Baking! Share your recipes

[icedtea]

Talking about cookies reminded me that I want to start baking more. I'm buying a friend's KitchenAid mixer, and am very excited.

What are your favorite recipes? Also interested in tips while baking, or links to good instructional places.

[iheartbroccoli]

Yay for a new mixer! You will love using it.

I love to bake. I have too many favorite recipes to list, but here are two of my favorite cupcake recipes:

S'mores Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

The blog I got these recipes from is great. I've never had any issues with her recipes, and she does a good job at explaining the basics.

If the mixer you're getting doesn't have this beater, I highly recommend getting it. It will scrape the sides of the mixer as it beats the ingredients, so you don't have to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl.

[BabyStandish]

I have many!! here's the first one

New England Gingersnap recipe

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger

1 egg
1 1/2 cups butter (stick & a half)
1/4 cup Grandma's molasses
1 cup sugar

Extra sugar in bowl to roll them.

Cream/mix butter & sugar. Add egg, then molasses.
Mix dry ingredients & then add to creamed ingredients, mix.

Roll into balls in hands (about an inch or so big) & roll in sugar (just to coat) and place on GREASED cookie sheet. 12 a sheet unless you have a big sheet-then 16?

Bake at 350 for 10-12 min.

I need to find the recipe for my mom's tiramisu cheesecake...it is orgasmic.

[BabyStandish]

Pumpkin cookies

Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients
•2 1/2 cups flour
•1 teaspoon baking powder
•1 teaspoon baking soda
•2 teaspoons cinnamon
•1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•1/2 cup butter (softened)
•1 1/2 cups sugar
•1 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mix)
•1 egg
•1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing:
•2 cups powdered sugar
•3 tablespoon milk
•1 tablespoon melted butter
•1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in medium bowl.
2. Cream together the butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Beat until creamy.
3. Begin adding dry ingredients, a little at a time.
4. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoon full (ungreased sheet). Flatten slightly.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes in preheated oven. Cool cookies then drizzle glaze with fork or spread with knife.

Note: you can also add cream cheese to the icing if you want.

[BabyStandish]

Tiramisu cheesecake

1 (12 ounce) package (soft) lady fingers-usually found in bakery section of grocery store
4 tbsp melted butter
4 tbsp kahlua
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
1 (8 oz) container mascarpone cheese
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 (1oz) semi-sweet chocolate square (buy more if you want to add melted chocolate on top at the end)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350-Place pan of water in bottom of oven
2. Crush packages of lady fingers to fine crumbs
3. Mix melted butter into crumbs.
4. Moisten with 2 tbsp. of kahlua.
5. Press into 8-9 inch springform pan
6. In a large bowl mix cream cheese, mascarpone, + sugar until very smooth.
7. Add 2 tbsp kahlua into cream cheese mixture and mix well.
8. Add the eggs and flour into cream cheese mixture until just smooth (the consistency of mascarpone can vary-if the mixture seems to thick add a little cream. Do not overmix at this point.
9. Add batter into crust.
10. Place pan in the middle rack of oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until just set. O
11. Open the door and turn off the oven and let it cool there for 20 minutes.
Bonus step: (I like to melt down semi-sweet chocolate and make little designs on top of the cheesecake after it's cool or you can just pour a light layer on top and it will harden in the fridge)
12. Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

[icedtea]

iheartbroccoli, I didn't even know a beater that scraped existed. Definitely getting that!

BabyStandish, awesome! I love gingersnaps.

[icedtea]

And just yesterday I said I wanted cheesecake, excellent.

I'll contribute the very little I have:

These snickerdoodles are super easy and delicious.

I just made these chocolate chip cookies for the first time today and they are amazing. I want to try them with dark chocolate chips next. I'm also telling myself they're healthy because there's almond butter in them.

I pretty much only make cookies at this point. Looking forward to branching out!

[jmichlik]

Here is my favorite, German thumbprint cookies (butter cookies with jelly centers). I make these for pretty much all holidays and our families love them.

Ingredients
• 1 cup of butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces), room temperature
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of chopped nuts (optional)
• 3/4 cup of your favorite jam (I use raspberry)

Method
1. Cream the butter and sugar on high speed for about 3 minutes.
2. Separate the eggs. Add the yolks and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. If using nuts place the egg whites in a shallow dish on the side and whisk them until bubbly and frothy (the egg whites will be used to keep the nuts on the cookies).
3. Add the flour and salt. Mix until just combined. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 350F.
4. Roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. If using nuts, dip the balls into the egg whites then roll them into the nuts until covered. Place the balls on cookie sheets.
5. Press down with your thumb to make a small well in the center of the cookie. Do not press too hard or the cookie will fall apart. Fill with 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
6. Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly firm. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

[jmichlik]

Here's a couple more that are not cookies since you wanted to branch out. Some of these are a bit challenging but I have made them and love them all

Tahiti blondies (blondies with coconut, pecans, white and chocolate chips)
bakebakebake.livejournal.com/1023450.html#cutid1

Chocolate raspberry cupcakes (note recipe says it makes 12, actually makes 16):
bakingmywaythroughcollege.tumblr.com/post/8941926356/chocolateraspberrycup

Mini pumpkin pies:
bakebakebake.livejournal.com/2403908.html

[icedtea]

Ooh chocolate raspberry cupcakes.

I feel like my non-cookie baked goods always get dried out (I tried brownies recently). I need to figure out why, I follow the cooking directions.

[jmichlik]

icedtea, I definitely think all brownie recipes are not created equally. My best friend has a favorite family recipe that I secretly hate because they come out very dry and cake-like, and I think brownies are supposed to have a slightly fudge-like consistency when done right. I convinced her to share it with me once and discovered that compared to mine hers had half the cocoa and double the flour, and more flour = dry, cake-like brownies. I don't know what recipe you tried but here is the one I use, you can compare to yours and see if you notice any difference if you'd like.

