u/morgarnian

Confession: I am not a sport person. I don't know much, or anything, about football. But I DO know the World Cup produced some great memes. That's all anyone could ask of such a spectacle.

I went with the winners this time and used a Spanish recipe. Tarta de Santiago is a very eggy cake made with grounds almonds and citrus zest. The flavor is great! I I used lemon and orange zest, and it plays SO well with the almond. The texture is lighter than I expected--denser than a wheat flour cake, but not claggy.

The attempted Santiago Cross with powdered sugar failed. I free-handed a stencil and it looked GREAT, but I choked on the dismount 😅

Recipe: https://spanishsabores.com/tarta-de-santiago-recipe-spanish-almond-cake/

I feel like this is a safe space to confess: I love bread. I love making it, and I love eating it! Whew, feels good to get that out.

Enriched dough is my favorite kind of bread dough to work with. This recipe uses the tangzhong method which yields a very soft, pillowy dough. Peak sensory experience, no notes!

I honestly think this turned out great. I didn't get bread flour and had to use AP so the crumb texture is not perfect, but I don't mind that. The loaf is so soft and delicious!

Recipe: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread-recipe

This was a pretty quick and easy one! The bread is a basic 5-ingredient overnight loaf baked in a dutch oven. I use this recipe a lot--it's a slightly upsized version of one I found years ago online. Sadly I don't remember where I got the original ratios. I make it with AP and whole wheat flour.

I brushed some slices with EVOO, sprinkled with herbs and salt, and toasted them up. The topping is a chopped salad made with garden veggies from a generous coworker and basil from my balcony pot. Only thing missing was a little Parmesan!

This time of year, one of my coworkers brings in garden produce to share a couple times a week. I acquired a truly giant zucchini--bigger than my forearm, and I'm not short! Bounty for weeks! lol

So obviously I'm going the summer route here. This recipe is from my trusty BH&G New Cook Book. I added some almond extract along with the sliced almonds. Sooooooo good!! I just love zucchini bread, and the almond pairs beautifully!

Summer has gotten crazy busy, so I'm playing a little catch-up here. I had another idea in mind for a showstopper, but then my mom gave me a bunch of fresh cherry tomatoes from her patio garden and I decided to pivot.

This recipe is from the King Arthur library. I topped it with the tomatoes, green onion, basil, and flaky salt. I've been meaning to use my sourdough starter one of these weeks, so this worked out great! (She's almost 5 years old--I'm very proud 😊)

I LOVE how this came out!! the texture is amazing: chewy, but not dense. My starter is 50/50 whole wheat/AP flour, and the flavor it added is really nice. I'll definitely be making this again!

Recipe: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-focaccia-recipe

I gifted this loaf to my dad for Father's Day, and he was gracious enough to share so I could try it 😂 I like the texture of it a lot! It's basically cake, not too dense, chewy, or heavy. It has a great chocolatey taste. Definitely a winner!

Recipe: https://simplybakings.com/double-chocolate-loaf/

I made these a few weeks ago for my family's Memorial Day gathering. The recipe calls for navy beans, but I used a mix of half pinto and half great white northern beans I had on hand. They soaked overnight and then baked low and slow the next day. Well worth the effort! They were delicious! I added a little Cayenne powder for a bit more kick and extra molasses because I love molasses 😁

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Recipe: https://www.daringgourmet.com/old-fashioned-baked-beans/

I made this for a DnD sesh. We have a player who can't do gluten, so I used the King Arthur GF Measure For Measure flour. Also added in a little almond extract in addition to the vanilla. For bundts I like to coat the pan with sugar after the non-stick spray. This gives the cake a crispy sugar crystal coating while still having an easy release from the pan. Yum!

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Recipe: https://www.littlespicejar.com/one-bowl-chocolate-chip-bundt-cake/

This is modified from a Sally McKenney recipe (linked below). I probably softened the butter too much and they spread a bit more than they should, but they taste delicious! I used a blueberry jam I made with fresh berries.

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https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/raspberry-almond-thumbprint-cookies/

Big shout-out to Sally McKenny on this one!! Her recipes are laid out really clearly with pictures of the process. I'm so surprised how easy these were to make! It's a similar process to making pie crust, made simple with a food processor. The result is a very satisfying, crisp, flavorful snack! Only a couple small tweaks I made: I used the Colby Jack cheese I had on-hand instead of cheddar, plus I added a little MSG. Yummmmmm!

Recipe: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-cheese-crackers/

Kept it simple with this one! I added frozen blueberries to a basic wheat scone recipe that only calls for one tablespoon of added sugar. (From The Nordic Baking Book by Magnus Nilsson.) They turned out just a bit bland for my taste--I think citrus zest and a little more salt would have helped. Also I would normally add a glaze or coarse sugar on top, but I was determined to adhere to the spirit of low sugar week.

I am perpetually running late on the weekly themes, but I think it worked in my favor this time--ended up timed perfectly for Mother's Day! Mother's Day and brunch are like.... best friends.

When I was a kid my mom always made her banana bread with chocolate chips. Imagine the crushing disappointment of learning this practice is not universal! 😅 Accept no substitutes!! Chocolate chips or no banana bread at all 😤

Sadly this is the only picture I have from this bake 😭 I forgot to take any process photos and didn't remember to snap the whole cake before it was cut. Ah, well!

I had intially planned to do something savory for this theme, but the strawberries were looking delicious last week and I had a bunch on hand. I decided to experiment a bit with mojito flavors and incorporate mint.

The cake is an easy "Busy Day" one-pan cake. (Recipe from the BH&G New Cook Book.) I flavored it with lime zest, citric acid, and a splash of concentrated spearmint tea. Folded some chopped strawberries at the end and baked. I topped it with a glaze made with lime juice, zest, and just a drop of mint extract.

Good news: it tasted great! Very tart and fresh. Bad news: the mint did not come through much at all. I was worried too much extract would make things toothpaste-y. Next time I'll be less tentative!

Puff pastry is definitely one of those "trust the process" kind of recipes. I have only made it successfully once before this, and the key really seems to be thorough chilling. I used Sally McKenney's method for the rough puff and for the palmiers, spacing the whole process over four evenings. (Basically any time the recipe had you fridge the dough, I chilled it overnight and came back for the next step the following day. I wasn't taking any chances with under-chilling this 😂 plus it was easier for my schdule to space things out.)

The fussiest part of making these was flipping them partway through baking. They wanted to uncoil a lot in the oven, and I could only reshape them so much. The second batch got chilled a bit more before hitting the iven and that seemed to help them stay coiled a lot better, plus I flipped them earlier into the bake time. Lesson learned for next time, I'll just plan to chill the sliced palmiers a bit more before baking.

It was 100% worth the time it took, these things are INSANELY GOOD! They're crisp and flaky, SO buttery, and the orange zest is perfect with the warming spices. I'll be dreaming of these palmiers for a while after this!

Recipes: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/rough-puff-pastry/

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/cinnamon-spice-palmiers/