What are you baking this week?

[Amyw Profile]

Very nice baking going on here ...

I made a first for me - Italian ricotta cheesecake called Otto, otto e otto. All the ingredients come in quantities of 8. Super quick and simple to make. Been eyeing it up for a while from an old cookbook. Am on a little pre festive count the calories effort (eat anything you want tho) and thought this would be good done with semi skimmed ricotta and half quantities in the 15cm/6" springform that I'm really liking and using a lot for small cakes recently. Comes in at 124 cals per 6th of a cake sized slice - not bad. It's quite light - almost like a pudding but still cake like - not like the usual dense NY cheesecakes that I make. Would probably be a bit denser using full ricotta. Lovely Italian orange zest and and vanilla flavours. I omitted the choc chips. Might add some chopped glace citrus peel instead next time.

Looks beautiful

[smitch Profile]

I’ve spent the past few days baking for gifts for family

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJBoBzplBKu/

I ended up making rocky road, stollen bites, soft ginger cookies, Nutella stuffed cookies, jam cream biscuits, mincemeat cupcakes, stroopwaffel cupcakes, brownie bites and cranberry & orange scones.

The recipients were very pleased and plenty of leftovers for us!

[Earthmaiden Profile]

They look lovely, Smitch! Lucky people. Do tell more about the stroopwafel cupcakes. Are they just decorated with stroopwafel or is there a surprise in the cupcake?

[smitch Profile]

Thanks, EM. I enjoyed putting them together even though I really couldn’t be bothered on Friday

The cupcakes had chopped stroopwafels inside and the frosting included stroopwafel spread from the Netherlands. I never put much frosting on top, I hate it when there is a huge amount of sickly icing.

[KeenCook2 Profile]

I’ve spent the past few days baking for gifts for family

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJBoBzplBKu/

I ended up making rocky road, stollen bites, soft ginger cookies, Nutella stuffed cookies, jam cream biscuits, mincemeat cupcakes, stroopwaffel cupcakes, brownie bites and cranberry & orange scones.

The recipients were very pleased and plenty of leftovers for us!

Wow Looks fantastic!!

[Pampy Profile]

By 'eck Smitch - they look bloody good! Would you like to adopt another grandma

[Rainbow Profile]

Amazing amount of baking, Smitch
They look yummy!
I bet all the recipients were happy!

[Uschi Profile]

I'd love to see them Smitch, but haven't worked out how to decline Instagram's cookies.
They all sound good. I love Stroopwafels and always buy some when I am in the Netherlands.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

The cupcakes had chopped stroopwafels inside and the frosting included stroopwafel spread from the Netherlands. I never put much frosting on top, I hate it when there is a huge amount of sickly icing.

They sound lovely (and so does the spread!). Agree that too much icing may look pretty but ruins the sweetness balance.

[smitch Profile]

Here is a pic for those who can’t use Instagram.

The recipients were very pleased, I was relieved! I always get nervous baking for others.

[Uschi Profile]

Thanks for that! They look wonderful!!!
I spent most of the day packing bags with biscuits, adding labels and pretty ribbons. People always think baking is the big deal, there is much more involved.

[scullion Profile]

I love Stroopwafels and always buy some when I am in the Netherlands.

fortunately, they are readily available in lidl, here.

[Uschi Profile]

You can get them here, too, but the Dutch have a special kind with a bit of syrup (Stroop) between the layers.

[scullion Profile]

yes, lidl call them caramel waffles, here, rather than stroopwafels but they are the same thing, with the layer of soft toffee/'syrup' between the two waffles.
i was introduced to them in the netherlands by a dutch friend.
we tend to consume more of them than we should!

[smitch Profile]

I got the mini ones in Sainsburys, they also had the normal sized ones and some chocolate ones. In the Netherlands I bought salted caramel flavour and speculoos flavour. I occasionally order from an online Dutch supermarket and get some of the treats we enjoyed on holiday last year.

[scullion Profile]

there's a bakery in wales that also makes them - tregroes (and also ones covered in milk or dark chocolate) - just in case they're more difficult to get in january.

[aero280 Profile]

Time for a stollen...

IMG_3583.JPG (83.52 KiB) Viewed 3401 times

[Suffs Profile]

A quick query for the bakers ... I was thinking about making this some time between now and new year, as a quick and straightforward stollen https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spi ... llen-plait

Given that I’ve ordered all our milk and we only have 1% skimmed, do you think that would be ok or would you stir in a dollop of double cream?

[aero280 Profile]

The stollen I have just made is a very similar recipe. I never thought about the milk and used our normal semi-skimmed. The stollen is fine.

I think that, as it's a bread, really, it will be quite forgiving and it will work whether you add a bit of cream or not. I think it will end up adjusting the taste rather than making the stollen change significantly.

Usually adding fat and eggs, just slows down the yeast action.

[Busybee Profile]

A quick query for the bakers ... I was thinking about making this some time between now and new year, as a quick and straightforward stollen https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spi ... llen-plait

Given that I’ve ordered all our milk and we only have 1% skimmed, do you think that would be ok or would you stir in a dollop of double cream?

Without even looking at the recipe my advice is to stir in a dollop of cream. What recipe isn’t enhanced by a good slug of cream???

Enjoy it whatever you do.

BB