Your Own Creations

[ChesterV]

Have you ever created your own recipes?

What were they? Did they turn out as expected?

 

[ChesterV]

I created a sugarless cookie recipe back in high school. It was by "accident" of course.

I was making some cookies for a class I was in, and I didn't pre-prep to see if I had all the ingredients in the house.
Come to find out we had no sugar. My mother was on a hippie "natural" craze at the time and I forgot she didn't buy processed sugar.

I had to make something, so I took what I could find and made something cookie like.

I had unbleached flour, eggs, butter, honey, and holiday type spices (clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, pumpkin pie spice).

I had only about 4 tablespoons of honey left, so I had to figure out something to make that wouldn't need to be sweet, so I decided on a basic shortbread type of cookie.

To me, clove and nutmeg can taste "sweet" on their own, with little help, so I used a larger amount than that for the dough. I put a "splash" of all the other spices in there as well, but doubled the clove and nutmeg.

The cookies turned out like a crunchy shortbread. I thought they tasted pretty good for a sugarless cookie, but everybody else (being raised on American food which is mainly sugar and salt) didn't care for them, although everybody did try them.

I wish I had written down what I put in there. I'm sure I could sell the recipe to some organic company today. LOL.

 

[ChesterV]

I was temping at an office back in 2000, and I liked the people I worked with very much. Two ladies I worked with had their birthday the same week, so I decided to make a big cake for both of them.

I ended up creating what I call the "Sin" cake. Dark chocolate fudge brownie cake with a whipped chocolate fudge and black raspberry frosting.

I've never had anybody ever fight over anything I've ever done before, but these two ladies got into an "argument" about which part of the cake was better.......one lady loved the fudge brownie cake part, the other lady loved the whipped choco-fudge-raspberry part. And I made a huge cake, but they didn't even want to share with anybody, much less each other! LOL

I've only made this cake a couple of times, and both times resulted in people turning VERY greedy over it.

Unfortunately, this is one recipe I may take to my grave. Not sure if I want to "give it up" yet.

 

[Winterybella]

Would my plantain bread count? I had a plantain that was getting very old so I decided to use the plantain instead of bananas to create my own thing. Plantain Ain't a Crime Bread is what I am going to call it coming off of your Sin Cake. @ChesterV how can you create a Sin cake and not expect people to fight? What's more is that sins should be confessed. That means you have to spill or share the recipe with us.

 

[ChesterV]

Would my plantain bread count? I had a plantain that was getting very old so I decided to use the plantain instead of bananas to create my own thing. Plantain Ain't a Crime Bread is what I am going to call it coming off of your Sin Cake. @ChesterV how can you create a Sin cake and not expect people to fight? What's more is that sins should be confessed. That means you have to spill or share the recipe with us.

LOL!!!

Yeah, this "sin" is going with me to the grave!!!!!
LOL!!!

It WAS going to be my "special signature" item when I got my bakery going, but since I could never get any help or backing for it, I never got my bakery................

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I pretty bake from my mind, rarely using recipes. When I use a recipe, it’s because I haven’t come up with a better balance of ingredients and/or method.

For instant, the shortbread recipe I used from Tartine went by the wayside as it didn’t give me the results I wanted. So this test batch of shortbread is based on my knowledge and intuitive sense of what will produce the slight crispness I want.

Baking knowledge draws from generations of bakers who have come before me. What we know to be cake or shortbread today is the evolution of cake and shortbread from antiquity. So I guess for me, I’d say I bake guided by my knowledge and intuition instead of written recipes, but it’s nothing original or unique to me. I’m just following the footsteps through history.

 

[ChesterV]

I pretty bake from my mind, rarely using recipes. When I use a recipe, it’s because I haven’t come up with a better balance of ingredients and/or method.

For instant, the shortbread recipe I used from Tartine went by the wayside as it didn’t give me the results I wanted. So this test batch of shortbread is based on my knowledge and intuitive sense of what will produce the slight crispness I want.

Baking knowledge draws from generations of bakers who have come before me. What we know to be cake or shortbread today is the evolution of cake and shortbread from antiquity. So I guess for me, I’d say I bake guided by my knowledge and intuition instead of written recipes, but it’s nothing original or unique to me. I’m just following the footsteps through history.

Yeah, I've done the same, but the few times I "hit the jackpot", I did write it down. Well, except for those sugarless cookies. LOL

People have always been shocked that all I need is a kitchen with ingredients, and I can make whatever ........
But thats just something I was "born with". I never needed instruction or education on it, I just do it.
The more finer points of cooking and baking might escape me because I never had the education of it all, but stick me in the kitchen and I can make something out of nothing.


I've always wanted to pass down what I know to someone, but there hasn't been anyone interested. I found this site and thought I'd just it via threads and posts on here.

 

[Winterybella]

Does that mean that baking isn't a science after all or does it confirm it is? Either way, when I deviate "slightly" from a recipe and get a good result I am on cloud nine. After all I am still a "baby" baker.

@ChesterV, I understand fully that some sins are to be taken to the grave, but if the load gets too heavy we are happy to carry some of your Sins for you. Confession is good for the soul afterall.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Does that mean that baking isn't a science after all or does it confirm it is? Either way, when I deviate "slightly" from a recipe and get a good result I am on cloud nine. After all I am still a "baby" baker.

@ChesterV, I understand fully that some sins are to be taken to the grave, but if the load gets too heavy we are happy to carry some of your Sins for you. Confession is good for the soul afterall.

Oh baking is definitely science. Pure science. The end product simply demonstrates the wondrous and absolutely delicious aspects of the application of science.

Deviations simply show us the parameters within the science. Each deviation beyond the standard creates a change. An extra egg yolk doesn’t ruin a cookie dough, but it makes it richer and denser. But add three extra egg yolks and you end up with a edible lump of baked dough.

Creativity is exploring the possibilities within the limits set by science.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Yeah, I've done the same, but the few times I "hit the jackpot", I did write it down. Well, except for those sugarless cookies. LOL

People have always been shocked that all I need is a kitchen with ingredients, and I can make whatever ........
But thats just something I was "born with". I never needed instruction or education on it, I just do it.
The more finer points of cooking and baking might escape me because I never had the education of it all, but stick me in the kitchen and I can make something out of nothing.


I've always wanted to pass down what I know to someone, but there hasn't been anyone interested. I found this site and thought I'd just it via threads and posts on here.

Yes I totally get how you do that. When I was at my brother’s house for the week of the fire storm I was baking cookies with my niece without a recipe. My sister-in-law couldn’t figure out how I was doing it. I explained once you understand the ratios you don’t need a recipe.

For me as long as I have a scale and a calculator I’m good to go. I really cannot function in the kitchen without a scale. Measuring cups are so foreign to me; I’ve baked by weight for so long that they don’t make sense to me.