Oh yes, he did!!

How about a conversation about our favorite baking endeavors?

@Ardesia
Let me start with a really nice Springerle recipe? I made it several times through the years and the cookies have a really nice taste and texture. I always add Anise as flavor.
http://www.thespringerlebaker....

My favorites are a tahini cookie. It's not too sweet but very tasty and satisfying, and super easy to make:
Sesame Cookies ****

* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup well-stirred tahini
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/3 cup sesame seeds (preferably hulled)
parchment paper/non-stick sheet

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then beat in tahini and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 2 batches, mixing until a crumbly dough forms. Transfer dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place sesame seeds in a small bowl. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, then press balls 1 at a time in seeds to coat top and sides and arrange 1 inch apart on lined baking sheets. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are puffed and starting to crack, 12 to 15 minutes total. Cool on sheets 10 minutes (cookies will be very fragile when hot), then transfer from parchment to a rack to cool completely. Cookies keep in an airtight container (preferably glass or metal - they get soft in plastic) at room temperature 5 days. .

Ohhh, that looks great! I love anything with Sesame!

My chocolate chip recipe is very easy. It is on the side of the Nestles bag.
I make just a single tweak to it. I use the "mini morsels" instead of the regular ones. When you see them there seem to be more chocolate chips in the cookies and there are because they are much smaller individually. People seem to prefer it that way.
Oh that reminds me, I am going to have to get use to another oven. Mine runs 25 degrees hotter then the digital read out says.

I love sesame also but being from SC, we use "benne" or unhulled sesame seeds in everything!

Ursula, I will try that recipe, that recipe but, tell me, did you use the hartshorn? I suspect I would have to order that online, it is not the sort of thing one would find around here. Surely King Arthur would have it.

Yes, my German butcher, in walking distance, sells it. So I used it. But, lower on the page he says you can substitute with baking powder. I would use that instead, I don't think it should make a difference in its action.

Sounds good, Bill!

Alice, Amazon sells it!

Thanks, I'll try it.

No cookies but the judges are getting my Mac & Cheese tomorrow. Cookies for the December Holiday Party!

Yikes, I just re-read that recipe Ursula, 30 to 40 minutes of mixing. My poor old KitchenAid might croak.

Alice, I believe that is what creates the marvelous texture.

My baking here is in full swing for the season. I started out making Marzipan pralines, then baked Marzipan cookies, called Bethmännchen. Then came a huge batch of Elisen Lebkuchen. Today I did a nice and easy batch of my Mother's Spritzgebäck. Except I got sick and tired of fiddling with a cookie gun and did it by hand.

These truly melt in your mouth.


Here is the recipe - ( I use a scientific scale, I measure gram and kilogram)
375 g butter
250 g Sugar
Vanilla
a touch of salt
1teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
375 g flour
125 g corn starch
125 g ground almonds (ground without peel)

bake 10 -12 min at 320 degr F ( 175 degr C) I use those silpats, so things bake more evenly.
If you have one of those Spritz guns, go for it.....

If anyone wants the above mentioned recipes, I am happy to write them up.

I am getting very hungry! I bought almond flour today to make my marzipan.

I am fortunate to have a Marzipan factory nearby and my sweet husband picks up every year around this time 10 pounds of Almond paste for me. I am not sure if they sell this officially, but so far they sell to him.
Regarding the ground Almonds and also Hazelnuts ( used in Elisenkuchen) , I just grind them in my old Cuisinart. That works well. I know my mother always made her own Marzipan from scratch, like you!

I do remember living where there were butchers and specialty food manufacturers.......

I've done the Cuisinart thing also but using Bob's Red Mill nut flour is just so easy and fast.

A new Earth Fare store opened nearby, they are sort of a southern Whole Foods, so I thought I would ask about the Hartshorn there. BIG mistake! You would have thought I asked for poison, apparently health food places do not approve of ammonia in foods. To add insult to injury, a man standing behind me in the line and overheard my question told me he thought it was used in making bombs. Sheesh!

