At The Very Yeast

From fine pastry to mealtime, from the sublime and seductive to the absurd and abnormal, from heavy duty learning to the insane and ridiculous. Old posts or new, anything goes here. Here’s the roundup of things I’ve stumbled across during the past week.

The Holiday rampup continues. The malls are packed and you don’t even want to begin to think about wrapping gifts. So if you have a few minutes you can whip up this lovely Gateau St. Honore over at Martha Stewart Hey! Just kidding! It is one of the nicer presentations I’ve seen and it is the ultimate in sinful desserts.

It’s Holiday Party time, and if you need an item to take, how about wow-ing your friends with these Homemade Cheese Crackers from Dish & Tell. I might just try this one out myself. Pretty easy – kind of like making pie dough.

How about having those cheese crackers with Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese from Rain Day Gal. Honestly it’s like she was reading my mind here.

I’ve got Homemade Tater Tots from Heather Christo for you. Sounds much better than the frozen food variety.

Ok let’s get to some baking stuff. The Oreo frenzy continues here with Death By Oreo Cupcakes.

Food & Whine has updated their Cookie Recipe Index for 2011 and it now boasts a total of 52. This list includes some old favorites along with some that are more unusual like Brown Sugar Cashew Cookies.

If you’re into baking lore as I am, you can read about the Dangers of Mincemeat Pie at Chicago Reader. Author Cliff Doerkson ferrets out some interesting mince pie stories and sets out to bake his own.

Make your house smell like a brewery with this Beer Bread. I make a variation of this every now and again.No yeast in here so it’s just right for the beginning baker or one who can’t overcome the yeast fear.

Feeling artsy? Want to tackle a project? See Julia Usher’s Snowglobe Cookies. It’s quite an undertaking but the results are stunning.

What the heck is a Figgy Pudding anyway? Dorie Greenspan explains it all on NPR. Her Figgy Pudding recipe is here, and there is an audio link on the page too where you can listen to Dorie tell the story.

NPR also shares an old time Fruitcake Recipe here. It has a pound of butter in it so it can’t be all bad.

I like to do Cranberry Bread at holiday time, and here is a nice one from Red Star Yeast that includes some whole wheat flour.

Years ago I tried to make a Buche De Noel, sometimes called the Christmas Yule Log cake. What a disaster. But I’m primed to try one again and this version over at Zoe Bakes is of interest. Now whether or not I’ll get it done is an entirely different story.

If you have a Buche de Noel or Yule Log cake, you will definitely need Meringue Mushrooms. For new bakers, this is one of those things where you sort of need to see it done. Here is a good process video along with some tips and good explanation of pitfalls. She’s had a little too much coffee though LOL.

That wraps it up for this week. Enjoy the mayhem!

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**Any commercial shopping links listed in this post are not endorsements as the products have not been purchased or tested. It’s just interesting stuff that I thought might be of interest. As always, investigate vendors before making any purchase.

It’s Sunday again and it’s time for another go round at some web links. This is just stuff that I’ve found while cruising the web. The content can be anything here – from fine pastry to mealtime, from the sublime and seductive to the absurd and abnormal, from heavy duty learning to the insane and ridiculous. Old posts or new, anything goes here. Here’s the roundup of things I’ve stumbled across during the past week.

The Holiday rampup begins, and time will soon start running short so try these French Breakfast Muffins as a quick treat for everyday – from Velvet Lava Cafe.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread from Joy the Baker – a great simple treat which can be based on your favorite sweet yeast dough recipe or by using Joy’s recipe in the post.

Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread from the Pastry Affair. A nice savory detour to get us away from all the sugar laden treats.

For those who are challenged in the kitchen, Cinnamon Toast Rolls from Circle B Kitchen. Use already baked for a quick treat – looks like it could be good as an after school snack, and it’s something even the kids can make.

Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwich from Chocolate and Carrots. Easy lunch or light dinner fare. Use your favorite home baked bread and enjoy.

100 Famous Restaurant Recipes You Can Replicate at Home - There are some good ones here including the Outback Bloomin’ Onion with cutting instructions.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries from Nutmeg Nanny – if you can afford the price of strawberries in December, a great quick treat for your holiday gathering that can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.

