What's cookin', good lookin'?

[IrisAlthea]

Since it's the first advent today, the Christmas season has officially kicked in and so has my Christmas baking season, since I like to give friends baked goods before Christmas.

I'm currently baking a cake for J to take to work. It's a Cognac cake that I've been making for years, but I only now realized that it's gluten free and since there's been discussion about gluten free baked goods, I thought I'd share the recipe. It's really easy to make, too.

250 g (8.8 oz) butter
250 g potato starch
1 tsp baking powder
250 g sugar
3 eggs
~2,5 tbsp cognac

Preheat your oven to 175 C (350 F) and butter and crumb your cake form (the kind with the cone in the center). If you're making it as a gluten free cake, make sure your crumbs have no gluten in it either.

- Mix baking powder with potato starch and combine with soft butter. Whisk it until it becomes light and foamy.
- In another bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until they become foamy.
- Combine the foams and add the cognac. I use an electric hand mixer with the lowest setting and it works just fine, so while you definitely don't want to whisk out all the air of the egg foam, you don't have to be super delicate.
-Put the batter into the cake form and put it into the oven immediately so that the flour doesn't sink to the bottom.

Bake for about 55 minutes. Don't open the oven until at about 45-50 minutes in, because the cake is quite light. When you take the cake out of the oven, let it sit in the form a couple of minutes before you remove it from the form.

You can glaze the cake if you wish, or sieve powered sugar on top of it.

That sounds so good.

I once had some baked goods, that I think were traditional for Christmas. It was made with puff pastry in the shape of stars and filled with dark plum jam.
Heavenly!

 

[IrisAlthea]

I love to make leftovers into little tarts. Basic pie crust recipe, I use all purpose flour, iced water, half butter/half shortening, and I think baking powder but I would have to double check... I line muffin tins with the dough and then layer in the leftovers. These are especially good with Thanksgiving leftovers but I make them with anything. Roast beef, potatoes and asparagus is also quite delicious, don't forget the gravy!! They are also easy to make vegetarian. This particular batch is... A layer of turkey, a bit of gravy, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, then stuffing, one more bit of gravy, and bake in a moderate oven about 20 minutes. Less, if you parbake the shells first. One of my favourite things!!
Yep, ugly pie crust, but I don't look at them very long

https://31.media.tumblr.com/c38382cd6543c109295994d37137f94c/tumblr_nfv1mudQTx1ttoj3bo1_400.jpg

That's a great idea.
It wouldn't work for our Christmas food but we always have duck a l'orange the evening before Christmas Eve and I think it would work well for those leftovers. Especially with puff pastry.

 

[seela]

That sounds so good.

I once had some baked goods, that I think were traditional for Christmas. It was made with puff pastry in the shape of stars and filled with dark plum jam.
Heavenly!

Oh yeah, those are good too and impossible to screw up if you buy the pastry ready made. And you can put a splash cognac or rum into the jam, too. Lest the holidays be too unboozy.

Although wasn't it just last year that a newspaper there made a story about our nazi pastry? Truth to be told I get it. If you fold the pastry on top of the jam you get the swastika shape. I never bother, because it's so much easier to just fold the pastry into the shape and put the jam on top.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Oh yeah, those are good too and impossible to screw up if you buy the pastry ready made. And you can put a splash cognac or rum into the jam, too. Lest the holidays be too unboozy.

Although wasn't it just last year that a newspaper there made a story about our nazi pastry? Truth to be told I get it. If you fold the pastry on top of the jam you get the swastika shape. I never bother, because it's so much easier to just fold the pastry into the shape and put the jam on top.

Pastry is good by definition and therefore cannot be nazi.

 

[desertslave]

We are grooving on leftovers. We slept in again today (Master is finally learning the fine art of enjoying the weekend) then made omelettes with leftover ham, swiss and havarti cheeses, an a generous splash of Cholula in the eggs. Very tasty! I'm glad we hit the ham while there was still some left! The boys (aka walking stomachs) hit it hard the last 2 days. I'm so glad they're too lazy to attack the turkey.

 

[Kalamain]

Mmmmm.... Omelettes...

Omelettes with bacon, peppers, fresh tomatoes, spring onions and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Crap I'm hungry again.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Today I'm making omelettes with bacon, peppers, fresh tomatoes, spring onions and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Ok, just kidding Last night I made an omelette with Baby Bella mushrooms, rainbow chard and a mild cheese. It was delicious...
Today was mushroom fettuccini with... yep. Pan fried mushrooms and squash, with a sauce of whole milk, parm cheese and roasted garlic. Simple, and super tasty!
Can you tell I loaded up on mushrooms at the Farmer's Market?

