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This page last changed 2021.01.05 09:00

Items of interest on why to use this or that, how things work together, etc.

• What's the difference between single-acting and double-acting baking powder? What's in it and how does it work? See: https://www.budget101.com/recipes/4988-myo-double-acting-baking-powder/
  • Consider using aluminum-free baking powder as it tastes better than ones with aluminum.

thanks to John Rudy for this

Preheat oven to 325°F.

1. Melt butter then set aside.
2. Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy (or beat with a whisk just well enough to see a few bubbles).
3. Mix in granulated sugar, brown sugar, and flour.
4. Slowly stir in butter and then chocolate chips.
5. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell.
6. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until knife inserted half way between outside edge and center comes out clean.
7. Cool on wire rack.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired.
This pie freezes well.
(Recipe from John Rudy and Genius Kitchen )

Healthy Moist Banana Bread

Grease 9”x5“ loaf pan Preheat oven to 325˚F

1. Mix dry ingreds (flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt) in a bowl
2. Mix wet ingreds (eggs, oil, honey, yogurt, vanilla) for 2 mins in a large bowl. Stir in bananas.
3. Stir dry ingreds into wet ingreds
4. Stir in add-ins
5. Pour in the greased pan
6. sprinkle with cinnamon, raw sugar, or banana slices (optional).
7. Bake 50-55 mins till toothpick comes out clean
8. Cool 10 minutes, slice

Makes: 12 ¾” slices approx. 238 calories each.

From GimmeDelicious.com

You may need to make mods based on your machine. Mine is a SKG Automatic Bread Machine 2LB.

Set machine on #3 Sweet; Dark, and Large loaf
Machine beeps to add more ingredients at 2:35, then you can add:

• 100g quick oats, or
• 1 cup Craisins

(If you add both, add them about 4-5 minutes before its 2:35 beep)

Modify the previous recipe as follows to make a pecan-cranberry bread.

• In liquid, use 2 eggs instead of one, still go to 10 ounces liquid
• When adding the flour, also add 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Prepare ahead of time, and then 5 minutes before the 2:35 beep telling you to add ingredients, add:
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 cup Craisins

Thanks to Laura London. You can store this batter in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. There is an option to make the cookies thicker (read on!)

2 sticks of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of light brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp of vanilla
2 cups of flour (use a bit over 2½ cups of flour to make cookies thicker)
1¼ cups of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚F

1. Combine butter, sugar, light brown sugar, salt & baking soda with electric mixer for about 2 minutes (until creamy)
2. Add eggs and vanilla
3. Add flour gradually
4. Mix in chocolate chips with a spoon
5. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour (the longer the better, can be kept in refrigerator up to 1 week)
6. Using about a teaspoon full of dough, roll into a ball
7. Bake for 10 minutes
8. Allow cookies to cool for 2 minutes before removing them from the pan

Jill Biden’s favorite cookies are big, chunky oatmeal rounds with cranberries and chocolate
From Boston Globe page

Makes 17

Very large, chunky oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries and chocolate chunks are favorites of Jill Biden. Only six mounds of dough go onto the baking sheet at once (the balls are 1/4-cup each), then they're flattened and baked until golden. The recipe comes from “Weeknights with Giada: Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner,” by Giada De Laurentiis, who also made it for the Food Network.

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Have on hand a 4-ounce scoop or a 1/4 cup measure.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to blend them.

3. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, if you have one, or the whisk, beat the butter and light brown and granulated sugar for 1 minute, or until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. With the machine on its lowest setting, gradually add the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the oats, cranberries, and chocolate just until incorporated; the dough will be stiff and a little hard to mix.

5. Use the scoop or measure to make 12 slightly rounded 2-inch mounds of dough. If any cranberries, chocolate, or oatmeal flakes fall out of the mounds, press them back in with your fingers. Place six balls of dough, spaced evenly apart, on each baking sheet. Using the heel of your hand, flatten the mounds to make even 3-inch rounds.

6. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, switching the position of the sheets from back to front halfway through baking, or until the cookies are lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes. Bake the remaining cookies in the same way. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Covered Caramelized Matzoh

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet (approximately 11 x 17″, 28 x 42cm) completely with foil, making sure the foil goes up and over the edges. Cover the foil with a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 375˚F (190˚C).
3. Line the bottom of the sheet with matzoh, breaking extra pieces as necessary to fill in any spaces.
4. In a 3-4 quart (3-4l) heavy duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the butter is melted and the mixture is beginning to boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add the salt and vanilla, and pour over matzoh. Working quickly, spread the caramel with a heatproof spatula.
5. Put the pan in the oven and reduce the heat to 350˚F (175˚C) degrees. Bake for 15 minutes. As it bakes, it will bubble up but make sure it’s not burning every once in a while. If it is burning in spots, remove from oven and reduce the heat to 325˚F (160˚C), then replace the pan.
6. Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes, then spread with an offset spatula.
7. If you wish, sprinkle with toasted almonds (or another favorite nut, toasted and coarsely-chopped), a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, or roasted cocoa nibs.

Either: (a) Let cool completely, or (b) While still warm, break into pieces. (if warm put in cold place to cool) and store in an airtight container until ready to serve. It should keep well for about one week.

Make your own pickles. Use cucumbers, green tomatoes, carrots, celery too.

It's fine to double or triple this recipe depending on how much you need to fill the jars

1. Bring all ingredients to a boil
2. Cut cucumbers in half or slices, depending on size
3. Stuff them in a clean jar that has a lid
4. After liquid has boiled, pour into jar containing cucumbers
5. Cover with lid
6. Let cool and refrigerate

Should be ready in a day.

This is Steve's adaptation and summary of his cousin's recipe. It has less fat (i.e., no heavy cream), but is still quite tasty and satisfying. [03jan2021)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• ¾ cup Greek yogurt (maybe more than ¾ cup; but may make result more bready than sconey – not bad IMHO)
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate baking chips

1. Preheat oven 390°F
2. In a mixer, mix both flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt
3. Add the butter and continue to mix till nicely combined
4. In a bowl, add the Greek yogurt
5. In another bowl, put the egg, honey, and vanilla
6. In yet another bowl, add chopped pecans and chocolate chips
7. Prepare a dusted flour surface. Prepare baking pan(s) each with parchment paper.
8. In mixer, switch to kneading paddle.
9. Add yogurt and egg mixtures.
10. Add pecans and chocolate chips.
11. Off the mixer, remove the batter, and massage it in your hands. Form it into a ball.
12. Place ball on dusted surface and flatten to a round 1“ (2.5cm) thick disk.
13. Using a knife, cut the disk in half, then into quarters, and then into eighths, as you would a pizza.
14. Place these eight pieces into the baking pans spaced about 1” apart.
15. Sprinkle each with brown sugar.
16. Place in oven for 16-18 minutes till bottoms are golden-brown.

If you're using two pans, and one is above the other in the oven, swap them at the 8 minute mark.

Optionally drizzle a white glaze over the scones.

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
• ½ tsp vanilla
• approx 1 tbsp milk, more or less to desired thickness

Mix all ingredients in this order. Spread over cooked scones.

from The Takeout

Get the sliced onions caramelizing while you prepare everything else. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet, add the onions, stir to coat, and enact the long, slow dance of adding water and scraping every time the onions start to sizzle.

Meanwhile, add the beef, soup mix, bread crumbs, and egg to a bowl. Fold together until the mixture is just firming up. You’re going to mix this a lot more than a typical burger, but do it as little as you can to keep it from going full racquetball on you.

Evenly spread the mixture into a 9-by-13-inch rimmed sheet pan, refrigerate, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When the oven comes to temperature, remove the beef from the fridge and top it with the caramelized onions. Bake for 12-15 minutes. If you’ve sculpted correctly (yes, this is art), the entirety of the pan should come to temperature at the same time.

Drain the liquid (one of those drawbacks of heartland sheet-based cooking) and, if you’re serving immediately, top with cheese and pop under the broiler to melt. Remove from oven, slice into 12 even portions, and make some sliders.

If you’re feeling fancy, pop the cardboard tray of split rolls out of the bag, cover with a dish towel or parchment paper, and steam them for a minute or two before assembling the burgers.

These taste great served immediately, but Mom’s secret trick was always to make extras, reassemble the rolls in neat order in the tray, and put that back into the bag so we’d have a second day (usually never a third) of slider leftovers. Just pop a few out, microwave, and enjoy. Thirty seconds wrapped in a damp paper towel and the leftovers are nearly good as new.

