M & M Cookies

Because I have been baking a lot lately, I seem to have a large amounts of baked goods stored in the freezer for the Deli. Being ahead of the game, allows me to try out new recipes or add a new spin on some of the other regular baking goods.

I had my pretzels and picked up a few bags of red/white/blue M & Ms. I decoded that I was going to bake these cookies for the beginning of July, especially for the 4^th. I made the cookies before using the regular colored M & Ms, coconut, and crushed pretzels. But this time, I decided to make the red/white/blue M & Ms, add the crushed pretzels, and eliminate the coconut.

I used a split of shortening and butter, creamed both and added sugar and mixed it thoroughly. Then I added eggs, vanilla, and eventually the dry ingredients. When everything was mixed well, I put in the crushed pretzels and the M &Ms.

With an ice cream scooper, I scooped the cookie dough, weighed it, and then placed the cookie ball on a cookie sheet with sprayed parchment. When I was finished, I placed the cookie sheet in the Walk In for about 20 minutes. After, I placed 12 cookie balls on cookie sheets, on sprayed parchment paper, I placed them in the oven to bake. (Normally, I would bake them for 12 minutes at 325) but since I was using the commercial oven, I set the temperature to 300, and rotated the sheets, every 5 minutes. The cookies should take about 12 minutes or look golden before removing them from the oven.

The M & Ms made the cookies look festive and patriotic. These cookies will be sold  at Erin’s Deli in July. Be warned…if you see them, buy one because they won’t be around for long. They are delicious…I know because I sampled one!

Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

Sprinkle Sugar cookies are easy to make. Use a basic sugar cookie recipe and add an assortment of sprinkles at the end and mix the sprinkles into the dough. The cookies are easy to make and rather fun to watch when the sprinkles mix throughout the dough.

After making these delicious cookies, I decided to try different colored sprinkles. A short distance from the catering kitchen is a well-stocked candy and baking supply store called Make-A-Cake. I have become reacquainted with the owners and make a run there about once a month to buy a different assortment of bagged sprinkles.

I like to change the color of the sprinkles to whatever holiday is coming or with the change of the seasons and months. For November I use an autumn mix,’ Christmas, red and green; January, blue and white; March, green; Memorial Day, 4^th of July and Memorial Day, red, white, and blue; and for Easter, festive colored sprinkles. In October and February, I use pink for breast month. During the Steelers football season, I used black and gold sprinkles and they were a winner with customers and fans.

One customer, who comes into the Deli, regularly, looks forward to seeing what sprinkles I will use for the cookies. He seemed to get a big kick out of it. And so do I.

The Sugar Sprinkle Cookies are a big seller, for me, the baker, I like to try something different and there are all sorts of possibilities. Whatever they are, the Sprinkle Sugar Cookies seem to be it. Besides that they look festive, they are really yummy!

Justice moves Slowly

My Monday baking time in the kitchen was placed on hold. I had jury duty and needed to be at the Allegheny County Court House by 8:30. Normally I would be in the kitchen with the eggs, butter, and dry ingredients spread out on my prep table, waiting for me to begin measuring things out.

So far, we’ve been instructed that this was a light day for cases. I could tell it was a light day because the jury room had a small number of potential jurors, sitting on chairs, waiting. At first, people were quiet, and then they started talking quietly to one another. After a while, everyone seemed resigned to just sitting quietly, texting, communicating through their electronic devices, or nodding off in the warm room.

All I know is the jaws of justice grinds slowly, especially for a juror sitting around. Between my reading of the history of the Grateful Dead and writing my Blog, my butt was numb. I also had the beginning of a headache. I wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep, except my stomach kept growling, and it kept me awake. I kept checking the clock, and realized that the clock hands were crawling, sluggishly, around the clock.

I felt like I’ve been here forever. Well, I did get into the waiting room by 8:15 and it was now 10:00. If I were in the kitchen, I probably would have had one of my scones made or had my cookie dough made.

