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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

kitchen tech and snickerdoodles


There was a recent request for snickerdoodles. I've baked dozens of varieties of cookies in my lifetime, but never these. A bit of googling and I decided on this recipe from the kitchn. It was easy and my cookie testers gave it an enthusiastic YUM!  

So here's the thing... I have a wonderful library of cookbooks. I inherited my mother's passion for collecting them. But I've stopped using them for cooking and baking. I still pour through them for inspiration, but I find that 95% of the time I use my iPad and do a search for what I'm looking for. I read comments and reviews and then pick the recipe that appeals to me most. I am not complaining, merely reflecting on how cooking has changed with technology. In talking to my friends (and my mom the cookbook queen), I've discovered that I'm not alone... many of us are doing this. How about you? I'm curious- do you google recipes and ingredients... or do you prefer leafing through pages? 

17 comments:

  1. I have noticed I am doing the same most of the time. Even though I got quite a lot of decent books!
    I am holding off baking cookies and delicious stuff - I have a tendency to eat everything I bake;)

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  2. I have a total of 3 cookbooks - a basic Betty Crocker and 2 church cookbooks. Any others I check out from the library. This has been my mode for the last 10 years. And I occasionally print online recipes or clip from mags - but at year end if I haven't tried the recipe, it goes in recycling. Basically I only want to devote about 10"x12"x10" of space to cooking info!

    Even on Pinterest, I collect sparingly and after a year with not trying it--I delete it. Seems like there is such an instant answer to anything you might need immediately. --Vicki K

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  3. that is so interesting - i have been noticing the same thing! i used to pour over cookbooks, and i will still get them out when i am looking for some inspiration but when i am looking for something specific, i don't even think of the cookbooks, i head straight for the computer. i wonder if my kids, who are now young, will ever own a cookbook!

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  4. I bought us a subscription to Eat Your Books last year-- I can search my own library of cookbooks for recipes (by ingredient, etc.) the way I can search my library of knitting books icon Ravelry. Best of both worlds! :)

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  5. I have a huge cookbook collection, especiAlly baking books. I do use them, plus Epicurious, King Arthur Flour and Smitten. I love books and they are my preference.

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  6. I haven't used a cookbook in years. Always google or look up in Pinterest. And now I keep my favorite recipes on a Pinterest board so I can find them easily. When I am cooking or baking my laptop is always open on my high kitchen counter just the way a cookbook used to be!

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  7. I got some new cookbooks for christmas, and I have been cooking from those ever since. INCLUDING- the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, which has a recipe for Snickerdoodle bars, which I can't wait to try. I love all her recipes- and use her website ONLINE all the time. Hi Maya!

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    Replies
    1. I came on here specifically to talk about the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, haha! FYI, since it seems we have similar taste in cookbooks, I also love this one, which has the best banana bread recipe EVER: http://www.amazon.com/Flour-Spectacular-Recipes-Bostons-Bakery/dp/081186944X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390003987&sr=8-1&keywords=flour+cookbook

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  8. I love cookbooks, but I do find myself going on-line more and more, especially when I need to know how to do something new, but still go to my cookbooks for dishes we've been making for years. (I love when the book falls open automatically to an old favorite.)

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  9. Yes, it's similar with me. I usually browse for recipes.
    I've got some cooking books, but don't use them often (usually only the baking-for-Christmas ones. I used to collect recipes from magazines, but I'm afraid to say that the clippings are still an untidy collection of paper snips...
    There's a notebook with our "approved" recipes, though ;-)

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  10. I do both...if I'm looking for something ethnic perhaps (like recipes for a Chinese New Year's feast), I go straight to the internet, because I know my collection of cookbooks will have little for me. If I'm planning meals for the week, I go to my stash of cookbooks. There's plenty of recipes in them yet that we haven't tried, and lots of tried and true favorites too.

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  11. Cook books 95% of the time!

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  12. I don't trust the internet recipes because I don't know if it will be a succes rom the first time. I know my own cookbooks can be trusted because I have triedsome recepies several times, and they are trustable. If not I get rid of the cookbook,....

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  13. Oh my word I love my cookbooks! But now we've moved to Singapore they aren't helping me too much. Instead I go to the market and buy what I think is a recognisable ingredient, then come home and google it, then, with a bit of luck, find a recipe. I love it as I know can cook 'chicken with pandan leaves' and merliton stir fry. Hooray for the internet! x

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  14. I find that I only use a few trusty old classic cookbooks these days (for example, Joy of Cooking, King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion) and browse online for recipes the rest of the time because I enjoy reading the reviews and am inspired by tweaks others have made. Food blogs are also a big inspiration. If I want to browse physical cookbooks, I get them from the library. I do still buy the occasional issue of Cook's Illustrated, though. :-)

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  15. This recipe eliminates the essence of the snickerdoodle--the tangy taste of cream of tartar. These are simply cinnamon cookies.

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  16. I agree with Cecily - snickerdoodles are an old old recipe (predating baking powder), and part of their charm to me is that it calls for this goofy obsolete ingredient, cream of tartar. I grew up eating snickerdoodles in rural Eastern Montana, where recipes are inherited and there wasn't much exposure to new kinds of cooking. It's a cookie that takes me back to childhood.

    Also, I prefer mine looking all crackly too (the original method), treating them like a molasses cookie. I roll tiny dough balls in cinnamon sugar and press them slightly with a cup. They look magical, and isn't that the fun of learning a new recipe? Making it your own, and growing it out of generations of tweaking.

    As for cookbooks, I enjoy looking online, but when I'm tired or stressed by my kitchen, I fall back on my old faithfuls - Simply in Season and More with Less. Both are published by the Mennonite Central Committee, and focus on ethical, resourceful cooking. Inspiring and budget friendly.

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