Musings on cooking

[jethrien]

Last night, I made apple dumplings for the first time.

I'm not totally thrilled how they came out - the crust was too...pie-crusty. Mostly because I used slightly modified pie crust. I'm not sure what's supposed to be different, but these didn't seem right.

Anyway, though, they were an astounding amount of work.

Which got me to thinking about the formality of desserts and the corresponding effort.

My mother's apple cake, for example, is relatively straightforward. If you choose a cake that doesn't require peeling and slicing fruit, it's even easier.

And yet a cake seems so much more formal and elaborate than the humble cookie...which actually take as much or more effort to produce. My pumpkin cookies, for example, take far more time to make than an unfrosted cake. Or even a frosted one. Each cookie has to be spooned out and flattened, and you have to be whipping things in and out of the oven instead of just sticking something in and leaving it. And then each cookie needs to be frosted.

Or apple dumplings, which seem so quaint and simple. And are a royal pain in the ass to make.

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Of course, that depends on the type of cake. If you're making from a mix - sure, it's easy. But with other cakes, between seperating egg whites and whipping till stiff, then folding in flour, etc., they can take a long time. My family recipe cake takes at least a full afternoon. And have you ever made gingerbread? That's complicated too!

[elliewhit.livejournal.com]

Desserts are pretty much the only thing I really apply myself to, cooking-wise.
I like cakes, but they can be a lot of work. When I made carrot cake it took me quite a while between grating all the carrot and making the cream cheese frosting.
Cookies can vary a lot, too. Chocolate chip cookies are dead easy and you just have to spoon them onto the cookie sheet and shove them in the oven. But my mom's butterscotch lace are an art - they're almost impossible to get off the cookie sheet in one piece.
Apple dumplings are probably a whole lot easier if you have one of the dumpling-folding thingies and buy the skins. At least that's true for my mom's Chinese potstickers.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

When I made carrot cake it took me quite a while between grating all the carrot and making the cream cheese frosting.

Carrot cake is infinitely easier with a food processor. Zuccini bread (or cake) is the same--if you have to take the time to grate the veggies, it's just not worth it.

Cookies can vary a lot, too.

Indeed, but I think her point was that any cookie (rolled, drop, press, whatever) is more time and labor-intensive than a simple cake or bar cookies/brownies.

Apple dumplings are probably a whole lot easier if you have one of the dumpling-folding thingies and buy the skins.

I'd normally use refrigerator rolls to make apple dumplings--slice of apple, cinnamon, sugar, wrap in dough, done. But she wanted to try them from scratch to see the difference. And they are better and far more impressive this way, but not worth the work.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

between seperating egg whites and whipping till stiff, then folding in flour

But then, even a simple batch of chocolate-chip cookies requires creaming the butter and sugar, then mixing in dry ingredients, etc. All baking has some measure of time-intensiveness, but some more than others.

...Can I see your family cake recipe at some point? I'm curious now.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

It's a SEEEEE-cret! Shhhhh! If you give me a special enough occasion, I may be tempted to make it for you, though.

[tigermelp.livejournal.com]

Indeed, but I think her point was that any cookie (rolled, drop, press, whatever) is more time and labor-intensive than a simple cake or bar cookies/brownies.

When you said, "press," did you mean spritz cookies? Like, from a cookie press? I swear I made a five hundred of those in an afternoon with a friend, and we barely even broke a sweat. Once you've made the dough and loaded it into the gun, it's like, *bam* *bam* *bam* and you have a hundred cute little cookies. :)

Anyway...I committed myself to making a baklava this weekend. So I feel your pain. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Apple dumplings are a very old, traditional dish which means by definition that they took a long time to make. For the upper classes, this didn't matter because the servants made all the food. For the lower classes, they were worth the time because they were very inexpensive to make, extremely filling, and easy to transport. They also keep well and don't require precise baking such as a souffle does. Ditto on all those old-fashioned gingerbreads, baked puddings, and pound cakes (cut a slab, wrap it in a napkin, and store it in a pocket for a hearty lunch).

One of the easiest ways to streamline cookies is to make them as bars: Toll House, for instance, are perfect this way. Same recipe (and there are many variations such as "blondies" and "vanilla brownies")but cooked in a pan.

Or say to hell with it and go for a pint of rocky road, some whipped cream, and a spoon. Quite fine and no baking!

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

That is what I meant (using a cookie press--"press cookies") but my point with them is that you've got to bake them on cookies sheets in mutiple batches, and then remove and cool each cookie seperately.

Baklava? Sheesh, I feel _your_ pain. Anything with filo is a killer.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Why do I get the feeling this was posted by somebody's mother?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I think yours. She sent me a set of historical definitions of dumplings, as well.

Besides, the last line doesn't sound like my mother - and I don't think her default ice cream would be rocky road.

[tigermelp.livejournal.com]

That's true, I guess. But we didn't notice that part too much because we were so overjoyed about getting to shoot things (and have tasty butter cookies come out as a result).

[dushai.livejournal.com]

If you're claiming that all chocolate chip cookie recipes are time intensive and involve complex technology like creaming butter and sugar (ooh ahh), then you really need to try my recipe. In addition to being very easy and quite fault-tolerant, you can also add yummy stuff like coconut or mint to it, if you want.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

My point is that, even though cakes tend to be automatically viewed as "fancier", a simple cookie recipe will inherently take more effort than a simple cake reciple.

So - chocolate chip cookies vs. chocolate chip bundt cake. Just the name sounds fancier. And the fact that the cake comes out with a pretty, elaborate shape and the cookies look somewhat rough-hewn makes the cake appear more formal.

Yet they have practically the same ingredients, with different proportions. Mixing the batter takes about the same amount of time and effort.

But with the bundt cake, all you have to do is pour it into one pan, stick it in the oven and toddle off for at least half an hour, usually more.

The cookies, on the other hand, you have to spoon out each individual cookie. You usually end up with two sheets. One cooks faster because of oven positioning. They also cook in about 10 minutes. But you have to bake sheet A and B. Sheet A finishes first, you take the cookies out and put them out to cool. You put more cookies on A. B comes out. By the time you've got B's old cookies off, new cookies on, and the sheet back in the oven, you now have three minutes to kill before A is ready again. (And you pretty much can't do anything in 3 minutes.) And so on.

So even if you have things in the oven for an hour in total for both cake and cookies, the cake you just leave and the cookies need near constant attention.

What brought this up, by the way, was the fact that I was trying to do work on my laptop at the same time as making pumpkin cookies. I'd made an apple cake the week before, and had a load of time to do stuff while it baked. But I didn't have time to do anything while making the cookies - the entire time the oven was on, I was busy.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I think your original point was lost on a lot of people, am I'm not entirely sure why. It's a simple concept of time-intensiveness.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought. But apparently I didn't express it very clearly.

[(Anonymous)]

This is the big problem with having a distinctive style and voice. I can never be anonymous.

And that pleather leopard print outfit...doesn't blend into the background either.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't believe this topic generated so much response. (So I'll add to it.) I got the drift of what you meant immediately, having the rare insight born of spending more hours with you than anyone on earth (so far). (This is trumped, however, by the Amazing Psychic Link.)

But I think for ridiculous ease of preparation with deceptive impressiveness ratio, I'd do my chocolate mousse recipe or the one-bowl brownie recipe I found on the box of the unsweetened chocolate squares. Both are available upon request.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Ooh, chocolate mousse...