But here in the courtroom, I wrote one blog, read 50 pages of my book, went to the bathroom, edited some of my writing and watched the clock. I’m praying that this day ends quickly.

My assessment:  Justice moves rather slowly or sometimes not at all!

New Nikon Camera

I did it. I took the plunge. After putting up with a small camera that could fit into my hand, or pocket, or purse – I bought a new one.

Marching into Target, I walked to the electronics department, looked at the different cameras, and settle on a Nikon. It was red and I love the color red! Looking at the display, I didn’t see any of the red Nikons in a box but decided to ask one of the Target employees if they had any more. He checked and found that there was one in the storage area. He went and brought it back. I decided that was a good sign. Plus, the camera was on sale, as well. That was my second sign.

While I was waiting, I checked out the quickness of the camera and all of its features. The reason that I bought a new camera was that my old one was slow in taking a picture. By the time I pressed the picture that I wanted, the camera took a while and whenever it decided it was ready, it would take the picture. But by then it was too late. The picture perfect moment was long gone.

I bought the camera and a new memory card for it. After I got home, I set up my camera and I was excited to use it. But the best feature of all was the quickness of the camera at taking the picture that I wanted. And the picture was really clear. Now, I’m all set for the upcoming graduation of my granddaughter at my house, this coming Saturday.

Look out family – I’ve got a new camera and something to prove!

Heat and Humidity

Last week, the temperatures and humidity were extremely high. Since the kitchen that I work in doesn’t have any air conditioning…it was damn hot! The heat wasn’t what bothered me the most. It was the fact that my lemon/white chip cookies tasted good but they spread out too much while baking and the ends of the cookies were crumbly. The same thing happened with my chocolate chunk scones.

I’m not a perfectionist by a long shot, but I wasn’t pleased with either baked product. I did sample the lemon cookies and they tasted great. I just let them cool down and then I wrapped them in plastic and placed them in a container in the freezer. I am hoping this will help.

As for the chocolate chunk scones, I remade them. I cut them into triangle shapes and put them on a cookie sheet in the Walk In to bake the next day.

I looked at the weather for next week and found that it would be much cooler. So my days in the kitchen baking should be more comfortable and productive.

One thing for sure is that humidity and heat wreak havoc on the baker and on the baked goods!

Gluten Free

My entrance into the world of gluten free has been a slow one and a learning experience for me in the kitchen. Gluten free baking is becoming a part of my work in providing some of the baked goods for the Deli.

Even my Gluten Free vocabulary and knowledge is expanding with the different types of flours, starches and even using Xantham gum, which holds the dough and mixture together.

I even know what grocery store carries the gluten free products that I need to use in my baking. I usually have no trouble finding these products at Whole Foods, which has a really good selection. Even Soergel’s Farm Market carries these products.

The Gluten Free products are kept separate from the other regular products and I usually set aside a day to make strictly gluten free baked goods.

I never imagined I would become an aficionado of Gluten Free but I have. It is easy and everything that I have tackled so far has been a welcome seller at the Deli, like the scones, peanut butter cookies, blueberry loaf cake and Liz’s Brownies. I am looking forward to making more gluten free products.

A Brownie with a Kick!

Aaron Sanchez’s Mexican Brownies

For Cinco de May, I found an interesting recipe for Mexican Brownies. The recipe was by a food chef, Aaron Sanchez.

Making the brownie from scratch was simple and fun. What made the brownie delicious were the Mexican cinnamon and the cayenne pepper, which the recipe called for. Chili powder could be used instead of the cayenne pepper. I didn’t have Mexican cinnamon, either, so I used Vietnamese Cinnamon, which was close in taste to the Mexican one. The brownies turned out nice and moist and had a bit of a kick to them, which made them even better.

The first day my daughter put the brownies out to sell at her Deli, she sold 8! I definitely knew that I needed to bake more.

When I sampled a brownie, all I could think of was Mucho Gracias, Aaron Sanchez, and then I promptly made two more trays of the brownies. The brownies are a welcome change at the Deli and they are steadily selling out.