The Day I Tried Making Cupcakes

The oven looked like a washing machine

I’m considering buying a bread maker. I do say “considering” though because I have some serious reservations.

I read the reviews of a particular bread maker online, and the opinions on the quality and performance of the machine varied. One person was thrilled with her bread maker, the other would have just as soon thrown it out the window. One said she had success from the first try, the other had to throw the first four loaves she made in the bin.

https://medium.com/journal-of-journeys/the-day-i-tried-making-cupcakes-fee216b47d04

Day 24: Not even the birds wanted my cookies

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 24: Not even the birds wanted my cookies

Someone asked me today if one of my hobbies was cooking and baking. Euh well, I cook dinner every night, but I would hardly call it a hobby. 

Am I a good cook? Well, you would have to ask my son that. I haven’t poisoned him yet, so that’s a good sign. By no stretch of the imagination am I competition for Julia Child though, so let’s just say that I’m an average cook.

As for baking … no, where it comes to baking I have two left hands. Let me tell you a story, two stories actually. Long-time readers might be familiar with the stories as they’ve been published before, but since I have quite a few new subscribers to my blog I’ll tell the stories again.

I remember the day like it was

yesterday. My son, Dieter, had his 6^th birthday coming up and I was going to make cupcakes for his party. I got all the ingredients together, mixed the dough, scooped bits of it into the paper cups and placed the lot in the oven.

“Keep an eye on them will you, Dieter,” I said. “I’m quickly gonna go and make the beds.”

It didn’t take long before he called “Ma! The cupcakes are foaming.”

I stuck my head out of one of the bedrooms. “You mean they are rising? They’re supposed to do that.”

A short while later Dieter called again. “Ma, those cupcakes are rising really high.”

“How high?” I called back.

“I don’t know,” he said, appearing in the bedroom doorway. “The oven looks like a washing machine. All foamy.”

Foamy? That didn’t sound good.

When I went to take a look, I saw right away that something had gone horribly wrong. The whole oven was full of foaming dough and it was forcing its way out through the cracks. To cut a long story short, instead of normal flour I had used self-rising flour with a good dose of yeast. It took me ages to clean the oven and Dieter got a store-bought coke for his birthday.

Not one to give up easily, I decided to try my hand at cookies. Maybe that would work better than cupcakes. I followed the instructions of the cookbook and paid attention to use the correct flour this time.

When the time came to eat the cookies Dieter took a bite and pulled a face.

“What?” I asked him.

“They’re kinda hard,” he said.

I tried one too and OMG this wasn’t a cookie, this was a stone and so were the others.

Instead of throwing them in the bin, I decided to feed them to the birds. Imagine my surprise when a couple of pigeons showed up, briefly pecked at the cookies and took off again. Not even the birds wanted my cookies!

Oh well, I could always feed them to the ducks.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” my ex said. “The ducks might sink.”

The years passed and I met someone who gave me the recipe for focaccia bread. I tried it and it came out beautiful. I tried another kind of bread and while the result was not exactly perfect, it was edible.

Something I make really well though if I say so myself, is ‘Aalsterse vlaaien’. It’s not bread and it’s not a cake, it’s a type of flan, but solid. 

Just about every woman in Aalst, Belgium, knows how to make it and being from Aalst, I too pride myself that I can make it too.

How the make perfect French fries

Being from Belgium, land of the best chocolates, pastries and French fries, I am frequently asked how to make those delectable cakes, tarts and petit fours.

I tell everyone the same thing … I have no idea. When baking skills were handed out, I was not exactly in the front row. In fact, I think I wasn’t even in the room.

As for making the perfect French fries, there I can help you out.

To make good fries, it’s vital that you start off with a good potato. Finding the right potato can take a while. You might think that all potatoes are suitable for French fries, but nothing is further from the truth. And not only does the potato have to be the right kind, it has to be rock hard. If the potato is slightly soft, it cannot produce a good fry.

Once the potatoes are peeled, place them in cold water. The colder the better and leave them there for about an hour.

Next, take a clean towel and thoroughly dry the potatoes. Place the towel on the kitchen counter and cut the potatoes into thick slices, about the size of a finger. Then cut the slices into fries, also about a finger thick.

When you’re done, work the towel over the fries so that they’re as dry as possible. Next place the fries in a pot and cover them with the towel.

In a French fries cooker pour about a liter of oil. This can be sunflower oil or vegetable oil and heat it up to maximum heat. If you have an electric cooker a light will tell you when the oil is ready. If you have a stovetop cooker, drop one fry in the oil and when it sizzles the oil is ready.

Place the raw fries in the oil and turn down the heat. After a few minutes, lift the fries out of the oil, leave them to cool for about one minute and then place them back in the oil.

When the fries are golden brown, lift them out of the cooker and shake off excess oil. Place kitchen paper on a serving tray and pour the fries on the tray. The kitchen paper will absorb any remaining oil.

Lightly sprinkle with salt. Serve plain, with mayonnaise, ketchup, or gravy.

