I've already told you a lot about why I love my Bosch and how it makes my life easier, but I also wanted to tell you how helpful it is when you want to make big batches of baked goods to take places or to freeze ahead of time, and how it saves me time in the kitchen.
You can get the Bosch kitchen mixer and breadmaker here or keep reading…
Now, lest you think I'm a big hypocritical sweets junkie, I feel that I have to tell you WHY I'm making such big batches of baked goods at all, when we all know that too much of this stuff is a recipe for chronic illness, but maybe it will give you some ideas for ways you can make food ahead, too. (Note: I actually wrote this post a while ago, as you'll be able to tell…)
I made 5 batches of brownies ALL AT ONCE in my Bosch:
- One batch for grandparent's day in my daughter's first grade class.
- One batch for the guys' after-golf Octoberfest dinner next-door last weekend.
- One batch for my daycare kids' treat, and enough so there was a fun smell/treat for my kids to when they walk in the door after school.
- One batch for when we had friends over last Friday night.
- One batch for a certain friend who knows who she is and would kill me if I said anymore.
The point, though, is that this didn't take me anymore time than making ONE batch (except for the time it took to butter extra pans), because it was all in the same bowl! No extra clean up time, either!
Another thing I love is that after years of fighting with my little hand-held mixer (I always tried to make it do more than it could, and the dough would come up too high making a big mess, etc.), and standing over the bowl waiting for it to mix all the dough, now I just throw the ingredients in the Bosch and walk away. I can leave it to mix while I put the ingredients back where they go, load the dishwasher, answer homework questions, or whatever else I might need to do.
Another day, I made 4 batches of cookies all at once:
- One batch to take with us to a family get together. I froze this dough ahead of time in little balls, and then transferred to a big freezer baggie until I baked them the day we were going.
- Another batch of cookies for the day it was our son's turn to bring the after-game soccer treat. I couldn't bring myself to buy the junk treats at the store. (Mine had no trans fats or HFCS, mostly whole wheat flour, real butter, etc.) I also made these ahead of time and froze them in individual freezer baggies. (In case you're wondering, yes, it does actually drive me crazy that just because the kids play soccer for one hour they have to have a treat afterward. Why did this whole thing start, anyway? Back in the day, kids went home and got a snack after the game. When I mentioned at the beginning of the season that maybe we don't need to do this, you should've seen the parent's faces – you'd think I just admitted to child abuse! I was the ultimate party pooper soccer Mom!)
- Another batch was for a family who just had a new baby, I took these cookies over along with a meal.
- The rest I left as dough balls in the freezer to pull out when I need them for something.
Notice I make a LOT of stuff ahead and freeze (usually I freeze the dough to bake later), and now with my Bosch I can do that even easier. It's just much better with my schedule to think ahead to what I'll need and get it all done at once.
Now that it's December I have another thing to add: it's also great for when you're invited to a cookie exchange and have to make many batches of cookies to share!
Do you have more ideas for making food ahead to save time in the kitchen? Tell us about it!
- Here's where you can buy the Bosch
- Here's the blender batter pancakes/waffles recipe I make with my Bosch blender – it calls for 100% whole grains (you can use some alternative grains in this recipe, too), and it actually tastes great, not heavy at all!
- January 1st is coming…you may want to look over these posts about losing weight
- More meal planning/kitchen tips
- How do YOU fit exercise into your life? Comment at this post to let us know!
Sounds wonderful! The KitchenAid has a pasta maker attachment. Does the Bosch have anything like that? I found a meat grinder attachment but didn’t see any other type of attachment.
Hi Beth,
Have you seen this: http://amzn.to/13Q01GD ??
Kel
Oh, glad to read about the coconut oil substitution for the cream; my dairy doesn’t sell cream and the markets around here carry nothing but ultra-ultra-pasteurized. Next time I’m in Pittsburgh I’ll have to check the Market District Giant Eagle & Trader Joe’s, though…or maybe I’ll just call! Better than driving an hour to find they don’t have it. 😉
Kelly, you’ve never had a chocolate-coconut combo before? You’re missing out! My grandmother used to make chocolate-coconut cookies…Heaven on earth.
Okay, I LOVE the cookie hooks!! I’ve had my Bosch since 2005 and I’m continually amazed that more people don’t buy them over KitchenAid. Actually tonight I made cookies in my Bosch! I do scrape down the sides of the bowl but it doesn’t bother me, I would much rather make sure that eveything is incorporated. Loved reading this post because it’s so true! I think one time I made four zucchini breads in one batch in my Bosch!
Julie,
I just tried out my cookie hooks for the first time…
DON’T BUY THE COOKIE HOOKS!
They are supposed to make it so you don’t have to scrape the sides when making cookies, but you still have to – maybe a bit less than with the dough hooks, but I still needed to stop and scrape a little. I just don’t think they’re worth the $20 or whatever it was I dropped on those.
Hey everyone,
I wanted to let you know that I’m changing my answer above. Julie, you got me thinking about the cookie paddles, and then I saw that my neighbor had similar paddles for her Kitchen Aid and I decided to try it. I ordered them and will let you know what I think soon!
Kelly
Momma, you've got some great stuff there, I never knew we could do that with PB&J's!!
Kelly
Hey, I just came across your blog today. Lots of good stuff!
We do a lot of “bulk cooking” and cooking ahead. It saves us a ton of time and money. Feel free to check out some of our blog posts (with recipes!) at http://www.engineeradebtfreelife.com/search/label/bulk%20cooking
Looking forward to following your blog!
Momma
Feature Blogger at Engineer a Debt Free Life (lots of money saving tips, bargains, & freebies)
http://www.engineeradebtfreelife.com
Thanks for the info. I will try cookies using the dough hooks.
I don’t use the cookie whip thingys, I just use the same dough attachment for my cookies as I do for the bread, and it works great. It came with that and the whisk beaters, but the manual said only to use the whisk beaters for really thin batters, or for whipping cream, etc. (Warning! When whipping cream it takes less than a minute! Too long and you have butter, I’ve done this TWICE now, darn it!)
Good idea on scoring the dough in the baggie, saves on rolling a bunch of cookie balls out!
Kelly
I just bought my Bosch with the blender and shredder and love to hear how to use it. For years I have made huge batches of cookies the hard way. I give them as gifts for Christmas. One thing I started doing about 15 years ago is making the cookies, dividing the dough into batches, put the batches into ziploc freezer bags, flatten the dough, get out all the air, seal, and then carefully (don’t cut the bag)take your finger or a blunt object and score the cookie dough into one inch squares or whatever size cookie you want. Freeze the dough bags separately, then stack them up in your freezer. (If you stack them and freeze that way they sometimes stick together.) Then you can break off 4 cookies or more to bake and you don’t have to work the dough much. For some cookies I also freeze them in logs to slice and bake. I often give the frozen cookie dough to a new mother so she can have some fun time baking cookies with her older children or even let the older children bake without all the mess. Bring on the Bosch uses! I also wondered about buying the cookie beaters for my Bosch? Do we need to do that?
Do you use what is called “the cookie whips” in place of the dough hooks? I have sprung two sets of cookie whips in the past, and as a result have stayed away from cookie making in the Bosch. Maybe it is a flaw of the older cookie whips. I’d be interested in what you did as far as preparation and what you used as far as attachments.