Would anyone out there be interested in purchasing homemade cookies from me this holiday season? (Only in the Loudoun County area; I don't want to ship them.)
I'm just thinking about this idea and would like to see what kind of response I get before I decide if I want to really offer this. If you are interested, please leave a comment on this post for me. I assume that only friends and friends of friends read this blog, so that's who I'm thinking of. Even if I don't know you personally, I'd like to hear from you! Lots of my friends say they know people who check this, and I love hearing that and I'm very happy to share my Messy Kitchen with you.
Here's how it may work: I'd offer several varieties of cookies to purchase by the dozen (maybe Rosemary Butter Cookies, Cream Cheese Walnut, Chocolate Chunk, Shortbread, Chocolate-Dipped Walnut Biscotti). Some, like the first three mentioned, I could also sell as frozen dough logs or balls for you to bake at home. I could do deliveries on perhaps the three Fridays in December before Christmas. I won't do fancy packaging so if you want to give my cookies as gifts, that's up to you. You can take 100% credit for the baking!
Now, I'm not a natural sales person and I'd rather just give everything away for free, that's just my personality. But I will have to go against my instincts and charge for my services and my products. Small bakeries in Loudoun sell their cookies for $2 each or more. I'm thinking of charging $15-$20 per dozen, depending on the cookie, with discounts for buying more. Maybe $12 for the frozen dough. I use the best ingredients and can't buy them in large quantities like bakeries, and I will home/office deliver in the area. Plus you have my recipes!
I'm not looking to do this as a business, I just love baking and think it would be fun to offer this service to my friends (and friends of friends!) this holiday season.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Easy Sticky Buns
This recipe is from Ina Garten's newest cookbook Back to Basics, and is also on her website (lucky for me, I didn't have to re-type the recipe :o)
This picture speaks for it's self: YUM! And it was extremely easy.
I am not afraid of butter at ALL but I felt that these had an exhorbanent amount of butter. Next time I make this recipe I will use about half of the butter called for in the first step (in the muffin tins). I was impatient and in trying to soften my butter in the microwave, I accidentally (surprise, surprise) melted it completely. Maybe this contributed to the over butteryness bordering on greasyness?? Probably yes, but still it was a heck of a lot of butter.
I halved the recipe, and don't have a 6-cup muffin tin. I only have an (eeeeehhhhhhhh) nonstick 12 cup one. You should never bake a muffin tin with empty cups, so pour water into them by pulling out the oven rack, placing the pan on it, and then pouring in the water with a liquid measuring cup. You'll be very unhappy if you accidentally slosh water into the wrong cups so use care!
(By the way, are you thinking that I halved the recipe but maybe didn't half the amount of butter I used? I checked and re-checked. I did half the butter.)
If you also half this recipe, remember that the tin needs to be flipped 5 minutes after it comes out of the oven, so DON'T forget to remove the water! Roll up a kitchen washcloth and dip it in to soak up the water. The pan will be hot so the residual drops of water dry up immediately.
Sticky goodness!
Easy Sticky Buns
12 tablespoons (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
This picture speaks for it's self: YUM! And it was extremely easy.
I am not afraid of butter at ALL but I felt that these had an exhorbanent amount of butter. Next time I make this recipe I will use about half of the butter called for in the first step (in the muffin tins). I was impatient and in trying to soften my butter in the microwave, I accidentally (surprise, surprise) melted it completely. Maybe this contributed to the over butteryness bordering on greasyness?? Probably yes, but still it was a heck of a lot of butter. I halved the recipe, and don't have a 6-cup muffin tin. I only have an (eeeeehhhhhhhh) nonstick 12 cup one. You should never bake a muffin tin with empty cups, so pour water into them by pulling out the oven rack, placing the pan on it, and then pouring in the water with a liquid measuring cup. You'll be very unhappy if you accidentally slosh water into the wrong cups so use care! (By the way, are you thinking that I halved the recipe but maybe didn't half the amount of butter I used? I checked and re-checked. I did half the butter.)If you also half this recipe, remember that the tin needs to be flipped 5 minutes after it comes out of the oven, so DON'T forget to remove the water! Roll up a kitchen washcloth and dip it in to soak up the water. The pan will be hot so the residual drops of water dry up immediately.
Sticky goodness!
Easy Sticky Buns12 tablespoons (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package (17.3 ounces/ 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
FOR THE FILLING:
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins (I didn't add the raisins today)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.
Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1½ teaspoons of the cinnamon, and ½ cup of the raisins.
Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the roll about ½ inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1½ inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups.
Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon) and cool completely.
