Effort to Deliciousness

TWD: Kids' Thumbprints

2011-12-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

In order to stay positive and motivate myself to get through the week, I try to think of little things to look forward to each day of the week. For example, Josh often picks me up from work on Mondays, and on Wednesdays we run six miles together, eat Chinese food, and watch “Top Chef.” Tuesday’s thing is obviously Tuesdays With Dorie and it makes me sad that this is the very last TWD with this incarnation of the group. In February 2012, we will start a new book, Baking with Julia, but Kids’ Thumbprints are the very last recipe in Baking.

I have always enjoyed baking, but since joining the group I have greatly expanded my repertoire and attempted many desserts I otherwise would not have tried. There was a point when I was so enthusiastic about the book that I thought I would bake every single recipe in it. Though I greatly admire those who have, I realized that was not a practical option for me at this point in my life. Josh (who has gone from boyfriend to fiance to husband since I began baking with TWD) would keep tabs on my baking to-do lists and help me edit based on time and his ability to consume the output. I do hope someday I have more time to take photographs and blog (I do seem to manage to bake plenty of treats). The very best part of TWD is definitely reading about the other bakers’ experiences each week. Not surprisingly, people who enjoy baking for others are incredibly nice and I am happy to have been introduced to such an amazing community.

So the thumbprints? I brought them to work and they disappeared before I had a chance to try one. Luckily I had left a few at home so I managed to have a taste and they are super-yummy, not to mention a perfect treat to make during the holidays. We rated them a 7.5 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.5. We are lucky enough to have the lovely Dorie herself hosting this week; I hope you enjoy reading her post as much as I did. Many thanks to her and all the other bakers for giving me something to look forward to on Tuesdays. I can’t wait for the fun to continue in February!

P.S. The cookie jar featured in this post was a gift passed on from Josh's mom shortly after Josh and I moved in together. Josh has since purchased a very cute retro-style owl cookie jar for me, but I love picturing Josh as a little towhead grabbing cookies from this one!

TWD Rewind: World Peace Cookies

2011-12-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

For the penultimate Tuesdays With Dorie, we were given a rewind option. Josh’s office had its annual cookie exchange last week. I had lofty plans to try a new recipe, but my limited spare time made me go with the more practical option of making a tried and true favorite: World Peace Cookies. World Peace Cookies were one of the few recipes I had made before I joined the group and I have probably made them more than any other recipe in Baking. Josh said they were a hit and several of his co-workers complimented my baking when I saw them at their Christmas party on Saturday. I didn’t get a chance to photograph them (and though I am too lazy to check for sure, I think I have erased my old photos), so that is why I am posting photos of my dog in a scarf. I don’t think I’ve ever posted them before and even if I had, I think it would be worth rewinding to. I promise I will manage to bake and post (hello, vacation!) our very last TWD recipe next week. To see what the other bakers rewound to, check out the TWD site.

TWD: Earl Grey Madeleines

2011-12-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays With Dorie is doubling up on recipes this week and the one I made was Earl Grey Madeleines. My apologies to Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table for not getting to the Honey Almond Fig Tart. I had assumed I wouldn’t be able to find fresh figs. Since they were hard to come by in October, I assumed they would be impossible to find in December. Funnily enough, I did just see some at the store tonight, though well after the other recipe, Earl Grey Madeleines had been made and mostly consumed. We are not what you’d call tea drinkers in this house. We like coffee - strong black coffee. It’s one of the few things we buy in bulk at Costco, along with ten-pound bags of sugar (surprise!) and economy-size boxes of generic milk bones for our voracious eater. However, Josh was required to dress up as a mummy for his office’s Halloween party (he claims there are not any pictures of the mummy crew from the party, a fact I may be verifying when I see his co-workers at their Christmas party next week). He put a great effort into his costume, researching the best way to get the soiled look, and had bought Earl Grey tea to dye the mummy wrappings. Lucky for me, not all the bags got used and I was able to utilize them in this recipe.

I have now made all the Madeleine recipes in Baking, and they are all delicious and fairly easy to make. My one qualm was that when I strained the tea-infused butter through the recommended layers of cheesecloth, I think I lost more of the butter than I would have liked, because the Madeleines were not quite as buttery and tender as others. Many thanks to Nicole of Bakeologie for a lovely selection. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see what the other bakers made this week.

TWD Rewind: Granola Grabbers

2011-11-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

This week Tuesdays With Dorie has a Rewind week, which means we could choose any previously chosen recipe. We were also later told we had permission to post later in the week, in order to bake for Thanksgiving. I had already baked and photographed my selection by the time this announcement was made (and had my Thanksgiving desserts planned). I hadn’t written my post, though, and was happy to have one less thing on my to-do list before the holiday break started.
The recipe I selected was Granola Grabbers! Not very seasonal (the photo in the book shouts back-to-school fall recipe), but I had wanted to try these cookies forever. I hadn’t because I knew that this is exactly the type of cookie I love and that Josh “forgets” about and I try to not be the one who consumes the majority of the cookies in this house. In fact, as I was making them, I tried to think of another name that did not involve the world granola that might make them sound more enticing. I didn’t come up with anything. And I was totally right: I have eaten way more of them.

These cookies are packed not only with granola, but also additional nuts and raisins. They are pleasantly sweet and very hearty. They kind of remind me of Kellog’s granola, which I like but never buy anymore. I rated them an 8 for Deliciousness (Josh gave them a 7) and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4. You can find the recipe here and visit the TWD site to see what everyone else selected this week.

TWD: Mini Madeleines

2011-11-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

After ambitiously making both of the recipes selected for Tuesdays With Dorie last week, I am back to just one today: Mini Madeleines. I honestly cannot remember the last time I used my mini madeleine pan - probably right after I bought it three years ago, if at all. And they’re so tiny and adorable! A dozen of these cuties fit on one salad plate. I learned that mini madeleines bake really fast. The recipe said that they would take between eight and ten minutes; mine were very brown after eight minutes, so I baked the subsequent batches at seven and a half, and as evidenced by the color (not so sneakily disguised with powdered sugar), they probably would have been fine at seven minutes. I also learned that you really don’t need more than one teaspoon of batter per mold; they didn’t seem full enough, so my first batch ran over a bit.

I noticed the rest of the madeleine recipes in Baking all require using a mixture and these were just made with a whisk. I was curious what the texture would be like and they were perfectly cakey. Josh rated the madeleines an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR 3.2. Many thanks Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook for giving me an opportunity to dust off the madeleine pans. You can find the recipe here on her site, and visit the TWD site to see what the other bakers concocted this week.

Twosdays With Dorie: Honey Nut Scones & Far Breton

2011-11-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

After my lackluster participation in October, I was quite pleased with myself for making two Tuesdays With Dorie recipes this week. In order to complete the book by the end of 2011, we are doubling up on recipes this month - with the option to make one or both. You can stop by the Tuesdays With Dorie site to see what the rest of the bakers decided to bake.

First up are Honey Whole Wheat Scones, selected by Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake; you can find the recipe here on her site. Josh has not had great breakfast treats the past couple weeks, they have been homemade so they haven’t been that bad, but nothing special. I am happy to say that these scones break the boring breakfast streak. Since these scones are just lightly sweetened, with two tablespoons of honey, I resisted sprinkling sugar on the top in order for them to maintain their wholesomeness. The only minor modification I made was mixing the nuts with the rest of the dry ingredients in order to work the dough as little as possible. I loved the bit of crunch the nuts added, and though they weren't sweet, we did not think they needed any extra accoutrements.

The second recipe selected was Far Breton, by Nicole of Cookies on Friday; the recipe is posted here. I had no idea what to expect with the breton; the batter reminded me of crepe batter, and the flavor and texture kind of reminded of bread pudding without the bread. For something with a fancy name, it was quite simple to make. I made the batter (a half recipe) in the two-cup container that came with my immersion blender, which made the clean-up very easy.

I did have trouble telling if the breton was done, so I erred on the longer side, and the texture was fine. This recipe kind of reminded me of my early days with Tuesdays With Dorie when it seemed like we were constantly making things I hadn’t heard of. It’s very satisfying to think of how my baking skills and repertoire have improved in the past three years.

TWD: A Fig Cake for Fall

2011-10-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

In the past month, I managed to bake three out of four Tuesdays With Dorie recipes, photograph two of those three, and wrote a post (but didn’t publish) one. I also managed to bake one of those recipes (the apple cake) without any butter. Seriously, I didn’t notice until Josh asked me what the “extra butter” was doing sitting on the counter. Somehow I just couldn’t get my act together this month. I decided this would finally be the week (okay, I had told myself that the previous week as well) and here I am with this week’s recipe, A Fig Cake for Fall. I have always loved figs. When I was a kid I would devour fig bars, particularly the whole wheat variety sold at health food stores. My dad, who shares my enthusiasm for figs, makes a hearty fig pudding every Christmas. I don't think my brother appreciated the pudding until we were adults, but I was a fan from day one.

Naturally, I had high hopes for this cake. I think its resemblance to some other upside-down cakes I’ve made made me think the fruit would be a bit more caramel-y and the cake a bit moister. It wasn’t an outright disappointment, just not fig perfection. Since it is not terribly sweet and contains fruit, I told Josh he could justify eating it for breakfast - sans the boozy sauce, of course.

We rate this cake a 7 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. Thanks to Ursula of Cookie Rookie for a nice seasonal selection. You can find the recipe here on her site and see how the other bakers fared by visiting the TWD site.

TWD: Classic Brownies

2011-09-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years, I have amassed quite a collection of recipes from various blogs and cooking websites. Until recently, these recipes were in a big messy pile, with no semblance of organization. I finally sat down and organized them into three categories and put them in folders, which Josh labeled A, B, and C. Folder A contains recipes that I have made many times (or if they are recent additions, ones I want to make again ASAP) and we really like; Folder B contains recipes that I’ve made and would possibly try again; and Folder C is full of recipes I still need to try. As soon as Josh sampled this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie treat, Classic Brownies, he told me to “put it in the A Group.”

These brownies have a deep chocolate flavor and are nice and fudgy, without being gooey. I also loved that they were a truly one-bowl recipe - awesome! The recipe says that they are best eaten within the two days, and that has not been a problem. I made them on Sunday and they are almost gone. These brownies rated an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Anne of Anne Strawberry for selecting this yummy recipe. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see how they turned out for the other bakers.

TWD: Chocolate Spice Quickies

2011-09-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday! This week the Tuesdays With Dorie Bakers made Chocolate Spice Quickies. I don’t think she made anything specifically called “quickies,” but the name of these cookies reminds me of something from my mom’s seventies-era cookbooks – there seemed to be a lot of goofily named recipes in them. I don’t know if I’ve ever made cookie dough in my food processor before, but Dorie is right: it is quick. This dough seemed a lot less crumbly and easier to form into logs (and subsequently slice) than other sable-esque recipes, which was quite nice.

