I got the cookbook "Small Batch Baking" for Christmas after having heard it mentioned here many times. Susan(rows) mentioned that she made the banana bread a lot and that she and her family enjoyed it, so I looked up that recipe and bought all the ingredients a week or so ago.

I finally made it last night (name of recipe is Whole Wheat Banana Bread). It came out quite well and it is so nice to smell something baking in my home for the first time in years! It was especially nice to smell something baking and not be worrying about eating a whole big pan of something.

I know that at least Denise also uses this book but I'm not sure who else does. I'd love to hear your favorite recipes from it so I have an idea what to make next. I've already gone through the book and tape-tagged what I think MY favorites would be, but I'm curious to hear your recommendations.

Made the coconut cake today. Dh asked for a Pepperage Farm frozen one... but I made this instead. I think that he will be happy.

I think that the texture was a little like pound cake... which is ok... we like pound cake.

I made it in a 4" cheesecake pan. Haven't tried it, yet... but it sure looks pretty.

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:
I love raspberry or strawberry jam (on toast or something) and love the fresh berries dipped in the chocolate, but I don't like jam baked into things. The bars might be different though--I'll have to go look at the recipe and see how they're made.

You may not like them then... but you can always make them and give them away. But it is definately jam baked into cookies.

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:
I just remembered.... weren't you the one who would melt down a Dove promise and dip raspberries in it? Did you get sick of it?

Yup, that was me! No, didn't get sick of it. Just don't have access to the great raspberries at Whole Foods anymore. That used to be my Monday treat in the summer--I'd go shopping on Monday for my lunches and then, after I'd finished my cooking and had my dinner, I'd have the raspberries dipped in a melted Dove Promise for dessert. See, to me, that is different because I can still get the full flavor of the fresh raspberries and the full flavor of the dark chocolate. I guess what I was talking about (with not liking the combo) was baked stuff--like I've had a chocolate cake with raspberry jam filling and didn't like it at ALL. And I'm not a fan of thumbprint cookies.

It's weird. I love raspberry or strawberry jam (on toast or something) and love the fresh berries dipped in the chocolate, but I don't like jam baked into things. The bars might be different though--I'll have to go look at the recipe and see how they're made. I haven't made anything from the Small Batch cookbook for MONTHS--certainly not since I moved to Reho.

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:
I love both fruits. I know that some folks find chocolate and raspberry to be a heavenly combo but, frankly, I prefer my fruit fruity and my chocolate chocolatey and I prefer not to mix the two.

I just remembered.... weren't you the one who would melt down a Dove promise and dip raspberries in it? Did you get sick of it?

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:
Denise: Did you ever go back and make these with raspberry jam and, if so, which did you like better, the raspberry or strawberry?

I never have. I have raspberry jam in the house right now... and was thinking about it... but don't think that I have the calories for it THIS weekend. We didn’t have dessert last night… and I’m thinking of skipping dessert tonight so that I can have bagels in the morning and cake in the evening.

<sigh> So many cookies, so little time... since there aren‘t enough hours in the day to burn off all the different kinds of cookies I'd like to eat...

quote:

I prefer my fruit fruity and my chocolate chocolatey and I prefer not to mix the two. So I'm not sure if these bars would be my cup o' tea or not (though hearing how much you and Peg raved about them makes me consider it!).

I wouldn't think of the cookies as "fruity". I'd think of them more like "jammy".

Like think of a "jam thumb print" kind of cookie - like sort of a sugar cookie with a drop of jam in the middle? I think that it might be kind of a stretch to call it "fruit-like" since it isn‘t exactly like a bowl of berries or something.

That is sort of how these chocolate cookies are... I wouldn't call the strawberry or raspberry jam part "fruit" or “fruity” ... since it is almost nothing like the original fruit... but the cookies are still awesome!

I was thinking that this small batch book might work pretty well for you now since you have 2 friends very close by to share the baked goods with. Most of the recipes are perfect for 3-4 people.

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:
Bumping up to report that I made the Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Squares for a picnic yesterday. Oh, my...deeeeelicious!

Just made these. Didn't have raspberry jam, so I used strawberry. Will have to wait and hour for them to cool... so I can cut. But I can tell that they will be GOOD!

Denise: Did you ever go back and make these with raspberry jam and, if so, which did you like better, the raspberry or strawberry?

I love both fruits. I know that some folks find chocolate and raspberry to be a heavenly combo but, frankly, I prefer my fruit fruity and my chocolate chocolatey and I prefer not to mix the two. So I'm not sure if these bars would be my cup o' tea or not (though hearing how much you and Peg raved about them makes me consider it!).

