My Final Blog

I created this blog for a project for one of my classes and I thought it would be quite challenging, but to the contrary, it was a lot of fun.  At the beginning, I was giving my daughter cooking lessons.  I enjoyed that and so did she.

One thing the blog has given me is a chance to make my mother's cookies.  I only did three, but she use to make at least 15 different kinds.  Her cookies were always delicious.  We always looked forward to Christmas morning to eat them.

This will be my final edition of Janice's Cooking Corner.  Thank you to those of you who read my blogs and made comments.  They were very helpful.

HAPPY COOKING!!!

Critique of the Snowball Cookies

This is the first time I ever made my mother's snowball cookies.  The easiest part of the recipe was it was very similar to the butter cookies I made yesterday.  When I was forming the balls, I wasn't sure how big to make them.  I thought they were small, but when I baked them, they almost doubled in size. I remember that my mom's cookies were much smaller.

Other than the size, they looked just like my mother's cookies.  I thought they would taste just like them.  I was wrong.  They were good, but not as good as my mom's cookies.

Snowball Cookies

The third cookie I made was my mother's snowball cookies.

The recipe is as follows:

All the ingredients that I used

Sift together 
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Set aside

Cream
1 cup softened butter.  Gradually add
1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, creaming well

Blend in

1 unbeaten egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract; beat well

Add gradually

the dry ingredients; mix thoroughly

Optional:  

Stir in 1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped or ground.

Take the dough out, and form into a ball.

CHILL DOUGH--I put it in the refrigerator overnight.  I wrapped it in wax paper.

Take out of the refrigerator and

 Shape by teaspoonfuls into balls.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and baked for 8 minutes.

Roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar.

Cool, and roll again in confectioners' sugar.

Definitely one of my favorites.

Critique of the Butter Cookies

I followed the recipe exactly as it was written.  It stated to preheat the oven to 400 degrees and to bake for 8-10 minutes.  So I did my first batch at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.  When the bell rang, I checked on the cookies and they were burnt.  So I changed the temperature to 350 degrees and cooked the second batch for 8 minutes.  The bottoms were light brown, so I didn't want to leave them in the oven any longer.

Butter cookies were never my favorite, but my kids always loved them.

Butter Cookies

The next cookie I made was my mother's butter cookies.

The recipe is as follows:

Sift together 
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Set aside

Cream
1 cup softened butter.  Gradually add
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar creaming well

Blend in

1 egg

1/2 tsp Almond Extract

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Add gradually

the dry ingredients; mix thoroughly

Press a small amount of dough through a cookie press onto ungreased baking sheets.

I used a Christmas tree and two flower disks in my cookie press.

Decorate with sprinkles before baking.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and baked for 8 minutes.

This is how they looked.

Definitely my family's favorite.

Critique of the Pizzelles

I didn't realize how much time was involved in making cookies.  I guess that is why I never really liked doing it.  When I tried making cookies, they never tasted like my mother's cookies, so I gave up.  But I thought now that I have the time, maybe it would be better.

My pizzelles tasted really good.  I preferred the pizzelles from my mother's iron, but I didn't like standing over the stove and counting 10 seconds on each side.  Her pizzelles were larger and thinner and, that in my opinion, makes a better tasting pizzelle.  The electric dual pizzelle maker was okay, but they were smaller and thicker.  Even when I put less batter, they still were thick.  

Thank goodness I only plan to make these cookies once a year.

Pizzelles

Well, it's December 1, and it's time to start the Christmas cookies.  The first cookie my mother would make were pizzelles.  You may see these cookies at stores or have tasted them before, but no pizzelles I have ever tasted, was as good as this recipe.  This recipe has been passed down from generation to generation.  My mother's mother used it, my mother, and now me, that would be over 70 years.

Here's the recipe:

6 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups of flour
3 tablespoons of anise seed
9 tablespoons of melted Crisco
2 teaspoons of anise extract

Beat eggs and add

1 cup of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3 tablespoons of anise seed

2 teaspoons of anise extract

9 tablespoons of melted Crisco

and stir in 2 cups of flour gradually.  Mix until well blended.

My mother's mother and my mother used a pizzelle iron

I use it too, but I also bought a pizzelle maker to make two pizzelles at a time.

My mother would stand at the stove, pour a spoonful of batter 

close the lid, count 10 seconds on one side, flip the iron, and count 10 seconds on the other side.  This is how the pizzelle would turn out.

She would do hundreds of them…one at a time.  

As much as I loved the pizzelles, I didn't want to do all the pizzelles that way.  It would take a few hours to finish the batch.  So I did some one at a time, and some on my new pizzelle iron.

two at a time.  The pizzelles turned out smaller and thicker than on my mother's pizzelle iron, but still tasted good.