Roasted Chicken and Roasted Garlic
Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!!!!! This was dinner the day I made the Challah. (I know that this was a long time ago, but I'm trying to catch up on my posting here...)
Roasted chicken with gravy, roasted garlic, and broccoli (yes, roasted). Me like roasting.
This was the wine of choice for this dinner, and I'm mentioning it because it was absolutely splendid! I pair food and wine so generally (meat = red wine, chicken = white), but a lot of the time I just go for any wine I'm in the mood for, regardless of the food. On this occasion the pairing was spot on and all flavors were enhanced to the point where it was really noticeable. In the future I plan on paying more attention to the food-wine pairing because I see what a difference it makes, even to unrefined palates such as ours.
Hahn Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling, $10 at The Wine Shop in Leesburg.
Perfect Roast Chicken
recipe from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten
1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs (I used rosemary instead this time)
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges (I didn't use fennel...)
Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top. Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.
OK now, if you have your oven on such a high temperature for that long of a time, you simply MUST roast some garlic for that meal or for the next day. All you have to do is cut the top 1/4 of a head of garlic off, place it on a piece of foil, spash on some olive oil, salt and pepper. Bunch up the foil into a tight bundle and throw it in the oven.
Cooking time or temp isn't very important; with the roasted chicken at 425 for 1.5 hours it comes out perfectly, so you can adjust from there according to whatever else you are cooking.
You get this rich garlic smear for your chicken, bread, broccoli - everything on your plate no matter what it is pretty much. Count on one head of garlic for every 2-3 people (or if you're Erol, one per person). The flavor isn't pungent at all like raw garlic, it's roasty and toasty and mellow and delish.
Unwrap the top of the foil package, and squeeze from the bottom up and scrape the soft cloves of garlic that squirt out into a little dish. Or, unwrap the top, and then place it in the dish and let people squirt out what they want at the table.
Roasted chicken with gravy, roasted garlic, and broccoli (yes, roasted). Me like roasting.This was the wine of choice for this dinner, and I'm mentioning it because it was absolutely splendid! I pair food and wine so generally (meat = red wine, chicken = white), but a lot of the time I just go for any wine I'm in the mood for, regardless of the food. On this occasion the pairing was spot on and all flavors were enhanced to the point where it was really noticeable. In the future I plan on paying more attention to the food-wine pairing because I see what a difference it makes, even to unrefined palates such as ours.
Hahn Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling, $10 at The Wine Shop in Leesburg.
Perfect Roast Chickenrecipe from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten
1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs (I used rosemary instead this time)
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges (I didn't use fennel...)
Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top. Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.
Brine!
I brined my chicken, which I HIGHLY recommend. It makes the inside of the chicken meat taste very flavorful, which is especially important if, like me, you don't eat much of the skin. Wash your chicken completely inside and out with cold running water, removing and discarding the junk from the cavity. Place the chicken in a bucket or other large container that will fit the chicken and will fit in your fridge; I use the lid of my cake tupperware. Fill it with water and a cup of sugar and a cup of salt. You may also add lemons, peppercorns, herbs, all sorts of stuff, but the sugar and salt is the base and that's all I use on a normal day.
Brine the chicken overnight. When you're ready to roast, get organized because this can be a very messy process. Read the recipe again and lay out all your ingredients so that you won't have to wash your hands a million times before you get the bird in the oven. Don't for get to set aside your salt and pepper too! Dry the chicken very well with paper towels, place it in the roasting pan, then go ahead with the recipe. 
When you brush on the butter, it may look kinda weird and the first time I did this I was like "eww what is happening?!" As the melted butter is smeared on the cold chicken, it solidifies a bit making it look and feel funny. I may be the only one who's noticed this, I don't know, but I wanted to mention it :o)
OK now, if you have your oven on such a high temperature for that long of a time, you simply MUST roast some garlic for that meal or for the next day. All you have to do is cut the top 1/4 of a head of garlic off, place it on a piece of foil, spash on some olive oil, salt and pepper. Bunch up the foil into a tight bundle and throw it in the oven.
Cooking time or temp isn't very important; with the roasted chicken at 425 for 1.5 hours it comes out perfectly, so you can adjust from there according to whatever else you are cooking.You get this rich garlic smear for your chicken, bread, broccoli - everything on your plate no matter what it is pretty much. Count on one head of garlic for every 2-3 people (or if you're Erol, one per person). The flavor isn't pungent at all like raw garlic, it's roasty and toasty and mellow and delish.
Unwrap the top of the foil package, and squeeze from the bottom up and scrape the soft cloves of garlic that squirt out into a little dish. Or, unwrap the top, and then place it in the dish and let people squirt out what they want at the table.
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