Oh good grief!! It is totally non-toxic and disappears during baking.

Oh my. I have a meeting set for Dec. 3. My new next door neighbor, my hairdresser and me. We will decide on the cookies we will make in early/mid December to distribute to various people. This allows me to purchase whatever we need. I have a huge bag in the guestroom with a boatload of ingredients. If we need something more than that, I'll purchase those. I foot the bill because .... whatever. The cooking will be at my house and I feel I should do that.

I am spending this morning bakers cleaning out all of my kitchen cabinets as demolition is starting tomorrow through Wednesday.
Fun fun fun!
I will be posting images every week day providing there is change. Should be a fun ride. I haven't had a range hood in 11 years!!!
I will be toasting and making coffee in my spare bedroom since the counter is large enough to hold those items. This project is going right through the Holidays until January the 8th. More fun.

My living room furniture is quietly whimpering because that will be my next target!! And once having completed that project late summer/fall, the house will be wonderful!! That will feature ceramic tile foyer and new carpeting and new seating in terms of smaller pieces. What looked good in my big Florida living room is TOO BIG here!
New living room. New bath, New kitchen makes it 150% better then it was when I moved in. There won't be much left for me to do except to bake cookies and blow more money on orchids!!!

Top picture was what the kitchen has looked like for the last 18 months.
The other image is from noon today.

Demolition is well underway!

If you look at the bottom image where the yellow area is, from the bottom edge, upward, is where I gain new height for the kitchen ceiling. It is 12"+ in new space.

Bill, it sounds promising! Your guys don't play around, do they!?

In case if one likes basic Nürnberger Lebkuchen- traditional Christmas Cookies or if one wants to make a Lebkuchen house from scratch, here is my recipe. ( I just finished baking a triple batch, still have to frost them)


Nuernberger Lebkuchen
I always threefold this recipe
 
175 g honey
50g sugar
a tiny bit salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon rum
heat gently above ingredients to mix better, than cool down. (That is how the recipe reads. Not heating works just as well)
 
1 egg yolk
1 generous teaspoon cocoa
a squeeze of lemon or a bit of grated lemon peel
1 tip of spatula ground cloves
1 flat teaspoon ground cinnamon
250 g flour
3 flat level teaspoons baking powder (I always thought that is a lot, so when I triple the recipe I cut this down to about 4 teaspoons)
75 g ground Almonds (buy peeled slivered or sliced and grind in blender)
75 g ground nuts   I always use shelled Hazelnuts ( as they are, grind in blender)
50 g finely diced candied Lemon
75g finely diced dried Apricots. (Apricots in this recipe are very important, don't skip them)
 
Mix the dough very well, then knead it. At this point you may have to adjust the texture by adding a little more flour. Then place the smooth dough into the refrigerator over night, tightly covered. Next day bring dough to room temperature. You will find that the rested dough is much easier to work with. Now take pieces of the dough and roll out to about 1/2 cm thickness. This is a bit crumbly if you did not knead enough. Use a simple cookie cutter at first and stamp out your cookies. Bake at ca. 320 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes. You need to adjust time and temp according to your oven and the thickness of your cookies.
When cool, glaze/frost with chocolate. Decorate with half-Almonds (traditional) or chocolate sprinkles or any topping of choice
Also, instead of chocolate frosting one might simply create a glaze by adding fresh reconstituted lemon juice to confectioners sugar to spreading consistency.

My old Christmas recipes are translations of my mother's writings. I wrote them in such a way that a novice ( my family one day?) can repeat them.
 Here is a previous picture -


and some of today's batch

They are right down to the bricks!! No studs, no insulation and I have gained almost a good 16" in height! With a new ceiling in a bright kitchen it will seem bigger.
With studs and insulation in my 2 kitchen walls, outside walls, I should be warmer I would think.
It is 49 up here and sunny!!