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I’ve got a lot going on, but I’d been thinking about shortbread a lot lately and decided to make some, it doesn’t take long. This time it turned out better-thanks, Holly, for telling me not to turn it out of the pan immediately after removing from the oven, even though the recipe I use says to. There was minimal breakage this time, and I cut the shortbread into squares. Maybe next time I make it, it will be perfect!
Last night I decided to bake shortbread-I’d been wanting to try it for a long time. The recipe I used said to use two 9″ cake pans but I looked at the comments on the recipe and someone said she used a 9X13 pan and it worked fine, so I tried that. When it was done, I immediately turned the pan over onto a couple of cooling racks, and this is the result:
It tastes good, at least. I’ll be trying again, and this time I’ll use smaller pans.
Last night, I made brownies from a mix. Usually, I use a 9X13 pan, but then we get thin brownies and it takes us two weeks to eat them all. I decided to put the brownie mix in a square pan, and the instructions had different baking times for different size pans. I watched the clock, and when the time was up, I stuck a toothpick two inches from the edge of the pan, like the instructions said. The toothpick came out mostly clean, like the instructions said, so I took the pan out of the oven. The smell of chocolate was all through the house, and I had to restrain myself from gouging out a chunk before it was cool.
An hour passed, and I decided to transfer the brownies from the pan to a plastic storage box. I was puzzled when the knife I was using to cut them started dragging, and when I pulled it out, it was covered in sticky goo. I decided that slightly underdone brownies wouldn’t kill us, so I started scooping out squares, and to my horror the top half was done perfectly but the bottom part was half done. I looked at the box again, made sure I’d added the right amount of ingredients, then stood over them, wondering if they could be salvaged. Then I had a thought, and got the measuring tape out of the junk drawer-the pan was 8X8 (it didn’t have its measurements stamped into the bottom-it’s a pretty old pan), and I’d been following the time instruction for a 9X9 pan. The 8X8 was supposed to cook for about 10-12 minutes longer than the 9X9.
last night's batch
I didn’t want to throw out a whole pan of brownies, so I transferred them to the baking sheet for the toaster oven and put them in there. I let them bake for 10 more minutes-they were still gooey so I let them in for another 10 minutes. No change. I decided enough was enough and dumped the whole mess into the trash, and this morning I went to the store and got more brownie mix, and this time they came out perfectly. We had some for dessert, and they were delicious. I added walnuts, and I was generous, so they were very nutty, but that’s how I like them. All’s well that ends well.
I like to look at the Cake Wrecks site once in a while, and marvel at how awful some bakeries (usually in grocery stores) decorate their cakes. I’ve been feeling superior because when we get cakes, we get it at a bakery, and usually they’re quite pretty. But today when I went to get a cake for Mother’s Day, I noticed that there was a new clerk working behind the counter. I picked out a cake and when she asked if I wanted anything written on it, I said “Yes, “Happy Mother’s Day””. She took the cake and went in the back, where I assumed there was somebody who was in charge of decorating, because in the past, the writing was always very professional. So I was totally unprepared when after what seemed an inordinately long time, she returned with the cake, and tilted it towards me for my inspection, and asked if it was OK. Assuming it was OK, I said “Yes, OK” before my brain registered what I was seeing. As the lady boxed the cake, my synapses started firing, and I realized two things: 1) that the writing was in bright yellow, which was almost invisible on the white background,* which might be a blessing because 2) I could have done better, even with my clumsy hands.
*photo adjusted so the writing is more visible.
Sometimes, reading the labels of stuff I eat can turn me off of whatever it is. A few days ago, we went to the bakery, and among other things, I couldn’t resist a plastic clamshell box of six chocolate cupcakes. I put the box on top of the microwave on the kitchen table, because there wasn’t any other place to put it. I’d look at the label when I sat at the table, and one ingredient caught my eye: propylene glycol. I knew that ethylene glycol is antifreeze, and I was curious what the hell propylene glycol is doing in cupcakes.
It wasn’t until this morning that I looked it up and found this on Wikipedia, and I copied the relevant info to paste here.
Propylene glycol is used:
- As a solvent in many pharmaceuticals, including oral, injectable and topical formulations. Notably, diazepam, which is insoluble in water, uses propylene glycol as its solvent in its clinical, injectable form.[5]
- As a humectant food additive, labeled as E number E1520
- As an emulsification agent in Angostura and orange bitters
- As a moisturizer in medicines, cosmetics, food, toothpaste, mouth wash, hair care and tobacco products
- As a carrier in fragrance oils
- As an ingredient in massage oils
- In hand sanitizers, antibacterial lotions, and saline solutions
- In smoke machines to make artificial smoke for use in firefighters‘ training and theatrical productions
- In electronic cigarettes, as a vaporizable base for diluting the nicotine liquid
- As a solvent for food colors and flavorings
- As an ingredient, along with wax and gelatin, in the production of paintballs
- As a moisture stabilizer (humectant) for snus (Swedish style snuff).
- As a cooling agent for beer and wine glycol jacketed fermentation tanks
- As a non-toxic antifreeze for winterizing drinking water systems, and in applications where the used antifreeze eventually will be drained into the soil, water, or a septic system.[6]
- As a less-toxic antifreeze in solar water heating systems
- As a solvent used in mixing photographic chemicals, such as film developers
- In cryonics
- As a working fluid in hydraulic presses
- As a coolant in liquid cooling systems
- To regulate humidity in a cigar humidor
- As the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles
- As an additive to pipe tobacco to prevent dehydration.
