Daring Bakers August 2013: bashing head against wall
Some of you guys sent me messages on LJ, but I don't know how to see them ;_; There's no easy to find message/inbox button as far as I can see, and the little notifications got pushed out of my "events" list by new stuff. That's why I haven't responded. Help!
And now, time for a belated August Daring Bakers post. This was the worst challenge I've ever participated in.
(Obligatory blog-checking lines that I DO NOT AGREE WITH IN ANY WAY but have to put in to have my blog count as finished for the month: "Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen was our August 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to make some amazing regional Indian desserts. The Mawa Cake, the Bolinhas de Coco cookies and the Masala cookies - beautifully spiced and delicious!")
First of all, I have to get off my chest why this month was so bad. The host was absolutely awful. Their recipes were horribly off in all kinds of ways--wrong ingredient amounts, missing ingredients from the list, poorly explained directions, directions indicating ingredients that weren't even used in the recipe... It goes on and on. Several other members and I all tried to politely point out some of the issues, and even then the host didn't think to him/herself, "Wow, I should probably do a readover of my recipes and fix everything now." Instead, they just fixed one little thing at a time throughout the month. I think even on like the 16th people were still pointing out issues that weren't fixed. I eventually had to give in and just guess on some things when I made the recipes myself because I couldn't wait around forever for them to get their shit together.
This really pissed me off because I saw this was the host's SECOND time hosting, and they were this poorly prepared. I have never gotten to host and would love to, but people who can't even write their basic recipe correctly get to do it multiple times? In addition, the host was also extremely strict about no substitutes or modifications to their recipes--every other host I've seen in my years of participating has been understanding of people's dietary/health needs. Not here.
So NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Onto the recipes:
First up, I made mawa! Here are all of the ingredients:
Yep, that's it.
Basically you put a bunch of whole milk in a pot and you watch it like a hawk for hours.
For a long time it will just look like milk, and you will feel like someone has played a mean joke on you.
Suddenly, though, something magical will happen, and it will look like someone threw up!
Then, if you keep stirring it for another eternity, it starts to solidify.
Finally, it becomes mawa. Cool! This was an excessive amount of work, but it was an interesting experience. The mawa itself tastes kind of like a really nasty/chunky ricotta. But not in a bad way? It was amazing how small the amount of mawa is from so much milk!
I used the mawa to make a mawa cake. Cardamon costs an arm and a leg, so I made mine with nutmeg instead.
Before and after! It's OK/traditional for it to have some cracks in the middle, but not for it to be slightly burnt. OK, that was my bad.
This cake was SO thick in texture that it was a definite choking hazard, but it was pretty delicious! I don't know how the mawa factors into it, but it all pretty much dissolves somewhere along the baking process. This would be a great cake with a big cup of coffee. I'd definitely think about making it again if I didn't have the hassle of mawa-making!
Next up, the second recipe was for coconut cookies.
I think coconut is super disgusting but did my duty.
The dough was based on semolina instead of flour, and every other step involved leaving the dough in the fridge for hours. This seemed really like way too much work for not a great result.
My dough never firmed up as much as it was supposed to, but I was so tired of host errors at that point I just made the cookies with it anyway.
This had a weird, gritty texture thanks to the semolina, they were full of coconut, and they were not good. Nope.
Here's hoping September's challenge is better presented and more fun!
In other baking news, I made a birthday cake for my birthday but it has been sitting in the freezer unfrosted because there hasn't been any time since my birthday where someone wasn't watching TV on the couch for hours. ;_; The only reason I even got the cake baked is 'cause I got up at 4 in the morning one day before they'd be at it--they are usually glued to it from about 6 AM until they sleep on days they are home. I just want post-birthday sugar...! Strongly considering a late-night cake assembly!
And now, time for a belated August Daring Bakers post. This was the worst challenge I've ever participated in.
(Obligatory blog-checking lines that I DO NOT AGREE WITH IN ANY WAY but have to put in to have my blog count as finished for the month: "Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen was our August 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to make some amazing regional Indian desserts. The Mawa Cake, the Bolinhas de Coco cookies and the Masala cookies - beautifully spiced and delicious!")
First of all, I have to get off my chest why this month was so bad. The host was absolutely awful. Their recipes were horribly off in all kinds of ways--wrong ingredient amounts, missing ingredients from the list, poorly explained directions, directions indicating ingredients that weren't even used in the recipe... It goes on and on. Several other members and I all tried to politely point out some of the issues, and even then the host didn't think to him/herself, "Wow, I should probably do a readover of my recipes and fix everything now." Instead, they just fixed one little thing at a time throughout the month. I think even on like the 16th people were still pointing out issues that weren't fixed. I eventually had to give in and just guess on some things when I made the recipes myself because I couldn't wait around forever for them to get their shit together.
This really pissed me off because I saw this was the host's SECOND time hosting, and they were this poorly prepared. I have never gotten to host and would love to, but people who can't even write their basic recipe correctly get to do it multiple times? In addition, the host was also extremely strict about no substitutes or modifications to their recipes--every other host I've seen in my years of participating has been understanding of people's dietary/health needs. Not here.
So NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Onto the recipes:
First up, I made mawa! Here are all of the ingredients:
Yep, that's it.
Basically you put a bunch of whole milk in a pot and you watch it like a hawk for hours.
For a long time it will just look like milk, and you will feel like someone has played a mean joke on you.
Suddenly, though, something magical will happen, and it will look like someone threw up!
Then, if you keep stirring it for another eternity, it starts to solidify.
Finally, it becomes mawa. Cool! This was an excessive amount of work, but it was an interesting experience. The mawa itself tastes kind of like a really nasty/chunky ricotta. But not in a bad way? It was amazing how small the amount of mawa is from so much milk!
I used the mawa to make a mawa cake. Cardamon costs an arm and a leg, so I made mine with nutmeg instead.
Before and after! It's OK/traditional for it to have some cracks in the middle, but not for it to be slightly burnt. OK, that was my bad.
This cake was SO thick in texture that it was a definite choking hazard, but it was pretty delicious! I don't know how the mawa factors into it, but it all pretty much dissolves somewhere along the baking process. This would be a great cake with a big cup of coffee. I'd definitely think about making it again if I didn't have the hassle of mawa-making!
Next up, the second recipe was for coconut cookies.
I think coconut is super disgusting but did my duty.
The dough was based on semolina instead of flour, and every other step involved leaving the dough in the fridge for hours. This seemed really like way too much work for not a great result.
My dough never firmed up as much as it was supposed to, but I was so tired of host errors at that point I just made the cookies with it anyway.
This had a weird, gritty texture thanks to the semolina, they were full of coconut, and they were not good. Nope.
Here's hoping September's challenge is better presented and more fun!
In other baking news, I made a birthday cake for my birthday but it has been sitting in the freezer unfrosted because there hasn't been any time since my birthday where someone wasn't watching TV on the couch for hours. ;_; The only reason I even got the cake baked is 'cause I got up at 4 in the morning one day before they'd be at it--they are usually glued to it from about 6 AM until they sleep on days they are home. I just want post-birthday sugar...! Strongly considering a late-night cake assembly!