North Port Fishington Cookie Factory

Donut Day

2010-02-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

SO on fat tuesday, the day before lent begins, u are supposed to eat lots of junk
so that u can be healthy/holy/restricted in the days to come
i worked at a bakery in high school that always made fasnachts (sp?)
for fat tuesday
i think they were mostly twists, but there might have been jelly filled as well
all the catholic schools would order them and various caterers etc
they are at least pennsylvania dutch and maybe old school german
they differ from regular donuts in that they have mashed potatoes in the dough
they are yeasted and deep fried

the recipe i tried was from a vegan book
and im not sure that the recipe is proper
ive never made fried donuts before, but this yeast batter was almost like pancake batter
way more than tender, ultra wet
i added alot of extra flour
and it was super cold in my house
but they still rose very well
(i preheated and then turned off the oven, hoping to get it around 120-130 to start rising)

first rise went about an hr in the oven, turned off
then rolled out with a thermos...
and used an open jar to cut them
recipe was supposed to make 3 dozen
it made at least 50, prolly even more
so we might have been rolling it out too small, def had a cutter that was too small

we cheated and fried some without a second rise
predictably dense
we made some with holes in the center
cuz we were concerned about raw cores...
waited 45 mins for a second rise
and they got very puffy and tender

fried them 4 at a time
about a minute on each side
let them drip on brown paper

and then shook in a bowl of powdered sugar w a lil cinnamon in it

Muffins

2009-12-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

Ive been slacking on posting anything about muffins
weve been selling them to bennas & b2 since the summer
and occasionally at greensgrow
and randomly at other locations
weve been experimenting with lots of add ins
without documenting frequently

>>Chococonut, my favorite
(chocochips, dried coconut)

and the seasonl beauty
Double Cranberry Swirl >>>>>>
(Craisins, spiced cranberry sauce)

muffins are available at Bennas (8th & wharton) B2 (Passyunk & Dickinson) and this weekend at the inliquid art fair at greensgrow (Cumberland St in port fishington)

Uttapam

2009-12-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

Uttapams are a slight variation on dosas
i used the same batter
when making dosas u must quickly spread the batter out very thinly with the back of a spoon
whereas uttapams are cooked more like an american pancake
except that it is covered while cooking to ensure the inside gets cooked
the way i have seen them prepared most often is to pour batter in the pan
then add finely chopped onion, tomato, cilantro and oil on top
i subbed roasted red peppers for tomatoes
i tried this way first
but i think they cook better when the additional ingredients are stirred into the batter so they dont just burn when u flip it

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooops

2009-12-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

i forgot i had a blog
these crazy holidays
and certain indian-food-centric people
have distracted me from wild creations
as well as necessary test outs
the bakery is going to be so soon!
(stupid health dept bein all slow... mutter mutter.)

but enuf excuses, heres what i HAVE been doing
making dosas!
all the time
averaging at least every day
several times a day many days
masala dosas to start, everything i can think of as time goes on:

banana, pb, raspberry jelly
sweet potato, sorrel
red cabbage, onion, seitan
scrambled tofu, mache

masala dosas are an indian breakfast food
they are similar to crepes with the major exception that
d are traditionally vegan and gluten free!!!!!
they are made from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal (a split and hulled, tiny indian pulse)

ive been experimenting and dont have a definitive favorite yet
ratios or recipes
i like the idea of the "real" old school way
which is soak rice, soak urad dal w/ fenugreek seeds for about 6hrs
then grind each seperately
then combine and let sit, covered at room temperature for 12hrs, add salt and cook

however the cheater way is easier (but still time consuming) and still delicious
and didnt hurt my guts as i was scared it might without the mega soaking time...
rice flour and urad flour combined and let sit 8-12hrs, add salt

Cranberry Saucinnamon Buns

2009-11-13T01:15:00.000-08:00

last week at the kitchen, we received a large sack of fresh cranberries from our friend Andrew
his father bartered for them
he cooked up tons and gave the rest to us
we finally got around to using them this week
thanks andrew! they turned out great

i stewed them up in apple cider and spices
while making the dough
and letting it rise for 2 hours
and rolling up the plain buns
cooking them for about 4 hours total
on very low heat
stirring whenever someone thought of it

it ended up super tart even with the addition of some turbinado sugar
i spread the dough with a lil cinnamon schmear before slopping it up with cranberry
it was super wet and hard to roll up
i was scurd it would ooze out everywhere
but it worked really well
the filling is still super tart but the cream cheese icing balances it really well