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Our daily bread

Recently I started making my own bread. Some might wonder why go to all that trouble. After all, I can just go to the store and pick up a bread, conveniently sliced.

Continue reading at: http://connymanero.weebly.com/blog/our-daily-bread

Kitchen Disasters

I’ve chartered into unfamiliar territory today … I’m baking bread. I’ve wanted to do this for quite some time now, but I was scared.

Scared you might think, what is there to be scared about? Well, let me tell you two stories and you’ll understand why I’m not exactly to be trusted around an oven.

Continue reading at:

http://connymanero.weebly.com/blog

Baking bread

Over the years I’ve tried all kinds of bread and I have yet to find one that makes a tasty sandwich.  Some are too soft, some too hard, some too sour and some have no taste at all.

When I heard about a bread maker, I thought this to be the perfect solution.  With such a machine I could make my own bread.  The website made it sound so easy.  Just put the ingredients in the machine at night, push a button and by morning the perfect loaf of bread awaits you.  What can be easier?

Reviews of bread makers showed that it wasn’t quite that easy.  All kinds of things could go wrong.  Not only could the pedals get stuck, some said that a recipe for bread making had to be followed just so, other said that the user had to figure out what worked best for him.

Since I am one of those people who lives under Murphy’s Law (if anything can go wrong it will), a bread maker might not be for me.

That’s when I started looking for a regular recipe, one to make bread by hand.  Friends supply me with all kinds of easy recipes, but let me assure you, with me nothing is easy.

One fine day I got my courage together though and got started.  I had the ingredients and set to work.

Things got complicated right from the start.  The recipe asked for 3 cups of flour.  Okay, what kind of cups?  Cups come in all kinds of different sizes, could they be a little bit more specific?  So I took a guess.

When all the ingredients were mixed I was looking at a rather disgusting paste.  Was it supposed to look like this?  Why didn’t recipes come with pictures?

Again I took a chance.  I spooned the mixture into oiled baking trays and shoved them in the oven.  After a few minutes I took a look and ... nothing much was happening.  I waited some more and ... yes, the dough was rising.

As time passed the house was filled with a delicious aroma.  If the bread tasted as good as it smelled, I was in business.  Unfortunately it didn’t.  The taste wasn’t bad, but it was a bit salty. 

The next week I tried again (can't give up after one go, right) and I’m happy to say that the second attempt was much better.  The structure of the bread still needed some work, but the taste was good.  In fact, the first loaf is almost eaten and there’s every chance that the two loafs in freezer will turn into sandwiches too.

And the best thing is ... I didn't have to call 911. 

Making cupcakes

I’m considering buying a bread maker.  I do say “considering” though, because I have some serious reservations.

I read the reviews of a particular bread maker online, and the opinions on the quality and performance of the machine varied.  One person was thrilled with her bread maker, the other would have just as soon thrown it out the window.  One said she had success from the first try, the other had to throw the first four loafs she made in the bin.

What worried me the most was that one person said “you have to follow the instructions to the letter and use machine yeast”, while another said “machine yeast doesn’t work, you have to use dry yeast”.  Well, what is it?  Machine yeast or dry yeast?

Another reason why I’m having reservations about the purchase of a bread maker is because … I’m not all that good in the kitchen.  Correction, I consider myself a good cook, but I can’t bake to save my life.

I remember the day like it was yesterday.  My son Dieter had his 6^th birthday coming up and I was going to make cupcakes for his party.  I got all the ingredients together, mixed the dough, scooped bits of it in the paper cups and placed the lot in the oven.  

“Keep an eye on them will you Dieter,” I said, “I’m quickly gonna go and make the beds.”

It didn’t take long before he called “Mom!  The cupcakes are foaming.”  

I stuck my head out of one of the bedrooms and said, “You mean they are rising?  They’re supposed to do that.”

A short while later Dieter called again. 
“Mom, those cupcakes are rising really high.” 
“How high?” I called back.
“I don’t know,” he said, appearing in the bedroom doorway.  “The oven looks like a washing machine.  All foamy.”

Foamy?  That didn’t sound normal.

When I went to take a look I saw right away that something had gone horribly wrong.  The whole oven was full of foaming dough and it was forcing its way out through the cracks.  To cut a long story short, instead of normal flour I had used self-rising flour with a good dose of yeast.  It took me ages to clean the oven and Dieter got a store bought cake for his birthday.

Not one to give up easily, I decided to try my hand at cookies.  Maybe that would work better than cupcakes.  I followed the instructions of the cookbook and paid attention to using the correct flour this time.

When the time came to eating the cookies, Dieter took a bite and pulled a face.
“What?” I asked.
“They’re kind a hard,” he said.
I tried one too and … oh my goodness, this wasn’t a cookie, this was a stone and so were the others.

Instead of throwing them in the bin, I decided to feed them to the birds.  Imagine my surprise when a couple of pigeons showed up, briefly pecked at the “cookies” and took off again. 

Oh well, I could always feed them to the ducks. 
“Are you sure about that mom,” Dieter said.  “The ducks might sink.”

I believe that was the last time I ever baked anything.