 

[walkingeagle]

Today I'm making omelettes with bacon, peppers, fresh tomatoes, spring onions and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Ok, just kidding Last night I made an omelette with Baby Bella mushrooms, rainbow chard and a mild cheese. It was delicious...
Today was mushroom fettuccini with... yep. Pan fried mushrooms and squash, with a sauce of whole milk, parm cheese and roasted garlic. Simple, and super tasty!
Can you tell I loaded up on mushrooms at the Farmer's Market?

Can I come over?--

 

[DiskoTroop]

cheese steaks

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Can I come over?--

You can, but the food's all gone

cheese steaks

Oh man... we only had one restaurant here that could do cheese steaks right, and they have closed

 

[Endless_Night]

cheese steaks

Oh man... we only had one restaurant here that could do cheese steaks right, and they have closed

I was going to ask, but googled instead. I was picturing thick slabs of grilled cheese which...just seemed weird.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I was going to ask, but googled instead. I was picturing thick slabs of grilled cheese which...just seemed weird.

It's not exactly a southern thing

 

[midwestyankee]

Turkey shepherd's pie. With pie for dessert. Lots and lots of pie.

 

[MeekMe]

I've been turning leftovers into new meals. Turkey sandwiches are great, but turkey soup with rice and carrots is delicious. I chopped up some of the ham and added that to the potato soup leftovers. I have a lot more ham to turn into a new meal.

 

[desertslave]

cheese steaks

I must be getting homesick-ish after all, because Pat's suddenly sounds sublime! Except for your location and that white stuff, which is a hard limit for both Master and me.

 

[Kalamain]

Today I'm making omelettes with bacon, peppers, fresh tomatoes, spring onions and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Ok, just kidding

Aw... Come on... I had my bags packed and everything!

Last night I made an omelette with Baby Bella mushrooms, rainbow chard and a mild cheese. It was delicious...
Today was mushroom fettuccini with... yep. Pan fried mushrooms and squash, with a sauce of whole milk, parm cheese and roasted garlic. Simple, and super tasty!
Can you tell I loaded up on mushrooms at the Farmer's Market?

I love mushies.
The wife hates them so me and the minion have them when she isn't in for tea.

Simply lightly fried off with a little butter is our fave.

 

[desertslave]

Aw... Come on... I had my bags packed and everything!



I love mushies.
The wife hates them so me and the minion have them when she isn't in for tea.

Simply lightly fried off with a little butter is our fave.

My son is anti-shroom which breaks my heart. Where did I go wrong???? <sob>

Master just trimmed the rest of the turkey off the breast I roasted for Thanksgiving...plenty for sammiches! He broke the carcass down for me and I did a quick chop on some celery, onion, garlic and shallots then threw in some herbs & spices for some stock. It's just starting to perfume the house. Tomorrow will be turkey and wild rice soup.

 

[Kalamain]

My son is anti-shroom which breaks my heart. Where did I go wrong???? <sob>

Master just trimmed the rest of the turkey off the breast I roasted for Thanksgiving...plenty for sammiches! He broke the carcass down for me and I did a quick chop on some celery, onion, garlic and shallots then threw in some herbs & spices for some stock. It's just starting to perfume the house. Tomorrow will be turkey and wild rice soup.

Will you be cooking on low for a few hours if you are using the carcass?

I like putting pearl barley in that kind of soup. It just adds a little body to it.

 

[midwestyankee]

You people are awfully serious with your cutting and chopping and braising and such. Doesn't anybody do takeout any more?

 

[DiskoTroop]

I must be getting homesick-ish after all, because Pat's suddenly sounds sublime! Except for your location and that white stuff, which is a hard limit for both Master and me.

There is never a bad time for Pat's

 

[Kalamain]

You people are awfully serious with your cutting and chopping and braising and such. Doesn't anybody do takeout any more?

I don't know about the others... But I can't afford to eat out very often.

Also.. home cooked food just tastes.... Better.

 

[desertslave]

Will you be cooking on low for a few hours if you are using the carcass?

I like putting pearl barley in that kind of soup. It just adds a little body to it.

Yup, brought it to a boil, dropped it to a simmer, and let it go 2 hours covered, one hour open to reduce it a bit. Next it will cool down and I'll strain it then let it chill on the back porch so I can skim the fat in the morning. (Note to self: brick on the lid!)

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

A hot toddy and a fist full of hand made vanilla marshmallows (nibbled on the side of course).

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

That's a great idea.
It wouldn't work for our Christmas food but we always have duck a l'orange the evening before Christmas Eve and I think it would work well for those leftovers. Especially with puff pastry.

What do you have on Christmas that would make this undesirable? Just curious. Is it already in casserole form or something?

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

You people are awfully serious with your cutting and chopping and braising and such. Doesn't anybody do takeout any more?

Pues, claro
Parrilla para dos.

https://33.media.tumblr.com/293788b5b899fce12456cc925aa15c7b/tumblr_nfxu3iI37W1ttoj3bo1_400.jpg