Will refrigerated dough products leave made-from-scratch days behind?
By Marcia Poole | Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Whole Wheat Caramel Lattes bring back baking fun.
Is the supermarket "baking" section transitioning to a refrigerated department?
Last fall, Pillsbury made a splash with the refrigerated Simply Bake Bar line. "When it comes to serving friends and family a delicious indulgent dessert, nothing may be easier to bake at home than new refrigerated Pillsbury Simply Bake Bars," the promotion said.
I agree that few foods warm hearth and home like the toasty aroma of bars or cookies baking in the oven. But lots of consumers are saying they don't have time for leisure baking. Assembling ingredients and then mixing them up in the big Pyrex bowl does take time.
Those who do have time may not have the inclination to mess with creaming and mixing when they can buy packaged cookie dough, pre-shaped and ready to arrange on a baking sheet. The bar concept comes equipped with a "bakeable" pan. No mixing, no clean-up and available in popular Turtle Supreme and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk.
The refrigerated trend capitalizes on holiday themes, including Easter bunny cookies. Basic brownies are part of the story with thick batter packed into tubes, ready for squeezing into 8-by-8-inch pans. Nestle's and private label brands are in the niche which clearly has caught on with consumers, including me.
The refrigerated dough concept is hardly new. Pillsbury gave us tubes of chocolate chip, sugar and peanut butter varieties decades ago. Back then we had to slice and quarter the dough. We thought nothing of nibbling on bits of raw dough -- a practice now sternly cautioned against by food safety officials.
Sioux City's own Perry Creek Cookie Company came along in the late 1980s with dough packed in plastic tubs, much like larger-sized, soft-spread margarine containers. The convenient product required scooping up uniform spoonfuls of dough. Now we don't even have to do that. All is very convenient, but something is lost in the effortless process.
For many Siouxlanders, bright memories are wrapped up in Saturday afternoon baking sessions - in poring over recipes, assembling ingredients, and preheating the oven. Back-of-the-box recipes, like Quaker's Famous Oatmeal Cookies and Nestle's Classic Toll House Cookies, were a rite of passage - a baking debut - a first solo flight into feelings of accomplishment. They transformed nothing-to-do days into fun occasions that put us in charge of the kitchen chemistry operation.
Even after the cookies were baked, the milk was poured and the goodies gobbled down, much was left to chew on in terms of ingredients and techniques.
Did butter work or would Crisco have been better? Were the sugar and shortening properly "creamed?" Was the dough over-mixed or done just right? Did you notice the cookies on the sides and back of the baking sheet browned before the others? Maybe we should add another egg next time so the cookies are lighter and not too brownie-like.
When the cookies stuck to the baking sheet, we learned how to salvage the mess with "trifle." A disaster became a useful exercise in resourcefulness and determination. And it looked like we had planned the dessert that way all along.
Baking nostalgia has something in common with popcorn. We're delighted Jolly Time makes warm, fragrant popcorn as easy as slipping a package into the microwave. But maybe we shouldn't forget that stove-top popcorn holds something special -- even magical -- that the microwave can never fully replace.
So take time to smell made-from-scratch popcorn and other treats. Savor the memories they can make and the fun of doing something together. Check out the following ideas, including a variation on the Rice Krispies Treat theme which has an Iowa story of origin.
Iowa State University graduate Mildred Day is credited with creating and first publishing the Rice Krispies Treat recipe in 1941. She came up with the sturdy idea for a Camp Fire Girls bake sale. Now Rice Krispies Treats are a commonplace convenience product. Still, the homemade version we used to make brightens any day.
Whole Wheat Caramel Lattes
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
Two-thirds cup sugar
One-quarter cup cafe mocha instant coffee crystals
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
One and one-quarter cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
18 caramels
1 tablespoon heavy cream
42 chocolate-covered coffee beans
Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and instant coffee crystals together, until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Combine flours in a separate bowl and add to butter mixture; mix well.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls, and place two inches apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Press thumb into cookie center. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until cookies begin to brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
In a small saucepan, over low heat, heat caramels and the cream, stirring frequently. Using a teaspoon, drop melted caramel into each thumbprint, placing a chocolate-covered coffee bean on caramel immediately. Store in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to three days. Makes three dozen cookies. Source: Wisconsin Dairy Producers
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Three-quarters cup Butter Flavor Crisco
One and one-quarter cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 large egg
One and three-quarters cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Three-quarters teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat egg into creamed mixture. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecan pieces.
Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough three inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 degrees F. for eight to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Do not overbake. Cool two minutes on baking sheet. Place sheets of foil on countertop. Remove cookies to foil to cool completely. Makes about three dozen cookies. Source: Crisco
Chewy Chocolate Kellogg's
Rice Krispies Treats
3 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 package (10 ounces, about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon chocolate flavoring
6 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal
One-half cup raisins
Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add cocoa powder and marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate flavoring. Add Rice Krispies and raisins. Stir until well coated.
Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly into 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into squares when cool. Best if served the same day.