I made the "Fresh Strawberry Cake" last weekend.

The cake was REALLY yummy. I made two and will defrost the other one tomorrow. We'll see how it holds up.

The White Chocolate Cream Frosting didn't work... It never turned into whipped cream... and then suddenly, I had gone too far and... I had made white chocolate butter... sitting in white chocolate flavored watery whey.

I also didn't care much for "put the cake together and let it sit in fridge for an hour" thing... I don't think that it did anything for the cake to have the strawberries sitting on the cake for an hour and didn't care for cold cake.

Tomorrow... we'll have the (defrosted) cake and I'll make a choc ganache and some strawberries on the side... all at room temp.

But I thought that the White Choc Layer Cake a winner.

I have it in a paperback version but it is not spiral bound. I need to take my first KD book and this one to Kinko's and have them bound probably. Anyway, it's a pretty good sized book so I can't imagine how they would make it pocket-sized. Here's the link on BN for the version I have.

Peg

Now you have me hungry for desert
I was searching the web for the book, and noticed it came two ways, hardcover and pocketbook size, which one's did you all buy? I know some books say pocketbook but are just soft covered with a spiral binder.

Have a good w/e

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:
I made the Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Squares for a picnic yesterday. Oh, my...deeeeelicious!

O.M.G. These were soooo good. I had sort of forgetten that the author is pretty much the world's worst chocoholic... and I don't think that it needed 5 TBS of choc chips.

We split 1 batch 3 ways. And they were RICH. I think that 1/3 of the pan was about 350-400 cals... and just the right amount.

Nelson said that I should make them and sell them and every coffee shop should stock them.

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:
Bumping up to report that I made the Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Squares for a picnic yesterday. Oh, my...deeeeelicious!

Just made these. Didn't have raspberry jam, so I used strawberry. Will have to wait and hour for them to cool... so I can cut. But I can tell that they will be GOOD!

I made the Cinnamon French Toast bread pudding tonight... for dinner...

I used skim milk instead of half and half... and Egg Beaters. Had it with one egg and one slice of bacon and 1/2 calorie syrup (which is "only" 100 cals, instead of 200 cals). And a pear.

It was good. Not to die for (maybe made with heavy whipping cream and two egg yolks... it might be to die for...)

But it was a good dinner/dessert. (Didn't have dessert, too... since French Toast for dinner is already pretty dessert-like.)

All of the things I've made are listed below...

I messed up a cheesecake recipe last weekend and put half as much cream cheese as was needed... and they ended up like giant cheesecake cookies. They were OK... but I had obviously messed up the recipe.

Going to make a peach pie before the summer is out... but I may make it crust-less. I usually do that with pies now... make them crustless... and then top with ice cream.

Having root beer floats tonight... not in this book... but pretty darn easy to make.

Will have to try those Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Squares.

Bumping up to report that I made the Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Squares for a picnic yesterday. Oh, my...deeeeelicious! Anyone else tried something out of there lately?

Peg

I love this book. With a dwindling family, now there are two of us at the table. This book has really come in handy. AND I so appreciate that the ingredients are easy to find and come by.

Thank you SO much for your input, Denise! It is so helpful, especially for a person who hasn't baked in YEARS, to have some idea of what works and what doesn't, and I figured you had done some figurin' on the cals and fat too so that is very helpful to know!

I haven't made anything since the ww banana bread and brownies but would like to try a few of the ones you listed. The chocolate toffee cookies sound divine as those are two of my favorite flavors in the world! And I was happy to see your comments about several others that I'd tagged as recipes I wanted to try, including the pecan pie and baby carrot cake.

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:
Well, the brownies weren't a completely successful experiement, but certainly edible. They weren't chocolatey enough and I'm not sure if I measured wrong or if it's because I used bittersweet vs. unsweetened. I think next time I will adjust the sugar down even more than I did this time.

I used unsweetened choc... and I thought they were fine. Maybe try the molten choc cake next time?

Also the Choc Toffee Cookies are VERY, VERY chocolate-y.

Keep meaning to reply to this.


(In order they are in the book... not my favorites order.)

I’ve made:

1. Old Fashioned Yellow Cake
I’ve made it twice, it was good!
The second time, we had it with ¼ c. ice cream drizzled with choc. Sauce and that worked well.
Or cake with choc frosting is good, too.

