I feel like baking...any good ideas?

Question

Hi! I just wanted to bake something....but I don't know what! Does anyone have any recipes or ideas? I'm bored!
I like a challenge, and I am going to the store so a list of materials would help too!
Thanks!

Answer 1

You will need a pastry bag with a plain tip. If you can save some green plastic berry baskets, these mushrooms look totally realistic placed in them.

Meringue Mushrooms

1/2 cup egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces chocolate confectioners' coating

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. (Do not use a silicon mat, use parchment for these or they will be ruined prying them off.)

In a large glass or metal bowl, use an electric mixer to whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Continue whipping until the whites hold soft peaks. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar so that it does not sink to the bottom, and continue whipping until the mixture holds stiff shiny peaks.

Place a round tip into a pastry bag, and fill the bag half way with the meringue. To pipe the mushroom caps, squeeze out round mounds of meringue onto one of the prepared cookie sheets. Pull the bag off to the side to avoid making peaks on the top. For the stems, press out a tiny bit of meringue onto the other sheet, then pull the bag straight up. They should resemble candy kisses. Do not worry about making all of the pieces exactly the same. The mushrooms will look more natural if the pieces are different sizes. Dust the mushroom caps lightly with cocoa using a small sifter or strainer.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the caps are dry enough to easily remove from the cookie sheets. Set aside to cool completely. Melt the coating chocolate in a metal bowl over simmering water, or in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Poke a small hole in the bottom of a mushroom cap. Spread chocolate over the bottom of the cap. Dip the tip of a stem in chocolate, and press lightly into the hole. When the chocolate sets, they will hold together. Repeat with remaining pieces. Store at room temperature in a dry place

Answer 2

My vote is for something easy and satisfying like a pan of brownies or some Toll House cookies.

For added zing, I have done the following with brownies before, you can start with a mix or a recipe from scratch.

Add mint, almond, or raspberry extract, or a hit of your fav liquor.

Frost them with Nutella, this is just almost illegal it is so good.

Frost them with coffee, peanut butter, or mint flavored frosting.

Frost with melted marshmellows then dust with coconut.

Replace the oil in the recipe with chocolate syrup, less fat, more chocolate. How can you do better than that?

Using the toll house recipe minus the chips, you can come up with a lot of other ideas:

Half white, half chocolate chips, add nuts if you like.

Any of the gourmet chips: Andes mint chips are so good.

Regular recipe plus a cup of peanut butter.



For a little challenge, try something with a little more precision that you haven't ever done before, but still common, like a pastry, a loaf of bread or something else requiring yeast, or a cheesecake. You will be amazed at getting something tricky to turn out if you just follow the directions. A word of advice is to avoid anything where you need more equipment than you have (esp if this is just a bee in your bonnet and not a serious interest) such as special pans or really expensive ingredients where you only need a little bit.

You could try your hand at a pretty layer cake?

Other weird little baking items: Fortune cookies, pretzels, bagels, shortbread, quiche, monkey bread, cinnamon rolls.

I like baking too.

Answer 3

Gooey Brownie Surprise....

Buy 2 boxes of whatever your favorite brand is (13 x 9 pan size) and mix according to the directions on the box. Pour half the batter into your pan. Put in a layer of Hershey plain chocolate bars and then a bunch of the small square caramels. (yes, it takes a while to unwrap all the little bastards, but they are the best in this recipe!) Pour in the rest of the batter and make sure that all the caramels and candy bars are covered. Bake at the temp as directed, but you will have to give it more time. Start checking on them at the regular time listed, and every few minutes after that. It is hard to do the test where your "knife comes out clean" on this since you will more than likely be hitting melted caramels and chocolate and even if the brownies are done, your knife will be a mess. Just jiggle the pan to see if the center is set. Let these cool for a bit.

I take these brownies to parties all the time and they are such a hit. So gooey and yummy. Mmmm.....This is making me want to go home and make a batch too!

PS - if you really are in the mood for it, serve these warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You will love it.

Answer 4

Make some brownies:

Brownies:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts/pecans)

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Butter and line the bottom of a square 8 inch pan with foil.
Set aside.
In a med.
saucepan melt butter, then remove from heat and add chocolate.
Stir chocolate until melted (you may need to return the pot to heat for a minute to finish melting the chocolate).
Add both sugars to the pan and stir well.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg.
Fold in the flour, salt and nuts.
Pour into the prepared pan and tap pan on counter once to smooth the batter.
Bake the brownies about 15-20 min.
Do not overbake, they should be firm but still soft in the center.
Cool pan on a rack.
Turn pan onto cutting board and peel away foil.
Cut into squares and enjoy.

They're so good and chewy!

Answer 5

key lime pie

ingredients
For crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 (2 1/4-inch by 4 3/4-inch) crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For filling
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh or bottled Key lime juice (if using bottled, preferably Manhattan brand)

For topping
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
preparation
Make crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (4-cup) glass pie plate.

Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.

Make filling and bake pie:
Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly).

Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream.

Cooks' note:
• Pie (without topping) can be chilled up to 1 day.

Answer 6

something awesome & fresh & yummo for summer:
FRUIT PIZZA

CRUST
1 c. flour
1/3 c. powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 c. chipped pecans

Cream crust ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth (I used a wire
whisk and slowly combined by hand). Pat into pizza pan and turn up the edges.
Bake at 400??? for 5 to 7 minutes until light golden. Watch closely so it doesn't
burn. Cool.

FILLING & TOPPING
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip (I tried with light Cool Whip & it tasted the
same)
Assorted fruits (We used blueberries & strawberries)

Cream together all filling ingredients except for fruit. Spread over cooled
crust. Arrange fruit over the top in an artistic way.

Heat 1/2 to 3/4 cup apricot preserves with 2 tablespoons water. Drizzle
over fruit and refrigerate.

Answer 7

MONSTER COOKIES

12 eggs
4 c. sugar
2 lb. brown sugar
1 lb. butter, softened (not butter)
3 lb. peanut butter
8 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. vanilla
18 c. oatmeal
1 lb. plain M&M'S®
12 oz. chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients in order given. To make Monster size cookies use an ice cream scoop to drop cookie dough onto cookie sheets, otherwise a 1/2 inch size ball makes a nice size cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 20 dozen cookies. You can freeze all ready baked cookies or freeze small 1/2 inch size balls of uncooked cookie dough on cookie sheet. When frozen store in freezer bag or Tupperware until ready to bake.

Answer 8

cake, brownies, and what u usually eat or what u would like to try to eat.

Answer 9

rich warm brownies!

Answer 10

peach pie