Emily's Cooking Blog

Ingredients:

¾ c. margarine

1 c. white sugar

1 egg

¼ c. molasses

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cloves

1 tsp. ginger

Directions:

1. Cream margarine and sugar in a large bowl.

2. Add egg and molasses to creamed mixture.

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

4. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and stir.

5. Roll dough into 24 balls.

6. Roll balls in sugar.

7. Refrigerate for a few minutes.

8. Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Source: A. Carnegie

Last Wednesday and Thursday my class made Ginger Sparklers. I was only there for the first or the two days we worked on this lab. Something that went well was mixing the dough. It was done properly and the dough turned out great. Something that didn't go well was staying organized while we were making the cookies. We were all over the place trying to get the ingredients then wash the dishes. Something useful we learned in class was to put the dough together before we chilled it so it would be easier to roll the next day. If I were to make these again, I would do exactly what I did the first day, then actually be there for the second day to help with portioning and pressing he cookies (and eating them!).

Makes 1 – 8 x 8 inch pan

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (50 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1/2 cup (64 grams) all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup (1 stick or 113 grams) unsalted butter

• 1 cup (200 grams) sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease and flour and 8 x 8 inch glass baking dish.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

4. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Once melted, remove from heat and whisk in the sugar until combined.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

6. Stir in the vanilla.

7. Whisk in the dry ingredients until combined and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

8. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it.

9. Allow brownies to cool completely before serving.

Recipe by Darla, Bakedom

Last week my Commercial Cooking class made Brownies. I was expecting this lab to be fairly simple considering I have made brownies quite a few times. Something that went well was the preparation and mixing of ingredients. All group members worked together and it was done efficiently. Something that did not go well was spreading the brownie in the wax paper, the odd shape of the paper made it difficult to put the batter in the corners. This caused the end result to be oddly shaped. Something I learned in class that was useful for this recipe was to poke a toothpick in the centre, and if it comes out with just a few crumbs on it, then it's fully cooked. If I were to do this lab again I would not use wax paper, instead I would just grease the pan then wash it at the end. This lab was fun to make and I would definitely do it again.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Make sure there is a top rack in place in your oven. Turn on the oven to 450°F to preheat .

2. Prepare the tomatoes first. Score an “X” on the bottom of the tomato. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner.

3. Dip tomatoes in an ice bath. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes.

4. Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area. Why use plum tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes? The skins are much thicker and there are fewer seeds and less juice.

5. Chop up the tomatoes finely.

6. Put tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix.

7. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. You will want to toast them in the top rack in your oven, so you may need to do these in batches depending on the size of your oven. Once the oven has reached 450°F, place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.

9. Align the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up.

10. Place some topping on each slice of bread and serve immediately or the bread may get soggy.

Yield: Makes 24 small slices.

I choose to omit this blog

Prep Time: 10 Min Cook Time: 20 Min Ready In: 35 Min

Original Recipe Yield 12 popovers

Ingredients

• 1 egg – room temperature

• 1/2 cup milk – room temperature

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

• 1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a mini muffin pan.

2. Whisk together the egg and milk in a bowl until evenly blended; set aside.

3. Stir together the flour, cinnamon, and baking soda in a separate large bowl.

4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until smooth; being careful not to overbeat.

5. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Do not open the oven door.

7. Place cinnamon sugar in a brown bag for shaking and set aside.

8. Remove popovers from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes.

9. Roll popovers in melted butter then place in brown paper bag; shake until the popovers are evenly coated. Serve immediately.

Source: Allrecipes.com

Thursday, my class made Georgia Dirt Bombs. This was our final lab of the unit and my first time making popovers, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Something that went well was mixing the ingredients together. It was done properly and in the correct order. Something that didn’t go well was pouring the batter in the mini muffin tins. Two groups poured their batter into the same big muffin pan, but the group that filled their half first only greased half of the pan, so when the rest of them were filled they weren’t greased. We then had to take the better out, wipe and grease the pan then refill each cup. This whole process was very time consuming. Something useful that we learned in class was not to open the oven door until the popovers are finished so they do not flatten. If I were to make these again I would not coat them with so much sugar and butter at the end. I enjoyed this lab, but I don’t think I will be doing again.

Prep Time: 10 Min Cook Time: 25 Min Ready In: 35 Min

Original Recipe Yield 16 servings

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas – mash bananas in a small bowl using a fork

• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips – I will hand you them when you need them in direction #6.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Prepare muffin tins – line muffin tin with paper liners and spray the inside of the paper liner.