2009-11-13T01:13:00.000-08:00

Rosemary Scones

2009-11-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

i sprinkled some with nutritional yeast and sea salt but they turned out pretty pale, the next batch i brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with more rosemary leaves. the salt is nice.

used a forearm length branch of rosemary, leaves picked off the branch and finely chopped; added to flour before butta is cut in
: twice as much might still be ok, currently its subtle and delicious

prolly too sweet

but really great...

hot thanksgiving jawns.

im gonna try sage and chive versions also

PUMPkin pie

2009-11-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

im so bad at it

i dont know why

4 pies with little improvement

i cant even keep track of which photos are what recipe

cuz theyre all lame

and not setting up properly

tofu seems like the way to go

one recipe used tofu

one used soymilk/ cornstarch

one used soymilk/ fleggs

one used soymilk/ enerG

different amounts and types of sweetener in each

thus far i believe a small amount of molasses is essential

maple is expensive and mild

and allspice is important and often forgotten in pumpkin spice blends...

i havent even begun messing with crusts...

soon

2009-10-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

APPLE CINNAMON BUNS

2009-10-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

i bought some Stayman/Winesap apples from the farmers market

they are my favorite apple currently

sweet and tart and kinda spicy, they have a very complex, delicious flavor

theyre good for eating and very good for baking

i peeled, cored and diced them, then sauteed them in earthbalance, nutmeg and turbinado sugar

rolled out the dough, put down a layer of cinnamon goo, then covered it with apples and rolled it up

definitely the best apple bun so far, beating Rome and Rambo.

probably my favorite bun ever.

FRANKENSTEIN

2009-10-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

a frankenstein is a scrappy mashup cookie

it is produced with all the scraps that werent big enough to make a full cookie. it may contain brownie ball, chocolate chips, any nuts, craisins, icing, peanut butter, donut batter, cinnabun dough, etc.

(for frame of reference: that parchment paper it is sitting on is 16x20, this week its beast)

we generally make one frank per week and sell it at the farmers market or bring it to a party.

we did an experiment a few weeks ago where we made berry batter donuts. we froze some of the batter and its been wasting space in the freezer ever since.

so yesterday i baked off a few dozen (and they turned out great!) and still had alot left over.

this made the giant pink base.
then theres a whole lot of peanut butter dough down the center.
then theres a few huge chunks of chocolate chips that had melted together.
and a band of chocolate cookie dough.
and small amount of both ginger molassses and oatmeal cashew craisin.

2009-10-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

Giant Kandy Kake

2009-10-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

so the best tastykakes are the peanut butter kandy kakes.

butterscotch crimpets are good, sure.

but kandy kakes?

hot jawns.

i made this recipe a few years ago and it was good but not quite right.

the peanut butter filling was far too runny, and the ganache shattered when cut- way too hard.

so i remade it yesterday and its much better. still needs a few tweaks but real close.

the cake is close but prolly a lil too moist and the ganache is still not soft enough. Not quit enough peanut butter on the big cake, tooo much on the small cakes

but it is delicous.

the pics dont have a point of reference but this is a nine inch cake as opposed to a 2 inch tastykake. i also made a few 4 inch mini cakes that were gobbled before photos.

2009-10-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

2009-10-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

PUMPKIN

2009-10-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

ive been slacking on re making the pumpkin cookie recipe i came up with last year. i wanted it for october 1st. way off. so i decided it has to be out by halloween at the latest. less than 2 weeks away now.
i made the cookies last night. and i dont like them.
the spice is off. i think i made giant batches of pie spice last year and didnt keep good notes on what ratios i used. what i had written on the recipe wasnt enough. chris even ground me fresh cloves! and still they are kinda dull.
i used light brown sugar instead of turbinado because thats all i had in my house in the middle of the night. it may have carmelized way too much. they seem super sweet and too moist.
at 18 minutes the big jaws were pale and kinda doughy still.
did another pan for 20 and still whack.
kept them in for 23 all together, a bit overdone by then.
the second pan i did a wild experiment of glazing them in apple butter for the ultra fall cookie
i also made small thumbprint cookies w/ gingered apple butter
ive decided the cookie is to close to ginger molasses already so adding apple ginger butter is dangerous; it wants to be gingerbread so bad.
ill try different spicing and less sugar and maybe the snickerdoodle trick...

