Any Home Bakers Here?

[sunflour]

Friday DH brought home the cutest candy bar sled someone in his office made and gave to everyone. They used 2 candy canes and then 3 different sizes of candy bars, finished it up with a bit of ribbon and a tiny bow. I think the gal that made them used little dabs of hot glue to secure the canes to the bottom of the Kit Kat to hold them up. It's so clever I hate to take it apart for us to eat (but we will, lol). Thought you all might enjoy seeing it:

It wouldn't have lasted with me long enough got get the photo

Cute idea.

 

[sunflour]

thank you for the recipe i knocked these up this evening

Awesome..

 

[sunflour]

I was cruising around Amazon this morning and came across gingerbread house cookie cutters. They sell various sizes, the little mini houses would be fun, you could make an entire little ginger town from them.

.http://www.amazon.com/The-Gingerbre...d_sim_k_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0DVZCRRZ23N65V7BVFFZ

those could make cute chicken coop gingerbread houses.

 

[sunflour]

Made the worst cheese straws ever today…

I have tried my mom's recipe for years, but never turned out like hers…so have adjusted, adjusted, adjusted annually. This year, tried the recipe that came with the cookie pastry press …and they are just wrong….I had planned to take them to the office tomorrow, but since they didn't turn out me and DH ate most of them..

.

But made a batch of biscuit sausage cheese balls…and YES, we ate a lot of those as well, but I think there are enough left to take to work tomorrow...

Am making felt chicken stockings for my mini skinny tree. Finished one of six:


do you think a darker thread for the name would be better? What about black? Lettering was quick on machine, rest was hand stitched

Didn't get around to gingerbread house construction…still haven't cleaned up the kitchen…was too busy eating the goodies.

 

[Alice28]

Made the worst cheese straws ever today… I have tried my mom's recipe for years, but never turned out like hers…so have adjusted, adjusted, adjusted annually. This year, tried the recipe that came with the cookie pastry press …and they are just wrong….I had planned to take them to the office tomorrow, but since they didn't turn out me and DH ate most of them.. . But made a batch of biscuit sausage cheese balls…and YES, we ate a lot of those as well, but I think there are enough left to take to work tomorrow... Am making felt chicken stockings for my mini skinny tree. Finished one of six: do you think a darker thread for the name would be better? What about black? Lettering was quick on machine, rest was hand stitched Didn't get around to gingerbread house construction…still haven't cleaned up the kitchen…was too busy eating the goodies.

Oh my goodness! Lol! I LOvE your chicken foot stocking! Made me laugh so hard! I like it with the white writing, if you do one with black post a picture, but I think the white looks good.

 

[sunflour]

@Alice28


Thanks…I think I'll leave these white. I have them ready to construct - red stockings for the BR. Have cut out green stockings for the BO's , but don't like the shape of the feet on those, so may just use this pattern for all. I'll photo when all are done.


Today, I also started decoupaging my first 3 eggs to make as ornaments….they are so tiny and will likely turn out lumpy. Leaving them natural but adding decoupage to give them strength. You know, I almost threw them out a month or so ago..because all I have are 3 first eggs from my BR and none from the BO. Took me 45 minutes or more to find them today. Will post pics when done. Hopefully BEFORE Christmas!

 

[N F C]

sunflour, your stockings are adorable! I like the white on them too.

Sorry about the cheese straws but one thing about baking, we can usually eat our mistakes, lol!

I've been making felt chicken ornaments for our little tree too. Plan to finish those up today and will post picture.

Yesterday I made a new cookie recipe. DH couldn't stop talking about them. He's a real chocolate fiend and these definitely fit what he likes, they were a soft chocolate cakey-type cookie with a ton of chocolate chips in them. Will post recipe later today too, right now I'm still on my first cup of coffee.

Have a good day everyone!

 

[N F C]

Well, I just taught myself a valuable baking lesson...don't try to bake cookies before 8am. I have some cookie dough from yesterday's batch to still bake up and wanted to get an early start with things. While pulling the baking sheet out of the oven, the parchment paper slipped off the pan and dumped the entire dozen cookies all over the interior of the oven. They managed to hit both racks, the oven floor and door on the way off the sheet. Yuck, now the oven is in self-cleaning mode, smoking up the kitchen and my plans to get done early are kaput.

Sigh, guess I'll move on to the next project and hope it goes better.

Here's the cookie recipe I made, somehow all these very simple ingredients turn out a fabulous cookie (unless you dump them all over the inside of a hot oven).

CHOCOLATE COOKIES
1/2 Cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/3 Cup brown sugar
1/3 Cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
2 Tab. milk
1 Cup + 2 Tab. all-purpose flour
2 Cups chocolate chips or other chips or nuts

1. Pre-heat oven to 375. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Beat together butter, sugars, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder & vanilla until well blended.
3. Add the egg, beating until smooth. Beat in milk.
4. Add the flour and mix to combine.
5. Stir in chips or nuts.
6. Drop dough by tablespoon about 2" apart onto baking sheet.
7. Bake 11-12 minutes until they look 'set'. Don't over-bake. Let cool on sheet then remove from sheet.

Makes about 2 dozen to 2 1/2 dozen depending how large you make them.

 

[sunflour]

Well, I just taught myself a valuable baking lesson...don't try to bake cookies before 8am. I have some cookie dough from yesterday's batch to still bake up and wanted to get an early start with things. While pulling the baking sheet out of the oven, the parchment paper slipped off the pan and dumped the entire dozen cookies all over the interior of the oven. They managed to hit both racks, the oven floor and door on the way off the sheet. Yuck, now the oven is in self-cleaning mode, smoking up the kitchen and my plans to get done early are kaput.

Sigh, guess I'll move on to the next project and hope it goes better.

Something good is gonna happen soon…bad and good luck have to balance..

Question: I have a self-cleaning oven and have never used the feature….how bad is the smoke from the cycle? I really need to try it after some real bad pie spills. Have wet wiped it out, but was afraid to do the cleaning cycle.

 

[N F C]

Something good is gonna happen soon…bad and good luck have to balance..

Question: I have a self-cleaning oven and have never used the feature….how bad is the smoke from the cycle? I really need to try it after some real bad pie spills. Have wet wiped it out, but was afraid to do the cleaning cycle.

Yay, I have something good to look forward to! Thanks for that.

About the self-cleaning feature...the first time we used it, there wasn't much in the way of smoke because our house had been vacant for 2 yrs. prior to us and we just wanted to start off fresh. BUT, omg, today was bad! I had to open 2 windows and turn on a ceiling fan to keep the smoke alarm from going off. It did do a good job of turning those nasty blobls into little piles of ashes. Something to keep in mind when you decide to use that feature, I think our oven took about 3 hours to clean and of course you can't use your oven during that time so be sure to plan accordingly.