Desserts Galore!

[Shiay]

I'm kind of hoping that in this thread, we can share what we know from wherever we learned about desserts. Certain desserts and how to make them. It's a free-for-all, so post whatever you want -- even things you've found on online resources, just make sure you source where you got the recipe. CB

All I've got to offer at the moment from off the top of my head is how to make Snickerdoodles and Melon Bread.

So let's start off with Snickerdoodles. I learned it from the Martha Stewart cookbook (and I'm actually kind of hoping to modify it sooner or later to make them a bit better than how they were when I made them by that book BU).

Spoiler

Ingredients for the Snickerdoodle batter:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. course salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter -- unsalted; room temperature
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs

Cinnamon sugar:
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

(Honestly, I would go with 1 tbsp each for those two, because I had a lot leftover when I used 2 tbsp each.)

Preheat oven to 350º F. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, Put butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy for about three minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually adding in flour mixture.

Stir together cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and shape dough into 20 (1 3/4 in.) balls and then roll in cinnamon sugar until all the way coated. Place on cookie sheet either greased, buttered, dusted lightly with flour or lined with parchment paper spaced 3 inches apart.

Bake Snickerdoodles (remember to rotate the sheet(s) halfway through baking) until the edges are a nice golden brown. This should take anywhere from between 12 to 15 minutes. Let the sheets cool on wire racks after taking them from the oven.

Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment paper and in air-tight containers for up to three days.

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Next we have Melon Bread (or Melonpan). A popular Japanese pastry. Probably not a good thing for beginning bakers to try and make. It is actually very delicate and some of the slightest screw ups can leave you with not a very appetizing pastry.

I learned how to make it via Cooking With Dog off of YouTube.

Spoiler

Ingredients for Melonpan:
(yield is 5 pieces)

Bread Dough

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/3 tsp Salt
1/2 tbsp non-fat dry milk powder
a little less than 1 tsp yeast
1 tbsp beaten egg
1/4 cup warm water
6 tbsp unsalted butter
Bread Flour for dusting

Cookie Dough

4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup beaten egg
2 1/4 cup cake/pastry flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
Bread Flour for dusting

You start with the cookie dough first. Whisk the butter in a bowl until creamy. Gradually mix in the sugar until pale. When the mixture is pale, gradually pour and mix in the beaten egg. Don't add in the egg at once, or else the batter will separate. It is easier to mix the butter and egg if both are brought to room temperature -- and the sugar will be easier to dissolve into the mix.

Next, add the baking powder to the cake flour, and mix with a spatula. Sift the mixture into a bowl, then sift it again. Add one-third of the cake flour to the batter, lightly mix with the spatula. Add half of the remaining flour to the batter again and lightly mix. Add the rest and stir until the flour is thoroughly mixed. Be sure to not over mix the dough.

Place the cookie dough on a cooking sheet that is covered with plastic wrap. Lightly dust your hands in flour and then shape the cookie dough into a cylinder shape. Then wrap it in the plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 1 hour so that it can cool while you mix the bread ingredients together.

In the next bowl, mix together your flour, sugar, salt, non-fat dry milk and instant yeast. Whisk the flour mixture well and then mix the beaten egg with the warm warter. Gradually mix in the egg mix in with the flour mixture with a spatula until evenly mixed. Clean the spatula with a scraper and then place the dough on a clean surface (a pastry board is preferred).

Gather the crumbled flour mixture and form it into a ball -- you will also have to knead it with your hands. Next, throw the dough down on the board by folding it away and throwing it down. Scrape up any residue on surface back into the dough with a scraper and repeat process till the dough is less sticky (and this can take a long while). After every five repeated processes, be sure to knead the bread using your body weight.

Flatten the dough after a while of the throwing and kneading process and then knead in the butter. Scrape it back up and repeat the throwing and kneading process for ten minutes. The dough should be smooth and glossy. After you have achieved this, roll it into a ball and place it into a bowl covered with plastic wrap. Store it in a warm place for 40 minutes for fermentation.

