Calling all Bakers: Recipes & Photos Wanted!

#1

Hey everyone, so the brigade now has its very own blog:

http://www.cookiebrigade.org/wp/blog/

insert Oooos and Aaaahhs So shiny…

I’m looking for your recipes and pictures to feature on the blog. We already get a good amount of site traffic to this section of the forums but I’d love to feature some of these amazing recipes in a more prominent manner.

What I need:

[ul][li]Recipe - Include full instructions step by step and ingredients[/li]
[li]Photos - You don’t need photos for each step but a couple nice shots of the final product would be marvelous. The pictures need to be clear, well lit and not blurry.[/li][/ul]

The more you can give me the better. People asking for cookie brigade recipes is pretty common and this way we can create a nice repository for future bakers to use.

#2

I’m happy to provide recipes, but I’m not a good picture person. If you want non photo recipes, let me know.

#3

[quote=“kintyre, post:2, topic:1422”]
I’m happy to provide recipes, but I’m not a good picture person. If you want non photo recipes, let me know.[/quote]

Wonder if we have any photographer/bakers who would be up for trying recipes and taking pictures?

#4

Here’s the double chocolate chip recipe I used:

260g bread flour
40g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
300g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Cream the butter with the sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix. Add flour mixture, mix until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Use a #40 scoop (1.5 Tbsp) to scoop cookie dough onto baking sheets. Bake for ~9.5 minutes.

Makes ~36 cookies.

I can upload pictures when I get home tonight.

#5

Also, next time I make chocolate chip cookies, I can take a step-by-step photo guide that you can feature in the Cookie Brigade blog. At the very least, everyone will see how I do it and we can compare.

Disclaimer: I’m still experimenting with ratios, so “next time” might be an experimental 1-egg recipe.

Disclaimer #2: I’m also starting my own baking blog, so I might end up cross-blogging on both my personal blog and the Cookie Brigade blog.

#6

I only really have a go to sugar and chocolate chip recipe. I do have pictures of the baked cookies.

#7

Maybe we could do a single blog post round up of some variations on the standards.

I have my old fashioned sugar cookie recipe. But that might be a good way to showcase some of the variations of even the old standbys?

#8

I like that idea of the variations of the standards. My chocolate chip recipe makes about 7 dozen 2tsp scoop cookies.

#9

I had a thought for the collecting of ideas, photos, etc. Personally I do a fair amount on Pinterest, and it’s where I get a lot of inspiration for things to do. I would be happy to create a group board just for cookies (or Brigade-esque sweets). That way, things that are posted to any blogs (as long as they have a photo), can be shared to the board. Or, if someone sees something that could be modified for Cookie Brigade type cookies (for example I see this photo and think that I could use that idea to make some great moogle cookies), that could go on there as well. Just let me know if anyone is interested.

#10

[quote=“Lilty, post:9, topic:1422”]
I had a thought for the collecting of ideas, photos, etc. Personally I do a fair amount on Pinterest, and it’s where I get a lot of inspiration for things to do. I would be happy to create a group board just for cookies (or Brigade-esque sweets). That way, things that are posted to any blogs (as long as they have a photo), can be shared to the board. Or, if someone sees something that could be modified for Cookie Brigade type cookies (for example I see this photo and think that I could use that idea to make some great moogle cookies), that could go on there as well. Just let me know if anyone is interested.[/quote]

Pinterest is the one I’ve never honestly gotten into, but I think it fits perfectly with the brigade, I think we’d need to set up a “business” account though for it since I think thats the pinterest version of pages like FB and G+ have.

But I’ll be 100% honest I don’t really know Pinterest that well.

#11

  1. I think that it would be “best practices” to set up a business Pinterest account, although it’s not necessary (and honestly, super easy). Although if there’s going to be a specific Cookie Brigade Pinterest page, someone should put in a little effort to have at least 2-3 different boards. Off the top of my head I would say a cookie/sweets one, a Child’s Play one, possibly media (swag, pins, totebag etc. designs or ideas). and possibly just general geekery. But maintaining a whole page would take a bit of effort, especially in the front end.

