gift ideas – Page 4 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

16-52: Apple Nut Saucepan Torte

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 28, 2016November 5, 2020à la mode, all-purpose flour, apples, apricots, autumn, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, boiled, breakfast, brown sugar, butter, cake pan, cakes, caramelized, cast-iron, cherries, chopped, cinnamon, cored, currants, dessert, diced, dried fruit, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fall, fruit, fruitcake, gift ideas, golden raisins, granulated sugar, grated, herbs and spices, hot desserts, melted, nuts, oranges, papaya, party food, pecans, peeled, pineapple, raisins, snacks, springform pan, TGV 2016, Thanksgiving, torte, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, zested

One of the two desserts I made for this year’s Thanksgiving (TGV 2016) was 16-52: Apple Nut Saucepan Torte (the other was 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe). I wanted something “of the season”, and this seemed like a cross between apple pie and fruitcake.

This was the second dish I made, starting off the Wednesday 11/23 portion of my holiday cooking marathon. Since this cake holds well at room temperature, I planned to just slightly underbake it, and then finish it off for 5-10 minutes in a preheated oven to warm it up for dessert on the day of the holiday.

If I hadn’t made this for Thanksgiving, I think it’d make a great gift (mailed or delivered in person) or potluck dish, especially for an office or somewhere where it would sit for a while. Even though Thanksgiving is over for the year, it’s totally still the season for a cake like this one.

Other dishes I made on this night (Wed. 11/23): the dressing for 1-10: Seafood Louisiana Cocktail, cranberry sauce, 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe, and a roasted garlic & herb butter to serve with 17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls.

17-57: Coffee Cake Wreath

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods October 15, 2016October 7, 2020all-purpose flour, almond meal, almonds, apples, baked goods, breakfast, brunch, butter, cakes, cinnamon, coffee, coffee cake, creamed, decorative, dessert, egg wash, eggs, filling, gift ideas, golden raisins, granulated sugar, herbs and spices, holiday baking, kneaded, melted, milk, nuts, party food, pastry, pecans, proofed, salt, Silpat, snacks, untested, vegetarian, wreath, yeast

This recipe, 17-57: Coffee Cake Wreath is really delicious and the wreath presentation is really pleasing to the eye. ?

Our kitchen equipment collection has been curated by Jamie over the years. We have the perfect pair of scissors to cut this dough in our knife block.

17-21: Small Golden Pretzels

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods September 26, 2016November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, brushed, butter, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, German, gift ideas, herbs and spices, kneaded, melted, milk, party food, pretzels, proofed, revisited, saffron, salt, snacks, vegetarian, yeast

Pretzels are my favorite snack food, which means that 17-21: Small Golden Pretzels were right up my alley. One of my favorite episodes of the Simpsons is based around pretzels. Making pretzels usually involves boiling the dough in baking soda water.

These golden pretzels are good as an afternoon snack. Saffron gives these pretzels the golden hue.

17-19: Parmesan Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods September 19, 2016August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breads, brushed, butter, cheese, dough, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, grated, herbs and spices, kneaded, loaf pan, melted, milk, oregano, Parmesan, proofed, revisited, rolls, salt, slit, snacks, vegetarian, yeast

After staring at the screen for much too long (not the whole two weeks since the last time I posted, but at least some portion of it), I’ve determined that I just can’t think of anything all that notable to say about 17-19: Parmesan Bread. I’ve even made it once before, despite the lack of notations or photographic evidence. It’s just not what I hoped it could be.

The first time I made this bread, it turned out (somewhat) like the one shown in the Simply Delicious picture. This time, it turned out more like savory, vaguely cheesy monkey bread.

17-1: Croissants

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 28, 2016August 23, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breakfast, brushed, butter, chilled, croissants, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly inexpensive, flaky, folded, French, gift ideas, granulated sugar, hard, kneaded, lukewarm, pastry, poppy seeds, proofed, salt, snacks, untested, vegetarian, yeast

Croissants are a culinary item that have been around for well…a really long time. Crescent-shaped rolls are a part of several cuisines–one example would be the kifli from Eastern Europe, versus the well-known Western European version, like 17-1: Croissants. ?