The dough should have risen by 50% in volume. cover your finger in flour and make a hole in the dough -- if it disappears quickly, put it back in warm place for more fermentation. Measure the dough to get the total weight and then dust the pastry board or flat surface with flour. Place the dough on the surface and flatten the dough to remove the gas inside. Then roll into a cylinder and cut into five even pieces.

Lightly dust the cooking sheet and roll the five pieces of dough into spheres. Next, place onto the cooking sheet and then cover again with plastic wrap so that they can sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

During this time, you can now take the cookie dough from the fridge so that you can shape them into round sheets. Again, cut the dough into five even pieces. You should dust your hands in flour before you shape the cookie dough into spheres and then flatten then into circles using the scraper.

Sit the cookie sheets on a cookie sheet lightly dusted with flour once more and cover with plastic wrap while we wait for the bread to be ready. When everything is ready, you can take the cookie dough and shape it over the bread. Make sure that you pinch the bottom of the Melonpan and stretch the cookie dough over the pastry so that there are no creases and they're perfectly smooth. Dip the cookie dough in sugar and then place Melonpan in your hand so that you may make a diamond pattern on top with the scraper.

Let the Melonpan sit in the oven again for second fermentation at 40 minutes. They should have risen by double in volume. Now you're ready to bake the Melonpan for real. Preheat the oven to 340º F and bake for about 12 minutes, or until the tops of the Melonpan are a slight golden brown colour.

 

[jda95]

Haha, I absolutely LOVE the Martha Stewart Cookie book.... My favorite recipe is the cream filled macaroons. I really want to get the cupcake book for my mom (cupcakes are her favorite thing to bake).

I've always wanted to try melonpan, but I doubt I could do it properly....

 

[Zenax]

Both of those recipe look great. I doubt I'd be able to do the Melon bread, but I think I will try those cookies this week, after I'll be done with those pie I just finished.

Here is the recipe:

Spoiler

Strawberry, apple and lime cheese pie

This pie is made in two part: the marmalade and the cheese part.

Marmalade:
-Strawberry, 1 kg
-White sugar, 750 g
-Half of an apple
-Juice from one small lemon (or just some lemon juice)
-Water, 1 cup

That's the quantities I used, but you would probably be good with half of those, since I had a lot of leftovers. But it's great on toasts, so it's your choice.

First, cut your apple in half and remove the skin, then cut it in small pieces. Put it in a cauldron, along with the strawberries, lemon juice and the water. Blend it until it's more or less homogeneous. There was still some apple and strawberry pieces floating around when I did it, but it doesn't really matter. Then add the sugar and mix it a little, 30 seconds or so. After that, you need to simmer at medium it for 1 hour, constantly beating the mix. Verse it in a recipient of any kind and put it in the fridge.

Cheese:
-Sweetened condensed milk, 1 can
-5 eggs
-Cream cheese, 190 g
-1 lime
-Sugar, 100 g
-1 pie crust. You can buy those in most grocery store.

Put the condensed milk, the 5 eggs and the cream cheese in a bowl and beat it. It doesn't have to be homogeneous, since there was still small pieces of cheese floating in it. They will melt and blend with the mix when it'll be in the oven.
Cut your lime and half and put one in the microwave 10 seconds. Get it out and squeeze it over the mix, so the juice will fall in it. Then add the sugar and beat it once again.

Now you need the pie crust. Start by filling the bottom of it with the marmalade, but it mustn't go higher than half of the crust. Then add the cheese mix. Make sure it'll have some space, because it will rise when it'll be baking. You should have enough marmalade and cheese mix for 3 pies.

Pre-heat the oven at 260° Celsius (500 Farenheit), and when it'll hit that temperture, lower it to 200°C (400) and put the pies in it for 30-35 minutes. You'll know it's ready if the mix isn't in a liquid state.
Put them in the fridge and serve cold.