grrrrr....I wrote a long post and now it's gone. I'll attempt another time. :thepain:

I did that last night.
Not on here, just sending an email to my bro.
So I called him instead. Which is what anti-internet people are all for, "real" communication.

Then I had to call him back because I forgot a vital point. Then he emailed me about 30 minutes later (he won't call too late because of the 'rents). I emailed him back after breakfast and am waiting for a reply.

This was all Diz's fault for making free with cat paws on keyboard.

Which is a long-winded way to say I feel your pain.

What I had wanted to say was, Sundae, you flatter me! :blush: Muah! hihihi.....By the way, your mini carrot cakes were perfect. Since I don't have the carrot toppings to make mine cute like yours, I was gonna sprinkle coconut shreds on them. As for the strawberry napoleons, they're extremely quick and simple to make. I used the recipe on the box, Pepperidge Farm puff pastry. However, I pour the milk, heavy cream, and pudding mix into the blender, and whoosh, everything mixed. You can omit the strawberry and it would taste great.

Ali: you can easily do this for your kids and if you're up to it, you can make them with Max. :)

Here's the recipe I grabbed from Pepperidge Farm. However, the way I make them is much simplier. Cut into 3 big rectangle strips, then cut into however many small rectangle pieces you want. I place them directly onto the baking sheet. You may want to use parchment paper if you've got them. After they're baked, cut them pastry puffs into halves rather into thirds. And use whatever pudding flavor you want. I once used canned peaches rather than strawberries. But hey, y'all are bakers and cooks here, so I'm sure you know what you'd want to do. :D I just went into their site and found a whole load of recipes I'd like to try out, hehe.


P.S. I just skimmed over the recipe, sounds so complicated. I gotta go but will come back to simplier directions.

STRAWBERRY NAPOLEONS RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
• All-purpose flour
• 1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet)
• 1 pkg. (about 3 1/2 ounces) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped or 2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tsp. milk
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen sliced strawberries

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.
2. Sprinkle the work surface with the flour. Unfold the pastry sheet onto the floured surface. Cut the pastry sheet into 3 strips along the fold marks. Place the pastry strips onto the prepared baking sheets.
3. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Split the pastries into 2 layers, making 6 layers in all.
4. Prepare the pudding mix according to the package directions with 1 cup milk in a large bowl. Fold in the whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes. To make icing, stir the confectioners’ sugar and 2 teaspoons milk in a small bowl.
5. Spread the icing on 2 top pastry layers. Spread 3/4 cup pudding mixture on 4 pastry layers. Top each with about 1/3 cup strawberries. Stack 1 strawberry-topped layer onto a second one to make 2 stacks. Top each stack with an iced pastry layer. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours.
6. Helper: For easier slicing, refrigerate the Napoleons for a least 1 hour and use a wet serrated knife.
7. Serving Suggestion: The pastries may be drizzled with 1 square (1 ounce) semi-sweet chocolate, melted, before serving.
8. Recipe Note: Parchment paper keeps the pastry from sticking to the baking sheet and also makes for easier cleanup. If you don't have parchment paper, you can spray the baking sheet with cooking spray instead. However, cooking spray may cause the bottoms of the pastries to brown more quickly, so begin checking for doneness 5 minutes early.

I bought those carrot toppings. They were on sale :blush:

I might try to translate your recipe for the Napoleons.
It looks spectacular and if you say it's easy I kinda believe you.
'Cepting I've seen some of your amazing creations already.

Yes I intend to flatter you, but I mean what I say. Your precision and fine motor skills are out of the ordinary. I can make cakes. But I know they are ordinary. No self-flagellation, it's the truth.

I wowed the staffroom with my cheese scones today.
No pics, I've kinda given up documenting my baking.
But I was happy - I thought they were chocoholics. Turns out enough of them like the old savoury snacks after all. I had as many compliments as I did for the carrot cake (the big one).

Mrs B has also suggested paying me to make her some comestibles.
She is currently without a kitchen due to an extension (building work, in case that doesn't translate). Maybe this time I will accept the offer of £. The makey-cakey offer was never in doubt, because I just enjoy it.

I see a career opening up...
I'll be right over to help you Sundae.

They loook a bit like a strawberry version of a vanilla slice. the puff pastry looks lovely.

:thumb2: You've given the teachers enough. It's about time someone shows some appreciation.

I might do so when they've finished the brownies and stuff they have here atm. :)

Just realized I have not put up the simplied recipe or instructions for the napoleons. :p:

Well do it, damn it.:p:

Okay, this is what I did to make the napoleons.

I bought:
puff pasty sheet
one box instant pudding
1 c. milk
1 c. heavy cream
strawberries (fruits are optional)

1. Cut the sheet into however many rectangles you want. Leave the puff pastry sheet to thaw only a little bit, like 5, 10 minutes. It's easier to open and cut when it's still somewhat hard. Bake as directed on the box.

