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I could do that next time, vison, and I probably will. I've already made the cookies this time, so we'll just take our chances. Like Jude, we've never gotten sick before.

Let's pray this won't be the first time!

(I'll let you know in about 12 hours. Of course, now I am really worried. And one egg had a slight divot in it, and I probably shouldn't have used it. Duh! )

I depends on the melting point of chocolate, doesn't it? If you are mixing eggs in with chocolate and the temp is high enough, then the residual heat will cook the eggs.

Yeah, I just couldn't decide if the temp was high enough. None of us got sick, so, obviously, our eggs were fine. In any case, I made another batch with the pasteurized egg stuff, and it tastes just as good. So now I know for next year to get the pasteurized stuff to begin with.

It's a really yummy recipe, btw. The eggs do something to the chocolate to make it really smooth and creamy, almost like a ganache.

(Wait. Is that ganache?)

I think ganache is chocolate and cream. But your cookies still sound wonderful.

Don't boxers drink milk and raw eggs when training?

I think some of them do, yes. They take their chances, I guess.

Alatar wrote:

Don't boxers drink milk and raw eggs when training?

Aside from any danger of salmonella or other contaminants in raw egg, they are not healthy food for anyone. The uncooked white contains an enzyme that affects how your body utilizes some other nutrients.

Cooked eggs are excellent food, however. I love 'em.

Hmm, come to think of it, they only use the yolks if memory serves.

I'm making a pumpkin pie with this all-butter pie crust recipe my sister-in-law recommended. I'll let you know if it worked.

I'm in Ottawa for the holidays and in the kitchen where I first learned to cook. But everything's been moved since I actually lived here so many years ago. Luckily, he has a pastry blender (he didn't know it was called a pastry blender until I described it for him, and he said "oh yeah, this thing I use to mash tomatoes with" )

You could've used actual knives in a pinch. I used to (to cut in the butter, literally).

Let us know how it turned out! Katie made a very yummy chocolate mint cake. (Pics are in the album I linked to in the Hippo Lounge.) I made the frosting, which was originally supposed to be a ganache. At 10pm on Christmas Eve, however, it became homemade chocolate mint frosting. In any case, it was very good! It was her first cake that she made from scratch.

Any tips on that? It was good, but I do think it could have been lighter. It called for all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, and I had her sift it. (The directions didn't call for it, but it seemed to me that she should at least do that.)

Yes, I was prepared to use knives if there was no pastry blender to be found.

The pastry wasn't quite as flaky as the lard-and-butter or pure lard recipes I use. But at least it was soft enough to be enjoyable, and is vegetarian-friendly, so my two eldest nieces can dig in. Plus, butter has a much better flavour than lard anyway.

Based on the comments in the discussion following the recipe, I think I can do better next time, with some more fiddling.

I don't have any tips for the cake. It sounds like it was good anyway, but if you think it could have been lighter, there could be any number of reasons: perhaps the baking powder was expired, or the recipe is just made for a slightly heavier texture, or (if it's one of those that call for separating the eggs and whipping up the egg whites) the whites were over-whipped or under-whipped or something?

Hmmm, those are some thoughts. The batter was very thin. I didn't watch Katie closely to make sure she followed the recipe correctly, but there's always the possibility that she didn't. She said she did. It didn't taste bad, and it certainly wasn't like a rock or anything. It just was a little denser than a cake mix cake. Maybe that's how it was supposed to be.

I have no luck with the pastries, but I'm glad yours worked.

My success rate with piecrust is far from 100%, but I'm improving. Gradually.

If you like pie, you can master it too!

Okay, two yummy things!

The first is a recipe I've had for awhile, and it is so good!

Overnight Focaccia Bread

(The reason I don't make it more often is just the same reason I gave to vison in the Hippo Lounge. I forget to start it 8-12 hours ahead of time.)

2-3/4 cups warm (110-115F) water
1 package yeast
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP salt
6 - 7-1/2 c. flour
Olive oil, cornmeal, and coarse salt
Water in a spray bottle

Must be assembled, kneaded, and refrigerated 8-12 hours before baking.

1) Combine water and yeast. Let yeast dissolve. Add 2 TBSP olive oil, 1 TBSP salt, and 6 cups of the flour in a large plastic bowl. Mix. Add as much of the remaining flour as needed to make a dough. (I find that I end up incorporating even more flour in the kneading process.)

2) Divide dough into two equal mounds. Knead each mound for 5 minutes. Like I said, I use more flour in the process as needed to avoid the dough sticking to the mat or to my hands. And 5 minutes by the clock.

3) Now, you can use a baking sheet, but I use 2 glass pie plates. In any case, brush extra olive oil over the bottom of whatever you're using and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place the dough on the baking sheet or in the pie plate and pull gently to fit dough.

4) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

5) When ready to bake, preheat oven to 475F. (I take the glass plates out for awhile before I plan to bake in order to allow them to warm up.)

6) Dimple dough with fingers. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.

7) Bake 21 to 27 minutes. Use a spray bottle every 7 minutes to spray the bread with water.

I have also added herbs to the dough before kneading. It says you can add olives and/or caramelized onions prior to baking, too.

This bread is really, really good!



And then I made this today:

http://realmomkitchen.com/225/crock-pot ... illa-soup/

If you want to follow the recipe exactly, that's the link. I'll make the changes I did below.


Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz size - I didn't have Southwest style, which the recipe recommends.)
1 packet enchilada sauce mix (or if you can’t find this, mild taco seasoning works - I had to make my own, which I would do again anyway.) <-- That ended up being some cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, pepper, onion powder, and paprika.
1 1/2 C water
1 can (8 oz)tomato sauce (I used 15 oz.)
1 can ( 10 3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup
2 C milk (I used 1-1/2 c. milk since I used more tomato sauce.)
3-4 boneless chicken breasts

*I would add another can of black beans to this for sure.

In crock pot, mix the enchilada/taco packet together with the water and tomato sauce. (I put my herbs and spices in first and then added the tomato sauce.) Add cream of chicken soup and milk and whisk together until smooth. Add chicken. Pour drained black beans, drained corn and diced tomatoes on top of that. Cook on low 6-8 hours. (I cooked on high for about 4 hours.) Before serving, take out chicken and shred or dice, then put back and stir it all together. (I thickened it a bit with cornstarch.) Serve with sour cream (I used Greek yogurt instead), shredded cheddar cheese, lime, avocado, or tortilla chips. (We just did Greek yogurt and cheese.)

Another attempt at meringues has resulted in ignominious failure.

Maybe I should try macaroons next time I have a bunch of egg whites to use up. Are they more foolproof than meringues, or just as chancey?

What happened with your meringues?

They didn't dry out - they're wet and mushy, with a puddle of liquid underneath.

Jude wrote:

They didn't dry out - they're wet and mushy, with a puddle of liquid underneath.

Tell me what you did and how you did it.

Meringues are simple and should be easier to make than you're experiencing.

6 egg whites, room temperature.

Whip with electric beater until frothy.

Slowly add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Continue beating until it holds its shape.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto the sheet. Bake at 200 degrees for one hour. Turn off oven, and leave in oven overnight.

Until you check them out the next morning, you have Schrodinger's meringues: perfectly dry firm meringues or a mushy sticky mess? Theoretically it could be either until you actually take them out and look.