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Welcome to i wanna bake website:
This is my blogging website, where i post weekly new techniques of Baking
i am so fond of trying new items
In this website, we will learn how to mastery the baking
i have Published so many Articles you can visit my blogs and learn step-by-step how to bake different types of cookies and make things.
You can check out my Latest Published Mastery blogs by following Links:
1: Cinnamon Tart
2: Buffalo Chex Mix
3: Watermelon Slice Cookies
Happy New Year! I hope everyone’s off to a great start to 2016 so far (and adjusting faster to writing 2016 in dates than I am)! I don’t know about you, but even I have just about hit my limit on sweets throughout the holiday season. Because of this sugar overload, I decided to try something that tastes a bit healthier for the first bakeventure of the year (note: I only said tastes healthier. Let’s not go crazy just yet.). What tastes healthier than oatmeal and grapefruit? Grapefruit, oatmeal, walnut muffins, of course!
I started with King Arthur Flour’s basic muffin recipe and made adjustments based on my own liking. I referred to this recipe from Allrecipes a bit, but based on the reviews, I didn’t place much stock in that one. You’ll notice in the photos that my muffins didn’t rise all that much. That’s most likely because I replaced the milk called for with grapefruit juice, but didn’t change the baking powder to baking soda. For a more detailed account of the difference between baking powder and baking soda, read this article by Sally’s Baking Addiction, but suffice it to say that when you increase the acid in your recipe (in this case adding grapefruit juice), you may need to adjust your leavening. Next time I make these, I’ll probably try them with ½ teaspoon of baking soda instead of the one tablespoon of baking powder instead.
Despite having a full cup of fresh grapefruit juice and the zest of a whole grapefruit in the batter, these muffins have just a hint of grapefruit flavor. As a matter of fact, Josh couldn’t even taste it (those of you who know us know this is weird because I’m usually the one whose tastebuds are less sensitive). If you try the recipe and can’t taste it, I’d suggest juicing an extra grapefruit and reducing the juice on the stove until it’s down to 1 cup of liquid. This will intensify the grapefruity taste.
I felt it was only natural to add nuts to an oatmeal batter, but if nuts aren’t your thing, you could either leave them out or substitute some dried cranberries or other fresh or dried fruit. If you do this, stir them into the dry ingredients first so that they get coated in flour and don’t sink to the bottom. This recipe is pretty malleable, so the sky’s the limit with mix-ins. If you come up with a particularly tasty combination, please share!
You will need the following ingredients (sorry, no picture this time):
For the muffins:
For baking ambiance:
It seems like I haven’t seen the sun in a month! While my inclination was to give in and listen to some classic grunge, I decided instead to fight back against the grayness and put on a bubbly 80’s playlist I found on Amazon Prime Music. The songs were not all necessarily my cup of tea, but the playlist basically served as an 80’s music radio station with no commercials, so I’d say it was a success.
Preheat your oven to 500°F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper wrappers and grease the wrappers (don’t skip this step or you won’t be able to get the muffins out whole).
Chop your nuts until they resemble gravel.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder (or baking soda if you’re making that change), ginger, grapefruit zest, and walnuts until all ingredients are fully-incorporated. Do your best to break up any clumps of sugar you see.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the grapefruit juice, eggs, and applesauce until smooth.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until all the dry ingredients are wet. The batter will still be lumpy, but resist the urge to make it smooth.
Fill each muffin cup approximately ⅔ full with batter.
Sprinkle the decorating sugar on top of the muffins (if using) and put them in the oven. Immediately decrease the oven temperature to 400°F and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean.
Leave the muffins in the muffin pan(s) just until they are cool enough to handle, then remove them from the pans to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
You can download the printable PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
Aah, Chex Party Mix. How I love you so. In my mind, it’s not a holiday celebration without the Chex mix. Since the Super Bowl is akin to a holiday to many people, I decided to put a (mildly spicy) spin on a beloved classic in its honor. Admittedly, I couldn’t care less about football and usually don’t watch the Super Bowl, but I am quite an appreciator of snacks, so the day’s not all bad in my book. If you’re looking for a fun party snack, look no further!
I started with the original Chex mix recipe and made edits from there. I replaced the Worcestershire sauce with Buffalo wing sauce and the standard seasonings with ranch dressing mix and celery salt. I kept the ratio of Chex cereals the same, but as long as it comes out to 9 cups, any blend of your choice should be fine. That also goes for the other mix-ins (dry-roasted peanuts, pretzel thins, and corn chips). If you don’t like one ingredient, you can always try a substitution as long as you maintain the overall volume of ingredients.
The ranch flavor isn’t entirely noticeable, but the flavor is good just the same. I am not at all a fan of hot things, but I was able to eat some of this, and Josh seemed to like it. Even if you’re a wimp like me when it comes to spicy foods, you should be ok, but if you reeeeeeally don’t want to use the wing sauce, you could go back to the usual Worcestershire. Alternatively, if you’re one of those crazy people who claims even ghost peppers aren’t really that hot, feel free to substitute the liquid fire hot sauce of your choice.
While most Chex mix recipes now tell you to do this in the microwave, I’ve always preferred the oven method. I like to get the ingredients a little toasted, and I don’t think you can really achieve that in the microwave. You can, of course, try it that way by following the instructions in the link above, but I make no guarantees about how it will come out. If you do experiment with the microwave, let me know how it goes!
You will need the following ingredients (they take up too much space to fit in my picture area):
For the snack mix:
For baking ambiance:
I’m a sucker for some punchy 80’s rock, and this bakeventure is no exception. I tend to stick with favorites such as Van Halen and Aerosmith, but basically any band whose lead singer can get more volume into his long, flowing locks than I can (I’m looking at you, Sebastian Bach) is going to be a good candidate.
Preheat your oven to 250°F.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the Chex, peanuts, pretzels, and corn chips.
Cut the butter into tablespoons and put them in a roasting pan or other high-sided baking dish. Melt the butter in the oven (takes about 5 minutes). Stir in the wing sauce until well-combined. Then, stir in the ranch dressing mix and celery salt.