A little powder sugar for a sweeter taste.

ENJOY!

Apple Pie Helper

I was walking through the Christmas Tree Shop and came across an item that I didn't know existed.  It's called a Pie Crust Shield.  One of the issues with the apple pie, that I made, was the crust burned.  The directions called to put small pieces of aluminum foil around the edges for 10-15 minutes, I did, but it still burned.

Pie Crust Shield…$1.99

This shield would be placed over the pie crust before placing in the oven.  The directions for the shield states that the shield should remain on the pie for the duration of the bake time.  To achieve a slightly browned crust, remove the shield 10-15 minutes BEFORE completion of the cooking time.

The directions on the Pillsbury Pie Crust box stated to remove the shield after 10-15 minutes, and for the remainder of the 40 minutes, there would be no shield.  No wonder it burned.

Has anyone experienced the burning of the crust?

Critique of the Apple Pie

Since this was the first time I made an apple pie, let alone any kind of pie from scratch, it turned out pretty good.  However, I thought the crust was very thin, but the filling was absolutely delicious.  The directions said to cut thin apple slices, but I would leave them larger than thinner.  The directions also stated that after 15-20 minutes to put small strips of aluminum foil to prevent the crust from burning.  I didn't use strips, I actually took aluminum foil and wrapped it around the crust cutting out the center, but the crust still burned.  I actually cut the burned parts off before serving.  The directions also said to wait 2 hours before serving, but my family couldn't wait that long.  The filling seemed to be runny, but I think I didn't give it the necessary time to cool.

I think for dessert for Thanksgiving, I'm going to do what I have done for years, buy Mrs. Smith's Apple Pie!

Apple Pie

I wanted to practice making an apple pie for Thanksgiving.  I wanted to take a shortcut by buying premade crusts.  I purchased Pillsbury Pie Crusts.

I followed the recipe on the package.  It said it was "The Perfect Apple Pie Recipe" so what did I have to lose.  You know, whatever is printed has got to be true….lol.

Ingredients

Crust

1

box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling*

6

cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (6 medium)

3/4

cup sugar

2

tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4

teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4

teaspoon salt

1/8

teaspoon ground nutmeg

1

tablespoon lemon juice

I used 6 Red Delicious apples.  I first peeled them and then I used my corer/slicer.  

Steps

1

Heat oven to 425°F. Place 1 pie crust in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Press firmly against side and bottom.

2In large bowl, gently mix filling ingredients; spoon into crust-lined pie plate. 

Top with second crust. Wrap excess top crust under bottom crust edge, pressing edges together to seal; flute. Cut slits or shapes in several places in top crust.

3Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. 

Cover edge of crust with 2- to 3-inch wide strips of foil after first 15 to 20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning. 

Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours before serving.

This is how my pie came out of the oven.  We didn't wait the 2 hours it said in the directions, we probably waited 30 minutes.

Tomorrow, I will give you what my family thought of the apple pie.

Birthday Cake

My husband's birthday was on November 11 and he asked for an ice cream cake.  For years, I purchased a Carvel cake, but lately the quality of the cake, has gone downhill.  I tried Coldstone for my daughter's birthday.  After paying $40.00, I thought I was going to get a delicious cake, but was thoroughly disappointed.  I'm not the greatest baker, but thought I would try my hand at making an ice cream cake. How hard could it be?  It's only cake and ice cream….

I went online and read some directions. I even watched some videos on youtube.  "Piece of cake," I thought…sorry for the pun.

The recipe calls for cake…I chose Chocolate and two ice creams.  One for the center…I chose Cookies and Cream, and one for the icing…I chose Vanilla.

Here's what I did.

I made a boxed cake and placed it in an 8 X 9 inch pan and baked it for 33 minutes at 350 degrees.

This is how the cake turned out.

While the cake was baking, I took out the ice cream so it would soften.  I took a pan, the same size as the cake pan, placed wax paper in the bottom and sides (for easy removal), and spread out the entire container of ice cream.

I covered the pan with waxed paper and placed in the freezer.  I kept it in there for an hour.  That gave time for the cake to cool down completely before doing the next step.

I placed the ice cream on top of the cake.

I needed to trim the sides so the ice cream and cake were the same size.  In the meantime, I took out the vanilla ice cream so it would soften.

  

I took the vanilla ice cream and iced the top and sides the same way as you would use icing on a cake.

I placed the finished cake back in the freezer with a plastic cover.  I left it in there for 2 hours.  I took it out 15 minutes before we actually cut into it.  

It was good, but not great.  My family said to use a brownie mix instead of the cake mix.  I would have to experiment with different ice creams to figure out which one would be the best to use.

Does anyone have any suggestions?  

Have you ever purchased an ice cream cake, and if so, where did you go?