Last Sunday, I hosted a crazy Strudel & Xmas shortbread cookies party! A budding tradition initiated by Zuly, my mother-in-law, and her desire to try two new Christmas recipes that she had found online. We reported present to take up the challenge, you know us, always ready to go for something as new, daring and challenging as... baking based on youtube video recipes.
Hannah, who happens to be a real chef - not a pastry chef, though, and baking a strudel was new to her too- was here in charge of the apples mixture for the strudel. She did a fantastic job! | A Baker's Odyssey: Apple Strudel Recipe Apr 9, 2009 - 10:43 Learn to make classic apple strudel - layer upon layer of paper-thin buttery pastry rolled around a generous amount of apple and cinnamon, with raisins & walnuts. By baking with immigrants in... |
 | Shortbread Cookies - Foodea Recipes Nov 26, 2008 - 05:37 Delicious shortbread cookies that are great for the family. |
You now understand why Zuly picked up these recipes! The more, the merrier...She loved the making of the strudel most particularly, to start a family Christmas tradition. And we did have a lot of fun! Strudel-wise, we warmed up our hand muscles, and kneaded the strudel's dough as much as required, i.e we hit it on the table a hundred times !!!
Zuly airing the particles of the dough. I think she hit it the hardest!
While we were hitting the dough on the table in turns, Jen was hands down dealing with the mixture for the cookies
Here is Chris's turn to hit the dough. He was so crucial to keep us on track!
Yours sincerely at work, along with Jen - What a blast!Honestly we found it a bit tricky not to have the exact quantities and instructions listed in front of our eyes...We had to repeat a few stages while making the strudel.
The team focusing hard on the videos...What did he say? How much? How long? What's the oven's temperature that he just said?Well, to tell you the truth, the strudel from the Baker's Odyssey didn't prove very successful. As a matter of fact, the result of our cooking session turned out to be half-half!
Jim, scooping up the cookies with real savoir-faire
The strudel and its offspring: bof, way to go! But the cookies did pass the test. Yes, we tasted ONE (see the hole in the middle...), and the consistence was purr-fect!It's OK! We have learnt from our failure. Baking is quite like chemistry... In baking, everything has to be perfectly accurate to give the right result, and I think that the strudel video was a bit elliptical on some crucial points...Whatever, we missed the target with the dough. We, all the same, sat around the table and ate the strudel with a lot of pleasure, all together. My husband, Marco, and his twin brother, Miguel, who had been away for the day, even made it just in time to share the joy with us!
We welcomed the latecomers (Miguel and Marco) by crowning them with fancy coloured hats - looking good, baby!At the end of the day, we were all too happy to get a box full of scrumptious cookies. As you can see the box was sealed carefully with my Canadian tape to make sure that no hungry fingers would slip inside the cookies box before Christmas day, the day the Jacob family will gather chez nous to eat them all together. I can't wait!
A charming Francophile trio of cooks : Zuly, Lara and Hannah. Bravo!Lesson of the day: We have learnt from experience that to make a strudel is a lot of fun, (it was a very good idea, Zuly!), but that it is better...
. to marinate our raisins in a cup and a half of rum
. not to put any bread crumbs (it made it too dry)
. to glaze the roll with the yolk of an egg.
Yes, we will do that next time! And, if we can't find a way to bake a good strudel, I might well invite my Canadian family to go for a gingerbread Christmas tradition, instead. I have a very good recipe for it, taken from my traditional Alsatian cuisine cookbook. I will soon bake one for you. I will keep you posted ;0)
Last but not least, is there anybody there who would have a good traditional recipe for Strudel in store ???
. to marinate our raisins in a cup and a half of rum
. not to put any bread crumbs (it made it too dry)
. to glaze the roll with the yolk of an egg.
Yes, we will do that next time! And, if we can't find a way to bake a good strudel, I might well invite my Canadian family to go for a gingerbread Christmas tradition, instead. I have a very good recipe for it, taken from my traditional Alsatian cuisine cookbook. I will soon bake one for you. I will keep you posted ;0)
Last but not least, is there anybody there who would have a good traditional recipe for Strudel in store ???
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