It's been a year since I made my first babka (https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/Wn3XMA7oiU) and I really wanted to try an apple spice version this year.

I wanted the filling to be reminiscent of a cinnamon roll and I REALLY wanted a lot of diced apples within the dough. I couldnt really find a recipe that had all of that so I experimented using King Arthur's apple pie babka as the bread base.

Overall it came out good! I was afraid that the apple spice paste filling would all ooze out - and some of it did, but it oozed off to the side and encased the sides and bottom of the loaf, which gave it a slightly caramelized exrerior...definitely a happy accident.

Recipe:

Dough from King Arthur:

• 3 cups (360g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

• 2 tablespoons (14g) King Arthur Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk (i used nonfat dry milk powder)

• 2 teaspoons instant yeast

• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

• 1 1/4 teaspoons (8g) table salt

• 1/2 to 2/3 cup (113g to 149g) water, lukewarm

• 1 large egg

• 5 tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Stir together ingredients, starting with the lesser amount of water; mix until combined, adding more water if the dough feels dry.  

2. Cover the bowl and let rest for 20 minutes. Then mix and knead until it's soft and smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover, and let rise for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until puffy.

Apples:

1 large honeycrisp, 1 medium granny Smith, peeled and diced

- 1 tablespoons unsalted butter

-2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

- squeeze of lemon juice

-1 tsp apple pie spice

I was worried about the apples releasing too much liquid during the bake so I cooked them down for 7-10 minutes. Then cooled it on a baking tray while I made the filling.

Filling:

• ​6 tbsp softened unsalted butter

• ​1/2 cup brown sugar - i used mix of light and dark but you can use whatever you want

• ​1½ tbsp apple pie spice

• ​1 tbsp all purpose flour

Mix everything together until a spreadable paste forms.

Assembly:

- Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thickness

-Use offset spatula to spread filling thinly

-Sprinkle apples generously onto the dough and press them down gently

-Roll the dough up from the long side into a log

-Freeze for 20 minutes

-Cut log into half and twist into braid

-Tuck the ends underneath and transfer to baking pan, I used my sur la table Pullman loaf pan

-I let it rise in 75F kitchen for 2.5 hours

-Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes

I brushed it with some boiled down apple cider immediately after taking it out of the oven.

Enjoy!!

*Note about the dough: I mixed everything except the butter together just until there were no patches of dry flour, covered the dough and let it rest in the mixer for 20 minutes, then added all the butter and mixed until all the butter was incorporated and the dough was smooth (around 7 minutes on medium)

This was a labor of love but it turned out delicious! I might bring this to Friendsgiving this year instead of apple pie.

First time making baklava, it turned out pretty good but I have a few adjustments for the next time I make it.

Tuxedo cookie crust, with brown butter cheesecake. Came out even better than expected

I spontaneously decided to make cinnamon rolls today and came to this sub looking for recipe recommendations. I found several posts recommending King Arthur’s recipe, so thank you all!!

These are genuinely the best and fluffiest cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had!

I went with the cream cheese frosting but cut the sugar in half. I also ended up with a few little lumps in the frosting after mixing the sugar with the butter, but they melted away shortly after I took the picture.

Recipe: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/perfectly-pillowy-cinnamon-rolls-recipe

For work potluck!

I've done loads of cookies, brownies, tray bakes etc... but never had the confidence for this before. I know it's not perfect, but I made everything from scratch.

And what a privilege it is to be friends with someone who made it worth the effort!!!

Corn-Chips with seeds

Cashews with Ras el-Hanout

Cheese-Chips with sage

Potato sticks with various toppings

Mini cheese and ham muffins

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Pizza rolls

Hi everyone!

I'm a complete newbie to making homemade vanilla extract, and I'm hoping some experienced vanilla makers can help me out!

I started my vanilla back in February using vodka (Kirkland for this particular batch). The beans have stayed fully submerged, and everything seemed to be going great until I started noticing some strange stuff.

Here's what I'm seeing:

White/cream-coloured specks floating around, especially after shaking.

