just a silly polaroid for a video project I threw together real fast today. if I can figure out how to edit it well enough, I'll post it here once I'm done.

also, this is sadly my very last polaroid for the time being. I ordered some film, but I currently live in crummy student housing without much security. I think someone else signed for the package when it arrived and I will never see it again :( does anyone know if there are any stores in rotterdam that still sell polaroids? also, if I were to go to enschede, NL, and begged the impossible project for some film, do you think I would be successful? hahahahah

"Hi my name is Val and I dropped out of Law school because I love the kitchen, apples, cinnamon and buttery pastry too much"
(that will ideally not happen..)

SO, I'm having my exams right now and I haven't even started studying for my Law of Contract paper which is in a week. However, I chanced upon Chez Pim's flaky pastry recipe http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/11/video-chez-pims-super-easy-pie-tart-dough-recipe.html this morning and the only thought that processed through my head was:

Screw law school, Oven here I come

SO YES, 8000 Calories, a very flabby me and a flaky buttery pastry oozing with apple sauce and all things good later... here's a little preview of why (for now at least) apples > contract law :)



( ENJOY! )


[x-posted to bakebakebake & picturing_food]

I'm new to bread making and I baked this no kneed bread and it was so easy and so delicious. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to adapt the recipe a little.

Can I just add spices to give it a different taste? During what part of the process would I add them? I wanted to make a three cheese bread also. Could I just add some cheese to this recipe? Would I need more yeast or other ingredients?

Thanks for any suggestions!

( Recipe and Picture )

Cookie Question...

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hey bakers!

I'm looking for a recipe in this community and I have searched for literally DAYS and cant seem to find it. It's an apple bundt with apple cider glaze and it's ahMAZING. I've made it a couple times but I cant remember the recipe.
If anyone has it, and could post it, please do because i'm wanting to make it tomorrow for our office potluck!

Thanks!

Does anyone have recipes for sugar-free cheesecake and cakes or knows where I can go to find some? I'd like to make some holiday treats for my mother-in-law who is a Type 2 diabetic and I'm not having much luck in locating any. If anyone has a recipe or knows of where I can go to find some, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance! :)

So with Thanksgiving coming up, I am going to the boyfriend's family for the feast. While they are preparing something amazing, I know I should still contribute something besides a bottle of wine. What I had in mind was a chocolate cream pie, mainly because there will be a sweet potato pie and there will be four kids there and I am told that a chocolate cream pie will most likely entice the kids more.

Could you guys give me your best chocolate cream pie recipes, please?

Cheers!

So, every year I bake a ton of cookies for family, friends, work, etc, somewhere in the region of 30 dozen, and I usually end up shipping some of them across the country.

Last year I did chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter, spritz cookies (chocolate, strawberry, jam filled, ones with frosting, sprinkles, just a million of these in general), sugar cookies, and some fudge mint brownies.

This year I'd love to do something different (fancy) and have been looking at the ever popular and daunting french macaron.

I'm not too worried about the actual cooking of the macaron itself, I'll figure it out, just that I've never seen one, touched or tasted one.

How do they hold up as far as freshness? Are they very delicate? If I decide to make them and overnight ship across the country, will they arrive as dust?

Also, I've seen a million recipes and guides to make the shell, and so many choices for fillings. What do you think works the best for a filling? Or what are some of your favorite flavor combinations? Also, I don't have a food processor, can I buy finely ground almonds somewhere? I live in southeast Wisconsin if anyone is familiar with the area.

For everyone who has a Nintendo-lover on their list this year, take a look at these Mario coasters! They're made from those plastic beads that you iron over to melt together, with a layer of cork on the bottom. The pixelated nature of the original Nintendo graphics makes this the perfect medium to reproduce it! I especially love the coinbox holder. :D

Hi! I'm a new member and very happy to find another cooking community with whom I can badger with questions. Lol.

This is for all you bakers out there:

For Thanksgiving, I am planning on making fresh dinner rolls which I hoped to make ahead of time the day before. The recipe I am using says to allow the dough to rise twice-- once for about an hour, after which the dough is deflated, divided, and put into pans, and allowed to rise again for about forty minutes and then baked.

