Making noodles with Mom

This will be my last reposted blog entry. I wrote this one in February:

I helped my mom make her homemade noodles today. The recipe is from her 1974 Betty Crocker Cookbook.
It's awesomely vintage.

I took a photo of the recipe. See the bottom of the blog for an easier to read version.

She made the dough in her food processor. I'm not sure if she prefers mixing by hand or not. This was her first try in the food processor. Looks good to me.

Brother caught us in the act and stole my camera.

Rolling out and rolling over.

Thank goodness for electric knives.

Dump in a bowl...

...and toss in some flour. This is Mom's favorite part.

And it would be appropriate to have an after photo, when the pasta is cooked. I was too concerned with eating them. Mmmmm. This is the taste of home.

Homemade Egg Noodles a la Betty Crocker circa 1974

-2 cups all purpose flour

-3 egg yolks

-1 egg

-2 teaspoons salt

-1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Measure flour into bowl, make well in center and add egg yolks, egg, and salt. With hands thoroughly mix egg into flour. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, mix thoroughly after each addition. (Add only enough water to form dough into a ball.)

Turn dough onto well-floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into four equal parts. Roll dough one part at a time, into paper thin rectangle, keeping remaining dough covered. Roll dough around rolling pin and slip out rolling pin. (Mom uses the flour and fold over method.)

Cut dough crosswise into 1/4 inch strips for wide noodles. Shake out strips and place on towel to dry - about two hours. (We skip this step all together. We plop them straight into water. They turn out thick and dumpling-esque. We like it that way.)

When dry, break dry strips into smaller pieces. Cook in three quarts of boiling salted water (one Tablespoon of salt) 12 to 15 minutes or until tender. Drain thoroughly.

Makes about 6 cups/10 ounces.

New cookies and an awesome craft fair.

Karli and I have been brainstorming about a lot of things lately: packaging, gift boxes/sets, displays, getting our own kitchen space, buying our own freezer - (which we did today - woo hoo!), but most importantly, we brainstormed about cookie flavors. I've been working on new vegan-friendly cookies and continuing the gluten free cookie challenge. We thought a macaroon would be a nice addition to our arsenal - delicious and gluten free to boot.

Everyone knows that the best recipes always start with chocolate. How can you go wrong with that?!

Macaroons are made with egg whites, so I had to seperate the yolks. You have to be very careful not to get any yolk in the whites. Also, make sure that your bowl and wisk are very clean and oil/grease free. Otherwise, the egg whites won't fluff up.

No flour here. This recipe called for almond meal. I love nuts. They are just so versatile!

Cute little plops of macaroon.

So this is the finished product. I don't even know what a proper macaroon should look like...or even taste like. The taste is reminiscent to Nutella, though almondy instead of hazelnuty. They are chewy and slightly tough. I think I was a bit rough with those egg whites. Need to do some more research.

On another note:

The Hot Cookie will be rockin' out at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange this Saturday from 10am to 11pm at the Harrison Center in Indy. Check out all of the other awesome vendors here. I, personally, am TOTALLY excited.

PS - If you are on Facebook and are not currently in our The Hot Cookie fan group, you can be. Join us here.

Hazelnut Thins again. Yums!

Practiced baking some more hazelnut cookies.

Every great batch of cookies begins with the right tunes. I'm in a Kings of Leon phase. They make my cookies taste extra delicious.

Here's the batter with sugar, butter, and hazelnut cream before the eggs are incorportated.

Eggs give the batter a nice, smooth texture.

Added some air to fluff things up.

Finished off the batter with some flour, and now it's ready to be scooped.

Hazelnut Thins, meet everybody. Everybody, meed Hazelnut Thins.

Pile of yum.

St.Louis Specials - the First Attempt

Karli has a favorite cookie which hails from her home town, St. Louis. She had a recipe, and we tried it out. They are definitely delicious, but I had to figure out how to make it truly OURS and not someone else's. So I did some testing.

The dough is so light and airy. Very pretty.

This dough goes through the ol' roll-in-the-powdered-sugar game. It's a good game. The cookies like to play it often.

PS - I was wandering around this wonderful city and came across a very cool open-air market, called Locally Grown Gardens. It was highly recommended that I go and check it out, and I was not disappointed. I got these beautiful eggs there. Gorgeous, flavorful, nutritious.

Back to the subject: St.Louis Specials. They look like they could be winners.

Mmmmm. They taste like winners, but will they pass the St.Louisian's test? Karli, come and give these a try!