Just watch her serving sizes… the whole recipe (just the cake, no frosting or ice cream) is 996 calories and 54 g. of fat… so even splitting it two ways is a heck of a lot of cals. But, hey at least it isn’t a cake that serves 12 and is 3,600 calories!

2. Baby Carrot Cakes with cream cheese frosting.
Yum, yum, yum, yum… cake Jamie requests for his birthday. Have made this 3 times. For each of our birthdays.

3. Angel Food Cakes…
Yum, also. Have made several times. Not as good as KD’s full size cake… but still way better than the grocery store angel food cakes. Very good with berries.
About 139 cals per cake.

4. Dulce de Leche Cheesecake
Very good! But sort of a pain to make.

4a. Raspberry Cheesecake
Also very good… but sort of a pain.

5. Presto Pound Cake
Yum! And easy to make 284 cals and 13 g. fat for 1/3 of a cake. But worth it.

6. Apple Crumbles
I’ve made this a LOT… since I like to have on fruit based dessert a week, and one chocolate.
I basically use 1.5 apples per person and 1 teaspoon butter, 1 TBS of brown sugar, 15 g. (on the food scale) whole wheat flour, 15 gr. Oatmeal, some cinnamon, nutmeg, per person… and call it 1.5 fruit servings and 1 serving of whole grains.

7. Lemon Meringue pie
It was good. Might just have a piece at Bakers Square instead, though.

8. Banana Cream Pie.
Yum!!

9. Pie pastry
I changed the recipe some… but it is very good. I’ve used it several times now.
The whole mini pie recipe is 498 cals & 18 g. sat. fat (didn’t write down the total fat)

10.Favorite choc chip cookies
Yum! The whole recipe is 1227 and 83 g. fat… but I added nuts… and left out 1 tsp of butter

10a. Choc Toffee Cookies
These were so rich and good… I keep meaning to make them again…

11. Irresistible Oatmeal Cookies
I slimmed them down… and it was a mistake… an I didn’t like them

12. Big Blast Oatmeal Cookies…
I added nuts, choc chips, and dried dates… and these are my family's current favorite.

13. Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies
These were very good… but peanut butter cookies are not my favorites.

14. Shortbread Dainties
Our small batch Xmas Sugar Cookies

15. Choc. Almond Biscotti
Very good… but kind of a lot of work for 6 cookies.
I left out the semisweet choc, cut the butter to 1 TBS and the sugar to 3 TBS and the were 104 cals each

16. Moist Fudgy Brownies
We like these a lot… way better than No-Pudge!
I tried the version with the marshmallows on top… and I didn’t think that it was worth the extra cals.
The whole batch of brownies is 679 cals… and we always have them with ¼ c. of ice cream on top.
And it is pretty cool that you can make brownies in a Pyrex measuring cup.

17. Lemon Shortbread Squares
These were not what I expected… the were good… but different than I expected, so I was disappointed.

18. Berry Slump
Very good.

19. Happy Morning Muffins…
OMG! To die for!
I made some kind of insignificant changes to get 3 muffins and they are 353 cals and 20 g. of fat each.
We had them Xmas morning. (They freeze well)

20. Down Home Buttermilk Biscuits
I wanted to make McD's Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit. Way better than the McD biscuit… but more work.

21. Gingerbread Men
Yummy men! I made 6 cookies. Each was 128 cals and 1 g. fat and 1 g. saturated fat (Used the Transfat free Crisco)

22. Choc Orange Roulade
I’ve made this twice…
All of the cake parts of the Roulades are really low in calories… 300 cals for the whole cake. I’m going to try the Lemon Roulade… and just make the cake and fill it with fruit and Cool Whip or something.
When I’ve made the whole Orange Roulade… half the filling and half the Rich Choc Orange Frosting is enough for the 3 of us.

23. Brandy Caramel Pumpkin Pie
I’ve made this with and without the crust. Personally, I’d rather skip the crust and put ¼ c. of ice cream on top of it. OK… I like ¼ cup of ice cream on MOST desserts.


24. Southern Pecan Pie
Oh. My. God.
This is some awesome pie! Ruined me for store bought pecan pie.
I’ve made it 3 times. It freezes well, too.

Well, the brownies weren't a completely successful experiement, but certainly edible. They weren't chocolatey enough and I'm not sure if I measured wrong or if it's because I used bittersweet vs. unsweetened. I think next time I will adjust the sugar down even more than I did this time.

The brownies came out crisp on the outer edges and soft and fudgy inside--the texture I love for brownies!