Chocolate Cookies with Salted Caramel Chips

[Mike J]

On 5/13/2020 at 10:29 PM, Tommy T. said:

So far, other members tell me all they have gas ovens with some having broilers, but only electric broilers. I am not sure if gas broilers even exist here. I plan on having a propane supply manifold that will work with two tanks so we won't run out if one tank goes dry.

When have a Germania brand.  Three burners are gas, one burner and the oven are electric.  Oven also has a rotisserie function that we have not actually used.  Has worked well for us and nice to have both gas/electric.  I would buy it again. 

[Tommy T.]

48 minutes ago, Mike J said:

When have a Germania brand.  Three burners are gas, one burner and the oven are electric.  Oven also has a rotisserie function that we have not actually used.  Has worked well for us and nice to have both gas/electric.  I would buy it again. 

Here in the apartment (furnished) we have a Fujidenzo. It is small and a cheap stove/oven. Two gas burners, one electric and gas oven (with rotisserie), no broiler burner. I guess it works okay, but it is a cheap unit and the oven seems to run a bit cool. I need to get a stove thermometer. I had one on the yacht but forgot to take it with me. I would not recommend this unit. However, it's better than not having an oven at all!

[OnMyWay]

9 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Here in the apartment (furnished) we have a Fujidenzo. It is small and a cheap stove/oven. Two gas burners, one electric and gas oven (with rotisserie), no broiler burner. I guess it works okay, but it is a cheap unit and the oven seems to run a bit cool. I need to get a stove thermometer. I had one on the yacht but forgot to take it with me. I would not recommend this unit. However, it's better than not having an oven at all!

Tommy, since you like to bake a lot, here is something to consider when you buy a new oven.

We have a La Germania, 5 burners gas, gas oven with convection fan and electric broiler element.  It has worked perfectly for 4 years now and I would buy again, except, I would check this.

The oven is good sized and seemed large when we bought it.  A couple of years ago, I bought an large Air Bake cookie sheet.  If you have not tried Air Bake, they are great!  Anyway, went to use it the first time and the sheet depth is too much for the oven.  The oven door won't quite close when the sheet is in.

So, when you buy, check the interior measurements to make sure it will fit all the things you want to put in it!

https://www.amazon.com/AirBake-Natural-Pack-Cookie-Sheet/dp/B0002YQOJK?th=1

[Tommy T.]

22 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Tommy, since you like to bake a lot, here is something to consider when you buy a new oven.

We have a La Germania, 5 burners gas, gas oven with convection fan and electric broiler element.  It has worked perfectly for 4 years now and I would buy again, except, I would check this.

The oven is good sized and seemed large when we bought it.  A couple of years ago, I bought an large Air Bake cookie sheet.  If you have not tried Air Bake, they are great!  Anyway, went to use it the first time and the sheet depth is too much for the oven.  The oven door won't quite close when the sheet is in.

So, when you buy, check the interior measurements to make sure it will fit all the things you want to put in it!

https://www.amazon.com/AirBake-Natural-Pack-Cookie-Sheet/dp/B0002YQOJK?th=1

Hi OMW. Thanks for the tips!

Your stove/oven combo sounds good although maybe even a bit larger than we will need? Only two of us most of the time with occasional guests. I like that it does not have an electric burner. Four burners should be okay but a central one with a ribbed grill might be nice for indoor grilling? I guess we could live with the electric broiler since we would not use it all that often. I also like the idea of the convection but have never used that type of oven before. Would you be willing to share an approximate price for that either here or PM? I was hoping to put in a separate oven mounted up under a cabinet at sink level, but there simply is no place to do that in our rather small kitchen. I hate squatting down to check on baking progress - my knees complain to me about that... Of course we will have an outside dirty kitchen for L to use for grilling her smelly fish or dealing with durian...

I had not thought about actually measuring the oven to compare with my baking pans so that's great advice. I already have two pans like the AirBake but a different manufacture - Rema. One is the flat cookie sheet 14 x 16 1/4 inch and the other is a 9 x 13 x 2 inch rectangular "cake" pan. They are brilliant! They rarely burn anything - at least from the bottom - and so are easy to clean. I have been using them for over 25 years. I've got the standard single layer cookie sheet too, but rarely use it because then I do burn things if I am not careful or place the sheet on two low a rack.

Since you bake too, maybe you could direct me to where I might find a pizza stone? Not sure if that's what they are called outside USA, but I had one on the yacht made of marble. It really helped to crisp up the pizza crust...

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Tommy T. said:

Hi OMW. Thanks for the tips!

Your stove/oven combo sounds good although maybe even a bit larger than we will need? Only two of us most of the time with occasional guests. I like that it does not have an electric burner. Four burners should be okay but a central one with a ribbed grill might be nice for indoor grilling? I guess we could live with the electric broiler since we would not use it all that often. It works fine.  We use it a lot for kids finger foods, chicken nuggets, etc.  I also like the idea of the convection but have never used that type of oven before. It is very nice for baking.  It eliminates hot and cold spots, for even baking.  I remember in my old ovens, halfway through you would need to flip things, because the back was hotter than the front, etc.  Highly recommended.  Would you be willing to share an approximate price for that either here or PM?  We paid 56,700 in 2016 at Abenson.   I was hoping to put in a separate oven mounted up under a cabinet at sink level, but there simply is no place to do that in our rather small kitchen. I hate squatting down to check on baking progress - my knees complain to me about that... Same for me.  Having the oven up at chest / eye level would be great.  I'm not sure, but I suspect those tend to be higher end.  I have seen them at Home Depot Pampanga.  Of course we will have an outside dirty kitchen for L to use for grilling her smelly fish or dealing with durian...