2. Put the pudding mix, millk, and heavy cream together and mix it. The blender is the easiest way to go.

3. After the puffs are cool, cut them in half. Put pudding in the middle of the two pastry sheets that you had cut.

4. Take a piece of chocolate, milk, dark, white, mint, whatever you want, and put it in a sandwich bag. Stuff it in the bottom corner and microwave it until melted. Poke a hole with a toothpick. You can squeeze to drizzle chocolate onto the pastries. Rather than chocolate drizzles, you can shift confectioner's sugar on top of the pastries to decorate.

DONE!

(Hope I made sense. :p:)

What is instant pudding in British English?

I'm guessing instant whip or angel delight?

Sorry, I meant instant pudding mix. I did a search, and I think it's available in England too. I found the following brands, such as in Jell-O or Moir's. I grabbed the pictures from twengo.co.uk when I did a search for british instant pudding mix. Hope that helps. :p:

Yeah, Angel Delight

Thanks guys!

Made cookies for my nephew's birthday this Sunday. My mom saw the Hello Kitty cookies and asked, "Are they pigs?" When I replied no, she said, "Cows?" I almost laughed out loud. I told her they're cats. She later asked if they're cats, how come they don't have whiskers? :lol:

I thought of Wolf but I don't have enough to send her any. :( Next time. :D

Oh yeah, so I ordered a rocket cookie cutter for the space shuttle theme birthday. We don't have time to decorate them and the person who requested the cookies don't even like icing. Luckily someone pointed out that undecorated rockets will look like little penises. :lol: I had to order the star cookie cutter quickly. So, if there's ever a bachlorette party, I can offer to make cookies. :lol:

I made these cupcakes for my nephew's class today.

wow. those look delicious

C is for cookie!

I'd eat Lola Bunny's cookies anytime ;)

Sorry, I could not resist the pun.

Thank goodness for the internet and its urban dictionary. A while back I posted that I like to toss my salads and this guy had such a good laugh. I had to nag him quite a bit to get why he thought it was so funny. Anyways, I looked up "cookies." :blush:

Christmas is coming, so it's cookies time! I bought a brownie pop pan recently and came up with this idea. Now, I've got to come up with a few more recipe ideas.

Brownie pop Xmas trees :)
Attachment 41864

Nom Nom Nom, and a beard full of those little sprinkle things. :haha:

You want some Xmas cookies, Bruce? :D

Thank you, but my blood sugar doesn't need a boost, especially this time of year. :haha:

Hehe, well, I had to ask. :)

wow. lola you need your own cupcake show on the food network. those look great

Aww...shucks :blush: I know it's not true but I'll take the compliment. :D Hihihi....Anyways, you want some Xmas cookies, big guy? Send me a pm and verify your address. I don't want someone else enjoying your cookies. :p:

why the hell not?

Because unlike Alan Richman, she is female and therefore will have to live on coffee and nicotine if she is on TV - especially on a food show. We want her around for more years than that.

But hey, when she becomes an old crone she can do a down-home cookery programme, because older ladies are allowed to spread a bit.
Well - when I say spread a bit I mean being a week away from actual malnutrition.

I want Lola videos on YouTube though.
I would watch faithfully every week and marvel at her appearance, accent (we've spoken, it's cute), cooking, decorating. And get sis in on the act too. Or maybe not, as we all know how special Lola is, but she seems to think her sister is better. Nope!

another good suggestion!!

Do it, Lola! Just try one, see what happens. :)

No, try 52.
Hey, start small ;)

You mean make videos of me baking cookies? Hmmm...I'm even lazy taking pix, much less making videos. :p but how to do it, make my sis be the camera man?

Btw Sundae, you crack me up. Hahahahahahaha.......

Or a tripod.

I have a tripod. I'll think about it. :)

I did mean Adam Richman by the way.
I know Alan Richman is a very talented man, but he wasn't who I had in mind when writing.

Is that the Man v Food chap?

Aye.
He was on Fighting Talk (11.00 Staurday on BBC Radio Five with Colin Murray - recommend) the other week. Spurs fan, really knows his football.

Apols, just had to ETA because I had the two Northern Irish 5 Live presenters mixed up.
Well, they all look the same don't they...

I love that guy.

Attachment 42157
Happy tears in my eyes as I'm making my great-grandmother's famous Christmas cookies today. She brought the recipe with her from Spain. She passed away in 2000 and my grandmother passed away in 2008. My family thought the recipe was lost, but I got it from my grandma before she passed. Through lots of research I was able to closely mimic the wine the recipe calls for, and so now I'm having these cookies for the first time since 2006. Lots of very happy memories, here.

What a wonderful tradition this is and will be for your family and children, Choco. It's a great thing to preserve and pass on heritage recipes and family memories.

