastic, thank you!

zhedang replied to your post “My reading group is having a Christmassy meeting next month and I said...”

I like this recipe http://www.marthastewart.com/314374/chocolate-strawberry-thumbprints because it has Christmas-y colors and looks fancy, but is actually pretty easy.

YESSS. “looks fancy but is easy” is my entire baking philosophy. They look delicious too!

lemonlegs4 replied to your post “My reading group is having a Christmassy meeting next month and I said...”

I like this recipe - I put a bit of lemon juice in it in addition to the other ingredients and it tastes great! http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fresh-cranberry-muffins I think you could use dried cranberries if you cant find fresh

Ohhh yummy! Recipe looks so tasty. Thanks! :D (For the secret tip too Cx)

cathoderayoscilloscope replied to your post “My reading group is having a Christmassy meeting next month and I said...”

as someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, I don't have any recipes related to it but if its baking I can tell you this: try it out a few times for practice, because you might end up tweaking the recipe to suit you, and whatnot.

moralthistime replied to your post “My reading group is having a Christmassy meeting next month and I said...”

Agreed, never make sth new and present it to someone immediately. Also just stick to the basics if you're unsure. Make it a little more fun with sprinkles and food colouring sth. Most importantly: have fun!

Ahh, I think you guys are overestimating me! I’m... not the kind of person who practices recipes beforehand, mainly because I don’t tend to try recipes that I’ll mess up badly enough for it to matter. I like to think it’s humanising but also I’m too lazy and not serious enough so it’s just what happens. But I will have fun!

from @vesloth (wooow):

zserbó (Gerbeaud slice? i think)

(technically, this isn’t the original, mostly because this dough doesn’t use yeast, but! it’s easier and just as nice, especially if you leave it for a night)

for the dough

500g plain flour

300g butter

1 packet of baking powder (12g i think?)

1 small pinch of salt

2tbsp icing sugar

1 egg

2tbsp sour cream

1 lemon’s zest

for the filling

???? apricot jam (i don’t have a measurement for it because you just.. open a jar and use some lol. you definitely won’t use over 10tbsp.)

300g ground walnut

200g icing sugar

for the top

200g dark chocolate (i vaguely remember this being potentially a little more than you’ll need but i don’t feel safe guessing how much less would be ideal)

1 walnut-sized dollop of butter

instructions

mix the flour, the butter, the baking powder, and the salt first. add the icing sugar, the egg, the sour scream, and the lemon zest. mix more until it’s a dense but soft and pliable dough.

spread flour over a bakeboard and drop the dough onto it. knead just a little more, then separate into 4 equal pieces.

roll out the first piece into a rectangle that’ll fit into your baking pan without any edges. it should be around 3-4-5mm in thickness, so not scary thin, but also not too thick. lay the dough over some parchment in the pan.

plop some of the jam down on the dough (maybe around 2tbsp?), and spread it out in a thin layer so the dough is still visible underneath. you can go all the way to the edges.

mix the ground walnut and the icing sugar, and spread about 1/3 of it evenly onto the jam layer until it fully covers both the dough and the jam.

roll out the next layer of dough, place it over the walnut mix, then add jam and walnut again. repeat once more, then place the final layer of dough.

poke some holes into the top layer, then bake at 180°C for about 35-40min (but start checking sooner, just in case, ofc). it should be golden brown when done.

once it’s done baking, flip the whole thing into another pan or onto a board/tray so the flat bottom is on the top.

melt the chocolate and the butter over water, and spread it evenly over the top with a spatula. don’t spread it too thin; it should be about 1-2mm thick once it sets.