When Josh saw the cookies lined up on the baking sheet, he commented that they looked like World Peace Cookies. They do resemble the sublime World Peace Cookies, but these are a much milder, softer chocolate cookie. They are still yummy, though. They do not have the crave-worthy quality that many cookies have, so I would probably not make them again. This batch certainly will not go to waste, though. This recipe received a 7 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. Jessica of My Baking Heart was our hostess this week and you can find the recipe here on her site.

Also? I just couldn’t get excited about last week’s TWD selection Cornmeal Fruit Loaf and didn’t make it until last Wednesday, due to my lack of enthusiasm. Funnily enough, I ended up loving it and couldn’t stop eating it! You can find the recipe for the Cornmeal Fruit Loaf here on Engineer Baker.

TWD: Golden Brioche Loaves

2011-08-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

This week the Tuesdays With Dorie bakers made Golden Brioche Loaves. I used to live near a lovely bakery that sold mini brioches and remember being how surprised at how delicious such an unassuming little treat was, as it didn’t have cream or chocolate filling like many of its bakery counterparts. However, now that I have made brioche several times, I know the secret: butter, lots of it. Worth every bite, though. The dough came together easily and the first rise went well, but then when I shaped the dough the next day for its second rise, it didn’t get very puffy. Despite the fact it’s August, it is not very warm here, so that could have been a factor. Anyway, after nearly three hours, I decided the dough was not getting any bigger and went ahead and baked my loaf, and it turned out fine.

I recently learned that brioche dough lasts a very long time in the freezer. I had stashed half a batch of brioche dough in our freezer months ago, thinking that I would get around to making another treat just a couple weeks later. Somehow that didn’t happen. I don’t like to see food go to waste, so I took a risk and used rather old dough (it looked fine, no freezer burn or anything), which baked up fine and tasted great! I definitely plan to use the other half of my dough much sooner this time, but it’s nice to know that it stores well. My husband has threatened to clean out the freezer this weekend and I will have to make sure the brioche dough does not make it into the garbage when he does his purge. I am a little scared of what else he might find, though.

We give the brioche a 9 for Deliciousness and I rated it a 4.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. Many thanks to Margie of Tea and Scones for a delightful selection. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see more golden, buttery goodness.

TWD: Tropical Crumble

2011-08-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Tropical Crumble. This is one of those delightful always/never in-season recipes, since the fruit (bananas, mangoes, and in my case pineapple) does not grow around here. The selection totally makes sense since it is winter where this week’s hostess lives! Once again, I made mine at the last minute, which I blame on Josh this week because he bought a sampling of delicious cupcakes from Kara’s Cupcakes for us to enjoy over the weekend and we didn’t need extra dessert.

Fortunately, this recipe comes together really quickly, and I didn’t experience some of the problems (runny fruit, over-buttery topping) some other bakers had. I halved the recipe, but for the crumble topping, I left the entire amount of flour, which I think gave it just the right amount of butteriness - I mean, you don’t really want to see a big pool of oil on the top of your dessert. Josh was wondering why this recipe hadn’t been selected yet and I think maybe it has to do with the fact there are cooked bananas in it, which seems a bit odd. Intriguing, but odd.

The preparation and combination of flavors made for an excellent dessert. I generally think fruit desserts are best warm with ice cream - and this one certainly is great that way - but Dorie suggests serving leftovers cold, so I sampled it that way when I was photographing it this evening and thought it was wonderful that way too. We rated this recipe an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66. Many thanks to Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on Gaye’s terrific site and visit the TWD site to see how the other bakers fared.

TWD: Spiced Carrot Muffins

2011-08-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

I had been looking forward to the release of the Miette cookbook for a long time. Miette is a gorgeous bakery in San Francisco with exceptional cookies and cakes. I happen to work near the location in the Ferry Building and sometimes it takes great willpower to not buy their treats (or pretty cake stands). I was ecstatic when I received my copy of the book and could start baking through it - the book is as pretty as the store and has all their amazing recipes, including scones that are no longer available.

The first thing I made from the book was lemon shortbread, which I sent to my sister and she said she loved. The second thing I made, or rather attempted, was carrot cupcakes, which were intended to go to work with me. I say attempted, because the cupcakes didn’t exactly turn out as planned. I overfilled the pans and they ended up looking much more muffin-like than the cupcakes they were intended to be. I had also made a mini-loaf and dropped it on the ground, much to the delight of a certain Weimaraner. I got over the aesthetics of the cupcakes - I mean really, no one is going to care if the cupcake is a little big. However, the cream cheese icing I made totally did not turn out. For some reason it was completely thin and when I tried to pipe it on the cupcakes, it just ran off. I assume this must have been user error: I used reduced fat cream cheese rather than full fat.* At this point I was totally frustrated and decided the cupcakes would not be going to work.

Since the cupcake/muffins did not end up going to work with me, Josh and I ended up deciding we could call them muffins and ate them for breakfast for several days. Okay, so I’ll finally get to the point of this story: this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Spiced Carrot Muffins, and since the failed cupcake incident and subsequent carrot muffin overconsumption was just a couple weeks ago, I wasn’t sure if Josh would be up for another round of carrot treats. Luckily he was, so I went ahead and made them.

I forgot to buy carrots when I went grocery shopping last weekend and didn’t get a chance to make the muffins until tonight, therefore I am unable to give them a rating, as we have not had an opportunity to try them yet. I will say they did not stress me out nearly as much as the last carrot treat. I have high hopes, though, and we still have a couple of the last batch in the freezer, so we might have an opportunity to taste the difference between a carrot cake and a carrot muffin. Many thanks to Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs for hosting this week, you can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see what the other bakers, who may have actually tried the muffins, thought of the selection.

*I take full responsibility for the errors I made with the carrot cupcakes from Miette, but if you are considering buying this book, I would recommend waiting until October. I received an email (actually Josh did, since the book was purchase from his Amazon account) apologizing for the errors in the book and saying that I would receive an updated version when it has its second printing.

TWD: Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet

2011-07-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

There are just a handful of ice cream/frozen dessert recipes in Baking and it’s always a nice surprise when one appears on the recipe schedule. This week we made Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet. I don’t make sorbet nearly as often as I make regular ice cream because Josh doesn’t typically eat it and it takes me a while to make it through a whole container myself. I figured that since this particular sorbet recipe included nearly half a pound of chocolate, rather than fruit, Josh would happily help me eat it. I was right; as I type this, he is consuming a healthy portion of it.

I was thinking a pound cake would be a nice accompaniment for the dark chocolate sorbet. When I mentioned this, Josh pointed out that I had not made a Bundt cake in a while (totally in a “I like Bundt cakes and we haven’t had one in a while” way, not in a “if you insist on cluttering our cupboards with way too many pans, you should use them once in a while” way); I ended up making a splendid whipped cream cake from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes to pair with the sorbet, and it is an excellent combination. We somehow got backlogged on homemade ice creams - really, a rarity - and we found that the sorbet is also wonderful eaten with buttermilk ice cream.

This is one of those recipes that definitely exceeded my expectations. I did not use exceptionally good chocolate (70% from Trader Joe’s) and was a bit concerned that might be a mistake, as the recipe has so few ingredients; however there were no problems - the sorbet was still delectably rich and uber-chocolaty. I did add a splash of vanilla to the mixture, but made no other changes to the recipe. This recipe rated a 9 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4.5. You can find the recipe here on Steph of a Whisk and a Spoon’s site and visit the TWD site to see how the rest of the group fare.

Bakery-Style Berry Muffins

2011-07-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago (yikes, it makes me feel old that I can write phrases like that and have them be true), I spent an afternoon taking a vegan cookie workshop. I lived in Santa Cruz at the time, so it was not an atypical way to spend a weekend afternoon. The class was a lot of fun and the cookies we made were fantastic! But then every time I tried baking vegan cookies in my own kitchen, they turned out terrible - flat, thin messes. It could have been a number of things: the class was a pretty casual affair and we just jotted down the ingredients and instructions, so I could have been off. It could have been my crappy apartment oven. I’m not really sure. I decided butter was better and didn’t look back. Until recently when I picked up a copy of Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar (and, I will also admit, its companion book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). I have not had any problems with the cookies from that book - other than the fact that it’s almost too easy to make chocolate chip cookies - one bowl, no bringing butter to room temperature - and they all have been fantastic.

I saw a copy of Vegan Brunch at the library recently and decided that I’d try expanding my butter-free baking repertoire into breakfast baked goods. Whenever I check cookbooks out for the library, I put them into one of three categories: 1) I don’t think I would use the book much and won’t end up buying it; 2) Something I might want to have in my collection someday; you know, probably when I need something to get free shipping on an Amazon order or see it discounted; and 3) I “need” it in my collection ASAP. This book falls into the third category, as all three recipes I have made so far have been successful and tasty. I made wonderfully crisp waffles and some excellent pancakes, neither of which Josh would have guessed were vegan if I hadn‘t told him. And I didn’t until after he ate them and said they were wonderful.

Enough about my cookbook habits and recipes I’m not blogging about, let’s talk about these muffins. The only ingredient this recipe included that I don’t normally have around is soy yogurt, which was not hard to find and is surprisingly good. They are called bakery-style due to the high amount of sugar in them, making them almost like cake. :) I proceeded to make them even more sweet by topping them with crunchy coarse sugar. I did sub some whole wheat flour for about a quarter of the all-purpose, so I think it evens out. I was tempted to use my giant muffin tins to make them even more bakery-esque, but resisted and made them normal size. These soft fluffy muffins definitely brightened up breakfast around here for a few mornings, and were very easy to make. Yay vegan treats!

Bakery-Style Berry Muffins, from Vegan Brunch

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup soy yogurt
1/2 cup almond milk (or your favorite nondairy milk)]
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups mixed berries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a muffin tin. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the yogurt, milk, canola oil, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Fold in the berries.

Scoop the batter into the muffin tin; it should almost fill the entire tin. Bake for 26 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick or butter knife inserted through the center of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the tin, then transfer muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Stracciatella Gelato

2011-07-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago I was making and blogging about so many different ice creams, I almost thought I should start an all ice cream blog. My enthusiasm for making ice cream has not lapsed, I just have gotten delinquent about posting new flavors (and pretty much anything I make). Also, there have been many flavor repeats. I took advantage of the holiday weekend last week to spend some extra time in the kitchen - seriously, even Josh had trouble keeping up with the output - and one of the things I made that I was particularly excited about was Stracciatella Gelato.

I think I had assumed that since Stracciatella is difficult to say, it would also be difficult to make. Luckily that was not the case at all. It was made with a basic gelato base and then melted chocolate was swirled in at the end. The recipe gives you the option of mixing it by hand or adding the melted chocolate as your ice cream machine is churning at the end, and I opted for the latter. I did need to give the ice cream mixture a couple good stirs after I turned off the machine though, just to ensure the chocolate was well-distributed. There are only two ounces of chocolate, but this method ensures you get crisp bits of chocolate in every bite. This gelato is wonderful on its own, but I will say it is also good paired with really stellar chocolate chips cookies, if you are so inclined. :)

Stracciatella Gelato, from The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato & Sorbetto

Plain Base
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar

Stracciatella
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

In a heavy-bottomed, combine the milk and cream. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn’t form, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Temper the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture while whisking continuously. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185 degrees. Do not bring to a boil. [Note: I needed to turn the burner to medium-low, rather than low, as it was taking a very long time to reach 185 degrees.]

Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and let cool to room temperature, stirring every five minutes or so. To cool the custard quickly, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water and placing he bowl with custard in it; stir the custard until cooled. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least four hours or overnight.

Gently whisk the vanilla into the base. Pour the mixture into the container of an ice cream machine and churn according the manufacturer’s instructions.

While the gelato is churning, place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water; the bottom of the bowl should be just above the water, not touching it. Stir until just melted. You’re working with a small amount of chocolate, so it will take only a few minutes to melt. Watch closely so it doesn’t overheat, which can cause the chocolate to break up and start to burn. Remove from the heat and cool until just warm, not hot (about 100 degrees). Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave: Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for twenty seconds, then stir. Repeat once or twice as needed until almost all the chocolate is melted; the last bits of chocolate will melt just by stirring.

Just after the gelato is churned, drizzle the melted chocolate in a thin stream over the top and using a rubber spatula quickly fold it into the gelato to create ribbons of chocolate. Alternatively, drizzle the chocolate into the gelato two minutes before the churning is completed.

Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least two hours before serving.

TWD: Cream Scones

2011-07-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

Tuesdays With Dorie is definitely ensuring that we have a least a few wonderful breakfasts this month: last week we had the divine Chocolate Chunk Muffins and this week we made Cream Scones. Not only do they have cream, they also have butter, yum! And I confess, mine also have a little bit of extra sugar; I actually doubled the sugar (it’s only a quarter cup total) because I thought Josh would like them better a bit sweeter. It worked: he’s worried he’s consuming them a bit too fast. Hey, better that then they go bad.

This week on the Problems & Questions there was a brilliant tip to grate the butter. Due to my fear of running out of baking supplies, I happened to have butter in my freezer, so it was extra-cold and easy to grate, and required very little mixing. The scones turned out marvelously soft and rich. My dear husband gave me this darling mini-scone pan ages ago and for some reason I had never gotten around to using it. I decided I better start, mostly out of fear that if I didn’t, he may never permit me to obtain another superfluous pan. The pan worked beautifully, baking the scones in exactly twenty minutes.

This recipe rated a 9 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. Many thanks to Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu for a splendid selection. You can find the recipe here on Lynne’s site and visit the Tuesdays With Dorie site to see how the rest of the bakers liked these gems.

SMS: Plum and Raspberry Pie with a Sweet Almond Lattice

2011-07-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

I haven’t participated with the Sweet Melissa Sundays group in months, but when I saw that my blogging buddy Gloria of The Gingersnap Girl selected Plum and Raspberry Pie with a Sweet Almond Lattice as this week’s recipe, I decided to bake-along. Who can say no to a pie at the height of summer fruit season? Also, making a lattice-top pie has been on my to-try list for a while. Unfortunately, making a pretty one still is!

I was really proud of myself early yesterday morning, thinking I was getting the hard work out of the way by making both the base pie dough and the lattice dough. Little did I know, that even after several hours in the refrigerator, plus another twenty minutes or so after I cut the strips, the lattice dough would be a crumbly mess to work with. I made two mini pies with a half recipe, which I thought would make the elusive lattice top a bit easier and in this instance, I was definitely wrong. I got lazy and ended up just haphazardly placing the strips on top of my mini pies.

The pies aren’t beautiful, but they definitely make up for it in taste. Gloria had said this recipe pairs perfectly with Melissa’s Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream, so I decided to make it to have with the pie. (I’ve made this ice cream many times since it was originally chosen two years ago and it’s always a hit.) I’m glad I did, as the pie was a bit tart and it was nice to have something sweet to complement it. The pie rated a 9 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 5 for Effort for an EDR of 1.8. You can find the recipe here on Gloria’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see how the other bakers fared.

TWD: Chocolate Chunk Muffins

2011-07-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Josh and I celebrated Independence Day by getting up early to run a 4-mile race. There are a lot of road races on the fourth and it has become an unofficial tradition to run one before we consume copious amounts of holiday food. I have been fighting an injury for months, so I was especially happy that I am finally healed enough to run (short) races. Anyway, after the race we still had several hours before it was barbecue time and I had the chance to make this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Chocolate Chunk Muffins, as a mid-morning snack.

By not making the muffins until Monday, I benefited greatly from the Problems & Questions section. The consensus was they needed more chocolate and Leslie suggested subbing in a couple tablespoons of oil for the butter in order to prevent dryness (which seems to be pretty common with chocolate muffins), and with these two minor modifications, the muffins turned out excellent. I don’t think a “healthy” sprinkle of crunchy sugar hurt either. Yes, I know I just made a breakfast food even more sugary and decadent than it was supposed to be and I’m not sorry. I must comment that the batter seemed a little strange looking, almost sponge-like, but luckily that was not a problem once the muffins baked. Josh came into the kitchen when I was photographing the muffins and decided they would also be a good afternoon snack and he gives them a big thumb’s up.

We rated these muffins a 9 for Deliciousness and I rated them a 3 for Effort. Thanks to Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles for a terrific selection. You can find the recipe here on Bridget’s site and see if the other bakers enjoyed them as much as we did by visiting the TWD site.

TWD: Chocolate Sour Cream Cake Cookies

2011-06-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

I don’t know exactly how many recipes are left, but Tuesdays With Dorie is getting pretty near the end of Baking. (And seriously, how sad will it be when we’re done?) You would think that we’d be at the at dregs of the book. It seems that every week, though, we’re like, “how was this amazing treat not selected already?” Until this week, when Josh saw what I was making, Chocolate Sour Cream Cake Cookies, and said something to the effect of, “I can see how that is one of the last recipes to be picked.” They just don’t look or sound very exciting. Luckily they have a nice cakey texture and are pretty tasty. It sounds like a lot of the other bakers filled the cookies with frosting or ice cream, which I’m sure would be awesome, but they’re getting eaten without any extra accoutrements (aside from the chocolate chips I added to the batter), so I’m happy.

Josh rated the cookies a 6.5 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.6. Many thanks to Spike of Spike Does Stuff for hosting this week; stop by her fun newish site for the recipe!

TWD: Chocolate Biscotti

2011-06-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie Selection is Chocolate Biscotti. There are a lot of things I bake that I can merely sample a bite or two of and be happy to have others consume the rest. Biscotti is not one of them - I love it! I found this biscotti particularly delicious (though, I admit, I probably say that about most biscotti). The espresso powder and salt really bring out the chocolate flavor; the chunks of chocolate and almonds are also delightful. A lot of biscotti tends to be a bit dry; this one manages to have a nice crunch without being dry. Last week I mentioned that there are certain things I enjoy baking on weeknights, and I would consider biscotti more of a weekend bake. It’s not at all difficult to make, but since it bakes twice and has a rest between them, it’s nice to do when you aren’t in a hurry.

I rated this recipe rated a 9 for Deliciousness (the chewy cookie-loving husband was less enthusiastic) and gave it a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. A big thank you to Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes for giving me a chance to indulge in one of my favorite treats. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site for more crunchy cookies.

TWD: Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake

2011-06-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

The great recipes just keep on coming for Tuesdays With Dorie. This week we made Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake! I do most of my more complicated baking on the weekend, but I generally bake on a least one weeknight (usually Wednesday) and this is exactly the type of recipe I like to make: something that can be put together in the time it takes dinner to cook, can be dumped into one pan, and does not need to be frosted. Something that will feed Josh breakfast for a few days is also often in the criteria for midweek baking and this will definitely do that. (In full disclosure, this particular recipe was actually made on Monday night.)

Anyway, since somehow I’ve managed a record three posts in 24 hours, I will not continue to yammer on too much about this cake other than to say we liked it! I’m actually considering forgoing my usual healthy breakfast tomorrow in favor of eating this cake, which says a lot about it. We rated this cake an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort (though I was surprised that a "plain cake" involved whipping egg whites separately), for an EDR of 2.666.

Many thanks to Cindy of Everyday Insanity for selecting this lovely cake. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see how the other bakers liked it.

ABC: Favorite Buttermilk Cake

2011-06-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

This month the Avid Bakers Challenge Group made Favorite Buttermilk Cake from Baking for All Occasions. If you don’t have access to this fantastic book, the recipe can be found here. I haven’t managed to post an Avid Bakers Challenge recipe since January, though I have made a couple of selections since then, and I thought this was a terrific one to jump back in with. This is an excellent cake to have in your repertoire: simple, but very tasty and lends well to various accompaniments. I have in general been very impressed with the recipes from Baking for All Occasions. It reminds me a lot of Dorie's book, in the sense that there are a very diverse selection of recipes, that you can tell have been well-tested and have detailed instructions.

Since there was not a frosting or garnish assigned with this cake, I decided to go with chocolate frosting. I had planned to make one from Baking for All Occasions, but it had unsweetened chocolate in it and somehow I didn’t have any in my kitchen. Josh offered to go to the store. I decided that given the number of cookbooks and baking supplies I have, a trip to the store wasn’t necessary and I made a recipe from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, which proved to be a wonderful combination. We rated this cake an 8.5 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.83. I can’t wait to see the other combinations the ABC group came up with for this cake!

Chocolate Buttercream, from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook (I made a half recipe for an 8x8 cake)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon milk
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm (see note)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

In a medium-size bowl, beat the butter until cream, about 3 minutes. Add the milk carefully and beat until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and beat well. Add the vanilla extract and beat for 3 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and beat until creamy and of desired consistency.

Note: To melt chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for approximately 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces of chocolate remain. Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Devil Dog

2011-06-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

I think Eloise would be eager to tell you that the day before our wedding was the most boring day of her life – really, she’s dramatic like that – and she was being ignored. We both work, so we have a dog walker take her on an off-leash outing in the middle of the day and then after work we run her (and by “we run her” I mean Josh does, since she pulls me too much). Even though I was off work the few days leading up to the wedding, I had planned to have our dog walker come as usual, as I had a lot pre-wedding tasks to take care of. Unfortunately, our dog walker had a family emergency and was out of town that week. We managed to keep Eloise on her regular exercise schedule most of the week, but found ourselves a little short of time on Friday. Watch our dog go from mildly perturbed to absolutely incensed:

This is boring….pay attention to ME!!

Okay, good, someone’s petting me.

They’re both home, why am I not going for a walk!

Maybe if I push enough they’ll give in.

I’m going crazy!

She really does look kind of crazy there. I guess we learned what happens when she doesn't get enough exercise. It's a good thing we only get married once! And we did finally manage to take her on a run that day.

