RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking

RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (Full Version)

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DesFIP -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/9/2012 2:47:31 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dcnovice I've always wondered how they figured out what temperature the fire/oven was at for baking. Practice. How long can you keep your hand in the oven and how long it takes for some flour tossed on the bottom of the bricks to turn brown.

DesFIP -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/9/2012 2:50:15 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: freedomdwarf1 A cup of dessicated cocnut is much lighter than a cup of double cream or treacle for instance. To say it's 8 ounces is a tad foolish - even as a wild guess. That's why we have liquid measure cups and dry measure cups. Look fd, you make it over here, I'll invite you over and you can try my biscotti, my flourless torte, my chocolate apple cake and then tell me they don't taste good enough. Remember. the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And mine are damned fine eating.

needlesandpins -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/9/2012 3:34:37 PM)
waves at DesFIP........i'd gladly try your baked goods to see how great they are. all in the name of research [:D] needles

OsideGirl -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/9/2012 3:37:12 PM)
I'm about to embark on making Christmas cookies for my clients. I'll post pictures if they turn out good.

dcnovice -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/9/2012 6:15:51 PM)
quote: White Chocolate Cranberry bread pudding. Is that as amazing as it sounds?

hlen5 -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/9/2012 9:21:44 PM)
I just made a Lemon Pound Cake Sugar Scrub for my Secret Santa recipient at work, the owner of the place I work for!! I've already given her a meal on a day that I knew would be hugely busy for her (and me!!). I will put together a "Date Night" package ( the movie "date night", mushroom risotto and movie snacks) for her for the night of our S.Santa reveal and Cookie exchange. I've thought about making cookies for her for the exchange and giving them to her before she would make her own cookies.

dreamofthemoon -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/9/2012 9:47:41 PM)
I've been wanting to try my hand at baking this year, so I've decided on trying a Maple Bundt Cake. Dad doesn't care for eggnog, or else I would have made an eggnog one. Chatte, I've never made homemade potpourri before, but your recipe sounds like it would smell delicious!

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/10/2012 3:15:22 AM)
It's fun to make. All natural ingredients means it smells wonderful. You will not want to go back to the store bought potpourri with the wood chips (yuck) and artificial scents. I make three different kinds of potpourri, depending on the season. The other two are a bit more involved and require a 'fixative.' The Christmas one can be labor intensive, especially if you make it for gifts. It's removing all those pine needles from the branches. On a complete different note, I have to admit I have never in my life made butter, or even attempted it. I have done my own hand made cards. This year I'm whipping up some gift labels -- I use business card stock and my laser printer. Does anyone make their own Christmas decorations?

metamorfosis -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/11/2012 12:40:47 AM)
Yeast Risen Pumpkin Bread 1. Set aside: 1/4 c. softened unsalted butter 1 Tbsp. sea salt 1/2 c. hot (130F) water 2. Activate yeast: 1/4 c. lukewarm (105F) water 2 tsp active dry yeast 3. Combine dry ingredients: 4 c. bread flour 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp. ginger 3/4 tsp. allspice (make sure it's finely ground and powdery, not gritty) 1/2 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 tsp clove 4. Combine wet ingredients: 1 # pumpkin puree 1 egg 1/2 c. + 1 tsp, powdered milk (if you don't have powdered milk, you can use regular milk. Just decrease the hot water in step ! accordingly.) 5. In a standing mixer w/ a dough attachment: Combine the activated yeast mixture w/ the wet ingredients. Add the 1/2 c. hot water. (Depending on what your room temperature is you might also want to nuke the pumpkin puree for a minute or so, to warm it up a bit. If the environment is too cold, the bread takes forever to rise. This will give it a head start. Mix ingredients on the lowest setting until combined. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions while mixing on the lowest setting. Mix until just incorporated. Turn off mixer and let dough rest 15 min. Mix dough on medium low speed 10 min. (You may have to add as much as 1/3. cup water at this point.) Scrape the sides of the mixer. Mix dough at medium speed 10 min. Scrape sides. Add ! Tbsp salt and 1/4 c. butter. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Mix dough on high speed 3 min. Remove dough and place in an oiled bowl, then cover it. Let rise until doubled in volume, then punch down. Divide dough in two. Shape into loaves. Place loaves into oiled loaf pans, then cover w/ lightly oiled plastic wrap. Proof until the crest of the dough is about 1" over the rim of the pan. Spritz w/ water, if desired. Bake at 325 F, 45 min. Insert baking thermometer into bread. It should read 200F. If it isn't hot enough, continue baking until it reaches the proper internal temperature. Remove and depan immediately. Brush top of loaves w/ melted butter if desired. Pam

Nelee -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/11/2012 7:50:09 AM)
I haven't been doing much this year, but usually my mother, sister, and I will bake cookies and pound cake together :) I have decent seamtress skills, so I also sometimes make my sister and I holiday dresses, and I'll knit hats, gloves, scarves and the like. One time I tried to knit her a holiday sweater and it seriously took an entire year to finish... I just stick with scarves now :)

dcnovice -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/11/2012 4:55:38 PM)
quote: Does anyone make their own Christmas decorations? When I was younger, poorer, and more energetic, my then housemate and I made a bunch of ornaments for our first tree as adults living on our own. It was great. In recent years, I've pretty much gotten my fix by pitching in with decorations at the historic house where I work as a part-time museum guide. It's great fun, and it's a "canvas" I'll never have in a one-bedroom apartment. My photos aren't great, but I'll try to paste them below.This year, my wonderful boss and I set the table for Christmas dinner in 1922, and it was a blast. Getting to decide where a (former) President and First Lady would sit was a mild power trip. [:)] I've really been enjoying this thread. Thanks so much for starting it! Here's the table: [image]http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/63088_4864274366391_103558609_n.jpg[/image] A bit of trim on the staircase: [image]http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/67686_4864270246288_873241718_n.jpg[/image] Last year, I did the DR mantel. Did the same thing on the ten-foot-long marble sideboard facing the fireplace. [image]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6484725981_67588bec81.jpg[/image] ETA: Apologies for the jumbo photos! I don't have Photoshop on my home computer.