27 month hiatus is over!

2009-10-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

whoops.
im not very good at blogging.
but this is a hot domain name and it should be taken advantage of.
pics coming soon.
constantly.

New Springtime Cookie Flavor

2007-05-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

FRESH MINT COOKIE

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 C butta
1 1/2 C white sugar
3 Tbl very finely chopped mint
1 flegg (1 Tbl golden flax, ground and whisked with 3 TBl water)
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbl soymilk mixed with 1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Make buttermilk by combining vinegar and silk in small bowl. Set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the flegg and vanilla.
Gradually blend in dry ingredients. Add enough of the buttermilk to moisten the dough and make it soft, not wet.
Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls and place on a ungreased cookie sheet.
With a brush or fingers, moisten the top of each cookie with the remaining buttermilk and slightly flatten the top of each cookie.
Sprinkle with turbinado

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly golden.
Let stand for 2 minutes before removing to cool on a rack.

i made 50 small cookies 25 each tray
first btch slightly smaller 8 min, 10 min for second cant tell much difference 9 min for 50 same size probly good.
these are irresistable i ate like 10 today so good. really minty even without extract.
i am otis spunkmeyer

2007-05-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

this makes 2 dozen. the original made 4 dozen and i cut it down.

1/4 C oil
1/4C earth balance
3/8C peanut butter
1 C sucanat
1 Flegg (1Tbl golden flax, ground then whisked with 3 Tbl water)
1 tsp vanilla

Cream fats and sugar. Add flegg and vanilla.

Stir seperately then add:

3/4 C oat flour (coffee grinder some rolled oats)
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bking soda

scoop onto baking sheet by the Tablespoon. Leave 2", they spread alot
bake 11min at 350

Peanut Butta

2007-05-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

I found a better peanut butter cookie! I dont know if its the best yet but this one is way better than the super greasy one I was using from veg web. I found this on Wholesome Sweeteners website and veganized it. They have lots of recipes for fancy sugars and I bet they are all pretty good. Sugar companies should know how to make cookies after all

Flipped, post bake, pre bake

2007-04-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon Bun I

2007-04-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

this one turned out to be more of a sticky bun

Dough

4C flour
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbl sugar
1 C tepid water

Combine water and sugar. add yeast, stir. proof 10 min.
Mix dry in a large bowl then add yeast water.
Knead until smooth and elastic (10mins?)
Transfer to a clean bowl, rubbed with a little oil
Let rise covered for 1 hour

Filling

1/2 C earth balance
1 C sugar
3 Tbl cinnamon
1/4 C maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla

Cream butta and cinnamon sugar
add vanilla and maple and fluff it up
refrigerate til dough is ready

Assembly: Split dough in 2
roll each into 9x13 rectangle
spread with half the filling
roll it up
slice into 1"
place into greased cake pan side by side
(i used 2 pie dishes)
bake 350 for 20min

Cinnamon Bombed (the great cinnamon bun disaster)

2007-04-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well, it wasn't quite a disaster in the end. When I first pulled this out of the oven however, they looked terrible. During cooking, most of the cinnabutta goo melted out of the rolls to the bottom of the pan. So by the time it was finished (20min) the tops were totally dried out. Not appetizing. One I started the recipe I thought it was for cinnamon rolls but its actually more of a sticky bun. So I inverted the pan after cooling about 3 min and delicious cinnamon slime poured over the buns unevenly. If its gonna be a sticky bun, it needs raisins or pecans.

I also fucked with the recipe and used whole wheat pastry and bread flour and I bet they would be far more tender with all purpose. The touch of nutmeg is nice.

And for next time, I didnt roll them tight enough in the beginning, so the have pretty open centers. I'd like to try one of the drier recipes ( as in not sticky, just cinnamony) and perfect it. Then I could make danishes, honey buns, and cinnamon rolls. The I could use the filling as schmear for the pan instead of as a filling when I wanted sticky buns. ( I dont know how accepted that word is. I worked in a German bakery in high school and the called the sugar/ shortening goo "schmear"- because u schmear it on pans)

Vegan Cookies

2007-04-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

the factory is my kitchen
in north phladelphia