Home-style cooking with OnkelC and Friends, Vol.2

[valparaiso]

****, for the last two minutes i've been fighting to death with the scroll to reach the "post a reply" link at the bottom of the page, and not until now have i realised there's another link at the very top :(

i fail at the internets, gaf

[edit] FRAWRESS VICOLY! thanks for your posts, onkel. you're the only one entitled to spam this thread, after all. if anyone knows how can i delete this so someone can use this first message to post a recipe let me know and i'll do it; otherwise i'll just have to take pics of tomorrow's lunch, heh.

[OnkelC]

Hello and welcome to a virgin page!

The above pic is my humble contribution to the "eating crow" thread in the gaming annex.

[OnkelC]

the sherry pro tip is very nice, onkel. also, i'm sure you have your reasons for boiling pasta the way you do, but as far as i know (and half of my family is italian) you shouldn't rinse it with cold water after boiling it, since you're only washing the salt off it, so to speak. *snip* keep up the good work, everyone!

Will do, sir!
I usually do dot splash the pasta after cooking, but this particular variant of noodles tends to stick a lot, so the splashing was to facilitate the further preparation of the dish.

Keep'em coming and help me get through the working day by posting your questions, suggestions and critics. I am especially looking at you, Christopher!

[jarosh]

Will do, sir! I usually do dot splash the pasta after cooking, but this particular variant of noodles tends to stick a lot, so the splashing was to facilitate the further preparation of the dish. Keep'em coming and help me get through the working day by posting your questions, suggestions and critics. I am especially looking at you, Christopher!

just put some olive oil in the water and they shouldn't stick

[OnkelC]

just put some olive oil in the water and they shouldn't stick

This prevents them from sticking together while cooking, but not after draining them. Splashing them afterwards is dull, but in some cases there is no way around it. Apart from the sticking issues, it stops them from cooking further.

Edit:
I even doubt that oil in the boiling water would prevent pasta from sticking while cooking. Only reasonable way would be stirring them. Since oil is lighter than water, it would rest on the surface, while the pasta is cooking below the surface. When draining the pasta, the oil is flushed first, too.

Other opinions on this?

[valparaiso]

the "oil in the water" thingy is indeed a myth; the only thing you need is water and lots of salt. if you want to prevent the pasta from sticking you have to be careful and bring the water to a brisk boil before dropping the pasta in it: the bubbles and the constant air movement inside the water is what keeps the pasta moving around and prevents it from sticking.

if you do it like this and use a good pasta brand (barilla usually does the trick) it shouldn't stick together at all. if it does, however, you can still fix it by adding a bit of olive oil and stirring it carefully after you've drained it. the water splashing is a no-no, in any case: the reason why it is advised to cook the pasta al dente is because you're taking for granted that the cooking process will go on for a short time due to residual heat. of course you can still rinse it if you're cooking a pasta salad or a cold dish of some sort, but we all know that only post-feminist british chicks in their 30s cook pasta salad, don't we.

feel free to give my advises a shot and see how it goes, i'll try to post a pasta recipe if i can get my hands on a digital camera this week

[OnkelC]

if it does, however, you can still fix it by adding a bit of olive oil and stirring it carefully after you've drained it.

That will prevent the pasta from picking up the sauce and is only recommended if the pasta is/are(?) served as a side dish IMHO. Best is to drain them and put them into the sauce immediately after draining.

of course you can still rinse it if you're cooking a pasta salad or a cold dish of some sort, but we all know that only post-feminist british chicks in their 30s cook pasta salad, don't we.

Erm, no.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...&postcount=286

i'll try to post a pasta recipe if i can get my hands on a digital camera this week

I am looking forward to your dish.

Keep them a-coming, folks. Post your questions.

[OnkelC]

As a continuation of this weeks "convenience dreck" cuisine, I'll make some Spaghetti Bolognese from a readymade spice mix as tonights' dish.

Stay tuned and keep on posting, please.

[BlueTsunami]

Heres my Thanksgiving plate



The dish is composed of...