TWD: Caramel Pots de Creme (sort of)

2011-05-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

I’m back! We had an absolutely spectacular wedding and a wonderfully relaxing honeymoon, and now we’re back to real life, which I think is awfully nice, too (I actually really missed my kitchen while we were away and was so happy to be back in it). I promise that I will have photos and stories, but for now, I have ice cream. This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection was Caramel Pots de Creme, which sound good to me, but seriously? Every time I make some kind of pudding/spoon dessert, no matter how small a quantity, it never gets finished. So I figure that since the ingredients were the same as ice cream, I might as well turn this recipe into ice cream - and it worked!

The original recipe, which you can find here on Peggy the Baker’s site, calls for two whole eggs and five yolks; I omitted the two whole eggs and kept the rest of the ingredients the same. After all the ingredients were combined, instead of pouring the custard into cups and baking it, I put the mixture back on the stove and cooked it until it reached 170 degrees, chilled it, then put it through the ice cream maker. Around this time last year the group made Burnt Sugar Ice Cream, and despite two attempts, I never quite achieved the deep color and flavor that ice cream was meant to have. I think I have now finally made real burnt sugar ice cream.

This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.666. Many thanks to Peggy for hosting this week. I look forward to catching up and seeing how my fellow bakers fared with the actual recipe!

TWD: Basic Marbled Loaf Cake

2011-05-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

In this household we divide baked goods into three general categories: categories are breakfast, snacks, and desserts - with many subcategories and crossovers, of course. We are pretty benevolent went it comes to breakfast and typically can convince ourselves that most loaf cakes are breakfast fare. However, even Josh admitted that this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Basic Marbled Loaf Cake was a stretch - not that it’s stopping him. It looks unassuming, but the version I made, peppermint, contains half a pound of chocolate, which is kind of a lot for a breakfast food.

Dorie offers lots of fun flavor combinations for this cake and singles out the peppermint as her favorite. The peppermint version also contains white chocolate, which I enjoy baking with occasionally (and happen to have a stash of), so I figured it was the one to try. I made a tester ramekin, which was a good decision since the cake got huge in the pan, and it was excellent straight from the oven with ice cream.

Though we thought the cake was tasty, it was a skosh dry, so its Deliciousness rating is a 7. Many thanks to Carol of The Bake More for a great selection this week. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see what other enticing flavor combinations the creative bakers came up with.

Dessert Watch 2011: A few weeks ago I mentioned that Josh had decided that there would be a dessert moratorium the two weeks before the wedding. Well, we’re 11(!) days away and the no-dessert rule has been revised, for a couple reasons. Instead of going cold-turkey on desserts, Josh has been bringing fewer snacks to work and having smaller portions for dessert. The rule is it has to fit in the dessert bowl, rather than the cereal bowls he typically uses. I took a photo of the bowls to show the difference in size.

TWD: Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies

2011-04-26T21:45:00.001-07:00

I did not manage to make last week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Tourtely Apple Torte, but luckily this week we had a less time consuming recipe, Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies, and I was able to fit it in. Although soft chewy cookies are the generally the cookie category of choice in this household, a nice buttery shortbread is also nice from time to time, and these are exceptionally good shortbread. Not only does that the cornmeal give them a nice crunch, there are wonderful undertones of flavor from the lemon zest and almond extract. The flavor combination kind of reminded me of the stupendous Swedish Visiting Cake the group made last year.

Josh and I took a little break from wedding-related tasks last weekend to celebrate our four-year anniversary of dating (we figured that since we’re about to get married and will have a new anniversary, it would be our last year to make an occasion of it) and made a jaunt up to Sonoma on Saturday afternoon. We’d heard that the caterer we’re using for the wedding also has a café at a place called Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma and thought it would be fun to have lunch there. Sadly, the café had closed three weeks ago. Luckily the garden was still a lovely place to visit and the restaurant at the gardens was good. I had seen an ad in a magazine for a cake supply store in Sonoma and wanted to take a look around in hope of finding a cake topper. Yes, my wedding is less than three weeks away and I don’t have a cake topper. I totally put this off until the last minute, because if I don’t find one, it doesn’t really matter. My cake will still be pretty and taste great. The store, which also happens to be a pool supply store – hello, strange combo - did not have any whimsical cake toppers, but they did have shortbread cookie cutters, to get the authentic shortbread finger shape. I had rolled out my dough earlier in the morning and was planning on making the cookies that night, so I was excited to buy the cutter. Sadly, it could not really withstand the thick, cold dough. When I was growing up, there were several movies that my siblings and I watched multiple times; one of those was "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off." There is a line in the movie where Ferris refers to his friend Cameron’s car as “a piece of s&$@” and for some reason I was greatly amused when the line was changed to “piece of tin” in the TV version. Anyway, this shortbread cutter was a “piece of tin,” both literally and figuratively. It was cheap, so I can’t really complain. Not cheap? The olive oil ice cream we purchased, but very good with these cookies.

We rated these cookies a 7.5 for Deliciousness and I give them a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. Many thanks to Valerie of Une Gamine dans La Cuisine for a great choice. You can find the recipe here on Valerie’s site and visit the TWD site for more cookies.

TWD: Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp

2011-04-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

I never got around to making an official announcement on my blog, but Josh and I got engaged last summer (he proposed after I ran my first, and so far only, marathon on the 4th of July) and we’re getting married – in a month! We haven’t gone on any kind of crazy wedding diet or been Shedding for the Wedding (admittedly there have been a few extra miles run by Josh and I’ve tried to pick up hand weights occasionally). So even though I haven’t been blogging much, I’ve still been baking and we’ve been eating plenty of treats – in moderation, of course. However, Josh told me that the two weeks prior to the wedding, he wants to put a moratorium on desserts. I asked if that meant I could not bake at all (you know, with all the free time this procrastinator will have the two weeks before her wedding), and he said that I could make snacks, like cookies, but he is planning on refraining from large desserts with ice cream.

So it’s a really good thing this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp was selected now. It had been a while since I’d made an oozy fruit dessert, which, at least in our house, just screams for homemade ice cream. It seems that it is slightly early for rhubarb, though I was fortunate enough to find some at my local market. For some reason, I felt that this dessert took longer to put together than your average crumble (though I was multitasking with some other recipes), but double crisp is double delicious, so it’s definitely worth it!

We rated this recipe an 8 for Deliciousness and I rated it a 4 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. Many thanks to Sarah of Teapots and Cakestands for selecting this recipe at just the right time. You can find the recipe here on Sarah’s site and visit the TWD site to see if the other bakers were able to find rhubarb or if they got creative.

TWD: Honey Nut Brownies

2011-03-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Whenever I flipped past this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, Honey Nut Brownies, in Baking, I’d think of breakfast cereal – but I was always intrigued. It’s certainly not a flavor combination I would think of. Since we were a little uncertain about these, I made a half recipe, which seemed like a lot of brownie batter and these did bake up very thick. As far as brownies, go these definitely are on the cakey side, though I felt like they did have a bit of chew to them. I think a chocolate glaze would be stupendous on these and really bring the flavors together. You know, they just could have used a little something extra. However, they are being consumed just fine.

We rated this recipe a 7 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. Thanks to Suzy of Suzy Homemaker for giving us an opportunity to try this unique combination. You can find the recipe here on Suzy’s site and visit the TWD site to see what the rest of the group thought of this treat.

SMS: Irish Soda Bread

2011-03-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

This week the Sweet Melissa Sundays selection was a nice seasonal recipe, Irish Soda Bread. I didn’t manage to make the bread until after Saint Patrick’s Day and slathered with a little butter, it made an excellent Saturday morning breakfast. While we were eating breakfast, Josh asked if I knew why there was a cross on the soda bread. I did not, and he informed me it was to ward off evil spirits. Josh’s office had a Saint Patrick’s Day party and he was responsible for writing a “pub quiz” with Irish trivia. This tidbit did not make it on the, according to some co-workers, too-difficult quiz, but he found out this fact when he was researching it. And I totally believe that Josh made the quiz difficult (especially if you’d had a Guinness and a slice of the whiskey-soaked chocolate cake I’d made for him to bring to the party).

I thought this bread had a great sweet-savory taste. I know not everyone likes caraway seeds, but this is a delicious use for them. I rated this recipe a 7.5 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. Many thanks to Julie of A Little Bit of Everything for a fantastic selection. You can find the recipe here on Julie’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see how the other bakers liked this bread.

TWD: Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins

2011-03-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

This week Tuesdays With Dorie made Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins – an absolutely perfect choice for this time of year. Spring (and the fruits that accompany it) aren’t quite here and these bright muffins are a nice reminder that it’s on its way. My muffins are a little darker since, per Nancy’s suggestion on the Problems & Question site, I used half whole wheat flour. I didn’t have any lemon extract, so I added some zest instead, which I think worked fine (I wasn’t going to buy a bottle of lemon extract to use a ¼ teaspoon). I thought these muffins had the perfect amount of sweetness for a breakfast treat and would happily make them again.

This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Lauryn of Bella Baker for a splendid selection. You can find the recipe here on Lauryn’s site, along with many other beautiful treats, and check out the TWD site to see if the rest of the group liked these as much as I did.

SMS: Chocolate Pudding

2011-03-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

The Sweet Melissa Sundays group switched to two recipes a month, rather than four, which you would think would make it easier to keep up with, but for some reason it has had the opposite effect on me. Las t month I got confused about the posting dates and managed to miss the first recipe (which I later made and forgot to photograph), then I didn’t really want to make the second recipe. Anyway, I am back on track for March with Chocolate Pudding.

I love pudding of all kinds - and pretty much any dessert you can make in a ramekin. However, I don’t make spoon desserts very often since Josh prefers treats that you can pair with ice cream. I made a third of the recipe, which gave me two ramekins, plus a partially filled one. I used half-and-half rather than heavy cream, and did not feel like the pudding lacked richness at all. I thought the pudding was very tasty, though I would sometimes take a bite and wish there was a bit more chocolate flavor, so if I were to make it again, I might consider upping the chocolate content.

This recipe rated a 7 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. Many thanks to one of my favorite bloggers Leslie of Lethally Delicious for hosting this week. For this recipe, plus lots more chocolate, stop by Leslie’s site, and to see how the rest of the group liked it, stop by the Sweet Melissa site.

TWD: Toasted Almond Scones

2011-02-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Toasted Almond Scones. On Sunday morning I gave Josh a choice of three things for breakfast: cereal, waffles, or these scones. I was surprised that he didn’t select the option you can (appropriately) cover in maple syrup, though pleased, since I wanted to try these. I would have made them Monday if he had chosen waffles, but the sooner the better. These were terrific scones. I admit, I thought it seemed a little fussy to grind some of the almonds and then chop some – perhaps I’m just lazy. It was totally worth it, though, since the chopped almonds gave the flaky scones some nice texture and added a lot of flavor. These scones were yummy plain and also with a dab of apricot preserves.

This recipe rated a 7.5 for Deliciousness and a 3.25 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.3. Many thanks to Mike of Living Out West for a delightful selection. You can find the recipe here on Mike’s site and visit the TWD site for more scones.