  2. The lazy answer would be to just set up a group board. How a group board works is this: After it’s created (a 2 minute process or so), people are added in the settings of the board, to designate who is allowed to post to that board. Any person who is allowed to post to the board can invite others, but only the owner of the board can delete people from the board. Since you specifically said that you don’t know that much about pinterest, people can “follow” the board without being allowed to post, and any links that are posted to the board.

https://en.help.pinterest.com/entries/22997543
https://en.help.pinterest.com/entries/22997523-Delete-pins-and-people-from-or-leave-a-group-board

and, just to show one example of what I board tends to look like, here’s one of my small ones that is just candy links to remember:

http://pinterest.com/puritantherapy/candy-links/

If this is something you decide we want to do, let me know. I tend to use Pinterest a lot for my blog (both ideas and a way to circulate posts), and I think it could be a good easy way to share recipes.

#12

Super busy right now while there’s landscaping work I need to do, but then I’ll do some stuff. I like taking and uploading photos.
I’ll start with:
Vanilla banana nutmeg rice krispies
Vegan yellow cake raspberry-lemon oat

#13

[quote=“Lilty, post:11, topic:1422”]

  1. I think that it would be “best practices” to set up a business Pinterest account, although it’s not necessary (and honestly, super easy). Although if there’s going to be a specific Cookie Brigade Pinterest page, someone should put in a little effort to have at least 2-3 different boards. Off the top of my head I would say a cookie/sweets one, a Child’s Play one, possibly media (swag, pins, totebag etc. designs or ideas). and possibly just general geekery. But maintaining a whole page would take a bit of effort, especially in the front end.

  2. The lazy answer would be to just set up a group board. How a group board works is this: After it’s created (a 2 minute process or so), people are added in the settings of the board, to designate who is allowed to post to that board. Any person who is allowed to post to the board can invite others, but only the owner of the board can delete people from the board. Since you specifically said that you don’t know that much about pinterest, people can “follow” the board without being allowed to post, and any links that are posted to the board.

https://en.help.pinterest.com/entries/22997543
https://en.help.pinterest.com/entries/22997523-Delete-pins-and-people-from-or-leave-a-group-board

and, just to show one example of what I board tends to look like, here’s one of my small ones that is just candy links to remember:

http://pinterest.com/puritantherapy/candy-links/

If this is something you decide we want to do, let me know. I tend to use Pinterest a lot for my blog (both ideas and a way to circulate posts), and I think it could be a good easy way to share recipes.[/quote]

You know way more then I do, but I think a business account might be a good idea so we can share stuff from the blog there easily. I struggle a bit though because I don’t use it, but if you want to start doing pins for the Brigade that would be awesome!

Sorry for the delayed response, every time I would remember something would come up. I’ll try to get the business page set up, if you’re up for helping with Pinterest I can set you up as an organizer so we can share the account information. :slight_smile:

#14

Banana Vanilla Nutmeg Rice Krispy Treats

You Will Need:
6 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
5 cups (1 bag) Marshmellows
2 tbs Butter
1 Banana
1 tbs Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg

http://i.imgur.com/ttgclUg.jpg

I recommend you measure out the Cereal first as you need to add it in fast.

http://i.imgur.com/DYXr05h.jpg

Lots of people line their baking pan with aluminum foil. You know what, this stuff’s sticky; some greasing couldn’t hurt either.

http://i.imgur.com/f82ALn1.jpg

Melt your butter in a nonstick pan. Why add butter you ask? Well, silly, because otherwise this would be a fat-free recipe and we can’t have that now can we?

http://i.imgur.com/CouLDDR.jpg

Before the butter’s finished melting you can add the marshmallows. Keep it on low heat and keep stirring. I’m making a double batch (God help me) so that’s a lot of marshmallows. Don’t worry, they melt down.

http://i.imgur.com/O23LcAN.jpg

Banana time! A soft, sliced banana works best. I’d say about 1 whole tiny banana, maybe 75% of a larger banana. This may mean you’ll have some banana left over. Figure out how to dispose of it.

http://i.imgur.com/TSP5Q1l.jpg

Adding the seasonings! I chose ground nutmeg and vanilla, you could do cinnamon or other spices. My general rule of thumb for quantity is you can never have too much vanilla.

http://i.imgur.com/YlegVdi.jpg

Once it all melts down into goop, remove from heat and quickly stir in your cereal, then immediately pour/spoon out into your prepped backing pan. Now you see why a double batch is pushin’ it, but I love those kiddies soooo much.

http://i.imgur.com/yfUpiQF.jpg

You can use wax paper to press it down if you want. Otherwise you’d have to eat all those poking out breaking off bits and we wouldn’t want that!

