Countertop Convection Oven – Page 2 – Don's House of Fine Patisseries

February 21, 2021December 22, 2024

Making Plain Cake (With Lemon Sauce) — Photos

This weekend’s cooking projects from my collection of recipes included more chocolate buttecrunch, more bran muffins, and the subject of this post, plain cake, with the addition of a lemon sauce as an experiment.

I came about to learning to make plain cake from scratch after I attempted to make a New York crumble cake I’d seen being made on a Martha Stewart cooking show. Not only was the cake not as expected — we were expecting mostly cake with a modest but tasty crumble crust, instead of the actual small amount of cake and a sizable crumble crust — the cake did not bake well, and I was very disinclined to try it again. The next day, I looked for a plain cake recipe on the internet and found one, which I adapted to my format.

First, two cups of flour were placed in a mixing bowl:

Two cups of flour added to a mixing bowl

… to which two teaspoons of baking powder were added:

… as well as a quarter teaspoon of salt:

Quarter teaspoon salt added to flour and baking powder

The flour, baking powder, and salt were blended with a fork:

The bowl was then put aside until later.

Margarine was picked up on a piece of paper towelling:

… in order to coat the interior surfaces of the baking pan:

Inner surfaces of baking pan coated with margarine

Then, a bit of flour was put in the pan …

… and spread around to coat the margarine:

Baking pan coated with flour and margarine

The baking pan was also put aside until later.

In another mixing bowl, a quarter cup of shortening was added:

A quarter cup of shortening in a mixing bowl

The shortening was creamed with an electric mixer:

A cup of sugar was added to the creamed shortening:

Adding a cup of sugar to the creamed shortening

… and the sugar and shortening were blended:

An egg was added to the mixing bowl:

… and the ingredients were again blended:

A teaspoon of vanilla extract was added to the mix:

A teaspoon of vanilla extract being added to the mix

A teaspoon of vanilla extract added to the mix

… and again, the ingredients were blended.

About a third of the flour mix prepared earlier, and about a third of a cup of milk, were added to the ingredients:

A third of the flour mix and a third of a cup of milk added to the ingredients

… and completely blended:

The previous two steps were repeated twice until all the milk and flour mix were blended into the batter.

The batter was then transferred to the floured baking pan:

… and placed in a countertop convection oven preheated to 350F:

At this point, I was getting rather thirsty, so I poured myself some iced tea, and a bottle of my homebrew, a Belgian-style brown ale, made with water from filtered, melted ice from the lake at my cottage:

Since my mom suggested that a lemon drizzle be added to the cake, first a few tablespoons of icing sugar were placed in a bowl:

… to which half the number of teaspoons of lemon juice were added:

… and the ingredients were mixed, then put aside for later:

Icing sugar and lemon juice mixed together

Soon, the cake in the oven was puffing up and browning:

… and was taken out of the oven after 55 minutes of baking:

The cake was pricked multiple times with a thick needle …

… to allow for some absorption of the lemon sauce which was poured over the cake with a small plastic scoop:

… at which point, the cake looked like follows:

When cooled, a knife was used to loosen the cake around its edges in the baking pan, and the cake was taken out of the baking pan:

A few slices of cake were cut from the cake:

And, of course, the cake was yummy! And mom said “Delicious!”

February 7, 2021December 22, 2024

Making Stuffed Potato Skins — Photos

This weekend’s cooking plans from my collection of recipes included making stuffed potato skins (along with more bran muffins for my mom, and some chocolate buttercrunch.)

My recipe for stuffed potato skins is a bit of a no-brainer, whose formal existence as a recipe lies more in the documenting the amounts of ingredients required so as to minimize waste and leftovers, or scrambling about to prepare extra ingredients to use up other already-prepared ingredients. Originally, making the stuffed potato skins was both an effort to add to my collection of recipes that could be used to fill the freezer, as well as a response to a desire to make stuffed potato skins, critically, using items I normally have on hand (potatoes, cheese, and in this case, frozen cooked breakfast sausages); however, yummy as they are, there was no pretense to attempt to replicate some mythically great potato skins eaten at some hypothetical pub.

First, five potatoes were taken out …

… and then washed — in this picture, save one, to show the comparison between cleaned and not (although the bag of potatoes does say “washed potatoes”).