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops (Squares)

2011-02-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Chocolate Oatmeal Drops. I read reports that the cookies spread a lot, which I always find a little disappointing (my oven kind of crisps things up). In order to prevent this, I turned them into bar cookies. The other reports were that they tasted brownie-esque, so I figured it made sense. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: when you bake (nearly) every single recipe from a book, there are bound to be some that aren’t huge hits, and this was one of them. We may have gotten a little more excited about them if we hadn’t had extra special treats around for Valentine’s Day. These humble cookies were a bit overshadowed by the brioche sticky buns I made from the Flour Bakery cookbook and some insanely good cupcakes Josh brought home last night.

Since I do love both oats and chocolate, they were definitely worth a try, and I’m sure the leftovers will be appreciated by co-workers. We rated these cookies a 6.5 for Deliciousness (I think if I presented them to Josh as “breakfast bars,” he would have given them a higher rating) and I gave them a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.25. Many thanks to Caroline and Claire of Bake with Us for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on their site, and after a couple weeks off, I am looking forward to seeing how my fellow bakers fared.

TWD: Nutty, Chocolatey, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

2011-01-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays With Dorie is wrapping up January with Nutty, Chocolatey, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake. In her recipe notes, Dorie acknowledges that in the years she has been baking, cakes like this have come in and out and back in of fashion. I thought this was funny, because before I joined Tuesdays With Dorie, I thought Bundt cakes were sort of seventies-era, boring potluck food. I now own several Bundt pans and enjoy making Bundt cakes. How can you not love the instant gratification of unmolding a cake from a pan and calling it done? Well, perhaps a quick sprinkle of powdered sugar or glaze, but you know what I mean. Though, that being said, this was the very first time I ever had an issue with a Bundt cake sticking to the pan (despite implementing Flo Braker’s butter, cooking spray, and flouring method to prep the pan), so this one isn’t quite so pretty.

This cake was so good, though, that it doesn’t matter at all what it looks like. I think my favorite part about the cake was the textures. The outer layer browned and had a nice crunch, the inside was nice and soft, and the swirl was perfectly crispy. You really couldn’t have a bad bite with this cake. Last week I skimped on the sour cream in the TWD recipe, using yogurt instead. I was a little disappointed with the results, so didn’t mess around this week (though I did use light sour cream) and it was 100% worth it.

This recipe rated a 9 for Deliciousness and a 4 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.25. Many thanks to Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort for hosting this week. I’ve been sick this week and this cake definitely did bring me some comfort. You can find the recipe here on Jennifer’s site and visit the TWD site to see if the other bakers successfully removed their cakes from the pan.

TWD: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

2011-01-18T22:00:00.001-08:00

Tuesdays With Dorie is pretty chocolate-heavy this month, so it was nice to see something bright and citrusy, in the form of Lemon Poppyseed Muffins, in the middle of the month. I made these on Sunday morning, and the only difficult part was waiting for the muffins to cool so they could be glazed! I would recommend not lining your muffin tins for this recipe, as my glaze dripped on them a bit. I subbed in plain nonfat yogurt for the sour cream and don’t think the texture suffered tremendously. Okay, they probably would have been a bit richer and softer with it, but I still thought they were a nice treat.

Since Josh consumed the majority of the muffins, I asked him for a Deliciousness rating and he said 7 (enjoyed them, though probably won’t request them again) and I gave the recipe a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. A big thank you to Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness for a lovely January selection. You can find the recipe here on Betsy’s site and click over to the TWD site for more muffins.

TWD: Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines

2011-01-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

This week it’s my turn (!!!) to select the Tuesdays With Dorie recipe and I think I managed to choose the only recipe in the book that involves marshmallow crème, Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines. I bought some madeleine pans around the same time I bought Baking (guess which I’ve used more often?), so this is one of the first recipes I put on my “to-make” list and I’m glad that it was still available when it was my turn to host. I must confess that when I was a teenager, my stepsister and I used to eat marshmallow fluff straight from the jar and I still love the stuff. I think this is a slightly more dignified way to eat it. Josh thought it was nice that I made something that looked like a football the weekend of the play-offs.

Though I haven’t used the pans very often, I’ve noticed that some madeleine recipes call for the batter to be chilled before baking and some do not. Dorie explains that chilling the batter increases your chance of the madeleines having their characteristic hump. It always is a good way to separate the work of a recipe over the course of two days, which I am a fan of. After an overnight chill, this batter was very thick and baked up huge madeleines!

One culinary skill I can use some work at is piping, I am always kind of a mess with a piping bag. I wasn’t able to get as much fluff in the madeleines as I would have liked. Maybe I’m just a glutton, but if anyone has suggestions for getting more filling in madeleines or cupcakes, I would be happy to hear them. I am not complaining about the chocolatiness of this recipe, though! Alone, the madeleines may have been good, but a bit ordinary; however, coated in chocolate ganache they are absolutely fantastic!

We rated this recipe an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 4 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. A huge thank you to all the fabulous bakers who baked along with me this week. Every Tuesday I look forward to seeing the creations this incredibly talented group comes up with and am constantly inspired to try new things; I can’t wait to see all the fluffy goodness this week.

Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines, from pages 170-171 of Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the Madeleines
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (3.375 ounces)
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (.75 ounces)
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt 2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup sugar (3.5 ounces)
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Marshmallow Fluff, for filling and frosting

For the Dip
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

To make the Madeleines: Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract, then switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold in the sifted dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Put a piece of plastic wrap directly against the surface of the batter and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days. Chilling the batter gives you a better chance of getting the characteristic hump on the back of the cookies.

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter 12 full-size madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour, and tap out the excess. Butter and flour or spray the pan even if it is nonstick; skip this step if you are using a silicone pan. Place the pan on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds.

Place the pan in the oven and immediately lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes, or until they feel springy to the touch. Remove the pan from the oven and rap one side of the madeleine pan against the counter – the plump little cakes should come tumbling out. Gently pry any reluctant cookies out with your fingers or a butter knife. Cool to room temperature on a rack.

To Fill the Madeleines: Fit a small pastry bag with a small plain tip and spoon the fluff into the bag. Use the point of the tip to poke a hole in the rounded (plain) side of each madeleine, and pipe enough fluff into each cookie to fill it – stop when the fluff reaches the top of the cake. (You’ll use only a bit of fluff.)

To Make the Dip: Put the chocolate in a small deep heatproof bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a full boil, then pour it over the chocolate. Wait for 1 minute, then gently whisk the cream into the chocolate: start at the center and slowly work your way out in concentric circles until you have a smooth, shiny mixture. Gently whisk in the butter. Line a small baking sheet with wax paper. One by one, hold a madeleine at its narrow end and dip it into the chocolate, then lift it up, let the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl and place smooth side down on the wax paper. Slide the baking sheet into the refrigerator to set the glaze, about 15 minutes. (You’ll have more ganache than you need, but making a larger quantity produces a better ganache. The leftover dip can be covered and refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.) If you’d like, pipe a squiggle of fluff on the top of each madelein once the chocolate is set. Makes 12 Cookies.

Serving: Coffee or every variety, milk, and hot chocolate are all good companions. Storing: Although the batter can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple days, the madeleines should be eaten soon after they are made. However, wrapped airtight, they can be frozen – even after they’ve been filled and frosted – for up to 2 months. And stale madeleines, as Proust would be the first to tell you, are good for dunking.

Playing Around: Use the same poke-and-pipe technique to fill the madeleines with raspberry jam, lemon curd – homemade (page 462) or store-bought – or Nutella.

SMS: Hazelnut Raspberry Layer Cake

2011-01-09T21:57:00.000-08:00

Sweet Melissa Sundays are back with cake! Hazelnut Raspberry Layer Cake, to be precise. I’m surprised this recipe hadn’t been selected yet and it’s a great way for the group to begin 2011. My birthday was Wednesday and Josh is planning on making me a cake and I briefly considered letting this be my birthday cake since I thought it sounded so good, but decided to “save” my special cake for a later date. And don’t worry – we celebrated with cupcakes on my actual birthday!

There is a raspberry icing recipe in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes that I absolutely love (and so does everyone who tries it), so I thought about using that and then decided I should try the recipe in the Sweet Melissa book. However, the original recipe called for a mixture of whole raspberries and raspberry liqueur to be mixed in and the idea of whole raspberry seeds in the frosting was kind of off-putting to me. I saw Tracey had made a whole raspberry-free frosting and was inspired to stick with my initial instinct and eliminate them as well. I used a scant half cup of seedless raspberry preserves for the raspberry flavor and color, which essentially made it like recipe I usually make. Oh, and Melissa’s recipe does not specify to let the egg/white sugar syrup combination cool down before you add the butter (the syrup is 240 degrees when it goes in), but I recommend chilling it briefly before adding the butter.

We rated this recipe an 8.5 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 4.5 for Effort (it may have been slightly higher if I’d had to ice the cake, but Josh was nice enough to do it for me), for an EDR of 1.88. Many thanks to Candy of Candy Girl for a delicious selection. You can find the recipe here on Candy's site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see how the rest of the group liked this cake.

ABC: Eve Lieb's Processor Challah

2011-01-04T21:21:00.001-08:00

This month the Avid Bakers Group took on the challenge of making a yeast bread, Eve Lieb's Processor Challah. Have you ever been so excited to eat something you made that you have trouble waiting for it to cool? That’s how I felt about this bread! Luckily I had to snap some photographs of it for my blog post, so we averted burnt tongues. I put off making this bread until Friday, and was wondering if I would have time to fit in, but when I read the recipe I realized the dough comes together incredibly fast in the food processor (with a minute of kneading by hand afterward) and both the rising and baking times were relatively short.

I delegated the bread-braiding to Josh. Whenever we have garlic knots for dinner (which I’m sure Josh would tell you is far too infrequently), he is the one who does that knot-work, so I figured he would be able to take on larger strands of dough. I printed a guide for him from this post on the King Arthur Flour blog and I think he did a spectacular job. We enjoyed this fluffy bread warm with butter, as well as cold with cheese. I loved the crunch the poppy seeds added.

We rated this recipe an 8 for Deliciousness and 4 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. We do not post the recipes for this group. The recipe is on page 184 of Baking for All Occasions, and you can read about the other ABC bakers’ experience with it via the Avid Baker’s Challenge site.

TWD: Midnight Chocolate Crackles

2011-01-04T00:53:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays With Dorie is kicking off 2011, and the third anniversary of the group, with Midnight Chocolate Crackles. The recipes for January were announced in mid-December, and if you happen to be the organized type, these chocolaty, mildly spiced cookies would have been a terrific addition to a holiday cookie tray. Naturally, I didn’t get around to making them until after Christmas, so they have been an oh-so-tempting snack to have around the house. In general, I think I’m pretty good about not overindulging in the treats I make. However, I have been on vacation since Christmas Eve (and therefore been home with the cookie jar calling my name) and in that time, my cookie consumption has gone way up, my fruit intake has gone way down, and I have eaten more than my share of these cookies. I have to say one good thing about the staycation coming to an end is that I will get back to my normal eating schedule.

