Two for the Price of One

Considering that the recipes I have been working on are not original, this should be more of a recipe review. Anywho...

Fleischmann's Sour Cream Rolls
Everything you would want in a fluffy roll in the shape of a muffin: light, airy, gorgeous, moist, easy-to-make BUT a bit dry to the uninitiated.  I have been eating two of these for breakfast (after warming them up by nuking them for 20 secs; where nuking here refers to microwaving) without any condiments but a fruity jam would make it very tasty.  They would work well as the carb side of a dinner, especially to soak up gravy juices or that little bit of soup left in one's bowl.  The best part about these rolls is that they stay fluffy over the course of a week; at least mine did when stored in a zip-lock baggy in the fridge.

  


Paul's Pumpkin Bars
Okay, so if you look at the pictures for this recipe, you will see that it is a cake with the thickness of a bar.  Not super exciting since the ingredients are closer to a cake than a bar.  As you can see, mine is more of a cake on purpose since I enjoy more cake than frosting and was achieved by adding a 1/2 tsp of baking powder and baking soda each.  Another change I would do the next time I make this recipe is to add some more spices, like pumpkin spice, nutmeg and/or cloves, as I could not really distinguish that it was pumpkin.  Perhaps this was because mine was a cake and not a bar; less concentrated.  Very tasty, especially the frosting.

 

One of the Things I Cannot Do

Quick back-story: 
I started learning to cook along side my Dad on Saturday mornings making pancakes, french toast and the like from the tender age of five (+/- 1 year).  And then my parents divorced and I lived part-time between them; money become scarce (as always, I was to learn) and meals became TV dinners, deviled ham sandwiches and generic lemon cookies.  By age 12, I was living with my Mom full-time and pretty much learning to fend for myself in the pre-internet days.  My Mom was never into cooking, so I am pretty much self taught with two summers of official kitchen instruction/work at Concordia Language Villages after high school.

Complete with original box and handwritten birthday card

Thus armed with a cookbook, an Oster Hand Mixer and a recipe, I started learning how to bake during the preteen years with very little direction and LOTS of trial and error.  A junior high semester home economics class did help. (Those pesky "Master Chef Kids" do not know how good life is today!!!  gurrhhh!!)  ...I started off with cookies and they are still the bane of my cooking existence.  Some of the earliest batches were half burnt; that is, half of the actual cookie was black or dark brown!  And the ones that were not burnt soon became hard as rocks.

So today I thought I would try to make white chip macadamia nut cookies from the Mauna Loa macadamia nut package.  But my cookies are just not the nice, round, flat ones you get in stores or Subway!  :(   Perhaps my baking soda is too old; or the eggs were not fresh enough; or, or...or maybe I should just give up on this cookie recipe.  Okay, maybe just cut down on the number of white chips and find a better way to flatten the cookies. (...Or could it have been the parchment paper they were baked on as the cause?)



Mauna Loa Macadamia White Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz package white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups (or 1 package) chopped Mauna Loa Macadamia Baking Pieces

Preheat oven 350 degrees F
Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Blend in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia pieces. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking pans. Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Makes ~6 dozen.

See how the left side of the recipe is apart of seamed edge;
still readable but annoying

In writing out this recipe, which is badly placed on my bag and in black on a rich blue colour backgound, I realized I did not add the 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar.  This does not explain why the cookies did not flatten out but at least they still taste good, though I recommend having milk nearby whether your cookies have both sugars or not!

Even after the second day, the cookies are still good when stored in a tin.  My particular version is a bit dry, more so on the second day than the first.

The recipe says it makes 72 cookies but given the "lack" of my cookie dough in proportion to the filling of nuts and chips, I ended up with ~30 cookies.

They are not bad but they are not great.  Great would be extra chewy and soft with more dough.

Until next time cookie recipe!

Fall in the Rio Grande Valley

Up until the first week of November, it has been quite pleasant. Warm in the sun with light breezes.
Excellent weather to enjoy and document my favorite part of New Mexico: the colours of fall.

...Just enjoy the pretty colours from late October 2013.

Summer and Autumn from Alameda looking north along irrigation channel

 

Looking south toward Alameda

Daisies in their last bloom.

Walking paths/maintainence road along irrigation channel;
Sandia Mountains in the background

(And this is why they call it the land of entrapment!)