Baking Cookbooks

I love acquiring baking cookbooks... well good baking cookbooks that is. I hate those ones that only have a couple recipes that interest you. Anyhow, a couple weeks ago I bought this cookbook (which is not just baking related), Carnations EASY-DOES-IT Cookbook.

Reading through it has been the funniest thing! First off, the publishing copyright is 1958. Which should tell you a little about what is to be found inside. In complete it reads as a 'house-wife primer', how the little lady can make her daily life/chores easier for herself. And thus I would like to now list some of my favorite lines:

"Take a tip from your husband. Run your home as efficiently as he runs his office! Over 1,000 meals a year makes you a B.H.E (thats short for Big Household Executive) in your kitchen."

"If Men could change the time-honored wedding ceremony, some of them might suggest, "Love, honor and make good gravy!" Keep lumps out of your gravy!"

"BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT!"

"How Did Folks Manage to Entertain B. TV (before television?)"

"Sooner or later, every husband has an attack of barbecue-itis. Properly encouraged, this disease guarantees you a summer vacation from the kitchen!"

"Children and guests are seldom at their best in adult party surroundings. Isn't your party the time to have youngsters greet guests they know, and then disappear, or have dinner quietly by themselves?"

"You're not just impressing your family....every day, at every meal, you're making memories for them."

I had a laugh at the cookbook. It doesn't have the greatest sounding recipes, but as a cookbook collector I felt the need to have it anyways.

I found some other baking cookbooks at the library that I really really want to have in my own personal collection as well. These are:

Martha Stewart's Cookies

Hello! Its Martha Stewart Related, of course its going to be Fabulous!

Duncan Hines: Cake Mix Magic 2

Um, Cake Mix Magic 2? Is there an original Cake Mix Magic as well? I looked for it at the library, but alas, they had no such thing. This is an amazing resource. Sometimes I can get cake mixes really cheap, and this has lots of recipes to liven up the basic box mixes.

Pillsbury: Holiday Baking

Holidays included in this book are: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Years. Mainly its filled with sweet treats to make, but also sprinkled in are some party appetizers as well. Hello! Who wouldn't see the Peppermint Whoopie Pies on the front cover and not want to own this cookbook? Also I have seen many cookbooks recently for Whoopie Pies... so I guess they are making a comeback. Either way any cookbook about or including Whoopie Pies is tops in my book.

Thats it for this post. I will hopefully have some time tomorrow to write a post for the cake(s) I made today (well made most of anyways, I will put the topping on them tomorrow before consumption at Thanksgiving Dinner)

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours!

Chai Spiced Tea Loaves with Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

I have taken a month long break from the blog, but now I am back. My grandfather passed away a month ago and after that I put all my stuff in storage, moved in with my grandmother to keep her company & pay off the few bills I have. I also found a job in the month I have been away.

Today I am back at the baking! Thanksgiving is in a few days and I decided to bake a couple different things for the occasion.  Today I made Chai Spiced Tea Loaves with Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. A few years ago I actually made the Tea Loaves (minus the chocolate chips) for the first time. They were the best things I made that Christmas from the Smorgasbord of goodies I tried my hand at.

This time I decided to add in some mini chocolate chips to give a sweet little punch to the delectable tea loaves.

Tea Loaves:
1/2 cup water
1 tea bag (black tea)
3 cups All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Chai Spice Blend
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Vanilla Low-Fat Yogurt
2 sticks Butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 large eggs
(I also added in 3/4 cup to 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)
Glaze Topping:
1 tablespoon water
1 cup Powdered Sugar
 
Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease & flour 6 mini loaf pans

Microwave 1/2 cup water for 1.5 to 2 minutes. Steep Tea Bag in Water.

In Medium Bowl Combine Flour, Chai Spice, Baking Powder & Soda, and Salt.

In Small bowl mix yogurt with 1/3 cup of the cooled tea.

In a Large bowl, with mixer on medium, beat butter until creamy (about 1 minute).Gradually beat in both sugars. Beat 2 minutes, until fluffy. Reduce speed to low, beat in eggs 1 at a time until well blended. Beat in a little of the flour mix, alternating with a little of the yogurt mix until both are just combined in the butter mix. (At this point I stirred in the chocolate chips). Spoon batter evenly into the mini loaf pans.

Bake 30 - 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaves comes out clean. Cool loaves 15 minutes and then remove from pans and cool on racks for 2 hours.

Mix the glaze topping items together and drizzle over the top of the loaves (best if done while on the wire cooling racks with wax paper underneath or even with the loaves just sitting on wax paper themselves)

These loaves can be pre-made and then wrapped in parchment paper, put in ziplock bags and frozen until later (probably no more than 6 months though).