- To treat livestock ketosis
- As the main ingredient in deodorant sticks.
- To de-ice aircraft.[7]
- As an ingredient in UV or blacklight tattoo ink
- As a lubricant in Air Conditioning compressors.
O-kay. All I wanted was a chocolate cupcake with white icing. I think I’m going to have to stop being lazy and make my own, but I think that reading the ingredients label on a box of Duncan Hines cake mix is going to make me afraid to put anything that tastes good in my mouth. I can, of course, make my own from scratch, but that doesn’t sound like fun in this heat, so I guess I’ll be avoiding cupcakes until late fall.
I have a paperback 1979 Better Homes & Gardens cookbook that my mom gave me when I moved to an apartment after college, and every now and then I look at recipes on its yellowed pages and find something I’d like to try. I wanted to make brownies from scratch but I wasn’t sure about the recipe in the book, so I looked online and found this recipe, which sounded like just the ticket. I’ve copied it here to show the ingredients because I know some of you are too lazy to click the link then click back. I’ve changed the color of the recipe so you know it’s someone else’s recipe.
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The Ultimate Brownie is my absolute favorite brownie. It is tall like a cakey-brownie, but is dense like a fudgy-brownie. I’m sure it will be one of your favorite brownie recipes too.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
* 8- 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
* 1 cup butter
* 5 eggs
* 3 cups sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla
* 1-1/2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2-1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside. In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes**. Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed. Stir in the nuts. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Don’t overbake.) Cool and frost if desired, but that is not necessary.
** It’s not required, but this is when it’s very nice to own a stand mixer.
This is one of the best brownie recipes.
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Now, get over your shock at the amount of eggs, sugar, and chocolate this recipe calls for. I have no idea how many calories a serving, or how much cholesterol, but who cares? Just don’t tell your doctor-what he/she doesn’t know won’t hurt him/her. I’d watch what I eat for a few days after eating a brownie, just so your cholesterol doesn’t shoot up too much. And for God’s sake, don’t make and eat these brownies less than two weeks before any kind of blood test. If this seems too much brownie for just you, you can always put off making it till there’s a family gathering, potluck, or holiday party to show off in front of everybody. Or do like I did and freeze half.
I learned a few things here, stuff the recipes and cookbooks don’t bother to tell you.
First, and most importantly, melting chocolate on the stove takes forever, so I abandoned the egg/sugar beating to hustle to the computer to look up how you melt chocolate in the microwave. I found several tips, most of which (really!) involved as much care and tedium as nursing a newborn chick in a homemade incubator; what I did is put the butter and chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on half power (5) for about 4 minutes, a little longer if lumps remain. Watch so it doesn’t boil. I rescued mine just before it boiled over.
Second, Use butter, not margarine. It will taste so much better, and since there’s five eggs in it, a little more cholesterol won’t make much difference.
Third, you WILL drip chocolate all over the place. Unsweetened baking chocolate does not taste good, but nobody will blame you if you reflexively wipe a spot off the (sort of clean) floor with your finger and stick it in your mouth. It’s not worth it, but this is one of those things you have to experience yourself.
Fourth, the glass bowl will be hot. Nylon woven potholders tend to slip while you’re trying to scrape the bottom of the bowl into the bowl with the eggs and sugar mix. I used a square of rubbery basketweave stuff that we use to give us a better grip while opening jars. I got chocolate on it. And I got chocolate on the two nylon woven potholders I tried first. Toss ’em in the sudsy dishpan before the chocolate dries and it’ll come off.
Fifth, the chocolate will start to thicken when it hits room temperature, so hurry and get it in the egg/sugar mixture quickly.
Sixth, I looked up how to toast nuts. Put ’em on a baking sheet and in a 350 degree oven for ten minutes. I put mine in the toaster oven while I was beating the eggs and sugar. I don’t start preheating the oven till about five minutes before I’m ready to use it. No sense in wasting gas or electricity for ten or fifteen minutes until you’re ready for it.
Seventh, that “beat the eggs and sugar for ten minutes”? Read the asterisked note-if you’re using a handheld mixer, five is plenty. If you’re lucky enough to have a stand-alone mixer, ten minutes is a waste of electricity. I just gave it another beat for a few seconds before I added the butter/chocolate mixture.
Eighth, read the recipe carefully. I was washing dishes and it dawned on me to check to make sure that the oven temperature was correct; I’d had it on 350 and the brownies had been baking for ten minutes. I hurriedly upped the temperature and it didn’t seem to affect it any.
Ninth, the 35-40 minutes goes faster if you clean up the mess while the brownies bake.
Tenth, insert a wooden toothpick into the center when 35 minutes is up. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Don’t let it bake till the toothpick comes out shiny clean; a little moisture is good.
Tenth and a half: some people put icing on their brownies, which I feel is overkill, and bad for your teeth too. My mom likes powdered sugar on top, but not too much.
Lastly, even though the ingredients cost a little, it’s so much better than the box mix you get for $1.50, plus making it from scratch means you don’t get any weird-sounding additives or preservatives, like “xanthan gum” or something, so it’s almost…healthy. I’ve put half my batch in the freezer, because it’s going to take a long time for Mom and me to work our way through half of it, and we’ll probably get sick of it after a week.
I wonder if I’ll get zits?
Welcome to my ordinary (and sometimes not-so-ordinary) life. 
Janet's Ordinary Life 