There was much discussion on the Problems and Questions section of the TWD site about the proper amount of chilling time and texture of this cookie dough. I’m not sure if it would have worked to form the cookies straight away, since the dough was a bit warm and greasy when it was first made, but even a short rest in the refrigerator made it hard – must be high chocolate content in the dough. All was forgiven for a cookie this delicious, though. Josh assumed the cookies were to be rolled in powdered sugar, as most chocolate crackle cookies are. I did roll some, but they didn’t turn out terribly pretty. They were the first to get eaten.

This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.28. A huge thank you to Laurie of Slush and Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen for selecting this recipe and keeping the group organized! You can find the recipe here on the TWD site, as well as see more crackly cookies via the Leave Your Link section.

TWD: Almost-Fudge Gateau

2010-12-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

For the last week of 2010, the Tuesdays With Dorie bakers were treated to another rewind recipe and could select any previously-selected recipe, which was very welcome during the busy holiday season. I had been asked to bring a dessert (naturally) to my family’s Christmas dinner, which I was happy to do. I made these phenomenal Caramel Pecan Bars (sans curry powder) for Thanksgiving and they were such a hit that I knew I must make them again for Christmas. Despite the fact that I was pretty time-challenged, I thought it would also be nice to also bring something with chocolate. I had seen a few bakers make the Almost-Fudge Gateau from Baking last time we did a rewind, and it seemed like it would be perfect for Christmas. This recipe was chosen in February 2008 by Nikki of Crazy Delicious Food and you can find the recipe here. Due to an incredibly large and delicious dinner, and several other desserts competing for its attention, not a ton of the cake was eaten on Christmas, but we’re certainly not complaining about having leftovers.

This lovely chocolate dessert was very quick to put together and only baked for thirty-five minutes, though I think it probably could have done with a couple minutes less, as the inside wasn’t quite as fudgy as I anticipated. (My oven, or rather the thermometer, has been a bit unreliable lately). Nonetheless, we are enjoying slivers of it for dessert each night and Josh rated it an 8 for Deliciousness. I gave the recipe a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66. I can’t wait to check out the Leave Your Link section of the TWD site to see what the other bakers made this week!

TWD: Cardamom Crumb Cake

2010-12-21T21:55:00.001-08:00

I always say the best way measure of how delicious a treat is to see how quickly it disappears. We first cut into this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Cardamom Crumb Cake, on Sunday afternoon and when I looked at the pan last night it was nearly two-thirds finished – by two people. I say that’s a darn good indication of an excellent crumb cake. I have not baked with cardamom much and find it can be a bit intense, but there was just the right amount in this cake. The cardamom blended amazingly well with the orange zest and coffee, each bite was interesting and left you wanting just a little bit more. I also enjoyed that this was not a very sweet cake.

This recipe rated an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.83. Many thanks to one of my favorite bloggers, Jill of Jill’s Blog for a superb choice. You can find the recipe here on Jill’s site, plus lots of other unique kitchen creations, and visit the TWD site to see if it was a hit in the other bakers’ kitchens.

TWD: Apple(Pineapple)-Coconut Family Cake

2010-12-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

I think I’ve managed to refrain from complaining about this on the blog, but a couple months ago, I developed a condition called Plantar Fasciitis in my left heel and have not been able to run very much recently. Since I like to stay active (and go a little crazy without running), I have been trying a lot of other forms of exercise, one of which is power yoga. During the beginning of class on Sunday morning, the instructor asked us to focus on humility and challenged us to think of anything in our lives we could be less prideful and more humble about – little things to let go of. Naturally, I couldn’t think of anything at the time. Several hours later, when I took this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Apple (or in my case pineapple) Coconut Family Cake, out of the oven, my first thought was that it looked absolutely terrible – can you say overflow? – and that I needed to remake it, since it wasn’t “perfect” and I needed to photograph it for my blog.

But then I thought about what was said in class that morning and realized I didn’t want to spend precious end-of-the-weekend minutes remaking a quarter of a cake that I wasn’t that excited about to begin with. I mean, the baking group is about having fun and sharing our experiences – not having amazingly photogenic baked goods (though that is always a plus). So, I did not remake the cake and I’m glad I did not, because I actually did not like it very much. I kind of suspect I did something wrong. I made the double-nut version and used unsweetened coconut. I did enjoy the crunchy edges, but something about the flavor and the texture of the inside was a bit off for me. Josh doesn’t like coconut and didn’t think the cake looked very appealing (I am sparing y’all photos of the inside) and didn’t even bother trying it.

This recipe rated a 3 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 1.2. Thank you to Amber of Cobbler du Monde for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on Amber’s site and visit the TWD site to see how this turned out for the rest of the group.

TWD: Devilish Shortcakes

2010-11-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Devilish Shortcakes. I will not lie: I was a little worried these would not get made. I had trouble picturing them on Thanksgiving table and they don’t appear to be a portable/shareable treat, since for the full shortcake experience you need accoutrements. Fortunately by Sunday, we were no longer completely overwhelmed with holiday sweets and it was a quick recipe, both in hands-on and baking time, so they got made. I made a half batch and got eight generous shortcakes, using a standard ice cream scoop.

I made them in the late morning, between breakfast and lunch, so the first shortcake actually became an errand-running snack (must keep the blood sugar up). Josh bit in and said it tasted like a chocolate scone. The chocolate flavor is fairly subtle, but nice and they have a lovely lightly texture. We enjoyed one with blackberries and whipped cream. Josh had one with ice cream (of course) and ate the remaining shortcakes for breakfast over the next couple days – we’ve done much worse for breakfast around here, trust me.

This recipe rated a 7 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. Many thanks to Tania of Love Big, Bake Often for giving us the opportunity to try chocolate shortcake, a fun spin on the standard biscuits. You can find the recipe here on Tania’s blog and visit the TWD site for more shortcakes.

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers

2010-11-23T21:26:00.000-08:00

This week Tuesdays With Dorie was treated to a rewind – any recipe that has already been selected, either something new or an old favorite. Fun! My method for selecting a recipe was to print out the list of recipes that had been chosen before I joined the group, check off the ones I have since made (not that many), and hand the list to Josh to make the decision. He thought cookies called Chocolate Chunkers were definitely worth trying. This recipe was selected by Claudia of Fool for Food in September 2008. I had a little trouble finding a direct link to the recipe on her site, but Dorie baked along that week and posted the recipe here. These are kitchen sink cookies: in total, they contain five forms of chocolate (powder, bittersweet, unsweetened, semisweet, and milk or white), plus nuts and raisins. And in writing this post, I realized that mine contained even more, because I didn’t notice the “or” in milk or white chocolate. Oops. I was a little nervous, since there have been a few mix-in heavy recipes that haven’t been big hits in our household, and also because the dough barely adhered all the goodies together.

My worries were unwarranted, though, because they baked up just fine and are yummy. They are pretty much candy; Josh likened them to Rocky Road. Yum! In the recipe notes, Dorie mentions that she made a version of these cookies called Chocolate Chubs (also an awesome name) at Sarabeth’s Bakery. Dorie recently posted a rave review (and a recipe) of Sarabeth Levine’s new book, Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands to Yours, here on her site. Josh surprised me with a copy of that book the day before Dorie posted her review of it, and coincidentally I had bread from it proofing when I read the review! Anyway, it’s a splendid book and worth putting on your holiday wishlist.

This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the bakers made!

I also rewound to one of our very favorites: Classic Banana Bundt, which is an easy and excellent use for old bananas, which I found myself with last night. This recipe was chosen by the Queen of Bundts, Mary the Food Librarian and the recipe can be found here. And, wow, it photographed much better when it was glazed and I had natural light!

SMS: Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

2010-11-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

I’ve been busy the past couple weeks and have gotten behind on blogs – both updating mine and reading others, but I did manage to make and photograph this week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection, Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. We had a Thanksgiving potluck at my office on Friday, and I was originally going to multi-task this dessert and bring it there; two people had already signed up for pecan pie, so it got delayed until this weekend. When Josh saw the pre-baked pie shell, I had to reassure him that it was chocolate pie dough and that I had not burned the dessert. It was kind of hard to tell how “baked” the dough was since you can’t see a dark crust browning, so I ended up tenting the pie with foil pretty early, just in case. I thought it was fun to make a chocolate crust and think it gives the pie a pretty contrast.

I try to at least taste everything before I blog about it, but I am sending the whole pie to work with Josh tomorrow. We debated whether or not we should sample it this afternoon, and thought having a slice missing may encourage people to go ahead and eat the pie when they see it (you know how no one ever ones to take the first or last slice of something?). There are plenty of other goodies around our house and we managed to resist the temptation. Many thanks to Jennifer of Oh, Sweet Day for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on Jennifer’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to the other bakers’ links. If it gets rave reviews I may have to make it again.

TWD: Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread

2010-11-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

After last week’s diversion of peanut butter and chocolate, Tuesdays With Dorie continues to celebrate fall flavors with Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread. Cranberry jam and shortbread are two totally delicious foods that I never would have thought to put together – excellent idea, Dorie! The texture of the shortbread layers reminded me more of a big, soft sugar cookie than a typical shortbread. Whatever the texture, you can’t complain about jam sandwiched between two layers of buttery goodness. I also like the jam layer so much that I’m thinking of making another batch of it. I had a feeling this recipe would be a winner and went ahead and made the full recipe, and the two of us are doing a prodigious job of getting through it. This is the type of treat that makes you want to have a light dinner to ensure room for dessert.

We rated this recipe a 9 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.57. Many thanks to Jessica of A Singleton in the Kitchen for choosing this amazing dessert; you can find the recipe here on her site. Jessica is a talented writer, and does an excellent job of sharing her family and food memories – I always look forward to the stories that accompany her posts. I hope the other TWD bakers enjoyed this recipe as much as I did.

SMS: Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie

2010-11-07T21:47:00.001-08:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie. We’ve had a lot of pie recently, and pumpkin treats for that matter, so my initial inclination was to scale this recipe way back and just make a couple crustless ramekins since it sounded too good to miss completely. Josh assured me he was happy to eat more pie, though, so I ended up making a half recipe with a Biscoff cookie crust. I’d never made a pumpkin pie with a cookie crust, but I love crumb crusts, so I figured it didn’t hurt to try.

This recipe uses fresh ginger and cinnamon sticks seeped in cream for the spice flavoring. I’m not sure if I didn’t chop my ginger fine enough to thoroughly infuse the cream or if I just like a strong ginger punch, but I had to add some ground ginger to the custard in order to get the flavor to my liking. There have been a lot of sweets vying for our attention this weekend, so we haven’t really tried enough to rate it yet and tell if it will be a contender for a Thanksgiving dessert. I do know that the cookie crust was definitely a good idea. Many thanks to Debbie of Everyday Blessings of the Fivedees for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on Debbie’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see what the other bakers thought of this dessert.

