RIGHT once again I accidentally went afk for multiple days and cannot scroll back far enough to catch up on everything......let me know what I missed!! whether personal or fannish!
@soph_sol have mostly been busy baking cookies and therefore not posting much
@Satsuma that sounds like a great way to spend time though! what are the best cookies you've made so far?
@soph_sol so far i am mostly making storage cookies bc the USPS holiday mailing deadline is coming up next weds (i dont care that much about my cookies arriving at any particular date but i’d prefer they not sit in a sorting facility for a week so i’ve gotta make the deadline anyway lol)
probably my favorite of the lot is either the Janhagel (crunchy cinnamon almond rectangles) or the fruitcake bars (which i can’t eat yet bc they are still seasoning, tragic) but we also have an unnamed chocolate walnut cardamom cookie that i might have to make a 2nd batch of to mail bc i made them first and we keep snacking on them 😅
@Satsuma ooh those sound so good though! now I want to eat those cookies too! any chance you could share the recipes?
@soph_sol happy to share copies of all my recipes! tho i will warn you i have notes/modifications for all of three of these haha
@soph_sol fruitcake bars: ignore the bit where my mom says a double batch is “easy” with a dough hook unless you have a very large mixer, i foolishly believed her and had to finish mixing in the fruit & nuts by hand in my biggest mixing bowl 😅 (but also unless you have a huge cookie mailing list a single batch is probably more than sufficient, even if they are still delicious 2 months later if stored properly!)
@soph_sol increased choc (you could probably go even further if you’re a real chocolate lover but 4 oz is the size of bakers chocolate bar so it was convenient to leave it there) is an absolute must as is the cardamom imo—increased salt is optional we like it better saltier but we are also big fans of the chocolate salt combo and i know not everyone is!
you can probably ignore the extra 2 min baking time note unless your oven also runs cool like ours
@soph_sol also if you’re looking at the 18 per sheet note, I use a 1.5 tbs sized cookie sheet to scoop these (oxo size 40) and then leave them as little craggy mounds — they puff a little but they dont spread at all so however you put them in the oven is the shape they’ll be when they come out. If you decide to press them flat before baking like a pb cookie i imagine they’d need more space
@soph_sol these are best when you cut them as thin as possible but thats kinda tricky so:
- technically you can get away with not blanching the almonds but it makes the dough much harder to slice without crumbling so like…just save yourself the struggle and sit there peeling your fucking almonds
- use your absolute sharpest knife, i literally have “sharpen your knives” on my annual late November to-do list for these cookies
- despite the authors note to return the dough you’re not cutting to the fridge, i actually find it cuts better when slightly above fridge temp. This year i just left the dough on the counter for like an hour but last year i nuked each 3rd in the microwave for 15 sec before slicing and both worked okay
@soph_sol sorry all of these have the pics out of order my app refuses to cooperate tonite apparently 
@soph_sol oh ALSO fruitcake bars note: we do dried apricot instead of the candied pineapple and then i candy my own orange peel which is also a recipe i can give you if you would like
@Satsuma this is all amazing thank you so much for sharing!!! and yes pls do share your candied orange peel recipe - I've tried to make it once before but it didn't work properly, and would love to give it another go
@soph_sol if you dont care how the peels look, peel them however is most convenient but if you are aiming for long & attractive looking strips, cut the stem and blossom ends off the orange, aiming to get 100% of the peel off but not cut TOO much into the flesh and then halve the orange vertically from top to bottom (this is hard to describe but you’re aiming to make strips that go roughly 1/2 the circumference of the orange) then carefully work your nail under one of the short edges and work your way across the fruit, keeping the whole thing as intact and un-raggedy as possible. Cut these lengthwise into strips of the width you want
put the peel in a pot with room to fully submerge them in syrup—if you have a choice between shallow and wide or tall and narrow go for the narrow option. for every ~10 oz of orange peel you have, add 20 oz sugar to the pot, then cover this with a generous amount of water. throw in a cinnamon stick or some cloves if your tastes run that way.
simmer until the peels are tender (the white pith will become somewhat translucent and notably softer) and then turn up the heat and cook further until it reaches 220f (if you live enough above sea level that it impacts your baking, look up an altitude conversion chart for candymaking — this should be about the same temp people local to you boil maple syrup to)
at this point if you have enough syrup you can dump all your peels into a quart jar and then cover them completely with syrup and store them in the fridge that way—as long as the peels are 100% covered i’ve found this (and candied ginger which i do the same way) to be relatively fridge stable. Otherwise pull them out and lay them on a cooling rack to air dry—usually i find it takes ~24 hrs, but it can take longer if its esp humid. if you like the rolled in sugar look, roll them in sugar before they go on the cooling rack but i prefer just drying them plain. save the now orange peel flavored syrup to use however you use honey or maple syrup, or it makes a nice drink if you dilute it with sparkling water
@soph_sol ah yes already spotted one thing i forgot: this makes about enough syrup to cover the peel *after* ive taken out the 8 oz i use for the fruitcake bars, which i neither store in syrup nor dry but instead immediately drop in the recipes overnight rum maceration container. if you wanted enough syrup to cover all the peel you’d probably need to double the sugar?
and the reason you might want to store the peels in syrup instead of air drying is bc we like the moister texture when putting candied orange peel in baked goods (besides the fruitcake, my kings cake for carnival season calls for orange peel). if you aren’t using them for baking projects i would probably just dry them
@Satsuma ahhhh thank you for all this, amazing!!!
@soph_sol if you end up trying any of them please do let me know how they came out!
@soph_sol if you dont care about the syrup being useable you can be a lot looser with temps but the syrup is the best part!!!!!