Pour approximately ⅓ of the Chex mix into the roasting pan and stir it until everything is well-coated in the sauce. Repeat the process twice with the remaining mix.
Bake the Chex mix for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Try to keep all the ingredients evenly coated in the sauce throughout the baking time. If it starts to look like it’s about to burn before the hour is up, take it out early.
At this point, DO NOT put it in your mouth because you will burn your tongue (I may or may not be speaking from a wealth of personal experience with homemade Chex mix…). Leave it to cool completely in the pan, then serve or store it in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
You can download the printable PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
Christmas really snuck up on my this year. Thanksgiving happened, and then BAM! Everyone was posting pictures on Facebook of their Christmas trees while I still had all my fall decorations up. I am now a little bit more prepared for the upcoming festivities, but the preparations have definitely kept me on my toes.
I am also a card carrying procrastinator, so naturally I left myself just two days to get all of my cookie baking and decorating done (and now about one hour to finish this entire post). All told, I made 6 varieties of cookies and one set of mini rum cakes for the people on my cookie list. These pecan lace cookies were a new addition this year, and I think they may be sticking around.
I remember these cookies from the grocery store down the street from where I grew up. The bakery’s policy was to give one cookie per day for free to each kid who asked, and this one was always my favorite. Sadly, they weren’t well labeled, so I never knew what they were called. When I saw the contestants make brandy snaps on The Great Holiday Baking Show, I got super excited because the cookies looked a lot like what I remembered from the grocery store. The internet helped me to figure out that the ones I was thinking of are actually called pecan lace cookies, but that they are pretty much the same cookie that you use for brandy snaps.
I followed this recipe pretty closely, but added in the same spice mixture I use in gingerbread cookies to give it some kick. I wanted to create the flavor of gingerbread cookies dipped in eggnog, so I used the ingredients from this blog post for the eggnog ganache, but cooked them the way I usually make ganache instead of following the directions. Next time I make these, I will increase the nutmeg in the ganache because I couldn’t really taste it (feel free to weigh in in the comments if you make it as is and think it’s just fine).
But that’s enough of my chatter. Let’s get right down to it. You will need the following ingredients:
For the cookies:
For the eggnog ganache:
For baking ambiance:
While I did have all sorts of different Christmas music playing throughout my many hours of baking, I kept coming back to Cee Lo’s Magic Moment by Cee Lo Green. Say what you will about him, but the man makes a mean Christmas album. I suggest checking it out if you haven’t already.
If your pecans didn’t come pre-chopped, do so now. You will want them fairly fine so that you don’t have giant chunks of pecan in your cookies.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, pecans, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Set this aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, and salt. Heat the ingredients over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted and the sugar is fully dissolved (this should take about 7 minutes).
When the mixture is nice and syrupy, remove it from the heat and fold in the dry ingredients.
Transfer the goopy mess to a medium bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it until firm (at least 2 hours).
When your “dough” is ready, preheat your oven to 350°F and line large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Form the dough into teaspoon-sized balls and arrange 6 of them on each cookie sheet. DO NOT be tempted to put more than 6 on a sheet, or they will come out looking like this:
To reiterate, 6 on a cookie sheet.
Bake the cookies until they turn golden brown, approximately 9-10 minutes. You may want to turn your cookie sheets halfway through baking so they brown evenly.
Remove the entire sheet of parchment paper from the cookie sheet with the cookies still on it and leave it on a cooling rack. These actually cool rather quickly because they’re so thin, so you don’t have to worry too much about running out of space. I found that mine were completely cooled and hardened by the time I’d made two more batches. Still, you should let them sit overnight before you slather them in ganache if you can stand it.
Speaking of ganache, you should probably make that once your cookies are hardened and ready for decorating. 😉 To do so, start by pouring the chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl or glass measuring cup. In a small saucepan, whisk the nutmeg into the heavy cream. Heat the cream on medium-low heat until it comes just to a boil. Remove it from the heat once you start to see the bubbles.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 5 minutes.
After your 5 minutes are up, whisk the chocolate and cream until it’s completely smooth. If you find that you have lumps that just will not go away, you can heat the mixture in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time, whisking well after each set, until it does your bidding. When the ganache is smooth, whisk in the rum (if using).
Let the ganache sit until it is thick and tacky. This is a good time to pair cookies based on size and shape if you haven’t done that already.
When all of your components are ready, spread a layer of ganache on the underside of one cookie from each pair. Top with the remaining cookies to make sandwiches.
Alternatively, you can dip the cookies halfway into the ganache. However, if you do this, you probably want to serve them as soon as the ganache has hardened, as I found that mine went soft overnight. To avoid this, you could also try freezing them.
Serve the cookies once the ganache is hardened, or store them in an airtight container.
You can download the printable PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate! In case you’re jonesing for some cookies that are holiday-appropriate but still a little out of the ordinary, I’ve concocted this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Rugelach. I feel like fall came and went in an instant, and I’m still not ready to let go of pumpkin spice just yet. Since these cookies are distinctly not for Christmas, I felt it was reasonable to hold off on the eggnog, gingerbread, and peppermint awhile longer and hang onto pumpkin spice for just one more bakeventure.
I adapted this recipe from the rugelach recipe in Joy of Cooking. While the pumpkin spice was a pleasant addition, I think in the future I might try following Dorie Greenspan’s suggestions, such as working with cold fats instead of softening them and adding some other flavoring elements into the dough. Using cold butter and cream cheese will help to make the dough puff up just like it does for pie crust and puff pastry. I might also try an egg wash next time to give the rugelach that classic bakery sheen and make it easier for the cinnamon sugar to stick.
If you want a shortcut version (which isn’t quite going to be right, but will probably be passable), you could use store-bought pie crusts and add some extra spice and nuts to make sure it has enough oomf. I’ll also take this moment to remind you to sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top before you bake the cookies. This is something I forgot to do, and mine suffered a bit from it.
I found the pumpkin butter at Trader Joe’s, and I believe you should still be able to find some there (if not, my apologies). If not, there are some options online. Alternatively, you can make your own or substitute thickened, canned pumpkin pie filling for a similar effect. Just remember not to slop too much on there or it will leak out and burn, leaving you with a cookie sheet of charred sadness.
