Sourdough Starter

Well, I was going to blog all about my adventure in sourdough! I found a PIN on Pinterest about the starter and how easy it was! I was excited! My husband loves sourdough. The original pinner mentioned other recipes you can use the starter for as well, I was all about this! Pumped! WOO! 
My yeast isn't foaming. It's dead. deceased. lifeless. BUMMER!
I'll try to get new yeast today! Stay tuned.

I've made progress!

I've tried two things on this pot now.. The dremel with a carbon steel bristle brush and salt and oil.
Both have worked amazing! NO more intense scrubbing for me!

Cast Iron.... totally worth it.

Somewhere under all that rust is a Wagner's 1891 original - 2 quart bean pot and I intend to find it!!






These pictures were taken after the pot and lid sat in oven cleaner for two days AND after about an hour of scrubbing .... :( LOL The lid is looking better at least.. I'll post some after shots in a few days :)

Hope you are all doing good... I should blog more often! ;)

Brandy Snaps

I'd finally remembered to bring the brandy home from my mom's house and Jarette Michael decided to make dinner tonight! So wham bam! Perfect set up for making Brandy Snaps right!!???

Wrong, wrong wrong.. .. HA!

There's a few reason these snappy cookies did not work out for me:

Numero Uno: Molasses is icky. sticky. stinky. icky. This was my first time ever messing with molasses, it smells. Jarette even thought it smelled. As soon as I added it to the pan w/ the melting butter he chimed in, "what the hell are you cooking?! It stinks!" So I was worried. Pretty damn sure they weren't going to be up our taste bud alley but, I kept on truckin'...

Enter ancient, sad, dirty, oven, I set the temp to 300 instead of 325 because it's an electric hunk of junk and burns everything. (It also could have used a cleaning. I hear dirty ovens cook unevenly so, after cookie disaster I got in there and scrubbed. It felt good and maybe now the oven will love me again? maybe.) I also didn't have a spiffy cannoli shaper. The closest thing I could find that was the right shape and was made of metal was, my can opener. It was tricky considering it has two handles .. I managed it, ended up with some decent shapes!

AND the 3rd and final element: I had a forgetful, possibly blonde moment at the grocery store. I bought half and half instead of whipping cream! Kiddies you cannot make cream out of half and half even if you let the Kitchen-Aid beat the shit out of it for 20 minutes.. FYI! So after I realized I did not have the cream to make my filling(which I think would have been my favorite part, it has brandy in it after all) I found a tub of whipped Betty Crocker frosting in the fridge and shoved it in the stinky cannoli cookies butts with a spoon. (:

(Look at that disaster on a cutesy zebra print plate.. DISASTER!)

I will say that Brandy Snaps are relatively easy to make and fancy schmancy and definitely not a flavor I enjoy (:

I also forgot to take more pictures and burned my hand. Just a rad experience all around!

Anyone want some crappy cookies?

Here's the recipe, but check the link above PW is awesome (:

Ingredients

• COOKIE
• 1 stick Butter
• ½ cups Molasses
• ¼ cups Sugar
• ¼ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Brandy
• ¾ cups Flour
• ⅛ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• FILLING
• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• ⅓ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Brandy (more To Taste)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper.

To make the cookies/shells, melt butter in a skillet with molasses, sugar, and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Allow to bubble and cook for one minute, then turn off heat.

Dump in flour, ginger, and salt. Stir together quickly until just combined, then stir in brandy.

Use a tablespoon to spoon mixture onto cookie sheet; do only eight cookies per sheet, as they will spread out in the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until bubbling in the oven. Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 2 to 3 minutes. Lift up circles one at a time and drape them over a cannoli mold (or a large metal handle of a whisk or potato masher!) The cookies will naturally drape over the mold; help it along by pressing the seal.

Slide cookies off the mold and set them on a cool plate. Repeat with remaining cookies. Be prepared to slightly reshape cookies as they cool. Fill with cream filling when completely cool.

FILLING

Combine cream, sugar, and brandy (make sure cream is very cold.) Place into a cold mixing bowl (chill ahead of time) and mix on high until cream is very stiff. Place cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip. Carefully fill cooled brandy snaps. Serve within a couple of hours.

*Adapted from an old Helen Corbitt recipe