3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla.

5. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened.

6. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips.

7. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full.

8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

9. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Source: All Recipes

Last Wednesday my commercial cooking class made chocolate chip banana muffins. I was expecting this lab to be simple and straight-forward because I often make muffins at home on my own. Something that went well was the preparation of the ingredients. All three group members worked together to get the ingredients we needed for the lab. Something that did not go well was mixing the ingredients together. One of my group members had remembered that we needed to mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl then liquid in another, but did not bother reading the more specific instructions. Our mashed bananas got mixed in with the liquid ingredients instead of folded in near the end. Luckily this didn’t have a huge effect on the final product. Something I learned in class that was using a toothpick to determine if the muffins were fully cooked. If the toothpick comes out clean that means the muffins are done. If I were to do this lab again I would make sure the ingredients were added in the proper order and I would take them out of the oven a few minutes sooner. This lab was fun and was easily completed on time.

 

Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 15 min.

Ingredients

2 c. all-purpose flour

¼ c. white sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

¼ c. butter, chilled

1 apple – peeled, cored and shredded

½ c. milk

1 tbsp. milk

1 tbsp. white sugar

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt into a large bowl.

3. Cut in butter or margarine until crumbly.

4. Add shredded apple and milk. Stir to form a soft dough.

5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

6. Knead gently 8 to 10 times. DON’T OVERHANDLE

7. Divide dough in half. Pat into two 6-inch circles.

8. Place on parchment-lined. Brush tops with milk, and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

9. Score each into 6 pie-shaped wedges. CALL ME over to check your piece sizes.

10. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until browned and risen. Serve warm with butter.

 

Source: Miller Cafeteria

This past week in my Commercial Cooking class we made Apple Scones. This was our second lab in the quick bread unit and our first time making scones. Something that went well was gathering all the ingredients. Again, there were only two of us cooking, so I grabbed the ingredients and in that time my other group member was able to peel, core and shred the apple. Something that did not go so well was the consistency of the dough. When we first took it out of the bowl, it was very sticky and hard to work with. Eventually we added enough flour to make it so we could knead the bread properly. One thing we learned in class that was helpful to this recipe was how to properly add more flour of liquid depending on the consistency of the dough so it could be properly kneaded and made into separate pieces to be baked. If I make these again I will make the score a little deeper so it is more pleasing to the eye when it is finished baking. Apple scones were fun to make and very delicious.

Makes about two dozen biscuits

Ingredients

4 c. all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

Pinch paprika

1 c. shortening

2 c. grated cheddar cheese

1 ½ c. milk

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and paprika.

3. Cut shortening into flour mixture with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

4. Stir in grated cheese.

5. Stir in milk until dough leaves side of bowl (dough will be soft and sticky).

6. Turn dough into lightly floured surface.

7. Knead lightly 10 times.

8. Flatten dough with hands or rolling pin. It should be 1” high (2.5 cm).

9. Place slightly apart on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

10. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Source: Mr. Turcotte

This week our class began our quick breads unit. Our first lab was cheese biscuits. Something that went well was making sure we had the correct amounts of the correct ingredients right from the start. No one had to go back and change the ingredients that they got. Something that did not go well was our use of time. One of the members in our group had an infected cut on his arm and couldn’t cook so that left two of us to complete the entire recipe in just an hour. Something we learned in class that was crucial to the final product was knowing how to cut-in shortening. Without this we probably would have just creamed the shortening into the mixture making the biscuits hard and not as good to eat. Next time I try this recipe I want to be more careful to not over handle the dough so all the biscuits turn out uniform in shape. This lab was lots of fun and tasted good too!

Servings : 12

DAY 1 - Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 1 c. flour plus about 1 c. more

• 2 ¼ tsp. pizza crust yeast

• 1 ½ tsp. sugar

• ¾ tsp. salt

• 2/3 c. very warm water – like bathtub water

• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 c. flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.

2. Add very warm water. Mix until well blended, about 1 minute.

3. Add enough flour to make a soft dough (3/4 to 1 ¼ c.)

4. Dough should form a ball and will still be slightly sticky.

5. Knead on a floured surface adding additional flour if needed, until smooth and elastic; about 4 minutes.

6. Cover in plastic wrap and label.

Day 2

Ingredients

• Pizza dough

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup mayonnaise

• 1 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix

• 1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped

• 1 cup chopped tomatoes

• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper

• 1 cup chopped cauliflower

• 1 cup shredded carrots

• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. Roll out the pizza dough onto a pizza pan.