You will need the following ingredients:
For the cookies:
For baking ambiance:
I actually had 2 other bakeventures going on at the same time as this one, and Kenny Loggins presided over them all. If you’re in the mood for the soundtrack to the ’80s, Kenny’s got you covered. Once you’re done making cookies, kick back and watch some ’80s movies for good measure. (You know I did.)
Whisk together the flour and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl.
Using a stand mixer or other electric mixer (or a wooden spoon), beat together the butter and cream cheese until combined.
Add in the spiced flour and beat the mixture until it just begins to form a dough (mine is probably a little overmixed in this picture).
Divide the dough into three equal portions and form each into a 6″ disc. [Note: The discerning reader will notice that I only have two discs. That’s because I halved the recipe since I was making two other types of cookies at the same time and didn’t want to overload my cookie receptacles.] Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour or up to 1 day.
In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar until uniform. Set this aside until you’re ready to assemble your cookies.
When your dough is nice and hard, place one disc on a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a (roughly) 14″-diameter circle.
Trim off the rough outer edge and either save it to re-roll or throw it out.
Carefully spread ¼ cup of the pumpkin butter in a thin layer over the dough, leaving a ¼” border around the edge.
Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon sugar on top of the pumpkin butter. Sprinkle 2½ tablespoons of the ground nuts on top of that.
Using a pizza cutter, pie crust cutter, or sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 or 16 wedges (depending on how big you want your cookies to be). I did 8 slices since I was using less dough.
One at a time, roll each slice up, starting from the outer edge and working your way to the tip. Transfer the cookies to a cookie sheet, tip down, and refrigerate them while you repeat the process with the remaining dough discs.
Bake the cookies for about 25 minutes, or until the bottoms just start to brown.
Leave them to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer them to cooling racks to cool completely.
You can download the printable PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
Cinnamon pie is something I’ve been tinkering with ever since I saw this episode of Psych for the first time (as an aside, why aren’t cinnamon festivals more of a thing?!). As it turns out, cinnamon pie sounds easier to come up with than it is. In my mind, it should have a consistency similar to pumpkin pie, but shouldn’t have any flavors other than cinnamon. My first attempt years ago came out as a soupy mess. My most recent attempt (prior to this one) came out more like a cinnamon quiche, which is not something I’d recommend. This time, I finally got the texture (and, of course, the flavor) right.
This tart is based on the same recipe from Joy of Cooking as my pomegranate lime tart. The key here is to use only egg yolks, and a lot of them. My previous recipe used whole eggs, and it was most likely the whites that created the quiche-like consistency which was so disgusting. Egg yolks make for a much silkier texture. Milk infused with chai also helped to carry the cinnamon flavor through the tart. If you don’t want to use milk, you could use strong tea instead. If you feel like experimenting, you could choose a different flavor of tea to change the flavor a bit.
I would have liked to make this a full-sized pie, but that most likely would have involved adding half the ingredients, which means a dozen egg yolks, and I just couldn’t justify blowing a whole carton of eggs on one pie. If you’re feeling game, or really want to show off at a holiday celebration, try it and let me know how it goes!
You will need the following ingredients:
For the tart:
For the cinnamon whipped cream:
For baking ambiance:
This week’s bakeventure is brought to you by the talented Hall and Oates. Perhaps the smoothness of Daryl Hall’s voice is just what this cinnamon pie needed to finally get the right silky, smooth texture.
Prepare and refrigerate your pie crust if you’re making it from scratch (see here for the recipe I use). I do confess that this time, after two failed attempts at making my own cinnamon-spiced crust, I just caved and used a store-bought crust. It was still delicious.
When you’re ready to roll, preheat your oven to 425°F.
Roll out your pie crust and fit it into a greased and floured 9″ tart pan, trimming the crust flush with the edge of the pan. Prick the bottom all over with the tines of a fork. DO NOT patch the crust if it tears. This will give your custard an opening to leak out of, which just leads to heartbreak. If your oven is still preheating after you fit the crust into the pan, put the crust in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it.
Line the crust with aluminum foil, then fill the foil with dry beans or a 9″ cake pan.
Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove the cake pan/beans and aluminum foil and bake for another 5 minutes, until the crust becomes lightly browned.
After 15 minutes
Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. While the crust is baking, combine the milk and the teabag in a small saucepan and bring the milk just to a simmer. Remove from the heat and leave the teabag to steep for 5 minutes.
Remove the teabag, straining it to hang onto as much of the flavor as possible. Set the milk aside.
Next, fill a large frying pan with 1″ of water and bring it just to a simmer. In a medium, heat-proof bowl (like one of these), mix together the butter cubes and sugar. Carefully place the bowl into the simmering water.
Stir the butter and sugar until the butter is completely melted. Remove the bowl from the water
Whisk in the egg yolks.
Next, whisk in the infused milk.
Return the bowl to the simmering water and whisk the custard fairly constantly until it thickens to the consistency of heavy cream. The custard should stick to the edge of the bowl when you swirl it. When you’re happy with the consistency, remove the bowl from the water for good.
Finally, whisk in the cinnamon until no clumps remain and the color is consistent throughout the liquid.
Pour the hot filling into the pre-baked crust and carefully transfer to the oven (I suggest putting the tart pan on a cookie sheet or pizza pan to prevent any leakage).
Bake the tart for 15-20 minutes, or until the center of the filling is set (it shouldn’t jiggle when you shake it).
Now, as much as you might want to eat it right away, set it aside and let it cool completely. I mean it, you will regret it if you cut this now.
When the tart is absolutely, completely cooled, carefully remove the edge of the pan. If you are feeling brave (and confident in the job you did greasing and flouring the pan), you can run a thin spatula under the bottom of the crust to release it from the bottom of the pan and carefully transfer the tart to a serving dish (I was not this brave).
If you want to make the top pretty (and add even more cinnamon), you can decorate this with some cinnamon whipped cream, which is super easy to make. Refrigerate a mixing bowl and the beater(s) of an electric mixer for at least 15 minutes. When they are nice and cold, pour the heavy cream into the bowl and beat it on medium speed until it begins to hold its shape.
