Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Broken computer means bread!

To cope with the frustration of my stupid work computer being entirely unable to connect to the network, I took out my frustrations on bread and meatballs.
Turkey meatballs were: https://www.inspiredtaste.net/20529/turkey-meatballs-recipe-with-light-tomato-sauce/
The store was out of parsley so we left that out and we forgot about the basil.  I endorse including them.  the meatballs were a bit bland.   This was however a great recipe to include the children.  Alex made the meatballs and Elizabeth made the sauce.

I also made focaccia bread using this recipe: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/focaccia-bread  I sauteed some leeks and cherry tomatoes that were far past their prime (think almost dried) and put them on half.  I did this before I poked my fingers through the dough.

it says it's supposed to be a thick batter.  Mine was more of a sticky dough in the mixer.



Overhead shot


It was supposed to have an 8-24 hour time out in the fridge.  Mine was only in there for about 4 hours and it was TASTY!

Before baking: 

Final product:


As dinner:


My notes:
Before you bake it, lift up the dough and put more olive oil under - mine stuck to the pan even though I had what I thought was a ridiculous amount of oil.
If you are going to top only half, use two pans - the topped side could have used just a few more minutes of baking time.
It also was on the short end of the baking time to get that lovely color.

Monday, April 20, 2020

Two bakers. Two lemon cookie recipes. Who will win?

I mentioned to the kids that we were running out of cookies and that we had lemons so we should make a lemon cookie.  They found two recipes and couldn't agree so they asked if they could each make one and see who's is better. 
Alex selected a lemon crinkle cookie: https://laurenslatest.com/lemon-crinkle-cookies/





Elizabeth selected a glazed lemon cookie: https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/glazed-lemon-cookies/


Interestingly these remind me of the lemon girl scout cookies - savannah smiles for Alex and Lemon-up for Elizabeth.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies:


Lemon Glazed cookies:


The lemon glazed cookies had most of the lemon flavor in the glaze. They are a more cake like texture - soft and crumbly.
The lemon crinkle cookies are chewier with crisp edges.  The lemon flavor was throughout the cookie. 
Patrick liked the glazed cookies and I liked the crinkle cookies best.  Tie game!  Everyone wins!