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Sunday, January 31, 2016

Alpha Bakers: Irish Cream Scones


I am beginning to realize that the easier the recipe is, the more disorganized I become. Especially on recipes that are tagged Q&E. It's like it's screaming at me: "hey, I'm easy, you can whip me up in no time and still have the rest of the day left to do whatever."

In the case of this recipe, I skimmed through the recipe a few days before the weekend, was pleased to discover that I have all the ingredients on hand. No need to buy additional stuff from the store. I also decided to make the full recipe, since these are scones (bread-types) and can be frozen and I have friends who was complaining that I always make cakes and should make more bread/pastry type things so I proceeded with full recipe. And while prepping the ingredients I realize that I am 3 oz of cream short. And I don't have any lemons. Or honey. Rats.

In my defense I have long given up buying honey, just because I buy them, use 2 tablespoon, then the bottle of honey sits in the pantry, where it slowly and surely crystallize until 3, 6, 9 months later when I need it and it's hard as rock. In the rock-crystallized state it's usually still usable, provided we use it in warm beverage or baking. But it's not really something that we can pour over bread or toasted bread. And crystallized honey is not pretty. Considering it's freaking expensive to purchase, I decided that we will just support the fair trade agave bottle business that cost a 1/2 of what honey cost and does not crystallized. Having said that, I have a sad-looking bottle of maple syrup that fortunately have not crystallized but been in the pantry for a year now.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Alpha Bakers: My Chocolate Chip Cookies


Finally! Chocolate Chip Cookies from Rose!

I made this recipe in November 2014 (that felt like super long ago). This is again, one of the recipes I test for high altitude baking, for Rose's Heavenly Cookies class at Craftsy. I was really excited to see this cookie on her list since I wanted to make it ever since the book was published - but I was trying to be a good Alpha Baker and not bake ahead. Coincidentally, about a month before The Baking Bible is out, I craved Chocolate Chip Cookies. I couldn't find a recipe for it in any of Rose's other cookbooks so I baked from a recipe I found on the internet. I don't remember which recipe I made. It was not memorable. So not memorable that I didn't even bother to take photos of the cookies.I should probably have taken note of the website so I know not to make it again. But now that I have tried Rose's version, let's just say the search is over. I would not need to try any other Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. 

This is an easy recipe, Q&E for Rose's standard but it does require an extra step for you to make beurre noisette. Anything made with beurre noisette taste good, in my opinion. I like the explanation in the book that to make this cookie lactose-tolerant, to throw away the milk residue (it's called something different in the book but I don't have it near me to check). I wonder though that whether it makes it completely lactose-free, but then you'd have to take out the chocolate chip cookies since it has milk, so then the cookie become walnut cookie? (do you follow my odd logic?).