Wikipedia mentions that frozen pre-formed croissants are pretty readily available these days (and have been since the 1970s), so making this recipe’s truly a labor of love–it takes a good amount of effort, as noted above.

13-2: Onion Tart

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses July 1, 2016July 29, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, bacon, baked goods, black pepper, breakfast, butter, cheese, chilled, creamy, dinner, dough, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, flute, food processor, gift ideas, grated, Gruyère, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, nutmeg, Parmesan, party food, pastry, pie crust, salt, sautéed, tart, tart pan, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

It’s hard to think of things to write about something you cooked awhile ago–a moment of honesty while I get my gears turning here. 13-2: Onion Tart is a great vegetarian (with a modification or two) option that satisfies everyone for any meal of the day. It’s not super exciting (which explains my inability to think of anything particularly interesting to say about it), but it’s definitely a pretty good fallback option if you’re in need of an easy, crowd-pleasing, inoffensive, yet impressive recipe.

Simply Delicious notes that this recipe is French and that this version comes from the Alsace region of the country. I found a few other takes on that version scattered around the Internet, but give or take some bacon and Gruyère cheese, they’re all relatively similar to this one. ?

17-27: Nut Cookies

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 30, 2016November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, brown sugar, butter, cookies, creamed, creamy, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, hazelnuts, parchment paper, party food, rye flour, snacks, untested, vegetarian

17-27: Nut Cookies are tremendous. My mother certainly never baked cookies like this. She is into the traditional chocolate chip variety only. ?

This was my first time baking with rye flour, which we had left over from when Jamie made 17-37: Holiday Cookies. ?

17-26: Breakfast Crescents

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 28, 2016November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breads, breakfast, brunch, crescents, dairy-free, dough, egg-free, gift ideas, granulated sugar, kneaded, lunch, party food, proofed, salt, snacks, vegan, vegetarian, yeast

Baking is still new to me, so I took this recipe, 17-26: Breakfast Crescents as another chance to experiment with yeast again. These crescents taste very much like a loaf of bread, just in crescent roll form.

This is just a simple bread recipe where you roll the dough into crescents.

17-33: Coconut Coffee Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 24, 2016September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breakfast, butter, coconut, coffee, creamy, dessert, dough, egg-free, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, favorites, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, icing, kneaded, melted, milk, muffins, party food, proofed, salt, snacks, untested, vegetarian, yeast

Here’s some easy breakfast or snack rolls to make that can get super addictive. 17-33: Coconut Coffee Rolls don’t necessarily need to be consumed with coffee if that’s not your bag, but they do pair nicely for a morning pick-me-up. ?☕️

I’ve made coconut rolls before, but they were somewhat different (17-67: Coconut Crescents) and I used those as part of my 2015 holiday gifts. Most of these rolls didn’t even make it out of the house–usually I try to distribute the majority of the baked good products of this project to my friends and family to avoid eating all of it ourselves.

17-4: Cinnamon Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 9, 2016August 23, 2020all-purpose flour, American, baked goods, breakfast, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, dessert, dried spices, egg wash, eggs, filling, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, grated, kneaded, melted, milk, Mother's Day, parchment paper, party food, pastry, proofed, rolls, salt, Silpat, snacks, untested, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, yeast

I realize it’s now June, but here’s a recipe I made for Mother’s Day this year, at the request of my very own mother. What can I say…it takes a while to actually sit down and write these things sometimes. We were doing brunch at their house this year, and she wanted us to bring cinnamon rolls, so I solved two problems at once by making 17-4: Cinnamon Rolls.

This particular recipe doesn’t include an icing/glaze with it, but if you want one (as I knew my mom would), I used this recipe from food.com and it works just fine. Let’s be honest–the ones in their picture are probably NOT what you pictured when you thought of cinnamon rolls. Whether you’re thinking of their picture or mine, this recipe (with a few tweaks) will probably suit your needs.