While the mixer is running on the lowest speed, add in the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl if necessary. Increase the speed to high and beat the cream until it holds its shape well and stands in stiff peaks when you remove the beater.
This was probably a little over-beaten…
Scoop the cream into a decorating bag fitted with a star tip and pipe it onto the tart, or just spread it on with a spatula (or eat it with a spoon, I won’t judge).
Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to two days.
Enjoy!
You can download the printable PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
This past weekend saw a dear friend grow another year awesomer. In an effort to pay tribute to our shared interests and history, I decided I wanted to bake something with potatoes this week. (Because nothing says friendship like potatoes. :-P) Since this friend is also a great lover of chocolate, brownies seemed to be a natural choice.
It turns out that potatoes and chocolate go great together in baked goods like cake and brownies. The potatoes add a nice amount of moisture, making for soft and fudgy brownies (I have yet to try cake, but I am optimistic on this front). Fear not! If you don’t tell people, they’ll never be able to tell these brownies have potatoes in them. Can you still make delicious, fudgy brownies without mashed potatoes? Absolutely! Will you have as interesting of a conversation piece to bring to parties? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
You will need the following ingredients:
For the brownies:
For the ganache:
For baking ambiance:
Your favorite musical soundtrack. I listened to the Original Broadway Cast Recording from Pippin because of its special sentimental significance for the aforementioned friend and me. This was our first school musical- she was on stage and I was in the pit. It was a great experience, and I remember it fondly. It’s also good background for when you’ve got magic to do.
Ooooooh, it’s time to start bakin’!
Peel and chop your potatoes and cover them with approximately 1″ of water in a medium saucepan. The size of your potato chunks is relatively unimportant, as you can just boil them longer if they are bigger.
When the potatoes are tender, drain and mash them. Do not add any of the usual ingredients you would use for mashed potatoes (milk, butter, etc). Set them aside to cool.
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Put the eggs and oil in a medium mixing bowl and lightly beat them until they are mostly homogeneous, but not frothy.
Add in the white and brown sugar, mashed potatoes, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until the ingredients are just combined. There will still be some small clumps of potato, but be sure to break up and larger blobs.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until the mixture is combined (again, there will be some small lumps).
Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into a prepared 9″ square baking pan (I lined the bottom of mine with a square of parchment paper to make it easier to remove them).
Bake your brownies for 20 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the center; if it comes out clean or slightly crumby (but not wet) they are done. If not, continue to bake, checking ever 3-5 minutes. You do not want to over-bake these because they will become tough.
Let the brownies cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to separate it. Place a cutting board or plate that is larger than the baking pan on top of the pan. Quickly invert the pan onto the cutting board, being careful to hold the edges down so you don’t have a tragic brownie accident. Remove the pan from the brownie.
Peel off the parchment paper if you used it. You can leave it upside down like this if you want, or you can flip it again onto another flat surface.
If you’re flipping again, be careful, because you can lose your brownie this way. I would put a piece of waxed paper on top of the brownie, then put a cooling rack on top of that upside down. I will admit that I thought I could do it with just the waxed paper, and I was sorely mistaken. My brownie cracked in half and ended up all over the counter. I picked it up and shoved the two halves together, and it worked out ok.
Fortunately, we’re going to cover this in ganache, so you can hide your mistakes if they do happen. While your brownie is cooling (hopefully in one piece), chop your dark chocolate (if you’re not into dark chocolate, you can substitute milk or semi-sweet, or possibly white). Put it in a glass bowl or measuring cup. Put the heavy cream in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil over medium-low heat. When you see the edges start to bubble, remove the cream from the heat immediately. I would have liked to take mine off a few seconds sooner than you see here, but I had to get a photo for you.
Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes. Gently whisk the cream and chocolate together, starting from the middle and working your way outward, until your ganache is smooth and creamy. Let it cool for 5 minutes, doing your best not to eat it all right now.
Spread the ganache over the brownie with a butter knife or rubber spatula, making it as smooth as you have patience for.
Sprinkle the top with sprinkles, chopped nuts, or more mini chocolate chips if you still somehow believe there is not enough chocolate here. Let the brownie cool for another 20 minutes before you cut it.
Slice into squares or use cookie cutters to make shapes. If you want to use cookie cutters, be forewarned that it is difficult to get these out of the cutter without messing up the top. I used a toothpick to carefully push it down around the edges, but if you come up with a better solution, let me know.
Now enjoy the gooey, fudgey fruits of your labor!
Download the PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
Sometime in the past two weeks, the idea popped into my head to do a “Christmas in July” feature, since I’m running out of holidays and special occasions now that we’ve mostly finished running the summer birthday gauntlet and all the summer holidays but Labor Day have passed. Since cookies are probably the most popular baked good of the winter holiday season, I decided to make for you some holiday favorites, but with summery twists.
This week’s cookie started out as a pumpkin spice cookie with chai frosting. Delicious as it was, I decided to swap peach for the pumpkin, substitute some new spices for the original spice blend, and swap the chai tea bag for a peach one. The result is fragrant, spicy, and summery. I got 44 cookies out of this recipe, and while I was skeptical that I would be able to get rid of them all, it seems my worries were unfounded. The group that normally finishes 4-6 servings in a day of the baked goods I send in to work with my husband went through 11 of these in the first two hours. They’re just that good.
You will need the following ingredients:
For the cookies:
For the frosting:
For baking ambiance:
I decided on some Deep Purple for this one. I’ve had “Space Truckin’” stuck in my head for a week, so I thought this might help. Now it’s been replaced with “Strange Kind of Woman,” so I’ll let you be the judge of this plan’s efficiency.
Without further ado, let’s make some peach cookies! [Yes, there was a terrible pun that was going to go here, but it was flimsy even for me.]
Drain your can of peach slices as well as possible and put them in a food processor or blender. Process on high until they are the consistency of baby food (this only took me about a minute). You can do this with fresh peaches, but you will need to skin them and pre-boil them, which was too much fuss for me.
