Schoene Kuchen

This is, for me, a classic Christmas Cookie. My mom made it for us every year, and we'd help decorate them with icing and sprinkles. They are rather time consuming... especially since one batch makes about 10 dozen cookies, but well worth it. They make great gifts as well! This recipe is adapted from the Mennonite Treasury of Recipes.

Schoene Kuchen

Time: about 10 minutes to mix, 15 to start with rolling and cutting, and 50 minutes to bake 5 pans. As for icing... add another hour or two.
Makes 10 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cream (I use whole milk, since I live on a farm and it is more accessible)
1/2 cup butter (make sure it is butter, not margarine, as the taste and texture will differ)
3 eggs
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups white sugar (you can add less... this recipe is rather sweet when iced)
4 1/2 cups flour, plus extra flour

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar. Add liquid ingredients. Mix together flour and baking powder, then add to the dough. Add flour until the dough is no longer sticky (best to be kneading with your hands). Roll dough out about 1/4 inch thick (I do it in portions... 1/2 the dough first, cut out my shapes, and then add more dough until it is all cut). Bake each pan for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom (may need less or more time, depending on the size of the cookies).

Butter Cream Icing
(adapted for cookies)

For every 2 1/2 dozen cookies, I need about 1 cup icing sugar mixed with a small amount of butter (I'd say 1/2 to 1 tsp) and about 1 Tablespoon of milk (again, using whole milk. May need less). Add only half the milk at a time until you reach the right consistency. To ice the entire batch I use 4.5 cups icing sugar with 1 Tbsp butter and 3-5 Tbsp milk. I also like to add about 1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla... depending on the strength of your vanilla. The icing will remain a little bit soft, allowing for decorating a bit longer. They may squish, but if you use less butter it will be a stiffer icing. Also, if you substitute water for milk (or half water) it will also be stiffer.

Enjoy!

Cakes!

So, for my daughter's birthday party in September, I made a cake and decided to have some fun decorating it by making and using fondant. The following cakes were all decorated using ONE batch of the fondant. I still have a tiny bit left over, but I have to say that getting three really pretty cakes from one batch of fondant is pretty good, especially considering that making fondant only costs about $6, while buying the stuff from the craft stores easily runs you $15... for less than half the amount you get making it yourself.

The recipe I used for the fondant can be found on Amy's blog at Muddy Boots.

The birthday cake... I used the Wilton gel 8 icing color pack. They work wonders. A tip... after opening, place a bit of saran wrap on them before closing the lids to keep the colors a gel for longer... otherwise they dry out after a long period of time.

Cake for a gathering


Mmmm...

Cake for a baby shower.

Sugar baby... made from the fondant

One thing I recommend... I didn't do it with the first cake, and while it was good, the fondant didn't want to stick to the cake as easily when cutting it. The other two cakes were slathered with a layer of butter cream icing (I tend to put on less than they say to, mainly because I find the stuff sweet enough as is). Oh, and using my normal butter sponge cake recipe with the fondant was extremely sweet... the Never Fail Chocolate was a much tastier choice in my opinion.

Cookies and Salt

Something I have never understood was the 1/2 tsp salt that was required for a batch of cookies.

They always tasted salty to me.

I've added less salt than asked for, and still, for some recipes, it's too salty.

Recently I looked up the reason salt is required in many cookie recipes. I found this - salt merely is used to enhance certain flavors in the recipe.

Makes sense. Growing up, we would add salt to watermelon and it would taste sweeter and juicier. My dad would add salt to his coffee and it would remove any bitter flavour that may have been there.

But still... salt in cookies?

I've started cutting way back on the salt in my baking, especially since learning it is just a flavour enhancer. Obviously, if it tastes like there is too much, there is too much. Instead of measuring out any salt, I just shake a little in. I haven't had a problem yet.

Then there is the issue of butter.

Now, I like salted butter. Always have. But I've noticed that the recipes usually do not specify salted or unsalted butter. If so, and there is salt in the recipe, I don't bother adding it. Why? The salt in the butter is MORE than enough.

There you have it. A little random food for thought.

Dinner for One

Today my hubby went out with a friend for supper, so I was on my own. So, to make something simple for myself, all I did was put a bunch of stuff in the oven for 40 minutes and voila... dinner served!

Spray a small baking pan with cooking spray. Add a piece of chicken. You can shake n bake it if you wish, but I like mine plain. Add one chopped potato and other various veggies, sprinkle your favorite salad dressing over top (I used Italian), about 1/4 cup. After it's done, sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Voila.

Make Baby Food: Step by Step

Today I was all excited to spend some time doing some craft projects after I put Baby M down for her nap, when I suddenly realized... no time for that, I need to bake, and make baby food, and exercise (plus, 5 minutes into the project I found out I didn't have the right colored thread anyway). I didn't exercise yet, but no matter. I figured I'd tell you all how to make your own baby food step by step. Make sure to read all the instructions first before you start (remember? They always tell you to do that for tests... and I never did, anyway...)