1 cup sugar
½ cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup flour
½ cup cocoa
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350°. Mix sugar, shortening, eggs and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in well greased baking pan, 8x8x2. Bake 25-30 minutes; cool.

[emmalynn]

Also, don't over mix brownies! You have to be gentle with them for the best results

I can't remember who to tag... Oops. But if stuff consistently comes out dry you should try only adding as much flour as your dough needs. Ideally flour would be measured by weight. I've found in recipes that include both volume and weight I use much less going by weight (and with much better results).

This is making me wish sweets didn't make me sick! I bought some stevia for baking that I need to try but haven't got around to it yet.

ETA icedtea - meant to tag you

[icedtea]

jmichlik, thanks for this! I agree that brownies should be a bit more fudge than cake-like.

Thanks emmalynn! Between what you two have said, I definitely think it was a flour issue (and possibly over mixing ha).

I guess I'll just have to try jmichlik's recipe and the ones I tried the other night but with less flour. Oh well!

[txcatlady]

My favorite cupcakes - apple spice with cream cheese frosting
www.canadianliving.com/food/recipe/apple-spice-cupcakes

And sugar cookies (makes a ton of cookies, around 4 dozen)
recipesfoodandcooking.com/2014/11/22/sugar-cookies/

Enjoy you're mixer! I love mine!

[txcatlady]

Dec 31, 2016 14:42:27 GMT -5 emmalynn said:

Also, don't over mix brownies! You have to be gentle with them for the best results

I can't remember who to tag... Oops. But if stuff consistently comes out dry you should try only adding as much flour as your dough needs. Ideally flour would be measured by weight. I've found in recipes that include both volume and weight I use much less going by weight (and with much better results).

This is making me wish sweets didn't make me sick! I bought some stevia for baking that I need to try but haven't got around to it yet.

ETA icedtea - meant to tag you

If you don't weigh your flour, you can use a spoon or flour sifter to fill the measuring cup loosely (don't press it down, just use a butter knife to level off the measuring cup and that helps get a more accurate amount for recipes. 

[rosesquared]

Ok this thread is killing me because I now want to eat ALLLLL these delicious looking things. I'm newly obsessed with this recipe for s'mores bars. I was told by the girl who gave it to me that she doesn't abide by the measurements for marshmallow or chocolate chips, just sprinkled by hand. (She used mini marshmallows, I used fluff but would prob try with marshmallows next time.) These bars are soooooo yummy!

www.somethingswanky.com/smores-cookie-bars/

[chknma]

This is my favorite chocolate cake/cupcake recipe (I do a basic whipped vanilla frosting)

addapinch.com/the-best-chocolate-cake-recipe-ever

Best chocolate chip cookies...the sea salt makes them perfection...but read all the way because you have to chill the dough and sometimes I forget and get held up!

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015819-chocolate-chip-cookies

And I haven't made these yet, but need to

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017031-chocolate-mint-thins-with-candy-cane-crunch?action=click&module=Collection+Page+Recipe+Card®ion=Christmas+Cookie+Plate&pgType=collection&rank=1

[jmcbick]

Jan 1, 2017 12:47:16 GMT -5 rosesquared said:

Ok this thread is killing me because I now want to eat ALLLLL these delicious looking things. I'm newly obsessed with this recipe for s'mores bars. I was told by the girl who gave it to me that she doesn't abide by the measurements for marshmallow or chocolate chips, just sprinkled by hand. (She used mini marshmallows, I used fluff but would prob try with marshmallows next time.) These bars are soooooo yummy!

www.somethingswanky.com/smores-cookie-bars/

Saving this for sure!

[icedtea]

Got the mixer tonight! I am so excited to start trying these out. Any easy bread recipes are also welcome

[river]

This is stupid easy, but so good. You can up the difficulty by making your own chocolate wafers.
smittenkitchen.com/2007/01/wafer-wonderland/

I agree with iheartbroccoli, the scraper beater is worth it!

[lupincat]

I can't wait to try some of these! I wish I was a better baker/cook but usually all I can pull together is a boxed cake mix.

Although for chocolate chip cookies, if I happen to be making from scratch, I throw in a pack of vanilla pudding mix.

[chknma]

this won't put your mixer to use....but is one of my favorite bread recipes :-)

www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2013/04/no-knead-crusty-artisan-bread.html

[jmcbick]

Jan 1, 2017 12:47:16 GMT -5 rosesquared said:

Ok this thread is killing me because I now want to eat ALLLLL these delicious looking things. I'm newly obsessed with this recipe for s'mores bars. I was told by the girl who gave it to me that she doesn't abide by the measurements for marshmallow or chocolate chips, just sprinkled by hand. (She used mini marshmallows, I used fluff but would prob try with marshmallows next time.) These bars are soooooo yummy!

www.somethingswanky.com/smores-cookie-bars/

I made these today (with the mini marshmallow method). SO GOOD. Must hide them before I eat the whole pan.

[PirateCat]

I don't make a ton but I make these chocolate biscotti occasionally and they are always a hit. I always make them to give away as gifts but I should really just make a batch for myself. I usually use almonds instead of pistachios and skip the extra chocolate chips.

www.google.com/amp/www.marthastewart.com/356047/chocolate-pistachio-biscotti%3Famp

[rosesquared]

jmcbick aren't they amazing?!!!

[irish14]

Guinness chocolate cake with cream cheese icing:

www.designsponge.com/2010/10/in-the-kitchen-with-katie-quinn-davies-guinness-cake.html

Omg it's so good. You definitely have to do the bundt pan - it's too dense to bake through in the middle otherwise.