American Baker in Germany

This is one of my mother's recipes. This is her recipe for coconut macaroons. Not to be confused with French macarons, coconut macaroons are really easy and taste amazing. Coconut Macaroons: 2 egg whites pinch of salt 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tbsp vanilla sugar 2/3 cup (130g) sugar 1 1/3 cup (110g) shredded coconut Separate your eggs, keeping the whites.  Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Slowly add the sugar, vanilla and salt and continue to whip it until it sets up.  Fold in the coconut.  Spoon the dough onto a lined baking sheet. You can pipe it on as well. The dough is quite soft.  Bake them at 325°F or 165°C for about 15-20 minutes or until the cookies get the color of toasted coconut.  Here you can see the difference in color between the dough and the cookies.  This recipe makes about two dozen.  The nicest thing about this recipe is that even though it tastes just like a cookie, there is no added fat at ...

This cake was for a colleague who loves red velvet cake. She asked if I can make her a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Of course! But just for fun, let's decorate it. I've decided to use a technique called brushed embroidery. It seems to fit me as well because I sometimes embroider. I started out with a new recipe of red velvet cake. I'm not super excited about this recipe, so I will share the recipe when I find one I'm in love with.  Then I whipped up a batch of my cream cheese frosting. It was a very warm day, so I it was quite soft.  I filled the cake with frosting.  Then I crumb coated the cake. And chilled the cake for half an hour to let the frosting set up.  Then I frosted it again and chilled it again.  Then I colored some frosting with pink food coloring.  I used a decent amount.  Which made it quite bright pink.  Then I put it in a piping bag with a small round piping tip.  Then I got ou...

 It can be confusing. Baking powder. Baking soda. They sound similar. Seem to be used in similar amounts in baking recipes and seem to be used for the same general reason. They even look kind of similar. So, what's the difference?  Let's start with baking soda. Baking soda is a single chemical. It's called sodium bicarbonate, which is a base. If you don't remember what that means, it's basically the opposite of an acid, which means it will react with acids. Baking soda is called for in recipes when there is also an acid in the recipe somewhere. Examples of acids are: lemon juice, citric acid, cream of tartar, vinegar, buttermilk, molasses or even brown sugar. Baking soda makes the batter or dough swell up by reacting to the acid in the recipe.  Now let's look at baking powder. Baking powder typically contains three ingredients: a base such as sodium bicarbonate or sodium biphosphate, an acid such as cream of tartar, and corn starch. Because baking...