#baking issues

[honeybittersweet]

BAKING ISSUE!!!

Do any of you beautiful mutuals and fellow tumblrinas know anything about baking cookies?

If you see this, pls help me!

Explanation below cut 🍪

I'm having trouble with a recipe and idk what i'm doing wrong. The first time I made them they were great, the second they tasted awful (left a bitter aftertaste) and I just made them again and all of them look different!

Some look like the first time I made them but higher, some looked a bit better than the second time and some look just fucking weird

First time:

Looked smooth and tasted amazing! Best vanilla cookies I've tried. The dough was so easy to knead!

Second time (pics from a video I sent my grandma):

The dough didn't want to come together so I added a bit of milk (the recipe said so) and after baked and cooled down, the cookies left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth (literally. The flavor was good and then BOOM bitterness all over your mouth). The recipe was followed through and through. The differences with the first time are: different oven, different flour brand.

Third time:

These are all from different batches I made today (same oven and flour as the first, same dough for all but divided them in two batches so I could knead easily, added milk as I thought necessary, as the recipe says). It took me longer to integrate the flour and even when the dough seemed pretty good to go there was still some flour left. The thing is, if I add more flour, it gets drier and harder to smooth out but if I add milk (even the tiny tiniest amount) to try and put the dough together again, it gets sticky. I kneaded a lot and it was difficult to do so, it had breaks after using the rolling pin.

The golden one is part of the second batch and I decided to bake them, flip them, and bake them again just in case they were still raw inside bc they raised higher than the other ones so more dough to get baked I assumed.

The taste overall was okay, but they still don't feel like the first ones I made. Some were kinda weird. Why doesn't the dough come together as nicely and smooth as the first time? What am I doing wrong???????

Idk if it matters but this recipe has seed oil instead of butter! (I didn't change the ingredients, it was like that).

[momodashii]

So I'm trying out a pound cake recipe and while I'm sure it'll taste pretty good, the smell it's making in my apartment isn't as sweet as I thought it would be and it's bothering my nose.

[kelkat9]

It could be too much sugar. If the sugar is more finely ground than the sugar meant for the recipe, it'll result in a cup of sugar being heavier than intended and collapse the cake in the middle.

I am wondering.  The sugar was new out of package.  Maybe there was something off with it or  the flour?

[kelkat9]

Have you opened the oven door while it's baking a lot? That can definitely lead to fallen cakes

Nope and this happened to two different batches.  They collapsed in the oven before we took them out.

[bakingissues]

New, World Famous, Withholding Mother Loaf! 

This one’s for you, Mom! 

Suggested serving size pictured above. 

[bakingissues]

Withholding Mother Loaf

This little cake has been brewing in my head for a year and a half. A first attempt to make it resulted in it being dropped, on the ground, in front of the cat litter box.  (No Cake For You) The second attempt broke my oven. This, the third, and gloriously perfect try, was a total and utter success. But I shouldn’t give it that much glowing approval. I wouldn’t want to spoil it. 

This cake is a little tough, and a little bitter,  just like Mom. 

Ingredients 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature 1/2 cup grated lemon zest (8 large lemons about) 3 cups aryan flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided 3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

Garnish of choice: I used one of my mother’s most dangerous allergens, pink peppercorns, to garnish. 

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350. 

Get some of those non-stick latex pans, or grease and flour two regular bread pans. 

Cream butter and sugar in a bowl, til light and fluffy. With mixer set to medium, add in one egg at a time.  Make sure to guilt the eggs as you add them, telling them how much you’ve done for them. Guilting will add a special flavour to the loaf. Add in zest and sesame seeds. 

In a bowl, combine all the powdered ingredients, and simultaneously combine, in a separate bowl, the buttermilk, lemon juice and vanilla. Add them alternately to the batter, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smoothing the tops. Bake for about 45 - 60 minutes, or til your tooth pick comes out clean.  Chill them out for a few minutes before removing from pans. 

Optional: Glaze

Combine 2 cups of confectioners sugar with about 3-4 table spoons of lemon juice, and whisk till smooth.  Pour over cooled cakes, and then add the garnish of your choice. (pictured, pink peppercorns, mom’s weirdest allergy, and black sesame seeds for that prickly effect)

Serving size: 

Just a crumb. That’s all you get.  You want a loaf, go bake your own.  How else will you learn? 

[bakingissues]

what is you?

tired of endless questioning about your possible heritage? 

We sure as fuck are.

As two ambigiously raced people, Krysia and I both get really tired by people endlessly trying to figure out, just why are we so "exotic" or "foreign". The best question i've ever been asked, by far, was asked to me by a confused homeboy on the street in Oakland, who asked me- "girl, what is you?" 

I still don't know how to answer that question, but this spicy little cookie probably has a real sassy response.

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups flour                 1 tsp baking soda          1/2  tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt                1 3/4 cups white sugar       2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp fresh ground cardamom  1/2  tsp allspice   1/2 tsp ground pink peppercorn

small finger of ginger, chopped  1 tbsp rosehips, ground 1 cup unsalted butter

1 egg   1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ª line baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl, sift flower, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, fresh ginger, all spice, and peppercorns and rosehips.  take out a 1/4 cup and set aside. In a bowl for a stand mixer, beat in butter and sugar and spices until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Mix until fully assimilated. Slowly blend in dry ingredients, melting pot that shit together.

While blending ingredients, reflect on all those people who asked, with a concerned look on their face, "where are your parents from? no... but, where are your grandparents from?

Using 2tsps, roll into balls, and roll in spiced sugar. Place dough balls on prepared baking sheet, far enough away so they don't have to touch if they don't want to, about an inch and a half apart. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 min. Let stand on baking sheet for 5min after.  Serve with a big ol' helping of sass.

[bakingissues]

Winter blues cheesecake Blueberry and lavender