The Interference Recipe thread

[MsPurrl]

I'm fairly certain I'll be making these soon!

I wonder though, is there anything that could be added to the melted chocolate other than solid shortening? I'd hate to buy a package just to use two tablespoons of it, and have the rest thrown out.

I don't know whether margarine might work?? It's just to make the chocolate stick to the peanut butter balls.

 

[arw]

I'm fairly certain I'll be making these soon!

I wonder though, is there anything that could be added to the melted chocolate other than solid shortening? I'd hate to buy a package just to use two tablespoons of it, and have the rest thrown out.

I hate to sound like a know it all by answering everyone's questions because I think it would drive me nuts if the same person kept coming in and answering....but it is what I do for a living so I hope no one minds

I would not use margarine with chocolate. It has too much water in it and might not fully incorporate into the chocolate. Your chocolate will be runny and not stick to the final product. I would use unsalted butter. You could replace the margarine in the recipe with unsalted butter so that way you wouldn't have butter around that you didn't want/need. But butter won't ever go bad if you put it in the freezer so if you have leftovers you can always save it that way. But I'd say a definite no on using marg and chocolate together due to the water content.

 

[arw]

you know after looking at that recipe again, I think you could almost get away without using any shortening or butter with the chocolate. If it's just to coat the peanut butter then I can't see any reason why just plain old chocolate would do the trick.

 

[BAW]

you know after looking at that recipe again, I think you could almost get away without using any shortening or butter with the chocolate. If it's just to coat the peanut butter then I can't see any reason why just plain old chocolate would do the trick.

I made a slightly different version of the peanut butter balls today and I used semi-sweet chocolate alone and it coated perfectly. My grandmother's recipe also uses chocolate alone, no butter or shortening.

 

[VintagePunk]

I hate to sound like a know it all by answering everyone's questions because I think it would drive me nuts if the same person kept coming in and answering....but it is what I do for a living so I hope no one minds

Not at all! It's nice to have the advice of a pro.

you know after looking at that recipe again, I think you could almost get away without using any shortening or butter with the chocolate. If it's just to coat the peanut butter then I can't see any reason why just plain old chocolate would do the trick.

I was thinking that. I've made these other chocolate-coated balls before, and that recipe just called for melted chocolate. I wasn't sure what purpose the shortening would serve in this one. Although in the recipe I made, the chocolate didn't exactly go on evenly and nicely (I think it was getting too cool and sort of clumping a bit), but it didn't matter, it was only for us, and it still tasted good.


The recipe I'm referring to was really good, and super easy. You make any flavour of store bought cake mix and bake it according to directions. Let it cool, and then crumble it into a bowl. Then you add some sort of moist ingredient that has a complementary flavour to the cake mix you've chosen - for example, I made chocolate cake and mixed smooth peanut butter into it. Another suggestion was to use chocolate cake and canned cherry pie filling. You could choose practically any flavour combination you like. You put enough of the moist ingredient into the cake crumbs so that you can form it into balls. Then you dip them in melted chocolate, and let cool till the chocolate hardens. Yum!

Here's a link to the actual recipe, and suggestions for various combinations to use: http://www.bakedperfection.com/2008/06/cake-balls.html

 

[anitram]

you know after looking at that recipe again, I think you could almost get away without using any shortening or butter with the chocolate. If it's just to coat the peanut butter then I can't see any reason why just plain old chocolate would do the trick.

For coating stuff I usually add a bit of butter because I find that it just looks smoother/shinier, so it's more for the appearance than anything. I think my Mom told me to do so and now I'm wondering whether it's necessary.

 

[arw]

For coating stuff I usually add a bit of butter because I find that it just looks smoother/shinier, so it's more for the appearance than anything. I think my Mom told me to do so and now I'm wondering whether it's necessary.

I totally agree with that. The shortening in the recipe in question would have done the same thing. In terms of the best shine though I'd use the trusty old ganache and just melt choc and heavy cream then dip before the ganache sets up. You can't ever go wrong.