DesFIP -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/12/2012 5:29:59 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: needlesandpins waves at DesFIP........i'd gladly try your baked goods to see how great they are. all in the name of research [:D] needles You ever make it to the States, and that's a deal!

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/18/2012 2:14:42 PM)
An SOS out to lw or anyone who has a good 7 layer bar recipe. I can't find my old one, I must have had it bookmarked, which is on my old pc. They will be last cookie baking for this season, then I get to start on Himself's birthday pie.

MadameM4U -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/18/2012 2:45:50 PM)
I did make my own Christmas decorations with my children through the years but we stopped a couple of years ago because, even with buying a larger tree, there just wasn't enough room for all the ornaments. I make wreaths and braided garland with lights and bows for draping and hanging on the doors. Door knob hangers with jingle bells because it sounds lovely in the house. I have made very large pull bows for outside decorations on the trees & bushes, which are covered with a net of lights and of course large red bows to tie around the garage light fixtures and the front porch light. I make peppermint pine cones instead of cinnamon because that was what my children requested and it does make the house smell quite nice. I make several types of cookies; snickerdoodles, oatmeal-raisin-coconut, wheat-free peanut butter cookies, lemon bars and plain sugar cookies which the children cut into shapes and love decorating. We always make a gingerbread house and I have taught my children how to make it from scratch and my son is now passing that tradition on to my grandsons. We use the gingerbread house like an Advent calendar, each evening reading a passage of scripture which will culminate in the birth of Jesus on the last day and by then the gingerbread house has been consumed. I am allergic to pork so we usually have a turkey but sometimes I make an orange-glazed venison roast instead. I always make my cornbread-apple dressing as it goes with any type of meat. My daughters are now in charge of making the pies and even if folks don't come to my house for the dinner, they always come by later for pie. This year she plans on making Pumpkin, Deep-dish Apple Crumb, Cherry, Blueberry and a Peanut butter Caramel swirl cheesecake. I treasure the aromas of holiday baking that fill the house.

littlewonder -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/18/2012 7:37:34 PM)
7 layer bars The bottom crust 1/2 c unsalted butter 1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs pour the melted butter into the 13x9 pan and then cover the bottom with graham cracker crumbs. Filling 1 bag chocolate chips 1 bag butterscotch chips (I usually use whatever kinds of chips I have around the house. White chocolate ones are good too) 1 c chopped walnuts. (I've used pecans as well) 1 can of condensed milk a bag of shredded coconut Layer all of the ingredients one after another except the coconut. Pour the condensed milk over the entire pan layers. Then sprinkle the coconut on top of it all. Place in a 350 oven. When the edges start to turn brown, it is done, about 20-25 mins. I usually don't measure the ingredients. I just pour as much or as little as I want. I usually though use the entire bag. FYI: these are really, really rich but Master's favorite cookies.

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/18/2012 11:27:06 PM)
Thank you, I needed the proportions. Also, I think I've always put the milk in last, I will try it your way. And I'm going to use one layer of walnuts, one of pecans. Most of these will go to Himself's work -- they love them !

TNDommeK -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/19/2012 11:20:57 AM)
dcNovice, that table is BEAUTIFUL!! I am a big table decorator, I love it. Y'all, those recipes sounds divine!!! This year one of the girls will make this rum cake that I absolutely love, the other will eat it all, as will I. LOL I will do a few deserts, not sure what yet. I usually do lemon squares, black & white cookies, banana pudding, etc...but I think I might switch it up this year. I like looking in the cook book and seeing what's new. Ya know I'll post pics!! I love pics.

dcnovice -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/20/2012 3:48:55 PM)
quote: dcNovice, that table is BEAUTIFUL!! I am a big table decorator, I love it. Thanks! It was a lot of fun to do. [:)] It was funny: Two weeks later, I was a guest at the house for a reception welcoming the new executive director. I was off duty, but I spotted two women looking at the place cards and asking "Dr. Axson? Who was that?" It was like catnip for yours truly, and I fear they went away learning far more than they'd ever hoped to know about Woodrow Wilson's in-laws!

QueenDelicia1 -> RE: Holiday Arts, Crafts & Baking (12/20/2012 6:38:38 PM)
Good grief! dcnovice that table is BOSS! quote: ORIGINAL: Nelee I haven't been doing much this year, but usually my mother, sister, and I will bake cookies and pound cake together :) I have decent seamtress skills, so I also sometimes make my sister and I holiday dresses, and I'll knit hats, gloves, scarves and the like. One time I tried to knit her a holiday sweater and it seriously took an entire year to finish... I just stick with scarves now :) Yes! I do this! I am making earrings and jewelry for my mostly female family this year, and I am sewing hats and custom handkerchiefs for some of the babies in the family. I can't knit though, lol. I also usually make my own cards cause Hallmark can blow me for the price of something I can make at home AND customize. Greeting card industry is just where I need to be this time of year. $5 for Rudolph, but $2 extra if you want his nose to glitter and $1 more for embossing. Mein gott! >_<" I know too many dieting women to be baking, but I go ballistic at my house, much to the chagrin of my scale and to the delight of the happypants of my partner. [&:]

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