Lemon Bars Hour 1

1 cup butter, softened

 1/2 cup white sugar

 2 cups all-purpose flour

 4 eggs

 1 1/2 cups white sugar

 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

 2 lemons, juiced

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.

Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. 

This recipe uses a mix between the muffin method and creaming method, which surprised me. The creaming method first starts by mixing together the butter and sugar. The sugar acts as an emulsifier and spreads and breaks down the butter in order to aerate the butter. Then eggs are added and/or other liquids and finally the dry ingredients. This will create a creamy like batter, except this was somewhat more like a dough..I started by making the batter/dough into a glass pan and let it bake. Then I mixed together the liquid portion and waited for the batter to be done baking. I the poured the liquid on top and stuck it back in the oven. I then let this bake for the said time and took it out of the oven when it was done. Once it was cooled, I sprinkled powdered sugar on them and cut them into squares. The bars ended up tasting delicious. They were tangy, but still sweet and had a really nice texture. They were also crumbly, which helped make them that much better. They also made my house smell really yummy and fresh.

Strawberry Shortcake Hour 1

3 pints fresh strawberries

 1/2 cup white sugar

 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

 4 teaspoons baking powder

 2 tablespoons white sugar

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1/3 cup shortening

 1 egg

 2/3 cup milk

 2 cups whipped heavy cream

Check All Add to Shopping List

Directions

Slice the strawberries and toss them with 1/2 cup of white sugar. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease and flour one 8 inch round cake pan.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, 2 tablespoons white sugar and the salt. With a pastry blender cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add the beaten egg and milk. Stir until just combined.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool partially in pan on wire rack.

Slice partially cooled cake in half, making two layers. Place half of the strawberries on one layer and top with the other layer. Top with remaining strawberries and cover with the whipped cream.

In class, one method we learned about was the biscuit method. This consists of mixing dry ingredients together and then proceeding to cut in your choice of fat until small crumb-like pieces. You then must make a well in the middle for the wet ingredients and incorporate them until just combined. When I read this recipe, I was surprised to see that it indeed used the biscuit method instead of the creaming method. Following the recipe was pretty easy, but I accidentally didn't make a well when I added the wet ingredients. This didn't mess up the cake at all in the end. When it was baking, the cake smelled pretty good, but didn't seem like it would have any flavor. Once I took it out of the oven, I waited for it to cool and then proceeded to cut it in half. I then placed strawberries on one layer and put whipped cream on top and topped that with the other layer, which I then topped with strawberries and whipped cream again. Overall, the cake tasted really sweet, which I wasn't expecting since the cake itself was somewhat bland. 

NUtella Cupcakes

Angie Lelyukh

May Blog: Choclate Cupcakes Frosted with Whipped Nutella Frosting

Often times when I crave cookies, by the time I actually make the cookies, Im so you are so full of the cookie dough I dont want the cookie itself anymore. Like wise, when making the Nutella cupcakes I ate so much Nutella I could even push myself to eat one cupcake and had to leave it for the next day.
 The recipe I used for the homemade butter cream frosting included the following:

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ⅔ cup Nutella or other chocolate-hazelnut spread
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch kosher salt (up to ¼ teaspoon, to taste)
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. In a stand mixer a fixed with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and powdered sugar on low until well-blended. Add the Nutella and increase the speed to medium. Beat for two minutes.
2. Add the vanilla extract and salt and whip for an additional 30 seconds.
3. Add the whipping cream and beat for about one minute, until the frosting lightens slightly in both color and texture.
   