Let it cool completely. After cooling, you can cut it up in the pan, or make use of the foil to remove first, or turn it upside down onto a tray.

Here’s where some people might drizzle (or slather) on the melted chocolate. I started doing this for my first batch before I realized they tasted so good already they didn’t need the additional chocolate. The nice even layer of chocolate on top looks pretty nice though.

Also, if you’re enjoying this responsibly with adults, here are some ideas…

http://i.imgur.com/zJEaYOx.jpg

-Emimonster

#15

Emi, I love you. I’ve been trying to find some time to make items to take photos, this is amazing!

Okay I’m actually in Boston for work, but I’m going to try to get this up by midweek, hopefully I will actually get some time this weekend to follow it up with the honey cookies.

#16

Ransim, sure, that would be no problem. I’d be happy to help with the Pintrest side of things.

#17

I’ll be happy to take photos of completed recipes. If anyone wants out of the photo bit, just holler and I’ll get on it. I’ll search through my stash and find some to bake n shoot.

#18

Raspberry Lemon Vegan Oat Cake Bars (I’m not good at naming things)

Ingredients:
1 box - Vegan yellow cake mix (see below for tips)
2 1/2 cups - quick cooling oats (I used normal plain instant oatmeal)
3/4 cup - vegan butter/margarine
1 tablespoon - Applesauce
1 cup - Jam of preferred flavor (I used raspberry)
teaspoon or so - Lemon juice
dash - water (not needed if you have enough lemon juice)

Pre-heat oven - 375F. Grease a medium sized pan (I used a cookie sheet, 9x13, which is much too large, but that’s fine. Good for double batches!)
http://i.imgur.com/0DoaUSC.jpg

In a large bowl, mix oats, vegan cake mix, and melted butter. Use a fork or whisk; you don’t want a mixer to chop up your nice, lovely oats.
http://i.imgur.com/TS0ntzq.jpg

Mix in apple sauce until there is no dry cake mix left (makes nice clumps).
http://i.imgur.com/Zqt7pMv.jpg

Press 1/2 of the mixture evenly into your greased pan. Doesn’t matter if it doesn’t fill it. These are really filling, so try to spread this layer out without being thick. Your second half will eventually become the top layer after you’ve added your fruity filling.
http://i.imgur.com/DGfhdrY.jpg

Mix lemon juice, jam, and add a sprinkle of water if it’s still too hard. This won’t be likely, as I’ve added lots of lemon juice and it has never really tasted tart or lemony. As for your jam, it’s really your pick. You can have clumpy fruity ones, or smooth ones, and any flavor is probably fine.
http://i.imgur.com/u5jgvQz.jpg

Spread your jam mixture evenly on top of pressed oat base. Try and get it almost right up to the edge but don’t let it go past the edge or else it’ll burn in the oven and you’ll have hard, chewy bits on the edges. If you don’t have enough jam mixture (maybe you want it to be fruitier so you want this layer to be thicker), you can always make a little more on the fly.
http://i.imgur.com/j0tmr36.jpg

Crumble the 2nd 1/2 of oat mixture over the jam (kind of line any exposed edges of jam with it, too). If you have left over crumbles lying around, feel free to eat them up raw. It’s not like there’s eggs or anything in there to get you sick (and let’s face it, we’d eat it raw even if there were).
http://i.imgur.com/yAf53oF.jpg

Bake about 20ish minutes (watch for edges to begin to be very lightly browned). Do not overcook! The edges will burn very easily. Let it cool thoroughly before cutting.

*Internet searches on vegan cake mixes yield decent results. Some people have shot letters to some major brands, plus there are some vegan brands:
http://www.isitvegan.com/2011/07/05/are-any-duncan-hines-cake-mixes-or-frostings-vegan/
http://sugarcoatedvegan.com/how-to-veganize-box-cake-mix/
Usually the super moist mixes are most likely to have milk products. There are some ingredients that could be plant or animal-based, and they’re happy to respond to mails asking.

#19

I like to cook Snickerdoodle Cookies so much
[size=2]

I found this recipe here
https://club.cooking/recipe-category/cookies/

You need:[/size]


1 cup butter softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
[size=2]
Step 1
Mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together.

Step 2
Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla and blend well.

Step 3
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.

Step 4
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Step 5
Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Step 6
Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Bon apettit![/size]