Line a strainer with a coffee filter or cheesecloth and put it over a bowl or glass measuring cup. Pour the peach puree into the strainer and put the whole thing in the fridge to drain off some of the excess liquid. Allow this to sit at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened stick of butter and sugar until it looks fluffy (I used a handheld electric mixer, but as long as your butter is soft enough, you can do this with a wooden spoon easily enough).
Stir in the egg, peach puree, and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth, if slightly grainy looking.
Add half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir them together until the dry part is fully-incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and stir them in until it looks like cookie dough.
This dough is a bit wet for cookie dough, so you can refrigerate it for half an hour to make it easier to work with (I chose not to go this route for time reasons). Scoop the cookie dough into 1 tablespoon balls and arrange them on a cookie sheet. A cookie scoop is really useful here to make sure your dough balls are uniform, but you can also do this using two spoons are your bare hands. You probably should leave more room than I did, but this is something I staunchly refuse to do (for no good reason at all).
Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes, just until the edges begin to brown. The tops will look a little wet, but have faith. They seem to continue to cook a little once they come out of the oven.
Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then remove them to cool completely on a cooling rack.
To make the frosting, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the 1/4 cup of milk and the peach tea bag to the saucepan and bring just to a simmer. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the tea bag to steep for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally (if you’re using a black tea bag, steep for 2 minutes less, as it can become bitter).
Remove, strain, and discard the tea bag. Stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract until you have a smooth frosting.
Spread a dollop of frosting on each cookie and let the frosting set. I left the cookies on the cooling rack so that any dripping frosting would fall down onto the cookies below, or onto the paper towel underneath that I had (for once) remembered to place there strategically.
Now sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
You can find the printable PDF of this recipe here:
Over the past few months, I’ve developed the habit of cooking a large batch of something-or-other over the weekend, dividing it into portions, and taking one portion to work with me each day for lunch. It gives me an extra 5-10 minutes to sleep in each morning, and anything that gives me more time to sleep is a winner in my book. Since I promised you quiche a few weeks ago, I thought miniaturizing them to fit into my lazy lunch prep scheme would be a fun and useful new experiment.
These mini quiches are great because you can cook them right in the container you plan to carry them in, then just slap on a lid once they’ve cooled. I used four of these 1-cup Anchor glass food storage containers and four of these six-ounce Anchor glass custard cups. I personally prefer the 1-cup containers because the lids are sturdier and have a better seal, but the custard cups are shaped more like mini pie plates, so they are easier to fit your crusts into. The Pyrex version of the same containers would also work well. Of course you don’t have to go out and buy new containers if you don’t want to; you can make these in a jumbo muffin tin and wrap them individually if you prefer.
You will need the following ingredients:
For the quiche:
For baking ambiance:
Your favorite mix tape/cd (or playlist, as the kids are calling them these days). I firmly believe in the value of making a mix because it not only gives you an awesome soundtrack for your life, but also serves as a bit of a time capsule. I can listen to mix cds I made in high school and be instantly transported back in time. It’s also sort of a fun puzzle to fit together a dissimilar (or in some cases very similar) group of songs you really like. For more philosophizing on the science of mix tapes, make sure you see or read High Fidelity if you haven’t already.
Now that I’ve (hopefully) inspired you to create a new mix, let’s mix up some quiche!
If you are making your own crust, get that started now so it has time to chill in the fridge.
Next, prepare your filling. I used a combination of fennel, turnips, potatoes, and red onion, but bacon, ham, spinach, or anything else that strikes your fancy will do too. This is a great way to use up leftovers that are monopolizing precious fridge space. Just be sure to cook your filling first and remove as much moisture as possible.
When you have all of your ingredients ready, roll out your crust to approximately 1/8″ thick (slightly thinner than you would for a full-sized pie) and cut it into circles. I used the lid of a 2-quart saucepan like a cookie cutter, and it worked perfectly. If you don’t have anything quite the right size, you can use a knife and estimate. If it doesn’t come out right, just reroll it and try again.
Carefully fit your crust circles into your baking dishes, trimming off any excess which reaches above the edge of the container (you want to be able to fit the lid on it, after all). Mine are straight-sided, so I had to gently fold them and press the excess against the side. Just do the best you can. Keep these in the freezer while you are mixing your egg filling.
Crack your eggs into a medium bowl and beat them until they are slightly frothy. Stir in the cottage cheese, sage, rosemary, parsley, salt, and pepper until well-combined. You can vary the herbs and seasonings depending on which filling and cheese combination you choose.
Now take your crusts out of the freezer and sprinkle a layer of cheese on the bottom of each one. I used smoked gouda and it came out great, but cheddar or any other melt cheese would be good too.
Next, sprinkle a layer of your filling on top of the cheese. Each shell should be approximately 2/3 full (sorry, no picture). Pour some of the egg mixture into each shell until it is 1/8″ below the top edge of the crust, making sure that each quiche has some of the cottage cheese curds in it (they will sink to the bottom). If you have cheese left over, you can sprinkle a little on top of each quiche if you so desire.
The two quiches in the back are crustless because I wanted to try a low-carb version, and because I got tired of rolling and re-rolling pie crust.
Carefully transfer all of your mini quiches to cookie sheets and bake for 40-50 minutes. Start checking them every 5 minutes after 35 minutes. They may still be wet on top, but should no longer be jiggly.
To test, stick a toothpick into the center of your quiche. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Allow them to cool completely before covering and refrigerating them.
Now look forward to enjoying cheesy, eggy goodness every day this week!
Download the PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
This past weekend, American Pharoah became the twelfth horse to win the Triple Crown, and the first to do so in 38 years. It also happened to be the first year since I started attending the Belmont Stakes in 2007 that I wasn’t able to make it. This is something that my dad and I do together, so I was disappointed to say the least. In an effort to take some part in the race, I decided to invent a cupcake to commemorate the event. Yes, I know I already did red rose cupcakes for the Kentucky Derby, but who doesn’t want more pretty red rose cupcakes anyway?