How to Make Baby Food: Apples

What you need:
6 apples
a steamer
a blender
an ice cube tray
sanity

Step 1: Pull out the steamer and 6 medium apples.

Step 2: Start to core, peel, and chop apples.

Step 3: Look at pile of apples left to do vs. pile of apples done and mentally try not to look at how much is left.

Step 4: Excitedly think how fast this is taking only to realize that instead of 4 apples, you've only done 4 quarters of an apple, meaning you still have 5 left to go.

Step 5: Grab another apple from the fridge upon realizing you've eaten about that much of your freshly chopped baby food.

Step 6: Put that apple back after almost giving your nails an impromptu trim, chalking it up to taste testing the baby food instead. After all, that's important to make sure it's good for baby, right?

Step 7: Wonder if all this work is really worth it. Try to consider how much money you are saving.

Step 8: Arrange all the chopped apples in the steamer as per directions. Turn steamer on.

Step 9: Make rice krispie square in the time it takes for the apples to steam (this'll make the man happy, right? It's kinda like baking). Realize that rice krispie square is quicker and easier than even steaming apples!

Step 10: Steamer is done. Treat yourself to some square while you let the apples cool.

Step 11: Get out blender and place apples inside (use the water runoff in the steamer tray to help get the puree thin enough). Blend/chop/puree them like a mad woman (which doesn't take much since the blender probably doesn't wish to cooperate anyway and is making you mad) until a nice baby food consistency.

Step 12: Pour applesauce into ice cube tray, cover with plastic wrap and freeze.

Step 13: Wonder why you didn't just buy the stuff in the first place, then proceed to look up all sorts of crafts you could make with baby food jars to help you justify buying them later on.

Step 14: Do it all over again next month.

Notes: Make sure to label the container you put the frozen cubes of food into with the type of baby food and the date you made it. Also, instead of steaming the apples you could boil or bake or microwave them if you wish. I just love to use my steamer.

BBQ Season! BBQ'd Potatoes

So, it's been awhile since I've posted anything new! How sad is that! I never stopped cooking, so exactly what happened?


Anyway, it's BBQ SEASON! YIPPEE! That means all I need to do is prep food and clean up food, and hubby can do the 'cooking', hahaha.


We got a brand new BBQ on monday. I got it for my hubby as a late anniversary and early father's day gift. Yeah... real early... Anyway, it's stainless steel, has 3 burners (countem, 3, woah!), and it cooks evenly! Posted is the picture of our first meal cooked on the grill...

BBQ Potatoes

You can BBQ just about anything. A friend of mine showed me how to do potatoes on the grill a few summers ago and we've been doing this ever since.

First, chop your potatoes (and other veggies). I like to stick them in the microwave for about 5 minutes to partially cook them so that they don't take quite so long on the grill. Get a large piece of tinfoil, spray it with cooking spray, and place the veggies in a row down the middle (works best if you do only 1-2 people's veggies per piece of foil and just have multiple foil pouches on the grill). Add your spices, whatever tickles your fancy, and a bit of butter (again, however much you want). Make a pouch from the foil by grabbing the long ends and wrapping them over the mixture, pinching and 'rolling' them together somewhat... (I wish I took pics, but this diagram should help... I hope...). You should have a tube of foil with veggies inside. Roll each of the ends tightly to close them. Place on the grill, seam side up, preferably over really low heat or on the 'warmer' section (unless you want charcoal potatoes). Voila! "Baked" potatoes and veggies on the grill!

Of course you could probably grill them seperately with tinfoil, but what's the fun in that?

Tips in the Kitchen

The kitchen is the busiest room in the house. Here are a few tips to help out with your cooking.

Reduce Potato Foam - Cooking potatoes? Spray a bit of Pam (or add a little oil) on the water to keep the foam at bay.

Rinsing Dishes - Use cold water to rinse egg, potato starches, dairy, and other difficult foods from dishes instead of hot, as hot water will set them. Hot water is best used for greasy foods.

Glassware - When using glass cookwear in your oven, decrease the oven temperature by 25F.

Clean your Counters - I hate cooking in a messy kitchen, so while things are going and I have little to do, I clean up the counter tops. Means less work after supper when I don't feel like doing anything. Another great thing to try to do is make sure the kitchen is cleaned up before bed... do the dishes, start the dishwasher, wipe out your sink and your counters/table... this will make cooking and doing anything in your kitchen a lot less stressful.

Soften Brown Sugar - Brown sugar tends to harden if it's not in a properly sealed container (Tupperware, oh how I love thee...). To soften it again, take a bun and place it into the container. Voila!

There you have it! Five tips for the kitchen!