   

I did not like the frosting as much as I though I would because you could barely taste the Nutella, but you could taste the powdered sugar and the butter very strongly.
The appearance was a light brown color, like a soft creamy tan and very fluffy

The texture of the butter cream was very fluffy and smooth

The aroma consisted of a strong butter and confectioners sugar with a hint of the chocolate hazelnut smell,

Something I forgot to do before making my frosting was read through the recipe so I completely forgot about timing the stuff and accidently beat step 2 for 2 minutes instead of 30 seconds, I do not think that it made too much of an impact on my frosting because it still had the right texture / volume at the end. Based on what I know, The most important step that would have caused me overcream my buttercream would have been step one

For the actual cupcakes I used the following recipe:

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Frosting:
8 cups confectioners' sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
Food coloring, for decorating
Sprinkles, for decorating

Directions
For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a measuring cup, mix together the milk and vinegar to make sour milk. In a large bowl, add the cocoa powder and hot water and mix together with an electric hand mixer. Add the soured milk, granulated sugar, shortening, vanilla extract and eggs, and mix together. Next, add the flour and baking soda and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Place cupcake liners into a cupcake pan and fill each halfway with batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes.

For the frosting: Whip 4 cups of the confectioners' sugar, the butter and vanilla extract with an electric hand mixer until smooth, while slowly adding the milk.

Add food coloring to achieve desired color and the remaining 4 cups confectioners' sugar.

Frost the cupcakes and top with sprinkles

 

They looked like normal cupcakes with a little bump, and brown. As for the texture they were soft, airy and fluffy, but according to myself, the cupcakes were kind of dry to taste. I was going for moist, crumbly, sticker cupcakes but they ended up being a bit more dry than I wanted to. I am not sure if it was the recipe or not but I think that i left them in the oven for a minute too long because every time I stuck the toothpick in a cupcake it came out with batter so I kept adding on time until I think I overcooked them and let out too much moisture from the batter. To me, they also had a funky after taste, almost like there was too much baking soda but i measured it out correctly so i am wondering if it was the effect of the vinegar with milk. Other than that, the coca flavor was just right and pleasantly melted in the mouth
After I topped them with frosting and added colorful sprinkles they were very appealing to the eye because of the bright colors of the sprinkles.

Overall my friends thought they tasted great, but I felt like the frosting was a little over-powering for the cupcake itself. If i were to make these again I would add in more Nutella for a stronger taste in the frosting and try out a different recipe for the batter to find something more moist. 

"Fabulous" Chocolate Chip Cookies by Bridget Thomas

"Fabulous" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 3 dozen

 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

2eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup candy-coated chocolate pieces

1/3 cup peanut butter chips

2 teaspoons honey

1 pinch ground cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and honey. Stir in the dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chips, chocolate candies, peanut butter chips and nuts. Drop dough by teaspoons onto an unprepared cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are golden around the edges. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

 

I made these cookies for my friend's birthday and they were amazing! I have made many types and variations of chocolate chip cookies but nothing like this. These cookies had peanut butter chips (which I didn't use) and M&Ms which I haven't made in cookies. I modified the recipe because I did not want to find the peanut butter chips and we did not have walnuts. Aside from that, the cookies, while baking, spread out and looked kind of like they were burnt around the edges but they were perfectly chewy and not so moist that it is oily but it wasn't dry. It was just right. I followed the recipe to the tee. They came out amazing and the dough wasn't too bad either! The cookies were really good and they get rave reviews from everyone! I'm so glad I made them. They were just right and hit the spot.

Rainbow Cupcakes & Homemade Frosting-May Blog

Recipe:
2 & 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 Tablespoon water
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

I was at a friend's house and we decided to make cupcakes. Her mom loves to bake so she had a recipe for the cupcakes and frosting along with all of the correct ingredients in her house. For these cupcakes, we used the muffin method so we began by mixing all of the dry ingredients together. We combined the milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla together and then the mixture to the dry ingredients. We whisked all of the ingredients together until it was smooth. However, the batter was extremely thick and similar to the texture of yogurt so we slowly stirred in water until it was a thinner combination. I think this happened because we didn't sift the flour before measuring and adding it to the bowl. We separated the batter into 5 cereal bowls and mixed in a different color of food coloring into each one. Instead of bigger cupcakes, we made miniature ones so they cooked a little faster. We put a little of each batter into each muffin tin in the pan. This was the part that took the longest but they turned out looking very cool. After baking in the oven for 12 minutes at 375 degrees, we let them cool and made the frosting by beating the ingredients together until the mixture was light and fluffy. It tasted very sweet and sugary but it made the cupcakes have a perfect combination of creamy and sweet. The cupcakes were very tender and moist, but also very crumbly. They were extremely crumbly because of the cake flour, but the smell and taste were very inviting.