Potatoes were halved along their length:

The potatoes were then somewhat hollowed out (before cooking, instead of after, as mentioned in my recipe, so that I could boil the removed pulp later to make mashed potatoes), while leaving a generous amount of the potato pulp in the skins:

Hollowed out potato skin and removed pulp

The pulps from the potatoes were placed in water, to boil later …

Pieces of potato pulp hollowed out from the skins, to be boiled later

… and with which to ultimately make a bit of mashed potatoes to be used in a lunch in the next couple of days:

The mashed potatoes made from the pulp parts of the five potatoes used today, to be eaten at an upcoming meal

Back to the potato skins: The hollowed out potatoes were placed on a microwave-safe plate:

The plate of hollowed out potatoes were placed in the microwave oven (1200 watts) for 10 minutes:

Hollowed out potatoes in the microwave oven

Once cooked (a few skins needed another couple of minutes to finish cooking), the hollowed out potatoes were placed on a flat surface (a cutting board), ready for stuffing with sausage cubes:

Cooked potato skins with plenty of potato flesh

Earlier, three frozen, pre-cooked breakfast sausages were placed on a cutting board:

The sausages were sliced lengthwise …

… and sliced again lengthwise, making spears:

The spears were sliced cross-wise in order to make little cubes …

The spears were sliced to make little cubes

… which were then transferred to a bowl …

Sausage cubes placed in a bowl and put aside

… and which was put aside to be used at the point at which the cooked potato skins were to be stuffed:

Potato skins filled with sausage cut into little cubes

A block of cheese (cheddar in this case) was taken out, along with a cheese slicer:

Block of cheddar cheese and a cheese slicer

About 100g of slices of cheese were cut off of the block …

… and placed on top of the potato skins filled with sausage cubes:

Cheese slices placed on top of the potato skins filled with sausage cubes

The potato skins were placed in a countertop convection oven preheated to 350F for 15 minutes:

Stuffed potato skins cooked in a countertop convection oven

The first batch of cooked potato skins were taken out of the oven, smelling yummy!

Once all the stuffed potato skins were cooked and cooled, a couple of them were put aside for supper, while the other eight stuffed potato skins were placed in a container for freezing:

Cooked stuffed potato skins in a container for freezer as well as a plate for supper

Yes, they were yummy!

January 31, 2021December 22, 2024

Making Bacon-Wrapped Chicken — Photos

Today’s cooking project from my recipe collection was bacon-wrapped chicken pieces, something I originally started making a couple of years ago for their value as an easy enough to make last minute hors d’oeuvres contribution for a party; now I principally make them for the value of having them pre-made in the freezer, including to possibly use at a later time as hors d’oeuvres at a party.

To begin, parchment paper was placed in a baking pan:

Wooden toothpicks were also taken out:

I cut a package and a half’s worth (375g each package, for a total of about 560g) of bacon into half-lengths, which worked out to 40 half-slices, the amount of pieces I target in my recipe.

40 half-slices of bacon, from a pack and a half of bacon (each pack 375g)

The rest of the bacon was placed in a bag and frozen, for later use.

Two chicken breasts were placed on a cutting board:

Two chicken breasts placed on a cutting board, beside a kitchen knife

The chicken breasts were sliced along their length …

… and then each chicken breast was cut into approximately 20 cubes:

In this case, the pile on the left are the cubes to be used directly, while the pile on the right are smaller pieces which were bundled together two or three pieces at a time in half-slices of bacon as though they were full pieces of chicken.

The cubes were individually wrapped in a half-slice of bacon, and skewered with a wooden toothpick:

Cube of chicken wrapped in bacon, and skewered with a wooden toothpick, to keep them together

Smaller pieces of chicken were bundled together, two or three pieces at a time, and wrapped in bacon, then skewered with a wooden toothpick:

Smaller pieces of chicken bundled together

As each piece of bacon was wrapped in bacon and skewered, they were placed on the parchment paper in a baking pan:

Bacon-wrapped chicken pieces placed in a baking pan

Once all the pieces of chicken were wrapped, they were equally divided between two baking pans that fit (one tray at a time) in my countertop convection oven:

40 pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken divided between two baking pans

The first tray was placed in my countertop convection oven (and yes, the glass door was dirty, and was cleaned afterwards):

Tray of bacon-wrapped chicken pieces in the oven

Partway through the cooking (after about 25 minutes), the pieces were turned over (in this case, the three columns on the left):

Turning over the pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken

When the pieces were fully cooked after about 50 minutes, they were taken out of the oven:

Cooked pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken directly out of the oven

Cooked pieces were transferred to a clean tray to be placed in the freezer:

The first tray of cooked bacon-wrapped chicken was placed in the freezer to cool and freeze.

Meanwhile, the grease and drippings in the baking pan …

… were drained into a bowl, cooled and solidified, and then wrapped in paper, to be placed in the municipal brown box for composting.

Grease and drippings transferred to a bowl

The second tray’s worth of raw bacon-wrapped chicken pieces was transferred to the first baking pan, because of its deep sides and all the grease and drippings produced:

Second tray’s worth of bacon-wrapped chicken transferred to the first baking pan with its deep sides

The pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken were cooked the same way as the first tray, and once taken out of the drippings, looked like the first tray of cooked pieces:

Cooked bacon-wrapped chicken pieces on a tray, ready to place in the freezer before transferring to a plastic container

After the second tray of bacon-wrapped chicken had cooked, the frozen pieces from the first tray were transferred to a plastic container:

Frozen pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken placed in a plastic container to be placed in the freezer

Those from the second tray, once cooked, were also transferred to a separate tray, frozen, and then transferred to a plastic container.