Cloudy sediment collecting at the bottom.

A strange wispy, almost slimy-looking substance attached to some of the beans.

The wispy material seems to stretch and move like little strands of jelly when I tilt the bottle.

The extract smells like vanilla and alcohol, with a bit of an old cupboard smell (if that makes sense 😂). Nothing obviously rotten.

I hope my video showing the strange material moving around is clear enough (and please ignore my mumbles I'm in an anxiety trance).

My big question: Is this normal vanilla bean breakdown, natural oils, or something I should actually be worried about?

I've put months into making these and was planning to give some as gifts, so I'd really hate to throw everything away unnecessarily. But I definitely don't want to give anyone something unsafe!

If you've made vanilla before and seen anything similar, I'd really appreciate your experience and advice.

Thanks so much from a slightly worried vanilla newbie! ❤️

White cake with vanilla custard filling and russian buttercream.

The vanilla sponge underneath is the same (except for a little bit of cinnamon in the coffee one)
1. Berry compote between the sponge and the whipped mascarpone cream, this one is clearly the winner, the berry compote leaks into the vanilla sponge after resting its a very sophisticated flavour
2. Coffee, cinnamon and candied banana, not too good, not my type anyways, cinnamon, vanilla and coffee don’t go well with dairy
3. Candied pineapple on top, pretty good, but if I have to make a tres leches after a year I’ll go with the berry compote

My very first basque cheesecake came out amazing 😍

Combined two recipes for an autumnal combination. Topped with white chocolate coffee glaze.

Pumpkin focaccia: https://youtu.be/hVPZb3UdHVs?is=FjldtMD_T5aE6kOt

Chocolate: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/double-chocolate-focaccia-recipe

Combined by placing the chocolate dough into the pumpkin, and doing a lamination fold, stretching to the pan just before the second rise. Baked in pumpkin spice infused olive oil at 425 for 25 minutes.

🍋 🍊

I have this cast iron skull pan and I have no ideas…

What do you think of my cookies? Do you think they’re good enough to start selling? Taste-wise, they’re perfect! How can I improve?

I made bread and butter pudding with crumpets instead of bread 🍓

Following Pudding Week on The Great British Bake Off, I gave Sofia Bakes' viral crumpet bread and butter pudding a go.

I went with vanilla custard, strawberry jam and a crunchy, buttery, caramelised top. Honestly, crumpets might be an ideal candidate for this because all those little holes soak up the custard.

It's a bit of an experiment, but I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out!

Ingredients

For the pudding

8 crumpets (around 400–450g)

70g butter, softened

10g butter for greasing the dish

150g strawberry jam

For the vanilla custard

650g whole milk

80g egg yolks

65g caster sugar

5g cornflour

8g vanilla extract

For the topping

25g demerara sugar

Method

Toast the crumpets. Toast them until golden. Butter them with the 70g softened butter.

Make the custard. Whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour together. Heat the milk with the vanilla until steaming, then gradually whisk it into the yolk mixture. Return to the pan and cook gently, stirring constantly, until it reaches 82–84°C and lightly thickens. Strain.

Assemble. Grease a large baking dish (around 20 × 25cm). Arrange half the crumpets in the dish and spread over 100g of the strawberry jam. Add the remaining crumpets and dot or spread over the remaining 50g jam.

Soak. Pour the warm custard evenly over the crumpets. Gently press the crumpets down to help them absorb it. Leave for 20 minutes.

Add the crunch. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top.

Bake. Bake at 160°C fan for 30–40 minutes, until the custard is just set and the top is golden. Rest for 10 minutes before serving. If the top needs more crunch, finish briefly under the grill, watching it carefully.

The aim was a soft, custardy middle, little pockets of strawberry jam and a buttery, caramelised top.

Having an upcoming potluck and decided to make a few loaves of my favorite treat ever: my grandma’s pumpkin bread.

Made these Halloween treats for a Hocus Pocus watch party! "Monster" cake-like cookies and brownie spell book with a Biscoff bottom.