We've got a nice mix of sweet and savory recipes in this baking roundup! All delicious and all pretty easy, even if my execution was a bit off. There was, however, one bigger disaster, but again, still tasty. This past week I baked treats (breads) for Easter that will be in my next baking update, but you can just save the recipes for next year! (or make them anytime.)
Gooey Oatmeal Fudge Bars
These were so easy to make and super tasty! They're good straight out of the fridge or after a quick zap in the microwave to melt the fudge a bit! For mine I should have saved a bit more cookie batter to crumble on the top but they still look great.
Pâte à Choux / Cream Puffs
I made Cheshire Cat tails again and had leftover crème pâtissière. I decided it was the day to finally make cream puffs! It wasn’t as hard/scary as I built it up to be in my mind but I did almost have a disaster. They’re supposed to bake at 425 for 15 minutes so they actually puff up and then you lower the heat to 350 for 20-25 minutes. Somehow the oven reset my pre-heat temp of 425 and only heated to 350. I went to check on the puffs at 14 minutes and they hadn’t puffed up AT ALL. I looked at the temperature and it said 350 - NOOO!! But I did some quick thinking and decided to pump up the heat to 450 to try and get some steam going inside to puff them up. Came back after the oven had gotten to that temperature and they had puffed! YAYY!!! Then I lowered the temp to 350 for the final 10-15 minutes of baking. I used King Arthur Baking’s recipe and added a bit of sugar to make them sweet.
Thick and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Another recipe from Tessa of Handle the Heat's Ultimate Cookie Handbook. Her cookie recipes (any recipes really) always come out amazing! In the past I've made her brown butter chocolate chip cookies, cosmic brownies, lemon loaf cake and many more! The recipe uses cornstarch and part cake flour to make them soft and chewy. I made a full batch but only baked about 14 cookies. The rest went into the freezer so we could bake them off fresh for easy desserts!
Ukrainian Garlic Bread - Pampushky
The recipe is by Olia Hercules and was shared by Nigella Lawson as part of Cook for Ukraine. "Cook For Ukraine aims to increase awareness of the humanitarian crisis the world faces right now, as well as raise the funds needed to aid children & families in Ukraine who have been displaced by the current situation." You can donate to the cause on JustGiving. Now to the food! I'm a big garlic bread fan and immediately added this to my must-bake list after seeing it on Nigella's instagram. So fun and tasty! It was pretty easy to make too, although I had a bit of trouble with my dough not wanting to come together so I added a couple spoonfuls of water and kneaded like crazy! They plumped up nicely and came out golden brown. Yummy!
[King Arthur's] Favorite Sandwich Bread
For some reason I have a difficult time with making loaves of bread. This is the second or third "sandwich bread" recipe I tried and it didn't come out quite right. My loaf pan is slightly bigger than the recipe so I increased all the ingredients by 25%. The flavor was great but I guess I need to increase the recipe more. I might just double it next time so it is definitely big enough, ha ha! At least it tasted good! I made this the same weekend as the Pampushky so at least one thing came out the way it was supposed to.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Here comes the disaster. In the middle of the week I decided I wanted to make dessert but I didn't want to take the time to make individual cookies so I looked for a new cookie bar recipe to try. Grabbed the recipe from a blog that gave me good success with an updated French macaron recipe. Unfortunately, the dough didn't want to cook!! I even left it in TWENTY extra minutes and the center was still flowing lava while the edges were crisp and cooked. Super weird. Luckily it firmed up overnight and I like underdone cookies/brownies, but Christian still avoided eating the middle (more for me!)
You are so good at baking! Even the brownie "disaster" was still edible for you which is better than my failed attempts at baking, haha!
ReplyDeleteHope you are enjoying the Easter weekend :)
Away From The Blue
They look so good!
ReplyDeleteThe Ukrainian bread was my fave.