ABC: Pumpkin Ice Cream Profiteroles

2010-11-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

It’s the first Tuesday of the month, which means it’s time for another Avid Baker’s Challenge and another intriguing recipe from Baking for All Occasions. This month the recipe of choice was Pumpkin Ice Cream Profiteroles with Caramel Sauce, aka the recipe that convinced me to join the ABC group! I have a long list of baked goods I want to try making at some point and profiteroles had been on that list far too long. They seem so fancy-schmancy, definitely restaurant caliber. I was happy to learn that they really aren’t so fussy. I did have trouble telling if the Pâte à choux (the dough) was mixed enough and was worried the profiteroles did not have enough height, but they were nice and airy after they were baked and, especially once they were filled, they were plenty tall. The profiteroles were supposed to have a cookie on top, but I skipped that part of the recipe.

I did make my own ice cream to fill them with, though. I had made pumpkin ice cream before, from this recipe on David Lebovitz’s site. He had adapted the recipe from The Craft of Baking, and I happened to be making something else from that book the same morning, so I made the ice cream directly from the book this time. In comparing the recipes, David adds a bit of liquor to the custard, which I did the first time I made the pumpkin ice cream, and I decidedly prefer it without. The butterscotch sauce recipe Flo recommends to go with the profiteroles contains bourbon, which is enough alcohol in one dessert. I made an entire batch of butterscotch sauce, which is fantastic, but I am not sure what I’m going to do with it all – you really don’t need a lot for the profiteroles.

I didn’t have a special occasion to make these for (I decided that I should have people over for dinner more often so I will be motivated to clean and so I have good reasons to make desserts like this), but I one of the great things about this recipe is that it stores very well. We aren’t great about saving and eating baked goods from the freezer, but the profiteroles keep beautifully, and you just have to take them and the ice cream out a little bit before you want to assemble them. This recipe rated a 9 for Deliciousness and a 4 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.25. The ABC group now has its very own blog so our lovely administrator, Hanaa, no longer has to run it from her site, so go check out how the other bakers liked this dessert.

TWD: Peanuttiest Blondies

2010-11-02T00:18:00.000-07:00

This week Tuesdays With Dorie takes a break from fall flavors with Peanuttiest Blondies. Peanut butter and chocolate are a splendid flavor combination any time of year, in my opinion. I made these on Thursday evening so I’d be able to take some to work and clear the decks for the weekend, when I knew there would be a lot of treats around and other things on my baking list. In addition to enjoying recipes that involve peanut butter and chocolate, I am also a big fan of ones you can put together and get in the oven in the time it takes for dinner to cook, and this one came through on that account as well. I had leftover peanut brittle from Sweet Melissa Sundays that we had been a bit slow getting through, so instead of using peanuts, I chopped up the brittle and decreased the sugar in the blondies.

The blondies I brought to work were gobbled up quickly and we thought they were tasty. I don’t think they’re something I’d make again, but definitely enjoyable. We rated this recipe a 7 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. Many thanks to Nicole of Bakeologie for a great selection. You can find the recipe here on Nicole’s site and visit the TWD site to see what the rest of the bakers thought of this treat.

Eloise says go Giants and a belated Happy Halloween!

TWD: All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie

2010-10-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

When I was getting ready to start my Tuesdays With Dorie baking, I asked Josh if he thought he could handle eating an entire apple pie this week – with some help from me, of course. He asked if was just a plain apple pie or apple and a bunch of ingredients he may not like as much.* Actually, he just asked if was plain apple, but the implication was that if it wasn’t a good ol’ pie, he might not be as interested. Lucky for him, the recipe for this week’s selection is All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie. So I made a whole pie and it was huge! And also very delicious.

As of next week, I will have been baking with Tuesdays With Dorie for two years and somehow had only managed to make her Good for Almost Every Occasion Pie Dough once before this month I have now made it three times in as many weeks (though I make it with a hand pastry blender rather than with a food processor as Dorie instructs – just my preference) and I can officially say that it’s very well-liked in this household. The only change I made in the recipe was adding a bit more cinnamon to the filling. Along with cheese, garlic, and vanilla, cinnamon is on my list of ingredients that a little extra is most always welcome.

This recipe rated an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 4 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.12. Many thanks to Emily of Sandmuffin for a fabulous selection. You can find the recipe here on Emily’s site and visit the TWD site to see how the rest of the bakers like this pie.

*However, last week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Caramel Pumpkin Pie, was an instance where an unconventional ingredient (caramel) in a classic recipe made it much better. I didn’t get around to posting last week, so I thought I’d toss it in now. For various reasons, I did not get a slice photo of the apple pie, so at least this post now has a nice slice of pie. A big thank you to Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs for another excellent seasonal choice!

SMS, Remixed and Mixed-In: Peanut Brittle

2010-10-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is Peanut Brittle, and is actually the second brittle recipe chosen this month; the first being cashew brittle two weeks ago. The initial reviews of the cashew brittle recipe didn’t exactly inspire me to try the recipe (you don’t really want to hear the words burned and chewy when you’re talking about brittle), but I still wanted to make brittle, so I looked up a couple recipes online and got to work. I didn’t post about it because it wasn’t the recipe from the Sweet Melissa book – or I just felt lazy. Or busy. Unlike many of the sugar-boiling experiences in my kitchen, the cashew brittle I made turned out well and disappeared pretty fast with just the two of us eating it, which is always a good way to determine if a recipe is a success. I decided to give it another go with peanuts.

I think Josh has tried every single flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and one of his current favorites is peanut brittle. I had been on a bit of an ice cream making hiatus, due to Josh actually not liking a flavor I made (for some reason I just kept expecting him to finish it). I decided it was about time he stopped buying endless pints of ice cream, and I made some vanilla ice cream and swirled in some crushed peanut brittle. I also added some chocolate chunks to the ice cream, ‘cos why not?

The brittle recipe gets an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.2. Many thanks to JoVonn of The Givens Chronicles. You can find the brittle recipe from the Sweet Melissa book on JoVonn's cute site and visit the SMS site to see how the brittle turned out for the rest of the group.

Nut Brittle, adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes and this recipe on About.com

1 cup (7 ounces) white sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup water
1 ½ cup peanuts
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the baking soda, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper together in a small bowl and set aside. Also set aside the two tablespoons of butter (these ingredients will all be added at the end and I’ve learned the hard way you want to have everything ready and conveniently accessible when making candy).

Combine the sugar, salt, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook the candy mixture, stirring frequently, until the thermometer reads 275 degrees, then add the peanuts and stir to combine. Keep cooking, still stirring frequently, until the thermometer reads 300 degrees.

Once the thermometer reaches 300 degrees, remove the pan from heat; immediately stir in butter and the baking soda/spice mixture. Pour the candy onto the prepared sheet and spread with a greased spatula. Cool the brittle completely and then break into pieces, either by hand or with a knife on a cutting board.

Note Quite SMS: White Cake with Chocolate Frosting

2010-10-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays Treat was Fluffy Coconut Cake with Passion Fruit Filling. I didn’t exactly make the recipe in the book. The frosting contained two kinds of coconut (cream and flakes) and was made with cream cheese. Josh doesn’t like coconut and I am not big on cream cheese icing. I mean, I’ll have a few bites of carrot cake or red velvet cake with it, but it’s definitely not my first choice. I wasn’t really sure if this would be a recipe that would work for our household until I realized the cake was a regular white cake – no coconut – and we both like a good white cake, so I decided to make the cake, or rather cupcakes, and frost it with something else. Of course I didn’t get this great idea until the last minute.

I decided on a simple dark chocolate frosting, which was excellent with the cake. The cake was fluffy as promised and super-yummy. I would say it’s a great vehicle for almost any frosting. This recipe rated an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.42. Many thanks to Karen of Karen’s Cookies, Cakes and More for selecting this cake. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see the other bakers’ cakes. My apologies to the group for not really making anything close to the recipe in the book.

Miss Irene Thompson’s Dark Chocolate Frosting from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes

3.5 ounces fine-quality unsweetened or 99% cacao chocolate, chopped
3 ounces dark chocolate, 60% to 62% cacao, chopped
1.7 ounces (3 ½ tablespoons) butter, at 65 to 75 degrees
1 cup (8 fluid ounces) corn syrup
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In the top of a double boiler, set over hot, not simmering, water heat the chocolate and butter. (Don’t let the bottom of the container touch the water.) Stir often with a silicone spatula until almost completely melted. Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and with the silicone spatula, stir until completely melted. Stir in the syrup until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla. The frosting keeps for three days at room temperature, for three weeks refrigerated, and for six months frozen. Note: the frosting will be very fluid immediately after making it. The recipe in RHC calls for the first layer to be poured over the cake. To frost cupcakes (or for the second layer of frosting on a cake), you should let the frosting cool for about half an hour or until it is a spreadable consistency.

TWD: Fold-Over Pear Torte

2010-10-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Fold-Over Pear Torte. There is not a picture of this recipe in the book and for some reason when I saw the name, I assumed, probably because of the word “fold,” that it would be some sort of turnover. It’s actually more like a pie with a tall crust, as it’s baked in a springform pan. I made a half recipe in two 4.5-inch pans and managed to roll one crust a bit bigger, so one torte had more crust folded over. I made one with pear and one with apple, and so far have only tried the apple one. Funnily enough, before it was officially pear season, we were given large quantities of pears by relatives on two separate occasions, but I actually had to buy one for this recipe. I used dried cranberries for the dried fruit component because I didn’t feel like cutting up apricots (lazy baker).

Josh and I spend a lot of time together, but we do have various separate interests and hobbies. I am not interested in sports much at all, and Josh is an enthusiastic fan of baseball and football (and tennis and basketball when he is betting with his friends). He is very happy that the Giants are actually in the baseball playoffs this year, though it has made for some tense sports-watching. I made this recipe on Sunday afternoon while Josh was watching a very close Giants game and there was a lot of shouting coming from the living room. At some point he came into the kitchen and saw a bottle of rum on the counter, for the small amount in the torte, and said he felt like he could use a shot to calm his nerves. Luckily they won, and again last night.

Okay, back to the torte. This is one of those recipes that I would categorize as “surprisingly good,” mainly because I had no idea what to expect, and it was a splendid dessert. It was so well proportioned: buttery flaky crust, a delightfully light custard, and sweet fruit – so nice! We rated this recipe an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 4 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. Many thanks to the lovely Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen for a fantastic selection. You can find the recipe here on her site, along with lots of other great treats and epicurean adventures. I’m also looking forward to seeing how the other bakers’ tortes turned out.

ABC: Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake with Milk ‘n’ Honey Sabayon

2010-10-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

I have decided to take on a new challenge: The Avid Baker’s Challenge! My friend Hanaa started this group and after months of admiring the treats they make and seeing what was on the schedule for the rest of the year, I decided it was time to join the fun. We are baking from Flo Braker’s stupendous book, Baking for All Occasions. It’s one of the (far too many) books in my collection that I occasionally make something from and think, “The recipes in here are so good, why don’t I make things from it more often?” I also think it’s great that Flo gives all measurements in both weight and volume. I have somewhat recently started weighing pretty much everything and it’s nice when the weight measures are in the book so I don’t have to keep looking at my cheat sheet. The recipe this month is Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake with Milk ‘n’ Honey Sabayon. In the recipe notes, Flo shares that this cake was inspired by a cake from Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola, California. I used to live not far from that bakery, and agree with Flo that it has outstanding treats.

