Alexandra Penfold's Profile

Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler (A.K.A. Peach Puzzle)

@Kthaeh: Flipping without spilling is tricky. I actually used to have a video of me flipping it, but I think it was accidentally deleted. I'm looking forward to making it later this month for a family gathering so I'll see if when I do the flip if any particular motion or technique comes to mind. You do need to have nerves of steel when you do it; I say this because the thought of spilling makes me nervous so I have to psyche myself up before I do it. I've found I've been most successful when I do it with one of those super quick motions, just cover and invert. Best of luck! If I come up with any other tips, I'll post them here.

Can You Tell Your Buckle From Your Boy Bait? A Guide to Baked Fruit Cobbler-like Desserts

@bdcbbq: Oh, wow! That sounds fantastic. I've never had cobbler with sugar cookie dough on top. I love hearing about all these different variations. So fun!

Persian Buns

@BakerBot: Thanks for your note! I went back through my notes and saw that I forgot to type up the 1 1/2 cups of whole milk! Sorry for that! I've fixed it now. Hope you enjoy the buns!

We Try Everything on the Menu at Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery, Seattle

@deliciouslymeta: Everything was just so tasty! The chocolate sandwich was pure awesome and definitely something you don't find on the menu everywhere. Same with the flights of caramels. For a more modest return trip, I'd probably narrow it down to a molten cake (still thinking about that vegan one!) and the chocolate sandwich. If you're a true milkshake lover, I'd recommend one of the boozy ones just to round things out!

The Best Chinese Bakery Sweets in Manhattan's Chinatown

This article is AWESOME! I can't wait to check out the tang yuan at A-Wah. In the mochi realm, I'm fond of the roasted peanut/coconut filled ones (here's a photo for reference). The mochi outer layer might be a bit thicker than other places, but it's still delicious and I love the filling. I think the place is called Canal Bakery, it's at 242 Canal Street. They sometimes run out by the end of the day.
Also, I'm going to put my hand up for the coconut buns at Mei Li Wah. Mmmm...bright yellow candied coconut goo. I'm a fan and I don't even really like coconut all that much!

Ginger Peach Bourbon Pie

@Debbster: I'm so sorry to hear the freezer method didn't work with your crust. Perhaps your freezer is much colder than mine--the 15 minutes are meant to just quickly chill the crust before baking. You can instead try refrigerating the crust instead for 30 minutes prior to filling. That should help prevent the bottom from turning out soggy (and if you do decide to blind bake, the colder the crust, the less chance it will shrink).

Boston Cream Doughnuts

@jmh316900: To be honest, I've never tried making doughnuts without a mixer! With yeasted doughnuts, the dough tends to be a bit sticky which makes it hard to knead by hand and if you add in too much flour you could end up with hockey pucks for doughnuts. My best suggestion would be to search for a good by-hand yeast doughnut recipe that you can deck out with this cream and chocolate frosting. Hope this helps!

Boston Cream Doughnuts

@MitchB: the recipe I recommended gives you enough cream to fill all the doughnuts. I put the cup measurement in case folks have another recipe they prefer. Hope this helps!

@Dawn of Food: Real pastry cream without gunk and stabilizers and fake flavoring is so much better! Hope you enjoy it!

Hot Cross Buns

@Konan: Oh, I'm so glad to hear that! Thanks for sharing!

Hot Cross Buns

@Sarahmena: Sorry I didn't see your comment before now. When I don't have time in the morning, I do the first rise at night and the second rise over night in the refrigerator. The key with this is getting the dough back to room temp before baking otherwise the cold dough can throw off your baking time (I've learned that the hard way). I hope you had success with the recipe!

American Classics: 5 Easy Cereal Treats to Try

@Zorazen: Ooooh, I love the sound of that!

Homemade Chocolate Graham Crackers

@lux_lisbon: They're a bit crunchier, not quite as airy as store bought.

American Classics: Mock Apple Pie

@Jane Lear: Wow! Thanks for sharing that tasty bit of history! So interesting!

Homemade Chocolate Graham Crackers

@hat19: You can absolutely reroll the scraps, use a very light hand flouring your work surface with cocoa powder and refrigerate the dough for a quick spell if it's getting too soft.

Hot Cross Buns

@Bigbananafeet: Wait. Hot cross bun French toast?! Genius!

American Classics: Untraditional Hot Cross Buns

@dashofginger: Thinking about it some more, it's so funny how what you grow up with shapes your idea of what a certain dish should be. I always thought it was really weird how plain pizza outside New Haven came with cheese on it, but I guess that's the Pizza Cognition Theory at work!

Hot Cross Buns

@karen r: Bread flour has more protein than all purpose flour which aids in producing gluten and makes for a nice chewy texture. The protein also aids in absorbing the liquids. You can make it with all purpose flour, but you may need to add a bit more flour by eye to make sure the dough isn't too wet when you go to knead it, which if you go too far adding more flour will result in a denser dough. Once of the eye-opening things I learned reading Shirley O. Corriher's Bakewise is that not all brand of all-purpose flour has the same amount of protein and it can vary by seasons. Does this help?
I've updated the notes section to include this for other folks considering the all-purpose vs. bread flour debate

American Classics: Untraditional Hot Cross Buns

@hyperfocal: I know, I know! A Jewish friend of mine joked that they were crypto-buns.

@dashofginger: Like many treats I supposed different American bakers have made hot cross buns their own. The ones I grew up came from the grocery store bakeries outside of New Haven, CT. They were baked primarily by little old Italian ladies that worked at the store. They came in little aluminum pans of six, not by the single bun and were more akin to a yeasted pull apart roll. I wanted them to be good as I often gave up my favorite treat--doughnuts--for Lent, but they were always kind of stale and the addition of red and green citron didn't help. I didn't grow up on buns made with currants, clove, allspice or nutmeg, in fact, I didn't even know that hot cross buns were supposed to have those ingredients until I had a more traditional English bun at a NYC bakery post college--so when I tried to make the sort of bun I craved that wasn't my starting point.

Hot Cross Buns

@MorgnsGrl: Pretty sure that would be super delicious. Report back!

@DrGaellon: Just staleness, though these buns hold up better than your typically hot cross buns, still delicious a day later. I wouldn't scale down the recipe because you need that whole egg in the dough. I think it would work if you froze half the dough before rising it. Then when you want to make the next batch, you can let the dough come to temperature in the refrigerator and proceed with the instructions. Instead of baking them in a pan you can form them into balls and bake them on a sheet. Happy baking!

American Classics: Lucky Charms Marshmallow Squares

@candinr: It's funny, I totally hear you, but the sort of oat-yness of the Lucky Charms is actually really nice with the extra marshmallow--I might even say, I *gasp* like it better than the original krispies. It's not as much of a sugar shock as you might expect. That said, you could get a similar sort of experience with less sugar making Cheerio treats (though these look a lot more fun!).