All the bacon-wrapped chicken pieces are now in the freezer again, waiting to be eaten — some of them tomorrow!

Of course, the pieces were tasty (I tasted one to make sure they were good!)

January 24, 2021December 22, 2024

Making Bran Muffins — Photos

Here is the next entry in my series of photo posts of me making the various recipes in my recipe collection.

This week, I took photos while I made more bran muffins for my mom, using a recipe I’d found on allrecipes.com ~~and which so far I have not yet~~ which I have now (20210214) converted into my own format. ~~As a side note, I should~~ I have now converted it to my usual recipe format, because when I make them, I use regular milk instead of buttermilk, and I normally make a major change: Instead of placing the batter into twelve muffin papers in a twelve-welled baking tin, I bake the batter in a six-welled baking tin (with slightly larger wells), lined with coffee filter papers, and the baking time was adjusted to 22 minutes.

This batch of muffins had a further deviation from the recipes above, which was the intentional omission of raisins for reasons beyond the scope of this post.

First, I measured out a cup and a half of wheat bran into a mixing bowl:

A cup of milk was added to the bran:

The bran and milk were mixed with a fork, and put aside:

A third of a cup of vegetable oil was measured out and placed in a separate bowl (the white dots are milk leftover in the measuring cup):

A large egg was added to the vegetable oil:

Two thirds of a cup of packed brown sugar were added to the oil and egg:

2/3 cup (packed) brown sugar added to the vegetable oil and egg

A teaspoon of vanilla extract was added to the vegetable oil, egg, and brown sugar:

A teaspoon of vanilla extract added to oil, egg, and brown sugar

The vegetable oil, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla extract were blended with a fork:

Blending of vegetable oil, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla extract

The vegetable oil, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla extract were added to the bran and milk mix:

Vegetable oil, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla extract added to the bran and milk mix

All the ingredients were blended together with a fork:

A teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda were added to a cup of flour — unfortunately, I forgot to add the quarter teaspoon of salt, to no apparent ill effect.

A teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda added to a cup of flour; salt was forgotten

The flour, baking powder, and baking soda were mixed together in the cup, and added to the rest of the ingredients:

Flour, baking powder, and baking soda mix were added to the rest of the ingredients, and then blended together

Again, all the ingredients were blended together with a fork. At this point, I would normally have added three quarters of a cup of raisins, which I didn’t do this time.

I make double sized muffins for my mom, so I use coffee filter papers, for which I use a glass to help form within the baking tin:

Forming the coffee filter paper in the baking tin wells

The batter was spooned into each of the wells:

Muffin batter spooned into each of six baking tin wells

The muffin tin was placed in a counter-top convection oven preheated to 350F, and baked for 22 minutes (rotated 180 degrees part way through):

Muffins baking in a counter-top convection oven.

The muffins were taken out of the oven after 22 minutes and placed on a cooling rack:

After a few minutes, the still cooling muffins were taken out of the baking tin, and returned to the cooling rack to continue cooling:

Once cooled, I placed the muffins in a sealed container.

Mom was so impressed, she said that the following morning, she would have one from this batch, before eating the last muffin from the last batch!

January 10, 2021December 22, 2024

I Made “Blondies” Today — Photos

I made two batches of “blondies” today, and as has been somewhat of my wont over the past few months, I took a lot of pictures while I was cooking.

I started by taking some chocolates I received for Christmas from Santa Claus:

… which were partly pulverized in a food processor, and to which the same amount of chocolate chips were added:

One of two bowls of pulverized chocolates and chocolate chips

The chocolates were put aside. Then, flour was added to a food processor:

1 cup of flour added to a food processor

Baking powder, baking soda, and salt, were added:

Brown sugar was measured out …

… and added to the food processor.

A large egg was added:

Vanilla extract was measured …

… and added to the food processor:

Vanilla extract added to the food processor

Margarine was measured out and added to the food processor:

1/2 cup margarine measured and added to the food processor

The ingredients were mixed with the food processor:

Mixing of the ingredients in the food processor

The mix of pulverized Christmas chocolates and chocolate chips was added to the dough …

… and the dough was blended again.

The ingredients and chocolates were blended

An 8″ x 8″ baking pan was lined with parchment paper …

… and the dough was transferred to the baking pan:

Transferring the dough to the baking pan

The baking pan and dough were placed on the centre rack in a countertop convection oven set to 350F:

The blondies being baked in a countertop convection oven

The blondies were taken out of the oven after baking, and cooled for a few minutes on a cooling rack:

The blondies were lifted out of the baking pan, and once completely cooled, the blondies were cut into 2″ x 2″ pieces:

Unfortunately, the two batches I made today did not fully solidify into a fluffy cake consistency during the baking process, and fell a bit, creating a consistency like brownies.

But were they tasty? Of course!