 

[arw]

Here's a quick and easy way to make a basic truffle....minus the chocolate coating on the outside

Make a ganache....2 parts choc, 1 part heavy cream. Then take any type of flavoring you like. Mint, coconut, maple, vanilla, almond, etc. Flavor your ganache and let it set up. Once it's set use a small melon baller (or your hands )to make balls. Then coat them. You don't neccessarily have to coat them in chocolate. The only way you're going to get a chocolate coating that won't melt in your hands is to temper chocolate. So if you make a mint flavored ganache you can finely chop up a mint candy such as andes mints and roll the ganache ball into the mints. Almonds, same thing. Just finely chop them up in a food processor. I've toasted coconuts and then also chopped those up. You can also use graham cracker crumbs to cover the ganache. I love Bailey's Irish Creme so I've used that to flavor ganache and then used graham cracker crumbs to coat them. I'm not a big fan of sprinkles unless they're used in a slightly more elegant way like coating the sides of a cake or even a truffles. I hate them on top of things. So even the chocolate sprinkles would work for coating the outsides.

Here's some that I made last year...

Coconut, Almond, and Bailey's....I didn't use a food processor to chop the almonds but I think it would have looked better if I did.

 

[VintagePunk]

For coating stuff I usually add a bit of butter because I find that it just looks smoother/shinier, so it's more for the appearance than anything. I think my Mom told me to do so and now I'm wondering whether it's necessary.

I totally agree with that. The shortening in the recipe in question would have done the same thing. In terms of the best shine though I'd use the trusty old ganache and just melt choc and heavy cream then dip before the ganache sets up. You can't ever go wrong.

I don't buy butter, either. Would a few drops of canola oil have the same effect?

 

[mad1]

can I just ask, anyone here tried Carob powder? is it fattening?

 

[arw]

I don't buy butter, either. Would a few drops of canola oil have the same effect?

I never used oil with chocolate but I would skip it completely or use heavy cream. Chocolate is very tricky; if you add the wrong thing to it you might not get it to do what you want it to. It's really not going to affect the final look of the product all that much. Unless you're going to give them away as a gift I don't think it's neccessary to make them shiny. And the shine you are going to get from untempered chocolate is very minimal anyway no matter what you put in it. But if you look at the picture of the small cake I posted a few days ago, that's just a cake dipped in ganache then I added some edible glitter on it. So that's about as shiny of a product you'll get.

 

[misfit toys]

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter

It was like heaven on a plate.

I made this last weekend.

To. Die. For.

 

[VintagePunk]

It's awesome, isn't it?

 

[arw]

 

[neutral]

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, have tried a couple of different recipes and I can't get pecan pies to set up? I let them cool overnight. They taste fine if you don't mind the fact that the pie is more like soup.

Meh, maybe I'll just try some of those recipes redkat posted. I still have bags of pecans left.

 

[bonocomet]

I'm SURE that question should and will be answered perfectly by arw, but one thing that made a big difference for us was switching to tapioca (like Kraft Minute Tapioca) to thicken instead of flour or cornstarch.

(haven't tried a pecan pie yet however, but it has worked great for fruit pies)

 

[anitram]

Does anybody have any really good and not-too-time-consuming appetizer ideas or recipes? I have to bring something to a bridal shower in a couple of weeks and I'd prefer not to have to go buy frozen apps.

 

[arw]

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, have tried a couple of different recipes and I can't get pecan pies to set up? I let them cool overnight. They taste fine if you don't mind the fact that the pie is more like soup.

Meh, maybe I'll just try some of those recipes redkat posted. I still have bags of pecans left.

I think you must be underbaking. You need to let it bake for a really long time. It should be completely solid before you take it out of the oven. They take a loooong time to bake so if you're concerned that it's getting too dark on top or around the edges then just cover it with foil after it's been in there for a while.

I've found that it's better to bake it "until it's done" and not follow the recipe then bake it according to a recipe. Some recipes will tell you 30 minutes and whatever you're baking does indeed take 30 minutes. But it really depends on the oven you're using and the kind of pan. So some recipes take more or less time than called for.

 

[Carek1230]

^Everyone's oven is different and take altitude location into consideration also. On the pie issue (I made a great pecan pie on Thanksgiving) I use the knife method....if the knife tip that's set down into the very center of the pie comes out clean, the pie is done. If the tip of the knife is not "clean", I'd keep checking maybe every 5 mins till it does come out clean.