3. Bake crust for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Once finished cooking, remove crust from oven and let cool 15 minutes without removing it from the baking sheet.

4. In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and dry Ranch dressing.

5. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust.

6. Arrange broccoli, tomato, green bell pepper, cauliflower, shredded carrots, and cheddar cheese over the cream cheese layer.

7. Chill for one hour, slice and serve.

The week before the Easter break my Commercial Cooking class made vegetable ranch pizza. I was not to excited for this lab because I had eaten vegetable pizza before and I am not a huge fan to say the least. One thing that went very well in our lab was baking the crust, the dough was done extremely well and turned out great. It was completed faster than the other groups and allowed us to begin working on the remainder of the pizza sooner. One thing that did not go so well was the mixing of the ranch and cream cheese. At first it appeared to be lumpy and as we continued to combine the mixture, the consistency didn’t change. In the end, we did too much stirring causing it to begin to separate as we spread it on the dough. If I were going to change something for next time I would be more careful about how much the ranch and cream cheese mixture gets stirred. Something I learned in class that was very beneficial to properly completing this recipe was how to knead dough. Our dough turned out great because the entire group payed close attention. This lab had many tasks to be completed and was lots of fun.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground beef

1 tbsp. oil

3/4 c. chopped onion

3/4 c. shredded carrots

3/4 c. diced celery

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

3 c. chicken broth

4 c. peeled and diced potatoes

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. all purpose flour

2 cups grated cheese

1 1/2 c. milk

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 c. sour cream

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef in a 3 quart saucepan. Drain and set aside.

2. In the same saucepan, add 1 T. oil and add onion, shredded carrots, parsley flakes, basil and celery. Saute until tender.

3. Add the broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 - 12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

4. In small skillet melt butter and add the flour. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to the soup and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low.

5. Stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat and blend in sour cream.

Yield: 8 servings

Source: Kim's Krazyness

This weekend I made cheeseburger soup at home as part of my commercial cooking class. I chose this soup because it had lots to do and it was fun to make in class. Something that went well with this soup was that my parents both thoroughly enjoyed the soup and were impressed with my abilities. One thing that did not go well was chopping the vegetables, it took much longer than I had expected and I made quite the mess! (I cleaned it all up though) if I were going to make this soup again, I would have someone helping me because it was a lot to do for just one person and difficult to time properly, but I was able to manage. Something I learned in class was that making the soup goes smoother if all of the ingredients are measured and prepared before you begin cooking, if I didn’t have anything ready I would have been in a huge rush and the soup would not have turned out as good as it did. I’m glad my family enjoyed this soup and I will probably be making it again.

1st layer

½ cup margarine

⅓ cup white sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

Cream together margarine, sugar and vanilla. Then mix in flour. Spread on bottom of 8X8” pan.

2nd layer

8 oz. cream cheese

½ cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream together cream cheese, white sugar, and vanilla. Spread evenly over 1st layer.

3rd layer

4 – 5 apples

⅓ cup white sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ cup sliced almonds

Peel and core apples, slice thinly. Place sliced apples in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl mix together sugar and cinnamon. Add cinnamon mixture to the apples and mix together. Put apples on cheese layer, sprinkle ¼ cup of sliced almonds over top. Bake at 450ºF for 10 min. Turn oven down to 400ºF for 25 minutes.

Source: Ms. Mann

Last week my class made bavarian apple torte. This was an exciting lab and it involved many complicated steps. Something that went well was our planning. We planned out who was doing which layer ahead of time and this made it so there was no confusion and everything was done in time. One thing that did not go well was making the third layer. Most of the apples got cut way to thick so they had to be sliced thinner which took extra time, then the recipe instructions were not read properly and the almonds were added to the cinnamon and sugar mixture. In order to fix this mistake we used a strainer to separate the sliced almonds form the mixture. This took extra time and lengthened the time it took for it to go into the oven. The thing I learned in class that was very useful in making this recipe was to make sure the first layer was completed quickly so the other layers could be started and omce you are finished your layer, it is good to help your other group members so that everything flows quicker. This lab went really well, I enjoyed making it and cannot wait for the next one.