Baking season

[feuervogel]

Two weekends ago, we made the cardamom coffee cake from the Moosewood Cookbook. Instead of the nut streusel layer, we used crystallized ginger. It was good; very dense.

I also made cherry-almond granola bars from the recipe in November's Bon Appetit. If I make them again, I will divide the recipe in half, because I STILL have granola bars, and they've gone from chewyish to crunchy. I left out the coconut shreds, which meant I had excess liquid. I will increase the oats next time to compensate. I did use coconut oil, because the recipe says to boil it, and I didn't want to chance that with canola. I found a brand that said it had low flavor (perfect for baking, it said), and I couldn't taste it at all. Win. I think cranberry-crystallized ginger (+ almond) would be a good experiment, too.

Last weekend, we made a spiced bundt cake from the November issue of Bon Appetit. It was good, but we had problems. A) The slivered almonds weren't processed long enough to become finely ground, so there were noticeable almond chunks in the batter. B) For some reason, bundt cakes seem to rise a lot in my oven, so the bottom got a little blackened. I thought about lowering the rack, but it was too close to the bottom of the oven then. C) The caramel sauce. I have a lot of trouble telling when the supersaturated sugar solution has turned a deep amber color, and the recipe didn't give a time. I use natural sugar, which starts out a slight tan color, and my saucepan is black (non-stick coating). So every caramel sauce I've made has been too thin, because I didn't want to burn it. I don't know if I should give up and buy a single stainless steel pot, or what.

Today I'm making chai-spiced sugar cookies. They're easier to store and keep longer than cakes. Also, I can freeze 2/3 of them unbaked, so we can have fresh, hot cookies whenever we want. The butter is softening on the counter at the moment.

Comments

[sabeth]

I have nothing of value to contribute, but all of this sounds spicily DELICIOUS. :o I think ... I need to find myself some food now.

[feuervogel]

Christmas baking is my favorite :9

[sabeth]

Mine toooo. *steals a cookie*

[feuervogel]

(http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/chai-cookies/)

[sabeth]

ahhh, thank you! i'll give making these a try this week, they look so good. did yours turn out well?

[feuervogel]

They're awesome! I added 1/2 tsp cloves, because I love cloves. I also substituted white pepper for black, since we don't have finely ground black pepper and the finest setting on the grinder still gives big peppercorn chunks. But they're chewy and a little crispy and full of chai flavor. :9

[ranyart]

Yaaaay baking!

Caramel is a pain in the ass. =( I have the same problem as you - tan sugar and dark pots. I do have steel pots but they're big stockpots, not the best for a batch of candy. I tend to pull my stirring implement out to investigate it pretty often, and that helps. If you can get a light-colored silicone spatula that will show color changes as you stir, it could be helpful?

[feuervogel]

The recipe says not to stir (http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/11/spiced-bundt-cake-with-apple-caramel-sauce), only occasionally swirl the pan to prevent clumping. I stuck my white silicone spatula in a couple times, but I'm not sure it helped me any :/

[ranyart]

Huh. I would probably cheat and stir because it's really hard for me not to stir! =/
I've had more experience making toffee, actually, which is basically Caramel You Cook Longer, and I made an entire batch that turned out to be juuuuust barely too burned to eat. It was terrible to throw it all out (after I'd already coated it in chocolate, of course). I do love holiday candy-making and will probably start to plan it soon, but it can certainly be stressful.
New recipe for this year: apple cider caramels!

[feuervogel]

That sounds awesome :9

[ladyegreen.livejournal.com]

Well, I just love this post.