 

[neutral]

Thanks, going to try to cook the pie a lot longer. For some reason I thought I needed to take it out while still "jiggly" in the middle and that it would set up as it cooled.


Making a batch of snickerdoodles right now, can't wait till they're done. Man these cookies kind of stink while cooking though, guess because of all the cream of tartar.

 

[bonocomet]

the dough is really yummy though!

 

[arw]

Thanks, going to try to cook the pie a lot longer. For some reason I thought I needed to take it out while still "jiggly" in the middle and that it would set up as it cooled.

OK if it's like that then you're definitely underbaking. The center should be firm. I don't mean completely hard, it should still be a little soft, but nothing that jiggles!

 

[arw]

and I've never made or had a snickerdoodle. I'm not even sure what it is!

 

[bonocomet]

When we were kids we used to make the dough just to eat it like that

It's been years now since I have made them, probably like 15 years when my kids were little. They are a sort of sugar cookie taste but in a drop cookie form and the cream of tartar flavor. And rolled in cinnamon.

 

[VintagePunk]

I prepared these last night, put them in the fridge, and then baked them this morning. Since I don't have a bread machine, I adjusted the recipe accordingly. I'll put my adjustments at the end.

Clone of a Cinnabon - Allrecipes

Clone of a Cinnabon (makes 12)

* 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
* 2 eggs, room temperature
* 1/3 cup margarine, melted
* 4 1/2 cups bread flour (can also use all purpose)
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast


* 1 cup brown sugar, packed
* 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
* 1/3 cup butter, softened


* 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

*************

This recipe makes 12. I halved it, and only made 6. The site has a calculator where you can insert the number of servings you want, and it will adjust accordingly.

I used 1/2 an 8 gram packet of instant yeast (you'd use a whole one for a full recipe). I just added it to the flour, as per the directions on the back of the yeast packet. So what I did without a bread machine is put all the wet ingredients for the dough into a bowl, then added the flour, sugar and salt, combined and kneaded lightly, covered it with a clean tea towel, and let rise for an hour. Then I rolled it out, and instead of buttering the dough and sprinkling the sugar and cinnamon onto it, I combined the butter (I actually used margarine for the whole recipe, I don't buy butter), sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, and then spread the entire mixture on the dough - someone in the comments said that this way is easier, and less of it leaks out during baking. I had some leakage, but not much, and what I had, I simply spooned over the top of the rolls.

Once it's spread and you've rolled it up, I then used dental floss to "cut" the rolls apart. Gives a very clean cut, and doesn't compress the rolls the way that a knife would. Then I placed them in a well-buttered glass pan (9x9 for 6 rolls, 9x13 for a dozen). Took them out of the pan while still quite warm so that I could get the gooey sugar and cinnamon out of the pan while it was still soft. I frost them while warm (not hot) because if they're too hot, the icing just melts and runs off.

Also, I baked mine at 375 for 25 minutes. Some of the comments suggested 350. Next time I make them, I think I'll do it at 350 for maybe 25 or 30 minutes, as the outside of some of them got a tad darker than I'd like.

 

[indra]

^ Those cinnamon rolls look soooo good! And six would be a better number for me too.

 

[Carek1230]

I think I can smell those Cinnamon rolls

 

[VintagePunk]

The picture's not mine, I just stole it from the website.

In the comments, people have talked about how the rolls freeze well. Some froze them unbaked, others baked them, froze them and then microwaved them to heat. They also said that you can make the icing and freeze that by the spoonful, and ice them as you need them.

I didn't make 12 because I'm afraid that they'd never make it to the freezer, lol.


I also made a batch of City Chicken (Polish/Hungarian breaded pork shishkabobs) last night. Time consuming and pretty much a pain in the ass, but so-oooo delicious. If anyone's interested, I can post that recipe.

I've been feeling very domestic lately.

 

[neutral]

Mmmm those look great. I wonder if I have any bread flour.

 

[VintagePunk]

Mmmm those look great. I wonder if I have any bread flour.

Oh crap, I forgot to say that I just used all purpose flour, and they turned out fine. Is it too late to edit my post?

It is too late, but if a mod would like to stick in that you can also use all purpose, that would be great.