Red Rice with beans and seasoning

Canned Yams

Mashed Potatoes with Sourcream and Chives mixed in

Salad: diced Cucumbers and Tomatoes with Lettuce. Thousand Island dressing

10lb Turkey! Sason is the seasoning that was used for it

Sausage Stuffing. Breakfast Sausage, Celery and Onions. Poultry Seasoning and Salt were used for seasoning.

The stuffing came out awesome

[jarosh]

the "oil in the water" thingy is indeed a myth...

well, i dunno, but it definitely works with my corn spaghetti. if i don't use olive oil they stick together like crazy. no problems whatsoever if i put oil in the water.

[sportzhead]

As a continuation of this weeks "convenience dreck" cuisine, I'll make some Spaghetti Bolognese from a readymade spice mix as tonights' dish. Stay tuned and keep on posting, please.

OnkelC I just made my macaroni and cheese that I mentioned a while ago. Took pictures and everything. Hope to post it either late today or tomorrow.

[OnkelC]

Sportzhead, long time no hear! A nice Mac and Cheese is would be just the right thing to have, concerning the shitty weather over here!:) Please post it, I will try it out the next week.

So, let's cook.
As the last dish from me this week, I made some Bolognese. To keep in sync with the rather "basic" cooking we had this week, I used some store-bought spice mix for preparation. These are the ingredients for two persons:
-pasta of choice (we had spaghetti),
-200grams (1/2lb) ground beef,
-one can cubed tomatoes/pizza tomatoes,
-a good helping of grated cheese (parmesan or grana padano would be best),
-2tbs olive oil.

Preparation was simple and fast, the dish was done in 20 minutes.

Get the pasta going:


For the discussion on "oil" or "not oil" while cooking pasta, this is how pasta looks in my kitchen when it is boiled at full force:

no foaming, no sticking. I stir them every other minute with a wooden spoon which is used exclusively for this task.

roast the first part of the spice mix in the olive oil until you can smell the spices, then add the beef and fry it for a minute or two:





Now add the tomatoesas well as the second part of the spice mix and let it cook for five minutes:



Finish Line:
grate the cheese:




DONE!
Serve with the cheese on top and a bit of parsley or basil as decoration:


Guten Appetit! from Bonn.

Keep them coming! More posts mean less pictures per page!

[OnkelC]

Heres my Thanksgiving plate The dish is composed of... Red Rice with beans and seasoning Canned Yams Mashed Potatoes with Sourcream and Chives mixed in Salad: diced Cucumbers and Tomatoes with Lettuce. Thousand Island dressing 10lb Turkey! Sason is the seasoning that was used for it Sausage Stuffing. Breakfast Sausage, Celery and Onions. Poultry Seasoning and Salt were used for seasoning. The stuffing came out awesome

Thank Heavens (and to you, BlueTsunami, of course) for the above artery-clogging-soul-food-goodness-on-a-plate!
Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is an ordinary workday over here, so my dish from yesterday is only reflecting the blandness of a typical tuesday.

What was on your plates yesterday, GAFfers?

[ChryZ]

I once did a naver image search for dak (chicken), while doing research on Dak Gochujang Bokum. Back then I stumbled upon this pic, I was close to licking my PC display and the pic kept haunting me. Later on I learned, that the dish is called Buldak (bul=fire, dak=chicken, fire chicken). Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any english recipes, but I managed to find a few korean ones (1, 2, 3, 4). This is the result:

Buldak
(korean fire chicken)

main ingredients:

2 X chicken breast
1 X mozzarella (optional)
1 X scallions' green
1 CUP cooked short grain ripe
1 TSP sesame seeds

marinade #1 ingredients:

4 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP sugar

marinade #2 ingredients:

1 X red or green chili
1 X ginger (thumb-sized)
4 X galic clove
3/4 X scallions
1/2 X small onion
1/4 X pear (optional)
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP chili flakes (or chili powder)
2 TBSP soy sauce
6-8 TBSP rice wine (or chicken stock)
2 TBSP peanut oil
1 TBSP honey
1 TSP dark soy sauce (optional, just for coloring)
1 TSP mustard (optional)
1 TSP sesame oil (pressed from roasted seeds)

banchan #1 ingredients (mini side-dish, steamed bean sprouts)

1/4 X scallion (sliced lengthwise)
1/2 X small onion
2 CUP mung bean sprouts
2 TBSP sliced ginger
1 TSP sesame seed oil (pressed from roasted seeds)
1 TSP black sesame seeds

banchan #2 ingredients (mini side-dish, purple coleslaw)

1 X half red cabbage (shredded)
2 TBSP veg oil
2 TBSP rice wine vinegar
1 TSP soy sauce
1/2 TSP honey or sugar
1 TSP salt and pepper (more or less)

no pics of the coleslaw prep, just shred the cabbage and mix with the other banchan #2 ingredients,
best done a couple of hours in advance, the coleslaw needs some time to develop its full flavour

marinate cubed chicken in marinade #1 ingredients, at least for 30 min up to 24h



clean/peel/chop the hard ingredients of marinade #2



combine all ingredients of marinade #2 in a blender



blend until somewhat smooth



slice some of the scallions' green for garnish/topping

combine all veggie ingredients from banchan #1 in a bowl, cover the bowl and
microwave it for 90 sec with 600W, the veggies will steam from their own water
content and soften up, dress them with the remaining banchan #1 ingredients



heat/oil a pan, stir fry the chicken pieces, pick them out of the marinade,
don't pour the whole marinade into the pan, its sugar will burn easily



add half of marinade #2 (the whole marinade is good for 2-3 servings)



stir fry for a few minutes with medium heat



deglaze the pan with some rice wine or chicken stock,
simmer until the liquid is vaporised



arrange chicken in a broiler proof dish (cast iron dish/pan or sturdy porcelain),
shred some mozzarella around the chicken pieces



place the chicken under a broiler/grill at max heat until the mozzarella melted
and the chicken got dark (not black), crusty spots ... charcoal grilling/BBQing
would work too (I would skip the mozzarella though, hehe)



serve garnished with scallion rings and sesame, accompanied by rice and the banchans



some close-up pics for your viewing pleasure:






enjoy, I sure did

[OnkelC]

Deee-lish again! Nothing can go wrong with chicken and cheese!
Thank you for that wonderful dish, I`ll try that out for sure.

Tonight's dish will be a classical lasagna. stay tuned and keep'em coming.

[OnkelC]

Cordon Bleu from fridays day out:


Is there any more interest in new recipes? I got a lasagna at hand and am planning for a chocolate cake today.

[OnkelC]

Tonights dish will be hot dogs. Is GAF interested in the preparation of lasagna and/or a roast duck (dishes from this weekend?) If so, let me hear it.

[8bit]

:homerdrool

That looks excellent.

BTW I wouldn't mind seeing the lasagna, OnkleC.

[heavy liquid]

Roast duck sounds good, OnkelC! Please post it!

I've spent the past 5 days with my in-laws. I still have a sheperd's pie recipe that I need to post. I'll do so tonight or tomorrow for sure.

There won't be many recipes from me this week, but I may post some pics from some places in Chicago on Saturday or Sunday.

[BlueTsunami]

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r.../Buldak_16.jpg

Wow that made my mouth water. I'll have to save that recipe

[ChryZ]

Thanks, guys. The Buldak was actually my first take on the dish and now I'm madly in love with it. I must have been out of my f*cking mind, skimping on the chicken. The marinade is good for at least 4-6 chicken breasts. It's also possible to debone a bunch of chicken drumsticks and to use that darker meat.

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.
Hot Dogs should be known to most GAFfers, so I'll keep it short:








The Lasagna from Saturday was a more basic variant of this one, I chose a more meat-and-tomato-centered sauce with broth and garlic instead of celery root. The result looked like this:











Enjoy the double-feature. Roast duck is up next.

[8bit]

So, let's cook. Hot Dogs should be known to most GAFfers, so I'll keep it short: Enjoy the double-feature. Roast duck is up next.

What's the topping?

[OnkelC]

What's the topping?

its danish-style remoulade, pickles, hot mustard, ketchup and roast onions.

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook TRIPLE FEATURE!

We visited my dad (above left) yesterday, his wife is on a Vietnam trip at the moment and he is trying out stuff he can't cook when she is around. Yesterday, it was a basic roast duck of about 4lbs. As ducks are a bit on the fat side of the poultry range, he decided to roast it pure, only with salt and pepper. Side dishes were some deep-frozen rosemary potatoes (He is one convenience follower) and brussels sprouts with cubes from smoked ham.

Ingredients:

The preparation was only 70 minutes, as he used a grill/hot air/microwave hybrid for roasting.

First, wash and clean the duck and cut off excess body parts:







Now salt and pepper the duck:




And that was about it. Put it in the oven, breast down, and let it roast for about half of the time, then turn it over and let the breast get crunchy:






While the duck is roasting, prepare the side dishes:








DONE!
The duck does no look "golden brown" because of the lack of added fat to the skin, but it tasted awesome:




Enjoy:



heavy liquid, I am looking forward to your excursion.

All of you, keep them coming. I was thinking of stopping this thread due to the lack of feedback. Keep it fun, folks.

[OnkelC]

Tonights dish will be some charcoal-grilled Bratwursts to end the BBQ season once and for all, at least for this year. Stay tuned.

[8bit]

its danish-style remoulade, pickles, hot mustard, ketchup and roast onions.

I had never seen onions like that before, but I was in the supermarket at lunchtime and spotted them. Why not just fry an onion instead? They looked a bit too dry to go well with a hot dog.

[OnkelC]

I had never seen onions like that before, but I was in the supermarket at lunchtime and spotted them. Why not just fry an onion instead? They looked a bit too dry to go well with a hot dog.

They go extremely well with hot dogs and burgers, they are really thin and crispy-crunchy with a nice and intensive roast-onion-taste. Imagine the the texture like small chips/crisps. It is worth giving them a try, really.

[bovo]

Tonights dish will be some charcoal-grilled Bratwursts to end the BBQ season once and for all, at least for this year. Stay tuned.

I am preemptively jealous! Luckily, where I currently am there will be a Bavarian Christmas market that usually includes a bratwurst stall, so hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be able to enjoy the same.

If I have my camera with me I'll take a picture of bratwurst UK style!

[OnkelC]

I am preemptively jealous! Luckily, where I currently am there will be a Bavarian Christmas market that usually includes a bratwurst stall, so hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be able to enjoy the same. If I have my camera with me I'll take a picture of bratwurst UK style!

That would make my December, seriously. I am DYING to see how "Ze German Kuisine" is presented outside our garden fence . Please take some pictures of the whole christmas market, I am really looking forward to it!

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.
As ungodly as it seems to ignite a grill at the end of November, the temperatures did not leave me any other choice. So, without further ado, BBQ on and hope for a white christmas:












Enjoy!

If I might draw your attention to the new "will cook for new Avatar" contest, please feel free to contribute and comment to it.

[Rei_Toei]

This weekend I made Hooker's Kofte & Chacouka (it is on page 9 from Vol.1), this is a picture of the result:



Heartily recommended, everyone liked it a lot :). I'll see if I can contribute to this thread myself, has been a while.

[OnkelC]

Hello neighbor and welcome back on board! Thank you for the contribution, that looks just like the stuff I would like to have for lunch right now. :)

Please keep us posted about your further dishes.

Tonights dish will be a Bastardized Brit Breakfast, with beans, bacon, berhaps bangers and maybe some orange marmalade if I can find a decent brand.

Stay tuned and post your stuff.

Also, please take note of and participate in the "Will cook for new Avatar!" contest posted elsewhere on NeoGAF.

[bovo]

I am DYING to see how "Ze German Kuisine" is presented outside our garden fence.

I'll try get some pictures - it should be fairly authentic, because although I called it UK-style, I believe the market is run by genuine germans (what a fake german looks like I don't know...)

Bastardized Brit Breakfast, with beans, bacon, berhaps bangers

What about black_pudding? (I have no idea on the availability of it outside the UK - couldn't even get it where I grew up inside the UK)

By the way, I haven't posted any pictures for a while as everything I've cooked recently has been seen before - might try something new soon (I found a recipe for a vegetable tagine - maybe I'll try that...)

[Rei_Toei]

Hey Onkel, how's life? I'll promise to deliver some more from the category "Dutch student cuisine" =). By the way, what's the status of the GAF cookbook? Ideally one would archive/resize/layout the pictures along with the receipes, especially from the first topic, in some grand PDF. I can help with resizing pictures and editing text and stuff, but I wouldn't know how to toss it in a pdf.

[OnkelC]

Hey Onkel, how's life? I'll promise to deliver some more from the category "Dutch student cuisine" =). By the way, what's the status of the GAF cookbook? Ideally one would archive/resize/layout the pictures along with the receipes, especially from the first topic, in some grand PDF. I can help with resizing pictures and editing text and stuff, but I wouldn't know how to toss it in a pdf.

Whoa, you hit the sore spot. The fellow GAFfer who took the task of the .pdf just mailed me yesterday and told me that he will NOT be able to finish it before christmas. If anybody else has an idea, just go ahead.

And Dutch student cuisine sounds fine for me.

[Hooker]

The converting to PDF part is easy, if you have Adobe Acrobat Professional it's a matter of clicking twice/three times.


If you have a word-document with index, pages, pictures, the conversion part'll be easy. Hell, I'll do it for you. (conversion, not the pages, recipes etc. :p)

[YakiSOBA]

maaaaaan some of the stuff here looks amazing!!

I'd love to see more easy-cheap recipes that a poor university student living on his own can do for lunch/dinners

[OnkelC]

Easy-cheap recipe? Welcome to the heaven/hell that is the Full English breakfast. Price per serving is something like one Euro or less.

So, let's cook.
The traditional "full English breakfast" is one, if not the, worlds best start a day can have. When I was still allowed to drink, there is no better cure for a common hangover than a plate or two of this balanced diet.

From the famous quote by W. Somerset Maugham,

The only way to eat well in England is to have breakfast three times a day.

to nowadays, the British cuisine has come a long way, but this (IMHO) classic breakfast is still one of the greatest achievements in island cooking.

The ingredients are variable, but baked beans, sunny side ups and at least one meat cut are the bases that need to be covered. Common additions are black pudding (bovo: it is known outside the UK, it is, under the German name "Blutwurst" (Blood sausage), even a speciality in my region!), fried pork sausages (aka "Bangers"), smoked fish and/or crispy bacon strips which I chose. Side dishes are toasted and buttered sandwich slices.
Preparation is simple and only needs a pan and a pot if the timing is alright.
As a small deviance, I made a bread with orange marmalade to accompany the breakfast.

The ingredients are:

baked beans,
sandwich slices,
bacon strips,
eggs,
butter,
some orange marmalade,
salt and pepper (not pictured).

heat the baked beans for a start. They should be slowly heated, as boiling them would cause them to disintegrate:



While the beans are going, heat a pan to max and fry the bacon strips without oil until crispy. place the strips on a kitchen paper to drain excess fat, then clean the pan and get the eggs going:





Perpare the bread:


And stack it to your preference:



DONE!
Serve with the eggs on top and have a feast:



And the best part is to dip the remainders on the plate with a slice of bread:


Enjoy!

and keep'em coming, please.

[OnkelC]

Tonights dish will be frozen pizza and subs. Stay tuned.

[OnkelC]

So, lets defrost. The wife wanted some frozen baguettes for dinner, so I did not bother for cooking something up for myself. Frozen food looks best when still packaged:


I bought some mozzarella to enhance the pizzas a bit, because frozen pizzas are always short on cheese imho.

Drain and tear the mozzarella, then spread it on the still frozen pizza:



The baguettes needed no extra prep, they look like this when frozen (topping is a mix of creme fraiche, cooked ham, herbs and cheese):


Slap the stuff in the pre-heated oven and take it out when it is finished:




I am ashamed to wish you a feast :(

[ChryZ]

Dak Galbi

Panfried chicken in hot chili sauce with veggies. (1|2|3)

ingredients

2-3 X chicken breast (cubed)
1/4 X cabbage (shredded)
1/4 X leek (chopped)
3 X garlic clove (sliced)
2 X scallion stalk (chopped)
1 X sweet potato (exchangeable with ricecakes or noodles)
1 X bunch of sesame leaves (perilla, shiso, optional)
1 X chili (deseeded and deveined)
2 TBSP gochujang
4-8 TBSP rice wine or soju

yang nyeom jang ingredients

1 X chili (deseeded and deveined)
1 X scallion stalk
1 X garlic clove
3 TBSP soy sauce
1 TSP chili flakes
1 TSP roasted sesame seeds
1 TSP sesame oil
1/2 TSP black pepper

green perilla leaves were out of stock, so I had to go with the red kind,
no worries, they are optional ... but they DO add some funk to the dish



blend the yang nyeom jang ingredients until smooth and marinate the cubed chicken with it,
30m-24h, chop up the veggies, keep some scallion, leek green and perilla aside,
add the gochujang to the chicken and its marinade, mix well



heat an oiled pan, add veggies and chicken, let sit for an moment until it's crackling



start stir-frying, keep at it for 10-15 min



add the big splash of rice wine or soju, flambe if you like,
keep stiring to deglaze the pan and to glaze the pans' content



add the saved greens and leaves, give it another quick stir



serve piping hot, top with a drizzle of sesame oil




this version is good for 2 servings, when served with
some sidedishes, soup and rice ... maybe even 4 servings
I like it chunky, but less chunky is fine too

enjoy

[OnkelC]

ChryZ, extremely fine cooking! The videos are spectacular, too; I'd imagine that the flambe should be reserved to rooms with a lot of headroom.
Thanks for this.

No cooking from me tonight and tomorrow, as it is restaurant friday and we are invited over to friends on saturday.

C'mon folks, share your foods and thoughts.

[cloudwalking]

OnkelC asked me to post my cookie recipe in this thread, so here I am :)

I made some video-game themed holiday cookies this year for my friends, and they turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Here are pictures of them before I sealed them up so the icing could set:



Bubble Bobble batch

Yellow candy cane powerup, Bob face, Bub body, Hullaballoon, Baron von Blubba, yellow potion powerup



Kirby batch

Nago, warpstar, maxim tomato, canvas curse Kirby, regular Kirby, waddle dee



Zelda batch (My friend I was making them for specifically requested I NOT make Link or Zelda, and go for some unique ones...)

Tingle, goron, Princess Ruto, ocarina, korok face, gerudo



I also made a giant MAF cookie, and some others that I didn't take photos of... :P

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the preparation since I was extremely pressed for time to get them done, but I will share my recipe and method.

[Hooker]

Great, now I'm craving for an oversized MAF cookie... :/

Thanks a lot!!



(They look great!!)

[OnkelC]

cloudwalking, those are by far the most impressive cookies I have seen for a long time!
The glazing/icing work is just great. Did you cut out the cookies by hand? I can't imagine that there are forms for it.

Real great stuff, thank you very much for those!

[cloudwalking]

Okay, finally typed up the recipe :) Thank you so much for the comments guys :)

I make everything from scratch including the icing (not the M&Ms, obviously :P)

Cookie Recipe

You need:
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
1 tsp. salt

This makes a ****load of dough, and chances are you'll have some left over. Depending on the shape and thickness of your cookies, if you make them all about 3 inches in diameter, this'll make about 5 dozen cookies. So yeah, a lot.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. A good sturdy fork works well for this.

Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well.

Mix dry ingredients in a seperate bowl and add a little at a time to the butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. The best way to do this is with your hands, just make sure they are clean! :P

Now this part kinda sucks, you have to cover your dough (I just wrap it in saran wrap) and put it in the fridge for at least an hour to chill. 2 hours is ideal, while 1 1/2 is doable.

Before your dough is done chilling it's not a bad idea to start preheating your oven to 350 degrees. You need to preheat your oven at least 30 minutes beforehand

let me repeat that

YOU NEED TO PREHEAT YOUR OVEN AT LEAST 30 MINUTES BEFOREHAND

It is imperative that your oven gets to the exact temperature or your cookies will be RUINED. They will get air bubbles because your oven wasn't hot enough.

Okay, so when your dough is done chilling, get out a rolling pin and a mat and get ready to roll the dough out. This dough is typically not really sticky but if for some reason you are having trouble with it sticking to the rolling pin or mat feel free to throw a tiny bit of flour on there.

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. For me, I like to lightly sketch right on the dough and then cut around my design with a tiny knife, but if you have cookie cutters that's even easier.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. They burn fast so keep an eye on them.

When they are done, take them out of the oven and CAREFULLY put them on a cooling rack with the aid of a spatula or something. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes before you attempt to decorate them. They should not be hot to the touch when you want to ice them, otherwise the icing will not set and you will have a runny cookie.

Okay, now for the fun part...

Icing Recipe

Making cookie icing from scratch is ridiculously easy and this icing is great because it dries relatively hard, but not too hard, so it's still easy to eat and tastes great, but you don't have to worry about stuff like the icing getting smudged, and you can stack the cookies if you need to.

So, you'll need:
1 lb confectioners sugar
4 tbsp. meringue powder (this can be tough to find... usually it's by the pie mix at the supermarket)
2 tsp. flavouring, whatever you desire. Vanilla or almond is the staple.
RGBY food colouring to colour the icing (unless you just want white)
Cocoa powder if you want brown icing
Some smaller bowls (disposable paper bowls work great)

Okay, so, like I said, this is super simple. Add all your dry ingredients and the flavouring in a bowl, and make sure you don't have lumps in the sugar. Now, start off by adding a cup of warm water, mix, add another cup of water, mix... repeat until your icing is a medium consistency. You don't want it to be too thick and you don't want it to be too thin. It should be spreadable and not runny. If it gets too runny, add more sugar. It's very easy to just estimate when it comes to this. Just make sure you get that medium consistency.

So now you have a bowl of white icing. Pretty boring eh? Here's where it gets fun. Take your smaller bowls and ration out some icing to each one with a ladle or something. Now bust out your food colouring and get creating some coloured icing! Just employ your 1st grade colour wheel knowledge and mix them to get what you want. If you need black, mix all the colours. If you need brown use some cocoa powder, but just a little bit.

Decorating

Decorating can be fun and it can be frustrating. The best method is through trial and error, but I will share some tips:

- Make a couple of plain round cookies to practice decorating on so you can get comfortable with it.
- If you need to add more than one layer of icing, be sure that your bottom layer is dry before you attempt to ice over it. IF IT'S STILL SHINY IT ISN'T DRY. You will ruin your cookie if you try to ice over already-wet icing.
- M&Ms, or sprinkles, make GREAT eyes, since eyes can be hard to draw on with a pastry bag or squeeze bottle.
- If you don't want to use a pastry bag or squeeze bottle to do the finer details, a toothpick can work as well. You can also get a cool effect by dragging a toothpick with another colour icing on it through already-wet icing. Might want to practice first.
- When you are done with your cookies, let the icing dry, and then CAREFULLY place them in a ziplock so the icing can set OVERNIGHT. That's right, the icing takes several hours to set completely. Leave them alone and don't touch them til the morning.

Well, I hope this helps if anyone wants to make sugar cookies this holiday. :)

Thanks again and thanks OnkelC for this great thread.

[ChryZ]

Holy crap! How cool is that?! You rock!1!!one

[OnkelC]

Stuff I made today, a chocolate cake:




And a Fillet Steak with green pepper sauce:



recipes will be posted if there is interest.

Have a nice advent sunday.

[bovo]

As promised, here is a picture of a bratwurst purchased at a German Christmas Market in the UK.



I have to say I was slightly disappointed, as the bread roll and mustard appeared to have been bought at a local supermarket - I'm sure last year the whole experience was much more authentic! Maybe I'm remembering wrong....

Off topic (as is the non-home cooked bratwurst i suppose) here are a couple of other pictures of other market stalls.

Bratwurst stall:


Chocolate/Biscuits(as in 'cookies') etc:


Salami etc:


Wooden decorations?:


More stalls:


Sorry pictures aren't very good - you don't get tourists where I live, and you feel a bit of an idiot taking pictures in the street!

I do plan to cook something for this thread again at some point - although haven't cooked anything new for a while.