You must see the Zumbo Cake Walk from Lorraine at Not Quite Nigella. Yes, it’s leggy fashion models toting cakes and pastries. What an idea for a cake auction or charity event. And there are pics of fancy pastries too!

If you’re artistically challenged and are thinking of using Cookie Molds this holiday season, then this is the post for you.  It’s a great process post that will help you avoid the pitfalls of sticking dough etc. over at SimpleBites.net.

And since it will soon be cookie baking time, here’s a step by step on how to do the Royal Icing Flood Method on Christmas Cutouts from BrownEyedBaker.

The family has been asking for something like these Thick Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Smitten Kitchen.

Melted Snowman Cookies from Crazy Domestic. Personally I’d use my own recipes for the components, but the family can really have some fun making these.

It’s tree trimming time, so have a look at this Graham Elliot Tree Trimming Menu. Some nice ideas here.

And to wrap it all up. My brother has been asking me what I wanted for Christmas and the thoughts of a Pullman Pan came to mind. But how to use it properly was the question. I wanted a “real life” post not canned manufacturer drivel. Well I found what I was looking for here at Goth Panda. A Pullman Pan makes square loaves, and I think the term possibly came from the old railroad transportation heydey when trains were loaded with travelers. Baked in a Pullman Pan, the loaves would be easy to stack in the limited amount of space allotted for railroad dining. A tiny bit more research yielded items that said I should season the pullman pan before using, so here’s one way to do it.

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**Any commercial shopping links listed in this post are not endorsements as the products have not been purchased or tested. It’s just interesting stuff that I thought might be of interest. As always, investigate vendors before making any purchase.

It’s Sunday again and it’s time for another go round at some web links. This is just stuff that I’ve found while cruising the web. The content can be anything here – from fine pastry to mealtime, from the sublime and seductive to the absurd and abnormal, from heavy duty learning to the insane and ridiculous. Old posts or new, anything goes here. Here’s the roundup of things I’ve stumbled across during the past week.

Since everyone is pretty much still lapsed into a sugar coma from the holiday, I’ll try and keep the sugar to a minimum this week LOL

If you have always dreamed about writing that cookbook, be sure to do a reality check here, a great article by food writer Nancy Baggett called Are My Recipes Good Enough for a Cookbook? Recipe Testers Revealed the Hard Truth.

Ok I said no sugar but I lied. See the Cinnamon Apple Candy Cane Kolache with Cinnamon Drizzle from Barbara Bakes. It’s a Danish Braid with a twist – literally!

I was looking for some things to do with Chestnuts and came across this process post with a recipe and technique for Chestnut Puree over at Not Quite Nigella. Lorraine is great so check it out.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions from the locals about homemade candy, particularly truffles. Here’s a nice post that wraps it up neatly for you over at My Baking Addiction called Simple Homemade Truffles.

Also from My Baking Addiction, these caught my eye as I happen to have some Pumpkin Ale in the fridge. See Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes.

Your own Homemade Candy Peanut Butter Cups – much easier than you think.

I’ve recently been gifted with a few pounds of dates and have been looking for something to do with them. I found a Banana Date Bread here at Bellaeats.com.

Creamed Cornbread from Alton Brown over at the Food Network. This one calls for a cast iron skillet. My dad really likes this one.

Ok now this is interesting – sort of almost like croissants without all the lamination pain. Does take a little work, but if you are still afraid of laminated doughs this might be just the ticket. I am going to try these myself. See Bread Baking Babes bake Ensaïmadas! Also see this related post from Bread Baker’s Dog and you’ll get an idea of the inside of the bun.

An Old World Christmas Cookie Round U is here at One Perfect Bite. Some traditional favorites all in one place.

Also from One Perfect Bite, Irish Caraway Crisps. We have kind of a love affair with Caraway here so these sound great!

We’ll wrap things up with this amazing cake frosting tip I found over at Grandma Bonnie’s Closet. Want to get a smooth Frosting? Here you go – Simple Cake Decorating Tip: Smoothing Butter Cream Icing . I’ve never heard of it or tried it, but seeing as I’ve had my share of cakewrecks, I think it’s worth giving it a go. Give an “almost fondant” look without all the trouble. Thanks Grandma Bonnie!

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**Any commercial shopping links listed in this post are not endorsements as the products have not been purchased or tested. It’s just interesting stuff that I thought might be of interest. As always, investigate vendors before making any purchase.