Greenstein's Bakery - Baking Bible - Gooseberry Currant Blueberry Pie

ב''ה

So…

No elderberries to be had…

But I found Gooseberries. :)

The "lava lamp" and Omi-girl were with me for moral support.

The lovely crust come together without a hitch.

Red and Green Gooseberries, red currants and blueberries. The Gooseberries and currants were a bit tart. I increased the sugar to 1 cup. It could have used, perhaps, a bit more even. The Gooseberries were very runny. We spent a half hour pulling off the nips from the berries.

I probably should have sieved out some of the extra liquid.

I figured the main point of this recipe was that blueberries can help smooth out more seedy berries. The Gooseberries do have a lot of seeds so perhaps it worked. I've never had gooseberry pie on its own before, so I'm not sure. At any rate, this pie was delicious and tart and runny. It was not particularly unique in flavor though. For that, I'll have to find some unsuspecting elderberries...

Greenstein's Bakery - Baking Bible - Molasses Crumb Cakes

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I made a double batch. The first I made into mini-bundts and the second into mini cake-lets.

These delicious and tangy molasses cakes came out better for me in the bigger version (mini bundt cakes).

The cake-lets I made got burnt. Not sure what I did wrong. When the buzzer rang, the middles were not done, even though the sides were already burning. Perhaps I put them on the wrong rack of the oven (bottom) or perhaps it is because I did not use baking spray with flour. *shrugs* Don't know.

The batter was pretty liqued-y

The next time I won't use the crumb topping as the kids did not like it.

Here you can see a size comparison to the mini bundts.

The mini bundts had a soft lovely crumb. It makes me think that this the mini cake-lets may loose out on the soft middle here somewhat since they are so small.

Greenstein's Bakery - Baking Bible - 4th of July Cheesecake

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This was a wonderful cheesecake but there are a couple things I would change about the recipe:

1. The cheesecake part should be first. I had all the components made only to discover that the cheesecake had to be refrigerated before assembly. This was rather frustrating. Making the cheesecake first would have allowed me to make the other parts while the cheesecake was cooling and save time.
2. Why was there lemon juice in the cheesecake recipe? It should have said it was a lemon cheesecake. There are several other cheesecake recipes that Rose has surreptitiously slipped in lemon juice. Why?? 
3. I used the same spring-form pan as the cheesecake recipe and did not have to cut or modify the shape of the bottom layer. Not sure what the idea was here to use a different pan than the cheese cake.

Mis en place

You Meex like'a dis..

Cake batter

Cheesecake batter

Toaster shot

Lovely red cake. Someone seems to have taken a 'nibble'...

Not sure why we strained these, but I went with it. 

No bath, just a cake strip.

Everyone enjoyed it.