My question is, is it possible to put off the baking step until the next day? I know when some people make bread, they will make extra dough and freeze it-- would this be the appropriate time to do that? Or can I just let it sit in the refrigerator overnight?

This is my first time ever baking bread, and I really don't want to screw it up as it's for a large and important meal. I'll be cooking everything else during Thanksgiving day and I'm somewhat limited on counter space. However, if need be, I can probably squeeze in making these rolls from step one on Thursday... I'd just prefer to get as much of the prep work done a day ahead of time.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can lend me. This is the first Thanksgiving meal I will be cooking, and I'd love for it to be spectacular!

(Cross posted to kitchenfaq .)

I've got some very lovely boneless pork chops defrosting in the kitchen for tomorrow's dinner and would like to do them up right.

I'm thinking something pan-seared then baked, maybe. I've also got some nice apples and bacon that could go along with that. Maybe a little garlic too. But I've never made something like this before and could use some advice.

Any ideas or recommendations of things up this alley that you've made before that turned out nice?

When I was hunting for an alternative recipe to French Onion Soup, I ran across an old thread here on the community and taking suggestions from the comments & links (especially Alton Brown's recipe) formed my own recipe which I will never, ever, deviate from! Thanks everyone!



What I Used:
Onions: 5 yellow onions, 3 tablespoons of butter (I use smart balance), 1/2c. sherry
Broth: 32 oz. certified organic beef broth, 14 oz. low-sodium chicken broth, 14 oz. canned beef broth, 1 c. spiced apple cider, 1 c. white wine (chardonnay)
Spice: Allspice, cloves, black pepper, thyme, sea salt & cumin – lots of cumin!
French bread & shredded Gruyere cheese (I used Trader Joe’s brand and I’ll never switch it up unless they do it first)


Step by step instructions:

- Chop the two largest onions into fine, half-moon shapes

- Finely mince the remaining three, smaller onions (I used a food processor) then set them aside

- Heat up a skillet and melt the butter on high. Once the butter is melted, layer the chopped, half-moon shaped onions and let them sweat down and brown on medium heat until they reduced to a rich caramel color. This takes awhile, 30-45 minutes. Add the 1/2c. sherry, reduced heat and stir

- In a large pot, add the liquids (beef broth, chicken brother, cider, wine), the minced onions we set aside earlier and the spices (I repeat, be generous with the cumin)

- Bring to a boil, then add the caramelized onions from the skillet, reduce heat & simmer for about 20-30 minutes, fiddling with your spices until you have the taste you like
While that’s going, this is the perfect time to grate the Gruyere cheese. Our food processor has a grater blade *grin*

- When the soup is done and the cheese is grated, it’s time to cut the French bread in small rounds and toast them

- Ladle the soup in a bowl (or mini crock bowl, whatever), add the toast in the soup, (don’t burn yourself) and sprinkle the cheese on top. Place the bowl(s) on a cookie sheet and into a pre-heated oven set for “broil” ~ around 400-500 degrees F

- Anywhere from 3-5 minutes, the cheese will have melted and bubbled and it’s time to turn off the oven and carefully remove the soup ~ grab your spoon, dig in and enjoy!

How many servings does this make? I guesstimate 6-8. I also use regular bowls, not special mini soup crocks.

You can find a lot more pictures for this recipe on my blog

I told my Mother in law that I"d do the pumpkin pie for this year. Her pumpkin pies routinely turn out weird-- kind of watery or they separate or the texture is just...bad.

I planned on doing the basic Libby's recipe off the can. BUT. MIL cans her own pumpkin. So she gave me some. And she also milks her own cows and gave me cream "because you just substitute it for the condensed milk".

But.... Her pies don't turn out well so I'm skeptical.