I had not thought about actually measuring the oven to compare with my baking pans so that's great advice. I already have two pans like the AirBake but a different manufacture - Rema. One is the flat cookie sheet 14 x 16 1/4 inch That is exactly the size I have problems with!  Our oven will only handle up to about 13.5 inch.  and the other is a 9 x 13 x 2 inch rectangular "cake" pan. They are brilliant! They rarely burn anything - at least from the bottom - and so are easy to clean. I have been using them for over 25 years. I've got the standard single layer cookie sheet too, but rarely use it because then I do burn things if I am not careful or place the sheet on two low a rack.

Since you bake too, maybe you could direct me to where I might find a pizza stone? Not sure if that's what they are called outside USA, but I had one on the yacht made of marble. It really helped to crisp up the pizza crust...  There is a new store at our new SM Olongapo called All About Baking.  They might have them.  I have seen them at other malls too.

I would like to get a pizza stone too.  We made pizza a few weeks ago and I just put it directly on the rack.  My sauce was too sour so the kids didn't like it.  We had a bakery deliver the dough.

I haven't baked much in the Philippines but I used to bake a bit.  Everyone is getting back into it during the lockdown.  A lot of neighbors are baking and selling.  My friend started baking a great sourdough a few weeks ago and was selling them.  It was too much work so he stopped, and gave me one of the last ones last night.  It was so nice to have some solid and healthy bread!  Other neighbors are making brownies, cakes, Tiramisu, etc.  Our neighbor across the street is baking Ube Pandesol.

My wife never baked much before because like most Filipinos, they don't have ovens.  She made an excellent carrot cake two days ago and several other things recently.  The kids and I made classic Nestles Toll House choco chip cookies a few weeks ago.  They were good but I could tell the difference when not using the brown sugar we usually have in the U.S.  I think they have it sometimes in our Royal.

[earthdome]

3 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Tommy, since you like to bake a lot, here is something to consider when you buy a new oven.

We have a La Germania, 5 burners gas, gas oven with convection fan and electric broiler element.  It has worked perfectly for 4 years now and I would buy again, except, I would check this.

The oven is good sized and seemed large when we bought it.  A couple of years ago, I bought an large Air Bake cookie sheet.  If you have not tried Air Bake, they are great!  Anyway, went to use it the first time and the sheet depth is too much for the oven.  The oven door won't quite close when the sheet is in.

So, when you buy, check the interior measurements to make sure it will fit all the things you want to put in it!

https://www.amazon.com/AirBake-Natural-Pack-Cookie-Sheet/dp/B0002YQOJK?th=1

A few months ago we replaced our stove with one which has a convection oven. I noticed that things we used to bake which could burn or become too crispy on the bottom no longer do so. So if you use convection bake you may not need those special baking sheets. A convection oven has a fan and is designed to circulate the air in the oven in a way that provides an even temperature throughout the oven. So you can bake cookies on both racks top & bottom and they come out the same. It also allows you to bake at a temperature approximately 25F lower than baking with a normal oven.

[Jollygoodfellow]

4 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Since you bake too, maybe you could direct me to where I might find a pizza stone?

If my memory is not playing tricks I think I seen them at either Metro or SM department stores. Maybe even big hardware stores will have them. That was a few months ago. 

[Tommy T.]

10 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

 That is exactly the size I have problems with!  Our oven will only handle up to about 13.5 inch.

I am a bit surprised about that. Even the small oven on the yacht could accommodate that size.

10 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

We paid 56,700 in 2016 at Abenson.

Ouch! They don't give them away, do they... But if it works...then it's worth it. I like all the features and your description of the value of the convection system.

10 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

There is a new store at our new SM Olongapo called All About Baking.

I have not seen such a store, yet, here in Davao. In fact I don't recall seeing any stores devoted to baking supplies.

Thanks for all the info! I have filed it away now so we will shop when things open with your ideas in mind.

[Tommy T.]

10 hours ago, earthdome said:

A few months ago we replaced our stove with one which has a convection oven. I noticed that things we used to bake which could burn or become too crispy on the bottom no longer do so. So if you use convection bake you may not need those special baking sheets. A convection oven has a fan and is designed to circulate the air in the oven in a way that provides an even temperature throughout the oven. So you can bake cookies on both racks top & bottom and they come out the same. It also allows you to bake at a temperature approximately 25F lower than baking with a normal oven.

Thanks, Earth. Another positive report about convection ovens. You two guys have sold me on them. Yours are actually the first feedback I have heard from users even though I remember they have been around for a long time now.

I already have those special pans, so might as well use them?

I really like the idea of being able to bake at lower temperature - saves gas and a bit of heating of the home.

Question to you and @OnMyWay... How good are the thermostat controls on your ovens? Do either of you use oven thermometers? An what is the manufacture of yours, Earth?

8 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

If my memory is not playing tricks I think I seen them at either Metro or SM department stores. Maybe even big hardware stores will have them. That was a few months ago. 

I looked one time, half-heartedly, in the closest SM store here many months ago but not see any. I was also looking for a nice mortar and pestle. I saw one when cruising through the store a few years ago and it would have been perfect. For some reason, I did not buy it, and I've been kicking myself in the ass ever since...

Anyway, I will look again for both when the department stores reopen but after the initial buying frenzy cools off...

Edited May 16, 2020 by Tommy T.

[earthdome]

23 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Question to you and @OnMyWay... How good are the thermostat controls on you ovens? Do either of you use oven thermometers? An what is the manufacture of yours, Earth?

I am in the US now, mine is an LG electric. I haven't checked with an oven thermometer.