The cookies look delicious! Is it a sweet wine, a type of sherry or port, that the recipe calls for? What is the overall taste? The cookie part looks rather like shortbread. I'm not asking you to divulge a secret recipe, just interested; I love learning about taste combinations and especially how traditional recipes combine ingredients, and why.

Yea, I think it qualifies as a shortbread. The wine specified by my grandmother was Domecq Viña 25, which is a mahogany-colored, syrupy sherry with notes of nuts, raisins, molasses, and toast. I'm using a sweet marsala that had very similar tasting notes.

The recipe is actually very simple. Here it is, should anyone care to make these.

Abuela Catalina's Pastisettes
(Makes a gazillion cookies.)

Mix 12 egg yolks with 1.5 lbs sugar. Add in 1.5 lbs lard or shortening. Mix well until lumps are gone. Gradually mix in 3 lbs of flour, then about 1/3 cup of the wine. Knead until it forms a dough. (I've been adding a bit more wine when the dough gets too crumbly. Should be similar in consistency to a pie crust.)

Roll a chunk of dough out about 1/8" thick. Use a cookie cutter or a cup to cut circles. Dab a little bit of fruit preserves -- strawberry and apricot are my faves -- on to the middle of half your circles. Use a thimble (or anything similar in size) to cut holes in the other half of the circles. Lay these on top of the jammed circles, press the edges, and re-cut with the cup to seal.

Bake in a 300F oven in the middle rack for 12-15 minutes per batch. Allow to cool completely on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and enjoy!

Thank you for the recipe! It sounds delicious - can butter be used in place of lard or shortening, do you know? Maybe not if this is your first time making them ...

I'll give it a try during the holidays. :)

I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I imagine there'd be texture issues.

Someone told me recently that he replaces all shortening or oleo in cookie recipes with butter. He said shortening makes the cookie crunchier. He just likes butter better.

http://www.differencebetween.net/obj...ng-and-butter/

They mention you can usually substitute shortening with butter, but not the other way around. The butter would melt faster, though, so I don't know if the cookies would hold their shapes.

Yes, there's definitely a texture and baking difference in some items - I guess I'd have to try a small fractional recipe and see if it worked. Or use lard. I don't like to use hydrogenated fats, that's all. Did you use lard or shortening in your cookies today? Some people swear by lard for pie crusts; I used to use shortening and then switched to butter.

I used shortening today. My grandmother recommended lard, but I was baking for vegetarian neighbors and so wanted to avoid making cookies that were 20% animal fat! :)

Chocolat: Just read your recipe. Does sound like it'll make gazillion cookies! I just found this recipe for peppernuts. This man who giave it to me said it was passed down in his family. I really want to try it but couldn't find citron and small package of clove yesterday. I'll put up my recipes later. I've narrowed down to 3 types of cookies for Xmas gifts.

Ortho: Rather than lard, use shortening. Still unhealthy though.

That's awesome. There's nothing so special as a recipe passed down.

Christmas cookies! Yes, they're actually called Christmas cookies, hehe. They're supposed to taste like fruit cake cookies. Someone once gave me some and I thought it was good. Sadly, these don't taste like it. :( I'm a bit disappointed but the teachers will just have to eat them, hehe. Gonna take a break, put these into a jar. I'm baking two more types tomorrow then off they go on Thursday!
Attachment 42175

A forest of Christmas trees...
Attachment 42185

A mountain of cookies...
Attachment 42186

Cupcakes when pressed for time (minimal decors)
Attachment 42187

By the way, someone tasted the "Christmas Cookies," and she thought they were good.

Wow, that is one massive amount of beautiful Christmas baking! It looks delicious - you know it will all disappear in a flash. :)

Yum! What lucky people were the cookies going to, Lola?

Two tiring days, and that's with my sister's help. Oh yeah, my mom helped me chop the ingredients in the "Christmas cookies." She must've have felt sorry for me because I was taking forever to chop the candies. I ate one or two of each types and that was enough. I made these for my nephew's teachers and staff at the school. I remember having only 1 teacher when I was in elementary school. My nephew has one main teacher, 2 music teachers, 2 P.E. teachers and an assistant, and an art teacher. This year, he also an small group reading teacher. I also give to the principal, assistant principals, counselor, librarian, nurse, and a big box for the front office. I'm always harrassing the receptionists and there are these 3 ladies who help the children get off the car when parents drop them off in the morning. I feel that teachers get gifts from students, but the staff has no one to show them appreciation. Anyways, yeah, that's why I always make so much cookies. The teachers at first would thank my nephew's parents (hehe...meaning my brother and his wife). But now, by the third year, they know it's me who make the cookies so they thank me. This one teacher would tell me they're yummy and stuff and that makes me happy. I don't mind being tired a few days in a year when it's appreciated. Well, I make cookies for teacher appreciation week too. :p: This year, I made a total of 17 boxes of cookies. The cookies you see is just enough for 17 boxes of cookies. I would've liked to fill more but ran out of time, and energy, to make more cookies.