Strawberry Shortcakes
3 ½ cups AP flour, plus more for surface (15.75 oz)

1/3 c. + 1 T. granulated sugar SEPERATED (2.36 oz)

4 t. baking powder

1 t. fine sea salt

 

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces (6 oz)

1 large orange, zested and juiced

1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing (8.4 oz)

½ cup whole milk (4 oz)

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2 T. turbinado sugar

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2 pints strawberries, hulled and quartered lengthwise

2 ½ c. whipped cream

DAY ONE

1. In a heavy duty mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, add flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix on low speed to combine.

2. Add butter and zest, and mix on low until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 2 minutes. Add cream and milk and increase speed to medium; mix until dough comes together.

3. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface, lightly knead a few times, and shape into a rectangle about ¾” thick. Cut out dough circles using a 3” round cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
   DAY TWO

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

5. Lightly brush tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. 

6. Bake until shortcakes are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool (can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days)

7. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine strawberries, orange juice, and remaining 1 T. granulated sugar. Gently stir together. Set aside. (TEACHER WILL DO THIS STEP)

8. To serve, halve shortcakes horizontally with serrated knife. Place bottom halves on individual serving plates and top each with a dollop of whipped cream, some berries, then another dollop of whipped cream. Top with remaining shortcake halves.
   
   Fresh Whipped Cream           Yield 4 cups

2 cups heavy cream

¼ cup sugar

1 t. vanilla (optional)

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine heavy cream and sugar. With either a hand or stand mixer, beat mixture together on a lower level. After a minute, increase the speed and continue to beat mixture until very soft peaks form.

2. If you are using whipped cream as frosting, beat it for an additional 30-60 seconds or until soft peaks form.

3. If you are using vanilla, stir in by hand with a whisk at this point.

4. Best if used immediately. Can be stored for up to 24 hours in refrigerator.

A week before we did this lab in class, I decided I would be making a nice meal for Valentine's Day to show my parents that my brother and I loved them. Eating strawberries is about as appealing as eating charcoal to me, but my parents and my brother love them more than anything.

So I got the recipe for strawberry shortcake from Ms. Wilson and went to the store on a walk home from school a few days before Thursday, the day we were planning on, to pick up strawberries, oranges, and a REV roll-up for my father's lunch. After all of this was put in the fridge safely, my brother and I got to work.

The screw-ups started when we first began with all of the ingredients. My brother, Trevor, was in charge of measuring and combining the dry ingredients. The sugar, baking soda, and salt were fine, but when it was time for the salt, there was a little mix-up. The recipe, it turned out, was in units set for a scale. I didn't really take this into account, and neither did my brother, so he took out a small shot cup to measure... in fluid ounces. I didn't figure this out until later, so we'll get to that. We put all the dry ingredients together and set them aside for the next day. We were also making waffles for breakfast, so we put together the dry ingredients for that.

We mixed up the recipe a lot, which probably did mess up and cause the results we ended up with.

The same night we put together all the dry ingredients, we tried our hands at creating the whipping cream. Again, we were totally ignorant, because we thought that heavy whipping cream meant cool whip. We tried the whipping cream, but it was more like whipped goo. We couldn't even try to squirt it out of anything because it was so much a liquid. The day before, when I had gotten the recipe, Ms. Wilson said to make sure we had soft peaks, but it was just dripping, so I knew that was wrong. I also figured it was wrong when we used a whole container of cool whip. We put it in the fridge, and I prayed it would thicken, but it never did.

The next morning, we made the waffles and tried to squirt some sugary liquid of what we had made on them. The final product for the whipping cream attempt wasn't awful tasting, just weirdly textured. The waffles ended up well, and we went to school stressing about the time restrictions we had that night.

