Question of the Day, Sunday, November 6, 2016

[Primula]

I'm not a Luddite by any means, but I don't have a dishwasher either.

Pam, do you like Arborio rice? Bit of a palaver to make, but I used to make a very nice risotto. Husband despises flavored coffee so I have never dared introduce jasmine rice though so many people tell me it's delicious.

 

[Winchester]

I'm not a Luddite by any means, but I don't have a dishwasher either.

Pam, do you like Arborio rice? Bit of a palaver to make, but I used to make a very nice risotto. Husband despises flavored coffee so I have never dared introduce jasmine rice though so many people tell me it's delicious.

We do. It's the best risotto. I use it for saffron rice, too, although I don't make saffron rice very often (the saffron is way expensive....my MIL gave me saffron for my birthday one time 

. She knows me well.)

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Oh no you didn't!  I was just fine not knowing the recipe (although I could sort of guess).  Lol, now I'm gonna have to make these!!!  

Btw, I always use salted butter in cookies.  They'd be too sweet otherwise.  Even the Toll House recipe calls for salt.  I think it brings out the flavors better.  Anyone else? 

Ooops! 

i always use salted butter when i bake too! i just don't see the reason to buy both salted and unsalted butters. (that's the frugal part of me, i guess)

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I LOVE a fairly heavily salted chocolate chip cookie. I mean extra salt, not just using salted butter. My mom gets some at the farmer's market that are sooooo good. I always raid her cookie stash when I go to their house, lol. I don't know that guy's recipe but yum, just SO good.

hmmm......those sound really good!

  there's a big market at one of the local apple orchards here that sells homemade fudge. they make all sorts of different flavors, including a chocolate with caramel and sea salt (on top). now i've got my carob powder, maybe i'll look around the internet for a good recipe for something similar to that chocolate with caramel and sea salt fudge -- and simply replace the cocoa powder with carob powder. 

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Mainly because it was what my grandmother would used to always get. So grew up with them happily. It's the only crunchy types I like.

very nice choices there! 

i get that! i absolutely adore peanut butter, but i don't like peanut butter cookies -- just too dry tasting for me. but oatmeal peanut butter cookies, the combination of the oatmeal and peanut butter makes an incredibly tasty cookie!

those are a lovely kind of cookies/biscuits that your grandmother used to buy! 

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I have to make my own, gluten free. I like plain cookies to dip in my milk.

mmmmm......cookies dipped in milk!!! 

do your cookies you make gluten-free get crunchy? i'm asking because Ginny mentioned that she'd like to achieve crunchy with her gluten-free cookies.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Ditto, I put cinnamon in everything from coffee to oatmeal to most desserts.  Great minds think alike!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
I LOVE cinnamon too!  I put in in my coffee too and I put it in my brownie mix and chocolate frosting mix too.  Chocolate and cinnamon are made for each other!

 
When my daughter was younger we would bake brownies and put cinnamon in them all the time.  Chocolate and cinnamon definitely are made for each other.

now that's really interesting! i've never tried cinnamon with chocolate, like in brownies or frosting. 

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
You know, I would like those storebought cookies in a tin or in a box. I remember that, even though my Grandma would bake tons of cookies for the holidays, she also would get those tins of cookies and I enjoyed them. Rick is a bit of a storebought cookie snob (Oreos only) and when I've mentioned buying something like that, he kind of wrinkles his nose and says, "Well, I suppose." So I don't buy them. But they take me back to my Grandma and I would enjoy them. I did when I was a kid.

I found a recipe online for Lofthouse Sugar Cookies and I'm tempted to try them. They're a sugar cookie, but kind of a cross between a cookie and a very small cake. You can roll the dough our or you can just shape them into balls then flatten them with the wet bottom of a glass. Frosted with lots of frosting and then sprinkled with sprinkles. I don't know, they kind of remind me of the cookies found in tins or packages at the store and I'm really tempted to make some, just to see what they're like.

oh my!!! i just never thought to look for a recipe for the Lofthouse cookies. the sugar cookies ones you describe sound like they'd be amazing! 

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i found this recipe for gluten free crispy (really crispy) chocolate chip cookies -- http://www.glutenfreebaking.com/crispy-gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies/

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Turns out that our Giant store sells Lofthouse Sugar Cookies. I put a package in the cart tonight to try them out, saw the price, $11.99 for a dozen or so), and immediately put them back on the display. I'm making these cookies this weekend to see what they're like. Now I'm intrigued.

@Primula, that's all Mom used and, for years, that's what I used, too. And then about 15 years or so ago, I switched over to all butter (unless a recipe specifically calls for shortening). A lot of people would rather die than use shortening, but it has its place in my kitchen. We don't use it often, but there are cookies (like Rick's snickerdoodles) that call for half shortening, half butter. I've no problem with shortening (but only if it's Crisco).

  yeah, i'd put them back on the display too! i'm sure they'll be better homemade.

i use shortening in my baking sometimes too!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I have only recently gotten into Crisco. I like it for occasional use. Let me ask you this: butter sticks always seem so hard. How do you work with them to soften them? With margarine there is never that problem.

You leave the butter out at room temp for a while

.

 
Yepper. If I'm going to do any baking that calls for softened butter, I always leave the butter out for a while. If I'm going to bake in the morning, the butter stays out all night on a dish in the microwave. If I'm going to bake when I come home from work, I take the butter out of the fridge in the morning and let it go in the microwave all day while I'm at work. It won't go bad, it won't spoil or anything like that. (Same with cream cheese, but only for an hour or so; that I don't keep out overnight.)

Notice I said I keep it in the microwave? That's because our cats love butter; they dearly love butter. And they'll go after it every chance they get. I keep it in the microwave for its own protection! 

 

If I plan on baking, but forgot to put the butter out, I will soften it in the microwave. Same with cream cheese. But I prefer to let it soften on its own.

shoot! i don't have the patience to set the butter out to soften any more. i just melt it in the microwave, then mix it in/mix ingredients into it. i swear, i've never had a problem when doing this when baking.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
I refuse to use anything but butter in baking. I have tried the butter flavored Crisco. Nope. Margarine? Sorry but YES, I CAN believe it's not butter. I know plenty of people who refer to margarine as butter. It's one of my pet peeves. 

i agree! i always use real butter in baking. i use margarine, but never in my baking.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

My SIL in England cooks very well & has loads of cookbooks. Yet she always uses that horrid minute rice - the stuff that comes in a box. I love rice of all kinds & how hard is it to cook it from scratch?

i don't mind cooking (long cooking) rice! i usually cook it while i'm close by washing some dishes. long cooking rice, or brown rice, are really very tasty!

 

[Primula]

hmmm......those sound really good! :bigthumb:   there's a big market at one of the local apple orchards here that sells homemade fudge. they make all sorts of different flavors, including a chocolate with caramel and sea salt (on top). now i've got my carob powder, maybe i'll look around the internet for a good recipe for something similar to that chocolate with caramel and sea salt fudge -- and simply replace the cocoa powder with carob powder. 

I adore fudge.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I adore fudge.

 

[ginny]

I do too!  Especially the kind my mom used to make from scratch.  It was called "5 minute fudge for the girls" and it came out of some little bitty paperback cookbook that I still have.  I've tried to make it just like the directions say, and I've failed about 4 times now!

 

I don't know why it never turns out like hers.  Hers was slick as glass on the top and a bit crunchy because of the sugar crystallization.  Delicious!  Just the way I like it!  In later years she ditched that recipe and began making Fantasy Fudge.  It's just not the same.