Oh boy-- I'm in trouble here-- I never measure when I'm making this kind of icing . It's basically a butter cream but I use about 1/3 butter( maybe 1 tbsp) - 2/3( maybe 2 heaping tbsp) peanut butter-- ( either Smucker's Natural or some kind of an organic one-- just peanuts & salt-- the kind you buy with oil separated out & you have to stir up )-- cream those together-add about 1/2 tsp vanilla and start with 2 c confectioners sugar & couple tbsp hot water-- beat up and add more sugar- more peanut butter - more hot water 'til it gets to the consistancy & taste I want. I've never tried it with a pb like Jiffy or PP -- their consistancy is different .

barnmom - What a darn shame! It's like when hubby comes home for lunch after I've had a morning of baking something that ends up in the trash. I tell him all he gets is the smell - which is VERY low-cal, low-fat ;-). -Grainlady Some hints for using a toaster oven for baking... 1. Don't try and use a large 9x5-inch loaf pan in a toaster oven for quick breads. That's just too much bulk for a small oven to handle. Try a recipe that uses a 7-1/2 x 3-1/2 x 2-inch pan, or smaller, works much better. 2. Make sure you preheat the oven, just like you would a large oven. CHERRY-BANANA LOAF (source: Better Homes and Gardens TOASTER OVEN Cook Book) 1/3 c. sugar 3 T. shortening 1 egg 3/4 c. all-purpose flour 1/2 t. baking soda dash salt 1/3 c. mashed banana 1/4 c. drained maraschino cherries, quartered 3 T. chopped walnuts In small mixer bowl cream together the sugar and shortening till well blended. Add egg; beat well. Stir together all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Combine the mashed banana and milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the banana mixture, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the quartered maraschino cherries and chopped walnuts. Turn the batter into 3 well-greased 4-1/2x2-1/2x1-1/2 inch loaf pans. Bake in a 350°F oven for 20-25 minutes or till bread tests done. Remove loaves from oven; let bread cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Makes 3 loaves.

Netla- thanks for the link. I may try the prune jam next. Fearlessem- They're exactly like thin, giant cookies. But since they're so thin they layer beautifully. It made me thing of that (French?) cake that's crepes layered with jam but the cookie-like layers made everything keep it's shape & made it very easy to cut (as well as delicious). I want a rhubarb patch of my own! I'm a big fan of rhubarb as well. Lindac- I haven't tried much else in the cookbook yet. I did manage to make berries & skyr, which involved my first ever trip to Whole Foods in order to find skyr (came home with some Icelandic butter, too). The skyr seems to be compared to yogurt but it was more like a stiff sour cream. The berries & skyr were delicious but I really enjoyed it in all of it's plain, unflavored glory. A very good, satisfying breakfast- no fat, low sugar & high protein. I wish that it was more readily available in the US. Next on the list is the reindeer steaks with red wine sauce (when next I fall into some venison) or maybe cocoa soup. There's also a billberry soup that sounds yummy. This has been really fun and not a cuisine that I would have ever thought to explore so I'm happy to have the opportunity to share my findings with you guys. Nina

If you decide to use bread flour, one of the tips for using high-protein flour is to add a little more fat - above the amount called for in the recipe. Where the additional fat coats the flour, it blocks the water from being absorbed, so it also reduces the amount of gluten that is developed. Be sure to keep mixing to a bare minimum. You could also use a blend of bread and cake flour and use the regular amount of fat in the recipe. I disagree with Linda about the protein content being "miniscule". There are more baking "mistakes" made by using the incorrect flour. High-protein flour gives you tough pastry, cookies, and cakes..... Hydration will be completely incorrect - as the chart below will show. Information from "CookWise" by Shirley O. Chorriher: Cake flour - 8 g. of protein per cup National Brand (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) Bleached All-Purpose - 9-10 g. of protein/cup National Brand Unbleached All-Purpose - 12+ g. protein per cup Northern Unbleached All-Purpose (King Arthur) - 13 g. protein per cup Bread Flour - 13-14 g. protein per cup ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The water absorption capacity of white flours for 1-cup of water to form a sticky dough ball in a food processor: 14 g. protein Bread Flour - 2-cups (packed) + 1 T. 13 g. protein Unbleached Flour - 2-cups (packed) + 2 T. water 12 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/4 c. 11 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/3 c. + 1 T. 10 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/2 c. 9 g. protein Southern All-purpose - 2-1/2 c. + 2 T. 8 g. cake flour - 2-3/4 c. -Grainlady