granulated sugar – Page 5 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

14-31: Coffee Nut Crêpes

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods October 29, 2018July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, breakfast, brunch, butter, chopped, coffee, crêpes, dessert, eggs, espresso, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, flambé, granulated sugar, hot desserts, instant coffee, Kahlúa, liqueur, MD2018, milk, Mother's Day, nuts, pecans, powdered sugar, roasted, salt, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

Trying to sneak one in before the month of October completely passes me by. 14-31: Coffee Nut Crêpes is not the first crêpe recipe I’ve covered during this project, but it may be the last–believe it or not, I’m getting close to finishing a few of these sections. I made this dish back in May as part of my Mother’s Day brunch for 2018, since it seemed like a breakfasty-brunchy kind of treat.

You can find the other dishes I made for this year’s Mother’s Day tagged under MD2018–there’s also MD2017 if you’re interested in last year’s menu.

Yes, this is technically a dessert (according to Simply Delicious). But doesn’t brunch already cross a few boundaries just by definition? Plus, it was Mother’s Day–most restaurant brunches you’ll find on that day have a pretty extensive dessert section. I’m just contributing to authenticity.

16-10: Strawberry Shortcake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods September 5, 2018July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, American, baking powder, biscuit cutters, butter, cold desserts, dessert, easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, granulated sugar, honey, Kahlúa, liqueur, marinated, MD2018, Mother's Day, orange juice, oranges, salt, shortening, sifted, sliced, soaked, sour cream, strawberries, summer, untested, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream, zested

Just to show you how far behind I’m running with entries these days: I’m finally cracking into what I made for Mothers’ Day this year (MD2018) with 16-10: Strawberry Shortcake. You know…back in May. We were growing a ton of strawberries in the yard this year, and a few of them even made it into this dish.

Last year I attempted a Simply Delicious-inspired Mothers’ Day brunch (MD 2017), complete with fancy pastries and attempts at complicated sauces. This year, I kept it somewhat more simple in the interest of time spent and calories consumed. 🍓

17-62: Scandinavian Coffee Cake

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods July 17, 2018November 6, 2020all-purpose flour, almond meal, almonds, at work, baked goods, breakfast, butter, cake yeast, cakes, chopped, coffee cake, dessert, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, favorites, filling, gift ideas, gluten-free, granulated sugar, nuts, party food, Scandinavian, sliced, snacks, springform pan, tart pan, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, yeast

I had mentioned in a recent entry (16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie) that when I make baked goods for sharing with my work colleagues, I try to make them gluten-free if possible. Not only do I have a good friend at work that eats gluten-free, it offers one more option for the other people there who may want to make a gluten-free choice as well. 17-62: Scandinavian Coffee Cake was the first Simply Delicious recipe that I adapted for this particular purpose, and it turned out really well.

In the other recipe I cited above (16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie), I mentioned that I didn’t have the pictures for this recipe, even though I did cook it. Well, turns out I found the pictures…so here it is, over a year after I made it in reality. ⏳

16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 7, 2018July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, almonds, at work, baked goods, butter, chilled, chocolate, custard, dark chocolate, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, gluten-free, granulated sugar, grated, lemon peel, lemons, macadamia nuts, meringue, milk, nuts, party food, pi day, pie crust, pies, semisweet, sliced, toasted, toppings, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, zested

A few months ago, we celebrated Pi Day in my office. Most of the pies were store-bought, but I decided to flip through Simply Delicious and see if there was anything worth contributing. I decided on 16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie–everyone likes chocolate, and we had had a mishap with the lemon meringue pie on the way back from the store while preparing the day before.

If you’re not familiar with Pi Day, it takes place on March 14th, which when written as a numeric date is 3-14 (at least in the U.S. it is–some countries reverse the order). Pi (the mathematical constant represented by the Greek letter π) is usually rounded up to 3.14, so March 14th is celebrated with actual pies (and a bit of math) as a play-on-words. 😂

No one really needs an excuse to eat pie, but “It’s a math joke” is certainly an acceptable one.

14-14: Sliced Pineapple with Nut Meringue

Adam Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 10, 2018October 29, 2020blender, chopped, dessert, easy, egg whites, eggs, fairly inexpensive, food processor, frozen, fruit, gluten-free, granulated sugar, grated, hazelnuts, hot desserts, lemon juice, lemon peel, lemons, meringue, mint, nuts, party food, pineapple, piped, raspberries, raspberry sauce, sliced, snacks, stiff peaks, untested, vegetarian, zested

14-14: Sliced Pineapple with Nut Meringue is a unique desert. It was actually fairly tasty, just not something I would have thought to put together. This interesting dish has multiple textures, flavors, and temperatures which all interact nicely. I love raspberry, pineapple, and meringue, but I never thought to combine them, especially this way. 🍍

Meringue is probably one of my favorite applications of eggs in cooking. Egg whites only, but still a great use of eggs.