This cupcake is based off of the official drink of the Belmont Stakes, the Belmont Jewel. My recipe doesn’t contain any alcohol, but you could easily add some to the filling and/or frosting if you were jonesing for a kick of bourbon. A candied lemon slice on top would really complete the picture, and it might even impress Florian if you ever make it on Cupcake Wars (it may not be a horse’s head made out of marzipan, but it’ll do in a pinch). 😛
You will need the following ingredients:
For the cake:
For the filling:
For the frosting:
For baking ambiance:
To fit with the Belmont Stakes theme, I recommend listening to “New York, New York” while preheating your oven (this is the song performed during the post parade for the race). After that, I went with Van Halen. Really any album will do, though I stuck to the David Lee Roth era this time (Diver Down, Van Halen, Women and Children First, etc).
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, we’re off!
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Line your muffin tins with cupcake wrappers or prepare your cake pans (18 cupcakes or two 9″ cakes). I like to use parchment paper circles on the bottom so I don’t have to deal with the heartbreak that results from a cake which sticks on the bottom.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and lemonade mix in the bowl of a stand mixer or other large bowl. Stir to combine. Add in the butter and mix at low speed until the mixture is crumbly and doesn’t have any large clumps.
Stir in the milk and eggs for 1 minute, then beat on medium speed for 2 more minutes.
Divide the batter between the cupcake wrappers or cake pans. I used an ice cream scoop, and it was really helpful. It delivers the same amount of batter every time, and it has a handy rotating arm on the inside to help scrape the batter off the spoon part.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the edges start to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow your cakes/cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pans, then remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely for a few hours.
While your cakes are baking, prepare your filling. First, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in the top part of a double boiler (for a tutorial on separating eggs, see here).
Zest and juice your lemons. You should have roughly 1/3 cup of lemon juice. Bring your total liquid up to 2/3 cup with pomegranate juice. Add the zest and juice mixture to the eggs and sugar, whisking to fully incorporate all ingredients.
Put 1″ of water in the bottom of the double boiler and bring to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer and put the top part on. While you should whisk your curd constantly while it cooks, it won’t be the end of the world if you have to step away temporarily.
Cook the mixture until it begins to thicken and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove your pomegranate lemon curd from the heat and stir in the butter one pat at a time, allowing each pat to fully melt before adding the next.
Pour the curd into a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic down to the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Once your cupcakes have cooled, prepare your frosting. Start by reducing your pomegranate juice. Pour it into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer the juice until it is at most half its original volume (you can check by pouring it into a glass measuring cup, or by marking the levels on a toothpick and checking periodically). Allow the juice to cool completely.
While your pomegranate juice is cooling, combine the vegetable shortening or butter and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer or other large bowl (you will want some kind of electric mixer for this). Beat on low speed until you are past the danger of spattering, then on medium speed until the shortening is creamy and the milk is fully incorporated.
Add the remaining ingredients, including the pomegranate juice, and stir to combine. Beat on medium speed until the frosting is smooth. If necessary, add a little more milk to make it thin enough to beat and use. Mine started out almost like bread dough, so I had to add almost another tablespoon of milk.
Now divide and tint your frosting appropriately. I added almost half a tube of red gel food coloring and a drop of black to achieve the color you see here.
I piped the roses with a Wilton 2D tip, which I felt created better petals and a smoother flower than any of the star tips did. These would also look nice in yellow or pink with some colored decorating sugar sprinkled on top, or some candied citrus fruit on top.
Enjoy!
Download the printable PDF @ Benbaker0078@gmail.com
Unless you live under a rock, you’re probably aware by now that our country made a historic advance in equality last week. I was in the mood to celebrate, so I decided to make some rainbow cinnamon rolls. The rolls themselves, while delicious, are fairly run of the mill. It’s the fun explosion of rainbow on top that tickles my whimsy. Hopefully your cones are similarly stimulated (as are your taste buds).
You will need the following ingredients:
For the rolls:
For the filling:
For the icing:
For baking ambiance:
I wanted to listen to Golden Earring, but apparently I don’t have any of their albums on cd, and I didn’t feel like bringing my computer into the kitchen today. Instead, I listened to Queen (after all, it just makes sense for the task at hand). I recommend something that hits your musical sweet spot while you make these deliciously-sweet pastries.
Now that you’ve gathered your ingredients, it’s time to make rainbows spring forth from your kitchen!
In a stand mixer bowl or other large bowl, dissolve 1 tablespoon of sugar in the water. Stir in the melted butter and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Cover and set this aside.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the warm milk, pudding mix, and egg until the mixture is smooth.
By now, the yeast should have formed a foam on the top of the liquid.
Stir in the pudding mixture until well-combined. Add the salt and flour and mix, with a dough hook if using a stand mixer or with a wooden spoon (or your hands), until the dough forms a ball.
Remove the dough from the bowl momentarily, then grease the bowl (I use non-stick cooking spray, but vegetable or olive oil will work too). Put the dough ball back in the bowl, flipping it once to coat both sides, and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until roughly doubled in size, about an hour.
Flour your work surface (I use a silicone mat whenever I want to roll something out). Punch the dough down and turn it out onto your floured surface.
Roll it into an 11″ by 17″ rectangle. It may take a little finessing to make the corners square enough, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon, being sure to break up any large clumps. Brush the 8 ounces of melted butter all over the top of the dough.
Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon as evenly as possible across the dough. If you have butter leaking off the dough, put the sugar there first to stop the flow.
Grease a 9″ by 13″ baking pan (it should have sides at least 2″ tall). Starting from the long side, roll the dough rectangle into a log. It doesn’t have to be perfectly tight.
Now slice the log into 16 rolls (I started in the middle and kept cut each piece in half until I had 16 total). Place the rolls in the prepared pan and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Let them rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Bake the cinnamon rolls for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops start to brown.
While your cinnamon rolls are cooling, prepare your icing. Stir together the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a small bowl until it is smooth. If you have no interest in rainbow cinnamon rolls (this is probably for those under-rock dwellers), you can spread this on the rolls as-is when they have cooled for about 20 minutes.
If you are looking forward to an explosion of rainbow, divide the icing between six resealable plastic bags (seven if you can figure out how to distinguish indigo from purple and blue with food coloring). Put 3 drops of food coloring in each bag to make your rainbow colors. For mixed colors like orange, either try to put 1 1/2 drops of each color you need, or decide which color you would like to be dominant and use two drops of that and 1 drop of your secondary color (i.e., to make red-orange, use two drops red and one drop yellow). Knead the bags with your hands until the colors are uniform.