Thanks to John Rudy for this discussion and recipe, September 2019

We recently returned from Sicily and Rome where you never see the words “ice cream”. I don’t know why gelato has not caught on in the United States as most Americans who visit Italy fall in love with it. We did an important study and rated the gelatos at about 8 places. The best got a 9.5 on the Mir scale. The worst got a 7 (except for one at a hotel).

Good ice cream, as we all know, has a very high fat content. The best ice cream is about 2:1 heavy cream to milk, plus egg yolks and sugar, which is heated until the sugar dissolves. It is then cooled and beaten while kept cold which introduces air (sometimes a lot). Gelato is different. It starts out with a similar custard base but has a higher proportion of whole milk and a lower proportion of cream and eggs (or no eggs at all). Over-ripe fruit should be used for the best flavor. It is churned at a much slower rate, incorporating less air and leaving the gelato denser and smoother than ice cream. Vanilla gelato contains about 90 calories and 3 grams of fat, compared to 125 calories and 7 grams of fat in the average vanilla ice cream. Gelato is served at a slightly warmer temperature than ice cream, so its texture stays silkier and softer, yet dense due to the lack of air. Because it has a lower percentage of fat than ice cream, the main flavor ingredients really shine through. Rick Steves says that gelato should not be stored for a long time; preferably only a day or two. So eating a lot is emphasized. Here is a recipe for chocolate gelato, my favorite.

1. Heat the milk, cream, and ½ cup sugar in a 2-quart saucepan until the sugar dissolves and the milk starts to simmer. Add the cocoa powder and chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour into a heat-proof measuring cup.
2. Place the egg yolks and the remaining ¼ cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and very thick. With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the hot chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Pour the egg and chocolate mixture back into the 2-quart saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. A candy thermometer will register about 180°F. Don't allow the mixture to boil!
3. Pour the mixture through a sieve (to remove any inadvertent lumps) into a bowl and stir in the coffee liqueur, vanilla, and salt. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard and chill completely.
4. Pour the custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. Don’t over-beat. Stir in the roughly chopped chocolate, if using, and freeze in covered containers. Allow the gelato to thaw slightly before serving so it is not hard.

Recipe was originally from Dave Maynard, a local Boston radio/TV celebrity, from over 20 years ago; received in the 90's from CarolP.

• Take a turkey, wash and remove giblets. Dry.
• Take weight of turkey, determine total cooking time based on 13.5 minutes/pound
• Put turkey in pan on its breast (note that it is not stuffed) and roast at 425˚F:
  • Turkey weighs less than 20 pounds: 1 hour 15 mins
  • Turkey weighs 20 pounds or more: 1 hour 30 mins
• Remove from oven, turn over (so it's on it's back), stuff it with dressing
• Put in pan and put aluminum foil tent over it (snug to the pan so it's completely enclosed)
• Back in 350˚F oven for remainder of cooking time
• Remove foil and juices 30 minutes before cooking time is complete (and put back in oven) to brown the turkey
• When cooking is complete, remove from oven and let sit 20 minutes or so

Cooking time/temp examples:
25 pound turkey: total cooking time 5.6 hours, 1 hour 30 mins at 425˚F, 4 hours 12 mins at 350˚F
12 pound turkey: total cooking time 2.7 hours, 1 hour 15 mins at 425˚F, 1 hour 30 mins at 350˚F

I have put the neck in the pan along with the turkey with success; put extra stuffing over the neck to cover it (optional)
I've tried various time/pounds. Original recipe called for 15 mins/pound but I found that to overcook the turkey, and over time determined that 13.5 mins/pound worked the best. (Depends on many factors including the accuracy of oven temperature.)

Whisk 1 egg in the cup then add

• 2 Tbsp vanilla yogurt (or 2 Tbsp Greek unflavored yogurt + couple drops of vanilla)
• 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp flax seed meal
• 1 Tbsp quick cook oats
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or try 2tsp)
• ½ tsp baking powder

Microwave 90 seconds

• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1½ Tbsp cocoa powder
• pinch salt
• 2 Tbsp chocolate chips
• 1½ Tbsp oil
• 3 Tbsp milk
• ¼ tsp vanilla

Drop more chips on top of batter then microwave 60 seconds