Microwave directions: Microwave margarine, cocoa powder and marshmallows at HIGH three minutes in microwave-safe mixing bowl, stirring after two minutes. Stir until smooth. Stir in chocolate flavoring. Add cereal and raisins. Stir until well coated. Press into pan as directed in conventional method. Microwave cooking times may vary. Makes about 12 servings. Source: Kellogg's
Last fall, Pillsbury made a splash with the refrigerated Simply Bake Bar line. "When it comes to serving friends and family a delicious indulgent dessert, nothing may be easier to bake at home than new refrigerated Pillsbury Simply Bake Bars," the promotion said.
I agree that few foods warm hearth and home like the toasty aroma of bars or cookies baking in the oven. But lots of consumers are saying they don't have time for leisure baking. Assembling ingredients and then mixing them up in the big Pyrex bowl does take time.
Those who do have time may not have the inclination to mess with creaming and mixing when they can buy packaged cookie dough, pre-shaped and ready to arrange on a baking sheet. The bar concept comes equipped with a "bakeable" pan. No mixing, no clean-up and available in popular Turtle Supreme and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk.
The refrigerated trend capitalizes on holiday themes, including Easter bunny cookies. Basic brownies are part of the story with thick batter packed into tubes, ready for squeezing into 8-by-8-inch pans. Nestle's and private label brands are in the niche which clearly has caught on with consumers, including me.
The refrigerated dough concept is hardly new. Pillsbury gave us tubes of chocolate chip, sugar and peanut butter varieties decades ago. Back then we had to slice and quarter the dough. We thought nothing of nibbling on bits of raw dough -- a practice now sternly cautioned against by food safety officials.
Sioux City's own Perry Creek Cookie Company came along in the late 1980s with dough packed in plastic tubs, much like larger-sized, soft-spread margarine containers. The convenient product required scooping up uniform spoonfuls of dough. Now we don't even have to do that. All is very convenient, but something is lost in the effortless process.
For many Siouxlanders, bright memories are wrapped up in Saturday afternoon baking sessions - in poring over recipes, assembling ingredients, and preheating the oven. Back-of-the-box recipes, like Quaker's Famous Oatmeal Cookies and Nestle's Classic Toll House Cookies, were a rite of passage - a baking debut - a first solo flight into feelings of accomplishment. They transformed nothing-to-do days into fun occasions that put us in charge of the kitchen chemistry operation.
Even after the cookies were baked, the milk was poured and the goodies gobbled down, much was left to chew on in terms of ingredients and techniques.
Did butter work or would Crisco have been better? Were the sugar and shortening properly "creamed?" Was the dough over-mixed or done just right? Did you notice the cookies on the sides and back of the baking sheet browned before the others? Maybe we should add another egg next time so the cookies are lighter and not too brownie-like.
When the cookies stuck to the baking sheet, we learned how to salvage the mess with "trifle." A disaster became a useful exercise in resourcefulness and determination. And it looked like we had planned the dessert that way all along.
Baking nostalgia has something in common with popcorn. We're delighted Jolly Time makes warm, fragrant popcorn as easy as slipping a package into the microwave. But maybe we shouldn't forget that stove-top popcorn holds something special -- even magical -- that the microwave can never fully replace.
So take time to smell made-from-scratch popcorn and other treats. Savor the memories they can make and the fun of doing something together. Check out the following ideas, including a variation on the Rice Krispies Treat theme which has an Iowa story of origin.
Iowa State University graduate Mildred Day is credited with creating and first publishing the Rice Krispies Treat recipe in 1941. She came up with the sturdy idea for a Camp Fire Girls bake sale. Now Rice Krispies Treats are a commonplace convenience product. Still, the homemade version we used to make brightens any day.
Whole Wheat Caramel Lattes
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
Two-thirds cup sugar
One-quarter cup cafe mocha instant coffee crystals
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
One and one-quarter cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
18 caramels
1 tablespoon heavy cream
42 chocolate-covered coffee beans
Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and instant coffee crystals together, until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Combine flours in a separate bowl and add to butter mixture; mix well.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls, and place two inches apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Press thumb into cookie center. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until cookies begin to brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
In a small saucepan, over low heat, heat caramels and the cream, stirring frequently. Using a teaspoon, drop melted caramel into each thumbprint, placing a chocolate-covered coffee bean on caramel immediately. Store in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to three days. Makes three dozen cookies. Source: Wisconsin Dairy Producers
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Three-quarters cup Butter Flavor Crisco
One and one-quarter cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 large egg
One and three-quarters cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Three-quarters teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat egg into creamed mixture. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecan pieces.
Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough three inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 degrees F. for eight to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Do not overbake. Cool two minutes on baking sheet. Place sheets of foil on countertop. Remove cookies to foil to cool completely. Makes about three dozen cookies. Source: Crisco
Chewy Chocolate Kellogg's
Rice Krispies Treats
3 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 package (10 ounces, about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon chocolate flavoring
6 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal
One-half cup raisins
Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add cocoa powder and marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate flavoring. Add Rice Krispies and raisins. Stir until well coated.
Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly into 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into squares when cool. Best if served the same day.
Microwave directions: Microwave margarine, cocoa powder and marshmallows at HIGH three minutes in microwave-safe mixing bowl, stirring after two minutes. Stir until smooth. Stir in chocolate flavoring. Add cereal and raisins. Stir until well coated. Press into pan as directed in conventional method. Microwave cooking times may vary. Makes about 12 servings. Source: Kellogg's
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