When we got home from school, Trevor and I got to work and made even more mistakes, which were earth-shattering at the moment, but now I see them as hilarious. We made pasta as the meal, and that ended up fine, though the alfredo sauce separated, but that's a different story. The strawberry shortcake, however, was a big mess.

I got all the ingredients together again to finish up the strawberry shortcake. The orange zesting was something I had never even tried, and I have a feeling I did it very wrong. I took the orange, washed it, an used our huge cheese grater to sheer off bigger chunks than needed of orange peel. I got all the other ingredients except the heavy whipping cream, because by now I had found out that cool whip was not synonymous with it. So I quickly googled 'heavy whipping cream substitutes' and came up with a milk-and-flour mixture that did not look quite as I had expected. I combined all of the combined dry ingredients and combined liquid ingredients in our large blue mixer. I mixed until the only chunks were the orange bits.

When I tried to take out the mixture to knead it, it was like trying to knead vomit. It had the gooey texture of vomit, and didn't smell fantastic, either. It also looked like it, and it made me want to vomit myself. I was on the verge of a breakdown from all of the messes I had made when just trying to show my parents we loved them.

My dad has always been the cook in our family, and from here he tried to work out how much flour we needed to add, because he could clearly see that that was the issue. There was no real substance there. He figured it all out as best he could through a very complex math equation that made me dizzy. From there I kneaded the dough and made the small cakes, but I think all the extra processing of the mixture overdeveloped the gluten, and the end product was NOTHING like the spongey cakes that my babysitting client, Jack, gets in a little strawberry shortcake kit.

The end product was tough, like eating the scones a few weeks before. We added the strawberries, but all that could be tasted, at least to me, was the orange peel chunks. It looked like cheese bicuits, again because of the orange bits. The added "whipping cream" made it look like a milk volcano with chunks of red lava spewing all over. There was no distinct smell, and the end product was very disappointing.

I think the reason the end product was so awful was because of the lack of communication and underestimating the importance of picking through the recipe with a fine tooth comb. The huge mistakes along the way made this Valentine's Day very memorable. I will probably never want to make or eat strawberry shortcake again. I really wish I would have just made cookies or mint brownies as I had originally planned, but making this dish taught me how I need to make sure I have the EXACT things the recipe may call for before I even consider making it. I am glad my dad was there to help save me, and I'm very glad I had a "soux chef" (Trevor) there with me, too.

Pizza Dough - May

Ingredients
7 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour or 5 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour, plus 2 cups finely ground semolina flour
1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dried yeast
1 tablespoon raw sugar
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Sift the flours and salt onto a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a large measuring cup, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands - this is called punching down the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straightaway, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas - this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.

Timing-wise, it's a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though - if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there's 1 less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 1/4-inch thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted aluminum foil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with plastic wrap, and pop them into the refrigerator.

     For the month of May, I decided to make pizza dough so I could make a pizza for my family to eat for dinner. To create pizza dough, you have to use the straight dough mixing method, which is where you combine all the ingredients in one bowl and mix to combine. This is used mainly when making bread dough.
     So to start off, I gathered all the ingredients and placed the yeast, sugar, olive oil into the water. This would create fermentation, which would allow gas bubbles to be made, leading to a rising baked good. Then I combined all the ingredients to form a dough ball. With this ball, I kneaded it for a while, then I let it rest on the counter. After an hour, I took the dough and punched it down, then I let it sit for another hour. Now the dough was complete. So I rolled out the dough into a circle, and put the sauce and cheese on it and baked it.
     When it came out of the oven, the smell was salivating. I got so hungry right then and there, because the cheese was perfectly golden and gooey on top of the pizza, and the smell reminded me of a pizzeria like Punch Pizza. I cut everybody a piece, and when I tasted it, I instantly loved it. The crust was nice and tender, and wasn't chewy or bland. The sauce added to the overall incredible taste of the pizza. All in all, I think I did a good job making the pizza dough, and the final product, the pizza, turned out into a great meal that night.