Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Only my very special friends get a pie. And I do that very rarely in spite of all the hints. In the spring it's rhubarb cream and late summer/fall it's mixed berry.
I used to make all the Norwegian Christmas cookies and candy before Christmas and give them to my doctor, dentist, mailman, friends and neighbors.
Reminded me -
If you are familiar with Norwegian Christmas cookies you will know that many of them are fragile. One year I made up a huge, 2-1/2 ft. diameter tray of them to take to work and share. The cookies were on the seat next to me. The road was icy.
On the left side of me was two lanes of oncoming traffic and a wall of rock. On the other a steep ditch down to frozen water. And I began to hydroplane, swinging in ever wider arcs. First to the left and then to the right. Tapping the brakes and my steering wheel were both useless.
All I could think of was my precious cookies! The first thought I had before going in the ditch was, "The safest option for my cookies will be to cross oncoming traffic and hit the wall." And the second was, "Please don't let me fall over on top of the tray!"
I know that everyone who gives their very most special baking items as a gift understands what I'm saying.
***********************
So what happened, Lodestar? Did you go into the ditch? Were you okay? did your cookies survive?
If you are talking about rosettes? fattigmann can break easily, too. I can make these but down here in New Mexico no one has a clue to what they are!
*******************
Nutella filled choc chip cookies? Now they sound good! Are you willing to share the recipe?
Honestly, it's more the technique than the recipe. I use my own modified version of the Tollhouse recipe (I use vanilla bean paste AND vanilla extract, no salt and extra flour in addition to using high-end brown sugar, eggs and butter) and then I roll out little bowls about half the size of a normal cookie, spoon in some Nutella and then seal off the top with more cookie dough, being sure to smooth it all out. Then I bake as I normally do (takes a couple more minutes than normal...nothing is exact when I bake or cook, it's all done on feel) and they come out AMAZING. I usually roll my cookies into perfect balls then flatten them on the cookie sheet to get a uniform shape for them all.
I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but my old boss told me after he tried them that "you should make cookies full time".
Yeah I'm English, haven't lived there for years though. Don't remember ever eating Parkin, its more of the Northern thing, sounds really nice though so I might have to have a go at making it.
I'd hate to insult or lose a friend over an accident. Stuff happens. Heck, you could give yourself a foodborne illness.
I did that once. Oh, my husband got sick, too. I couldn't stop eating my own cooking.
I usually give something that travels well like cookies, brownies, quick breads. I've also given pies, lemon (and other) bars, chocolate truffles and a few other things. I guess it depends on what I think the other person might like and what I feel like making at the time.
1 place chocolates i a small sauce pan. Bring cream just to a boil then pour over chocalates. Whisk until smooth. Still in Amaretto and vanilla. Let cool to room temp. stirring occasionally. Cover and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hrs. - until easy to handle.
2. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cocoa. Shape the chocolate mixture into 1 inch balls. Store in an airtight containers.
Yeah I'm English, haven't lived there for years though. Don't remember ever eating Parkin, its more of the Northern thing, sounds really nice though so I might have to have a go at making it.
Cool! Yes, it's a Northern dessert. Good if you like treacle and ginger flavors.
I make cake. Layer cake. Sheet cake. Yellow cake. Genoise. Almond cake. Coffee cake. Chocolate cake, with or without flour. The flourless one is probably the most requested. My favorite is the classic 1-2-3-4 yellow cake.
Those who make truffles - what kind of chocolate do you use?? Does it need to be really good expensive chocolate? I feel like some of those high end cooking chocolate bars are more expensive than the store-bought truffles...
I don't know how to say this without sounding overly fastidious. We don't give food gifts, and we do not like to receive them either. Neither my husband or I will eat foods that other people have made in their private homes. (We know restaurants are not perfect either.) We don't buy from bake sales. We also avoid invitations to dinners or parties in private homes...unless it is to a relative's home.
We have seen some friends cooking who really had some terrible ideas of preventing foodborne illnesses...not washing their hands after using the bathroom or petting the dog, using the same cutting board to cut raw veggies and fruits that they had just cut raw meat on without even washing it, leaving some foods out in the sun for 4-5 hours. We once both became very ill after eating at a friend's house. No more for us. I know that we are probably missing out on some yummy treats, but eating them is a risk. At least restaurants are held to a higher standard...even though you can't be sure they follow all the rules.
I can understand Madisson's thinking on this issue. This is why my husband and I refuse to buy homemade foods (usually they are burritos) sold by the locals bringing them into Laundromats, etc. in NM. When asking if they have a food handler's permit, we always got a blank look--and *know* that they don't. Sadly, many people do not practice safe food handling--in their homes but that also goes for some restaurants too. And, if you eat only the food you prepared at home, how do you know the store where you bought it properly handled it? I would never turn down and invitation to dine with friends in their homes--and turn down not only some delicious foods but wonderful fellowship memories, too.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I couldn't stop eating my own cooking.