Cut 1/4″ off the corner of the red bag and squeeze the icing in diagonal stripes across your cinnamon rolls. Repeat with the rest of the colors until you have none left and there is a glorious rainbow of deliciousness daring you to eat it.
Download the printable PDF recipe here: Benbaker0078@gmail.com
Once again, we had a holiday weekend to celebrate with themed baked goods. Independence Day also happens to be my grandmother-in-law’s birthday, so I had the perfect excuse to make a cute pie and give it away to someone who would appreciate it.
Once I had the idea to make this pie, I did a quick Google Images search to see how other people did it. It bugged me a little that, while they were quite cute, most of them didn’t have the right number of stripes or stars. I decided to make a Betsy Ross flag so it would be easier to fit my stars in and still make a mostly accurate pie (as accurate as a flag made out of pie can be, that is).
One difficulty I ran into was that the blueberry and cherry fillings I made, which were supposed to make the blue and red parts of the flag, both turned out purple when cooked. I should have known this, as I’ve made blueberry and cherry pies before, but I didn’t account for it beforehand. I remedied this by adding sliced fresh cherries on top of the cherry filling to make the red stripes look more red (I used the red parts of Rainier cherries). If you’re more into looks than taste (or if you prefer tart cherry filling), you might want to try this with tart cherries instead of sweet ones because they tend to be a lighter red. Either way, what this pie promises in looks, it definitely delivers in taste.
You will need the following ingredients:
1 recipe sweet pie crust (see here for instructions), or 1 box store-bought pie crust
For the cherry filling:
For the blueberry filling:
For baking ambiance:
I have to admit that I was in such a rush while making this pie that I just played what was already in my stereo, which happened to be the same Queen album from last week (of course this is an excellent album, so by all means listen to it if you feel like it). If I’d had more time, I would suggest some John Philip Sousa. Not only is it patriotic, it’s just fun and upbeat.
Now that we’ve navigated the tricky waters of baking music selection, let’s make some pie!
If you’re making your own pie crust, try to prepare it the day before so it has some time to chill in the fridge. If this isn’t possible, be sure to make it at least an hour in advance. Dough that isn’t cold enough can end up tough once it’s baked. Split your dough into two discs, with one slightly larger than the other, and wrap them separately or put each into its own sandwich bag.
Next, heat the blueberries in a small saucepan, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent them from sticking. While the blueberries are cooking, stir together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl until well-combined, being sure to break up any clumps of brown sugar (if your brown sugar is a solid rock of sweetness, see here for ways to soften it).
When the blueberries have released enough juice to cover themselves, remove the saucepan from the heat.
Stir in the sugar and cornstarch mixture and the lemon juice, then return the saucepan to the heat.
Cook uncovered, stirring regularly, until it thickens. I fully admit that I don’t stir the fruit all that frequently during this stage, and it always turns out fine. When you scrape a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan, the filling shouldn’t immediately fill in the gap.
Let the filling cool in the saucepan while you prepare the cherry filling, then pour and scrape it into a container for refrigerating. Put it in the fridge and chill it until it is completely cooled.
Next, repeat the above process with the cherries. Stir together the sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl while heating the cherries, covered, over low heat.
After the cherries have released enough juice to cover themselves, remove them from the heat and stir in the sugar/cornstarch mixture.
Return the cherries to the heat and cook, stirring regularly, until they are thickened like the blueberries (they may end up a little thinner).
Let it cool in the saucepan for awhile (15 minutes or so), then refrigerate it until it is completely cooled.
When your crust and fillings have chilled all the way, preheat your oven to 375°F. Roll out the larger disc of pie crust on a well-floured surface (as I’ve mentioned before, my go-to is a silicone baking mat).
Carefully wrap the crust around your rolling pin. [In the spirit of full-disclosure, I am horrible at this whole crust rolling process and always rely on my husband to do it for me. He has rolling pin skills in his genes passed down on his mother’s side.]
Roll the crust back out into the pie plate, doing your best to center it as much as possible.
Mine was a little off-center, but it still worked out ok.
Trim off the excess crust, leaving 1/2″ hanging off. Fold the edges of the crust under (between the crust and the pie plate) and flute the edges or press them gently with the floured tines of a fork. Now comes the tricky part. Pour the blueberry filling into one quadrant of the pie crust. Use a spatula to hold it in place and pour the cherry filling around it. My husband also helped me with this part, holding two spatulas on the edges to keep the blueberry in place.
As you can see, keeping the fillings separate isn’t a life and death matter because they’re both the same color anyway.
Now, roll out the smaller crust disc approximately 1/8″ thick. Cut six strips slightly less than 3/4″ wide. Arrange them on the pie according to the diagram below (yes, I actually sketched this out and did the math before I started).
Using the remaining crust, cut 13 five-pointed stars using a paring knife or fondant cutter. I found it easiest to cut squares out of the leftover strips and then cut the stars from that. Arrange the stars in a circle over the blueberry filling. Sprinkle the top of the pie with coarse decorating sugar if you’d like a little extra sweetness/pie bling.
Put the pie on top of a cookie sheet or pizza pan (in case the filling leaks) and bake it for 50 minutes, or until the crust is slightly browned. You might also want to cover the edges for the first 30 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning (a pie shield or aluminum foil will do the trick). If you do this, remember to take the covering off so the crust has some time to brown.
Let the pie cool for at least an hour (preferably overnight). While you’re waiting, pit and slice the remaining cherries. Once the pie is cooled, place the cherries onto the red strips of the pie to help differentiate the colors of the different fillings.
Now share and enjoy the patriotic fruits of your labor. Happy Independence Day!
You can download the printable PDF here: @ benbaker0078@gmail.com
We’ve made it to the third and final week of our Christmas Cookies in July series! I was hoping to get more varieties in, but 3 is a good start. For the third entry in the series, I decided to make watermelon smile cookies. After all, what is more summery than watermelon?