Anyone have any experience with home-canned pumpkin, and cream in a pumpkin pie? I'm used to the Libby's recipe (and love it) but am open to an actual RECIPE that someone has tried and works out...

i feel stupid asking this question, but i'm really having trouble figuring it out. how can i get my icing to look smooth and professional? examples:





i can NEVER get mine to look like that and it's starting to drive me nuts. am i just not using the right ingredients? :(

hey there everyone! i'm looking for recipes for sweet potatos. sweet things, savory things, anything aside from sweet potato casserole and pie. i've been overwhelmed with some of them and i'm looking for ones that you have tried yourself and loved (don't want to try something that i have no feedback on). my boyfriend is just head over heels for the things and all i've ever done with them is make casserole for thanksgiving :P

bonus points for super tasty AND super creative uses :D

oh and in other news i made bakerella's cake pops for the first time for my movie theatre's opening of the new twilight movie (my second job is a theatre manager :P) they were a hit!!! no pics but i will be making more next week and will try and take some then (my camera ran away). i was just too excited that i made them to not share :P

Hello, community! How about some great pie for this cold and dark season?



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I start my Thanksgiving baking today, and one of the things I'm making is a sweet potato pie. I've made it before, and the pie itself is amazing, but I've never quite gotten the crust right. I've usually done a graham cracker crust, but I was thinking about using a gingersnap crust this year, because the pie itself isn't extremely spicy but I think it would go well.

However, every gingersnap crust recipe I've seen has pecans in it, and I'm deathly allergic to pecans! Anyone have a recipe without? Would it be too overwhelming to use just gingersnaps?

I'm also considering something someone mentioned over in hip_domestics ; making some cookie dough, pressing it into a pie plate, baking it for a few minutes and then baking the pie in it. The person who originally posted this was using sugar cookies, but I think sugar cookies might be too sweet, so I might use a molasses cookie dough. However, the pie has to bake for 45 minutes--should I still pre-bake the cookie crust?

I'm in the process of making this book for my boyfriend's birthday. Here's a few pages.. most are inside jokes so I only scanned a few. If any of you have ideas for more pages please shoot them my way! I have tons of pages left and not many ideas. Sorry about some of them being blurry, the book is super thick and doesn't scan perfectly.



( more under here! )

The other day I made some Maple Pecan Sticky Buns, click on the link for the full saga and the recipe I used. In some ways it was a great success, in others, not so much! I love the dough, it was exactly what I was after but the filling left a lot to be desired. For one pecans are ridiculously expensive and for another the filling was so sickly sweet and sticky that if I eat one more I'll die!

I'd love to be able to make something like these again but I don't know what to put in them. Chocolate would be good but I don't know how to make it sticky and I guess chelsea buns are another way to go but what else could I use as a filling that will neither break the bank nor send me racing into a sugar coma?

I bought a jar of pesto yesterday and I want to make pesto chicken pasta, and also do some sandwiches in my panini press with chicken and pesto. Thing is, I'm not quite sure what to do with the chicken. Should I cook it plain because the pesto will give enough flavour, or can I spice up the chicken with any complimentary flavours?

Thanks for any ideas!

This is my dad's recipe for Rouladen. All the recipes I find on the internet say that Rouladen is stuffed with pickles and mustard. So I don't know where he got this version with pork and bread crumbs. Most of dad's recipes come from his Pennsylvania Dutch mother or from his years of living in Stuttgart.

Have any of you had Rouladen made this way before?

Ingredients
1 lb round or flank steak, cut thin
1 lb ground pork
1 c fresh bread crumbs
1 onion, diced
parsley
salt & pepper
flour
oil
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup chicken stock

Instructions
Pounded the beef flat into 3"x4" pieces (or have your butcher cut them as thin as possible)
Season with salt & pepper
Mix the ground pork, bread crumbs onion, parsley, salt & pepper.
Place 2 Tbsp of the pork mixture on each strip of beef.
Roll the beef over the pork mixture and tie with string
Dredge the rolls in flour and brown in hot oil
Place the rolls in a casserole.
Cover with chicken stock and dry red wine
Cover and cook in 300°F oven or simmer on direct heat about 75 minutes.