17-30: Stollen

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 20, 2018December 24, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, biscuits, breads, brushed, butter, cake yeast, candied, Christmas, dessert, dough, fairly expensive, fairly hard, fruitcake, garnish, German, gift ideas, golden raisins, granulated sugar, kneaded, maraschino cherries, melted, milk, mixed fruit, orange peel, powdered sugar, proofed, raisins, Silpat, snacks, untested, vegetarian, winter, yeast

Still catching up on a few old ones–but maybe you can file this one away for later on this year. 17-30: Stollen is a traditional German sweet fruit bread that is typically eaten around Christmas time. After two back-to-back years of holiday treat bundles comprised of multiple Simply Delicious creations (good way to burn them off quickly), I’ve pretty much finished off that type of recipe…at least when it comes to baked goods.

Stollen isn’t a Simply Delicious creation–Wikipedia has a pretty extensive entry on it. There’s some other pretty solid recipes out there as well, if you’d like to compare them to this one. I find comparing multiple versions (from trustworthy/reputable sources) of a well-known dish helps me understand what’s essential about it (what I find common amongst all the recipes) and what’s up for interpretation (where they differ). 🇩🇪🎄

15-25: Coconut Custard with Mango

Adam Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 12, 2018October 29, 2020boiled, chilled, coconut, coconut milk, cold desserts, creamy, custard, dairy-free, dessert, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, gluten-free, granulated sugar, mango juice, mangoes, purée, ramekins, sieves, simmered, strained, untested, vegetarian, white wine

There are a few great songs about coconuts. Zazu in Disney’s The Lion King sings a cheeky, British song about the coconut. If the fruit pairing in this recipe were different, I’d also share this Harry Nilsson song that you may recognize if you’ve ever been to a chorus concert at an elementary school. Is coconut a fruit? a nut? a seed? Let’s find out together with 15-25: Coconut Custard with Mango.

The cracked coconut in the background is what you may think of when hearing the word “coconut”, however, the brown and white fleshy part is the seed of the fruit. Every part of the fruit of the coconut is used in many different applications all around the planet.

16-8: French Apple Pie

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 5, 2018July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, American, apples, apricots, baked goods, baking powder, butter, chilled, cored, cut in, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, French, fruit, granulated sugar, individual, jam/jelly/preserves, party food, pie crust, pies, Silpat, sliced, tart, tart pan, Thanksgiving, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian

It’s the first days of spring, but I’m still catching up on old posts. Consider it “spring cleaning.” Here’s one from Thanksgiving 2017, 16-8: French Apple Pie. In 2016, I went all out for Thanksgiving and made most of the entire meal from Simply Delicious recipes. We had alternate plans for 2017, so only an easy-to-prepare ahead of time dessert was needed.

I’ve already covered a similar recipe to this one: 16-15: Tarte Tatin. Consider these a smaller, more rustic version. In regards to authenticity, as long as it’s apples on top and crust on bottom, it counts as a French apple pie according to Wikipedia. 🍏🇫🇷

17-2: English Rusks

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 21, 2018August 23, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, biscuits, breakfast, butter, cakes, chilled, cream cheese, crispy, cut in, dough, easy, eggs, English, gift ideas, granulated sugar, honey, inexpensive, jam/jelly/preserves, kneaded, marmalade, milk, party food, pastry, salt, snacks, tea, toasted, twice-baked, untested, vegetarian, white bread

This project is coming up on 4 years old, and I’m a handful of recipes away from finishing the Baked Goods chapter–at least, according to the collection that I have. There’s definitely some out there that I don’t have the card for, but here’s one of the last uncovered few (#50!) that I do have: 17-2: English Rusks. 🇬🇧☕

According to Wikipedia, English rusks are hard, dry biscuits given to babies for teething or crumbled up and used as filler for ground meat. It’s actually the US version of rusks that are more familiar–they list Melba toast and biscotti as examples.

17-10: Poppy Seed Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 23, 2018August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, anise, baked goods, breads, buns, butter, cheese, cumin, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly hard, granulated sugar, grated, inexpensive, kneaded, milk, parchment paper, poppy seeds, proofed, rolls, salt, sesame seeds, side dish, Silpat, untested, vegetarian, white bread, yeast

One of the last entries from the Baked Goods chapter, 17-10: Poppy Seed Bread is essentially white bread with a sprinkling of poppy seeds on top. Simply Delicious shows it as a loaf, but I chose to make it into rolls/buns–since you’re already topping the bread with seeds, it makes it very reminiscent of sesame seed hamburger buns. 🍔

Even 20+ years later, most mentions of poppy seeds inevitably end up referencing this Seinfeld gag, where Elaine’s love for poppy seed muffins keep causing her to test positive for opium on a work-administered drug test.

This often leads to the question: Can poppy seeds really affect a drug test? And the answer, according to the New York Times, is actually “Yes!” 🤔 You’d have to eat a LOT of them (much more than what the recipe for this bread contains) to have it show up at levels that would cause alarm–but the claim does actually have merit.