When I decided to make these cookies, the first thing I did was google “watermelon cookies.” Surprise surprise, there are a lot of variations out there. I settled on this recipe from Taste of Home to base my cookies on. I felt it made more sense to flavor them with watermelon instead of almond extract, and before I even saw the recipe, I knew I wanted to use chocolate-covered sunflower seeds for the watermelon seeds. The watermelon flavoring I used tastes more like a watermelon lollipop than it does actual watermelon, but I still found it pleasant. If you’re not into that flavor, you can use 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract in its place, or surprise your cookie receptacles taste testers with a completely different and unexpected flavoring (lemon, root beer, grape, the possibilities are endless).
You will need the following ingredients (the canisters in the back are flour and sugar):
For the cookies:
For baking ambiance:
I was also making Spanish rice for dinner while working on these cookies, so I decided to go with Santana since I was clearly in a Latin mood. Old Santana, new Santana, ’90s Santana, it’s all good. It probably also helps that my dad liked to blast Abraxas from the PA system when we had outdoor parties, so I can’t think summer and not think Santana.
Without further ado, let’s bake some watermelon smiles!
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or other large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add in the egg and watermelon flavoring and beat the mixture until it is well-combined.
Working in batches (I used two), slowly mix in the dry ingredients until they are fully-incorporated. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl so you don’t miss anything.
Reserve 1/3 cup and 2/3 cup of the dough in separate bowls. In the remaining dough, make a well with your finger in the center and squeeze 10 drops of red food coloring into it.
Knead the dough with your hands until the color is even throughout the dough. Do the same with the 1/3 cup of dough you put into another bowl, using 4 drops of green food coloring instead.
Form the plain dough into a small rectangle (this makes it easier to roll it into a rectangle) and wrap it in plastic wrap. Do the same with the green dough. Form the red dough into a 3 1/2″-long log and wrap it in plastic wrap as well. Refrigerate all of your dough packages for 2 hours.
When your dough is nice and firm, remove the plain dough from the plastic wrap. Roll it out into a, 8 1/2″ by 3 1/2″ rectangle on a well-floured surface. Be very gentle, as this dough is a little brittle. If you have it, you can use powdered sugar instead of flour to keep your dough from sticking because it keeps your dough from gaining too much flour, which can make it taste gross. That said, in this instance, flour versus powdered sugar won’t make that much of a difference because these are such small pieces of cookie dough.
Now take the red dough roll out of its plastic wrap, reshaping it into a cylinder if necessary, and place it on the short end of the plain dough. Very carefully roll the plain dough around the red dough until it is completely covered (to me, it looks like a deranged pig in a blanket). Roll the green dough out into a 10″ by 3 1/2″ rectangle and and roll the log inside it.
Wrap the whole long in plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight. If you don’t have the time to wait, you can freeze it for 1-2 hours instead (this is what I did and it worked fine).
Preheat your oven to 350°F. When your multi-colored dough chub is nice and hard, unwrap it, cut off and discard the rough ends, and cut it into 3/16″ thick slices (mine might have gotten a little thick). Arrange them on greased or foil-lined baking sheets. Gently press the sunflower seeds into the red part of the cookies to make your watermelon seeds.
Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes, or until the they have hardened a bit and are no longer shiny. You don’t want them to brown because that defeats the whole purpose of watermelon cookies.
Immediately slice the cookies in half with a sharp knife. Let them sit for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then remove them to cooling racks to cool completely. Enjoy!
You can download the PDF recipe here:
I Wanna Bake’s “Christmas Cookies in July” series continues this week with some delightful root beer float meringue cookies. I adapted the recipe from Joy of Cooking’s meringue kisses recipe to better fit my summer theme, and these did not disappoint. The cookies dissolve slowly on your tongue, leaving you with the fizzy, yet creamy, feeling of a root beer float before all the ice cream has melted.
It seems I have succeeded where Willy Wonka failed (dessert). Granted, these are cookies, not gum, and root beer floats, not blueberry pie, but I’m going to declare myself the winner here anyway. Hopefully when you try them you’ll agree with me.
You will need the following ingredients:
For the cookies:
*The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of sugar, but I found I needed to add more to make mine come together. My egg whites might have been larger than usual, so be sure to add the sugar gradually in case you don’t need the full 1 1/4 cup.
For baking ambiance:
In sticking with the Willy Wonka theme, I suggest listening to the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It’ll inspire your confectionery adventure and have you dancing in the kitchen (at least that’s what it does for me). You can find the whole thing fairly easily on Youtube.
Pop an everlasting gobstopper in your mouth and preheat your oven to 225°F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or other large bowl, combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat them on low speed until the egg whites are frothy.
Increase the mixer’s speed to high and beat until the egg whites hold soft peaks. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good picture of this stage. The egg whites will barely hold their shape while being mixed and will look like a very fine, thick foam (if that makes any sense).
While still beating, add in the sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Reduce the speed of your mixer to low and stir in the root beer flavoring until it is fully-incorporated. It’s brown, so it’s easy to see when it’s mixed in. You may need to scrape your beater and the sides of the bowl to make sure it’s all fully mixed in. Now increase the speed to high and beat the meringue until it is glossy and holds very stiff peaks (it needs to be able to hold the shapes you pipe). The consistency is similar to marshmallow fluff.
Load the meringue into a piping bag or large resealable plastic bag fitted with a large, open star piping tip (or just snip a 1/2″ opening in the corner of the bag). Pipe the meringue into 1 1/4″ stars onto the cookie sheets. They can be fairly close together because they won’t grow much.
Bake the meringue cookies for 45 minutes. The original recipe said to rotate the cookie sheets halfway through the baking time, but mine cracked and this may be why. If you are worried about cracked cookies, just leave them to bake for 45 minutes undisturbed. When the time is up, DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN! Turn off the heat and let the cookies cool completely, at least half an hour. If they cool too quickly, they will crack.
The cracks aren’t too serious, but they are cracks all the same.
Once the cookies have cooled, peel them off the parchment paper or remove them from the cookie sheets with a thin spatula and enjoy their fizzy, melty sensation!
You can download the printable PDF recipe here: