flour – Page 2

written 06/03/23, updated 02/18/24

What

Making shortbread cookies with dried cranberries and orange zest with vegan butter.

Ingredients and Supplies

Serving: 12-15 cookies (Double measurements for more)

Electric Mixer, Wax Paper/Plastic Wrap, Refrigerator, Knife/Food Chopper, Silicone Spatula, Zester/Grater

All-purpose Flour (1 cup), Baking Powder (1/8 tsp – optional), Salt (1/16 tsp)

Butter (1/2 cup softened = 1 stick), Confectioners Sugar (1/4 cup)

Vanilla Extract (1/2 tsp), Almond Extract (1/4 tsp), Orange Zest, Orange Extract (optional)

Cranberries, chopped (1 cup), Walnuts (puree or chopped, optional, 1/2 – 1 cup)

Time

Prep (30min) + Chill (~ 4 hrs) + Bake (10 min) = 4 hrs 40 min

Steps

Mix together Flour (1 cup) and Salt (1/16 tsp). Optionally, add Baking Powder (1/8 tsp) for fluffiness
Use electric mixer on medium to beat the Vegan Butter (1/2 cup softened) and Confectioners Sugar (1/4 cup) until it’s smooth. Stop and scrape the sides, if needed
Add the Vanilla Extract (1/2 tsp) and Almond Extracts (1/4 tsp), as well as the Orange Zest. Optional: Orange Extract for stronger citrus flavor
Mix in the Flour mixture in gradually while beating on low until everything combines well
Fold in the Chopped Cranberries (~ 1 cup), until evenly distributed
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface (or directly onto plastic wrap/parchment paper)
Roll into a log
Wrap in either parchment paper or plastic
Set in refrigerator for 4ish hours to harden
Remove wrapping
Preheat oven to 350F (180C)
Slice into discs (your choice of thickness)
Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes (your preference for doneness)
Let cool on racks, in fact, overnight, uncovered is best for the vegan cookies

EAT

Pictures

Result (June 2023)

Immediately , they ended up soft, crumbly, and sticks easily to the inside of the mouth. For the cranberry lovers this is great! Clementine usage instead of an orange made the cookies a bit bitter and lacked in citrus flavor. I don’t like the crumbling, melting texture. By the next morning it was almost perfect! It allowed the cookie to harden more and was quite enjoyable! Adding some nut pieces might add to the texture

Next Attempt (Feb 2024)

Used a dash of Orange Extract, real Orange Zest, pureed walnuts, soaked cranberries in boiling water, added a tablespoon of vegetable shortening (Crisco), while keeping all other instructions the same. Seemed less sweet this time, but good taste. Shortening makes it much more like shortbread (duh). Soaked cranberries makes the dough a little darker

Notes

I used a stand mixer with the standard paddle attachment
I wasn’t sure about dough consistency. Many recipes called for a good mix, but not too much. I gather you want something just well incorporated, not necessarily super smooth. Mine ended up wet because I added too much orange juice
Vegan Butter is much lower in saturated fats than regular butter. I think that has something to do with the crumbliness of vegan cookies as a whole. Apparently, coconut oil can be substituted one to one to regular butter because it provides the high fat content needed to compare to regular butter. Aquafaba which is the liquid in a can of chickpeas is a great egg white substitute for binding.
If you don’t have a food chopper, you can use a knife

Softened Butter means soft, but not melted. Basically, it’s the same as room temperature. I read that you can also just mix it in the bowl a bit before adding the other ingredients.

Softening butter can also be done in the microwave. I did mine about 15 seconds
You can add or take away from the sugar or cranberries as per your taste
I didn’t have an orange, so I used a Clementine…Not recommended
On my very first attempt, I completely messed up the measurements for the baking powder, using cups instead of teaspoons. Everything was great until I tried to eat them. NASTY NASTY NASTY. Too much baking powder makes food a weird salty, bitter, grainy mess! It smelled good at least…

Written: 05/21/2023

First time making Chinese scallion pancakes

What

Chinese scallion pancakes

Ingredients

All-purpose/bread flour (2 cups), very hot water (3/4 cups), salt, scallions (green onion), vegetable oil, sesame oil, sesame seeds (opt), other optional spices to taste

Optional dipping sauce: soy sauce, water, sugar, sesame seeds/oil, scallions, garlic, chili, coriander…really, to your taste based off the soy sauce and sesame

Time

10-minute prep + 2-hour wait + 10-minute process + 5-minute pan fry

~ 2 hour (wait), 25 minutes (make) total

Steps

Measure out flour into mixing bowl and create a well into which you pour the hot water
Add salt (and other seasoning if you want)
Mix until you get a rough ball of dough
Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it form a sticky but smooth ball
Set aside to rest either wrapped in plastic or covered in a damp towel
Let it alone 1-2 hours
Make the Oil Mixture here if you’re going to use it (make sure it gets to room temperature): vegetable oil, sesame oil, and teaspoon of flour. Bring to bubble and cook for 1 minute before letting it cool to room temperature. About 3 tablespoon vegetable oil to 2 teaspoon sesame oil.
Cut the dough in half making sure to recover the other half so it doesn’t dry out (if you want smaller cakes, then do quarters or eighths)
Roll it into a cylinder and then roll that thin and flat. You’re aiming for a rectangular piece (mine didn’t get very rectangular, lol)
Brush on a layer of the oil mixture or just oil and sprinkle the chopped scallions. Note: Here is where you can add the sesame seeds or whatever other spices or meats or whatever you want
Now to make the layers. The traditional way is to tightly roll up the flattened and scallioned dough into a thin cylinder again, and then create a snail shell from that rolled up piece. You can also fold it on each other to make the layers. I just did the snail shell
Once it’s a snail shell, sprinkle some flour on it, turn it, and flatten it with your hands a bit before using the rolling pin to squish out some bubbles (it’s kinda fun, like popping bubble wrap). Note: Here, you can control how much you’re squishing it…do you want it airier and more layered by leaving the air pockets inside? Or do you want it super-duper flat like a cracker?
Heat up some oil in a skillet or pan. It’s fry time! Heat it up to your desire!

Done!

Pictures

Notes

Northern pancakes are apparently thicker and use the oil, while the southern style pancakes are thin and use less oil
Thick or thin is up to you. If you like thicker, be careful not to be too fussy with the rolling of the snail shell
The ones I made ended up being thicker than I prefer, so I’d try to make any in the future much thinner
I’d also make future ones smaller
Maybe I’d like a mix of the northern and southern style pancakes
Plain old soy sauce was perfect as a dipping sauce for me
Maybe some onion powder or maybe a pinch of curry would be a good addition…I felt they were a bit bland, but then again, they’re made to be dipped and eaten with other dishes like soups
I think I may have over-cooked the pancakes making them too crunchy (though I like that)
Perhaps adding some shredded meat inside would make it really good
Overall, it was fun and pretty easy to make
Other recipes called for bread flour (high protein content), but I just used all-purpose flour (it’s a 1:1 substitution if interested)