The cake involves a number of steps in preparation (grating chocolate and oranges, juicing oranges for fresh juice, etc.) and quite a few dishes. It was a nice project for a weekend afternoon, not something to bake in a hurry. The recipe was meant to be baked in a ten-inch tube pan with a removable bottom, but since that would yield fourteen to eighteen servings, I cut it in half. I baked the cake in a six-inch pan round pan and four ramekins. I had a little –okay a lot – of trouble getting the cake to come out of the pan neatly, so sadly I do not have a lovely full-cake picture to show. I also had a bit of trouble with the Sabayon. I didn’t think to look up what a Sabayon was before I made this recipe so I’d have a better idea what it should turn out like; according to this link it is “a light custard, which has been whipped to incorporate large amounts of air.” Mine was sort of airy, but didn’t really hold. The honey/orange flavor of the creamy sauce was incredible, though, especially on a light cake, which did turn out delightfully airy and tasted wonderful.

I must say, though everything didn’t go perfectly, I had a good time making this cake and it really did present a bit of a challenge for me, which I enjoy. This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 5 for Effort, for an EDR of 1.6. This group is not posting recipes, but you may stop by Hanaa’s site to learn more about The Avid Baker’s Challenge and see the other bakers' links.

TWD: Double Apple Bundt Cake

2010-10-05T00:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesdays With Dorie begins October with Double Apple Bundt Cake, the first in a whole month of fabulous-sounding autumnal recipes. When I was tabbing up my book for the month of October and telling Josh what he’d be eating for dessert the next few weeks, he said he was surprised there are so many good recipes left. It’s surprising, though definitely true: the recipes in Baking are consistently good. Oh, sure, there are certainly ones we love more than others, but there is a seemingly endless supply of wonderful recipes.

The only substitution I made was subbing currants for raisins, since that is what I had on hand. I soaked the currants in rum, which I thought would be appropriate with the warm spices in this cake. I also reduced the sugar by about half a cup when I realized the apple butter I bought was incredibly sweet. I have joined a new baking group (the post for that one will be up later) and we made a cake for that group this week; since Bundts are easily transportable and good keepers, I sent this one to work with Josh.

I have only had a small nibble of the cake and thought it was very good. So apple-y and moist, and I enjoyed the crunch from the walnuts. Josh rated it a 7.5 and when I spoke to him around lunchtime today, he said there was about a third of a cake left, as opposed to being immediately decimated, so that sounds like an accurate rating to me (he later told me it was competing with some bagels). I gave it a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.5. Many thanks to Lynne of Honey Muffin for a lovely seasonal choice. You can find the recipe on her site and visit the TWD site for more cake.

TWD: Tarte Fine

2010-09-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesdays With Dorie is kicking off the fall baking season in style with Tarte Fine. From the name, I had no idea what kind of confection this was, and was happy that it is a lovely French apple tart. I didn’t get around to making this until last night and I wasn’t feeling that great. Luckily, this must be one of the very simplest recipes in the book: it only has a few ingredients, and since the base is made out of frozen puff pastry, there is very little to do other than slice apples. And I delegated the task of slicing apples to Josh (though I did peel them). He gave me a mandoline as a gift, but I get sort of nervous using it ‘cos I managed to slice my finger the first time I used it. He enjoys using it, though, so it really is a gift that keeps giving.

I made the version of the cake from the “playing around” section of the recipe, which involves adding more butter (since there’s not enough in the puff pastry) and sugar to the tart. Dorie advises to eat the tart within an hour of baking, but word on the Problems & Questions section had it that the tart was fine the next day, which worked out well since it wasn’t done until after ten last night. Josh took a couple pieces with him to work for breakfast/snack and he said it was gone before noon.

This recipe gets an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 1.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 5.66. A big thank you to Leslie of Lethally Delicious for a fantastic selection – I’m sure I’ll be making this one again. Leslie is a witty writer and it’s always fun to see what she’s up to in the kitchen; her post on the Tarte Fine is no exception. To see what the other bakers thought of this treat, visit the TWD site.

SMS: Plum Raspberry Preserves

2010-09-26T00:20:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to be hosting Sweet Melissa Sundays today; the recipe I selected is Plum Raspberry Preserves. I typically don’t get around to writing my post until about 10 PM on Sunday night (often because I haven’t baked the recipe until that day), but since this is my week to host, I thought I’d try to demonstrate a modicum of organization and have my post in order for others to link the recipe. It also doesn’t hurt that I made the recipe several weeks ago and that I selected preserves last time I hosted, so most of the recipe is already typed up.

I always think it’s fun to read about how people come to a decision when presented with the overwhelming task of selecting a recipe. I was actually a little worried about choosing a recipe with summer fruit when the posting date was at the end of September, but I like making preserves (and most things with fruit). There were still four preserve recipes left and we won’t make it to summer again before we’re done baking through the book, so I figured I’d go with it. The preserve recipe in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book is trouble-free – you really just have to chop up some fruit and let it cook. There is no pectin in this preserve recipe, just apples, and I felt like I had to mash the apples a bit (and therefore the rest of the fruit) in order to not have big chunks of apples. I think the consistency of the preserves was fine, though, and they tasted excellent.

I canned six jars of the preserves, plus there was a Tupperware container left over. One of the things I enjoyed about choosing preserves last year was seeing how everyone used them. People definitely thought beyond toast. So far I have given some away and made bar cookies. I used the preserves in my favorite raspberries bars (recipe here) when I first made the preserves, then I made Back-to-School Raspberry Granola Bars from The Craft of Baking a couple days ago, which are the bars pictured in this post. Though they do contain oats and nuts, I really think they show greater resemblance to a cookie than a granola bar, don’t you? Whichever, they are fantastic, very easy to put together, and would be excellent with most any jam or preserves you happen to have on hand. Since I didn’t have to type the preserve recipe, I am also including the one for the bars.

The preserves rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4. Thanks to all the Sweet Melissa members who preserved along with me this week. Be sure to stop by the Sweet Melissa site to see how the others used the preserves.

Master Preserve Recipe, from page 165 - 166 of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book
Printable Recipe
8 cups peel and sliced ripe fresh fruit of your choice (2 dry quarts)
2 cups peeled and cubed Granny Smith apples (2 to 3 apples cut into ¼ to ½ inch pieces)
2 cups sugar
¼ cup fresh lemon and/or orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly grated citrus zest

In an 8-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the fruit, apples, sugar, juice, and zest. Cook, until the mixture reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer, stirring often to prevent scorching. You may mash the fruit slightly with a potato masher, if necessary. Once the preserves have reached 212 degrees, continue to cook for 30 minutes more, stirring often, until thick. You can check the consistency by placing a dollop on a plate and setting it in the freezer until just cool. If it is runny, continue cooking; if it is thick, you’re good to go.

Can the fruit in clean canning jars as directed by the manufacturer, or cool to room temperature, tightly cover, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 6 months.

Plum Raspberry Preserves
Use 1 ½ quarts (six cups) unpeeled sliced plums and 2 cups raspberries. Use lemon juice and orange zest.

Back-to-School Raspberry Granola Bars, from The Craft of Baking
Printable Recipe

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raspberry preserves (or plum raspberry)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Spread the pecans on a baking sheet. Bake until lightly golden and fragrant, about five minutes. Cool the sheet completely on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, and pecans. Pour in the melted butter, and using a wooden spoon, mix together until well combined. Transfer about two thirds of the dough to the prepared baking pan. Press the dough evenly into the pan, forming a firmly packed layer.

Using an offset or rubber spatula, spread the preserves over the dough. Evenly sprinkle the remaining dough over the preserves. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until the top is golden brown and fragrant, about forty minutes (mine took more like forty-five minutes). Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool completely. Then cut into two-inch squares.

The bars can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

TWD: Coffee Break Muffins

2010-09-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Coffee-Break Muffins, was actually the very first thing I made from Baking, over two years ago. I remember being anxious to start making things from the book and wanting to make something I had all the ingredients on hand for, but was also not just your basic muffin or cookie. I drink quite a bit of coffee and luckily Josh does too. On one of our early dates, we were going to a concert and when Josh picked me up, he brought me a cup of coffee, since it was going to be kind of a late night for a weeknight. I was charmed with the gesture and pleased to learn he understood the importance of coffee early in our relationship. Suffice to say, these muffins were a big hit both times I made them. I don’t know why it took me two years to get to this simple and delicious treat the second time.

I jazzed the muffins up a bit with some toffee chips and some milk crumbs, which were leftover from another recipe I made last weekend and seemed like an appropriate addition (though we actually are black coffee drinkers in this household). This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Rhiani of Chocoholic Anonymous for a yummy selection. You should be able find the recipe on Rhiani’s site and visit the TWD site to see what the other bakers thought of these goodies.

SMS: Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie

2010-09-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie. I will be hosting Sweet Melissa Sundays next week and this is actually the recipe I had been planning to pick! I guess the good news was I would get to make it earlier. However, I did end up making my selection two weeks ago and didn’t make the pie until today.

It’s late, so I’m just going to keep this short and say I loved this pie! It was really pie perfection in my eyes: sweet fresh berries, a tangy and creamy center, and a fabulously buttery-flaky crust. I used this pie dough recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I happened to make two pies in one weekend earlier this summer: one with Melissa’s all-butter dough and one with Smitten Kitchen’s, and decided I preferred the one from SK (only by a small nudge, though).

I rated this pie a 9 for Deliciousness and 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.57. Many thanks to Melissa of Lulu the Baker for an excellent choice. You can find the recipe here on Lulu the Baker, along with many lovely food photos (the presentation on Melissa’s site is always beautiful) and yummy-looking recipes, and stop by the Sweet Melissa site to see how the rest of the group liked this pie.

TWD: Cranberry Upside-Downer

2010-09-14T22:04:00.001-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Cranberry Upside-Downer. I’d never made an upside down cake and this was a great one to start with. Not so great? The supply of cranberries in September. I’ve had the urge to bake cranberry desserts in early fall before and I actually talk about how Josh drove to five different stores to find cranberries for me in my very first post, almost two years ago (you can also read about my oh-so-scientific rating system in that same post). Luckily, I remembered the store where frozen cranberries are carried year-round and had no trouble finding them this time. Dorie also gives the option of a peach version, but after eating a terrible peach a couple weeks ago, I’m off them.

The recipe advised this cake is best served the day it’s made (though I can attest it’s still pretty good on day three), so I made a half recipe in a six-inch cake pan. Inspired by some fabulous sorbet I made during cranberry season last year, I added some vanilla bean paste to the butter/sugar mixture that went on the bottom of the pan. I was nervous about flipping the cake, but it came out of the pan seamlessly – must be all the butter in it! The one thing I would think about changing in this recipe is the cinnamon in the batter; I thought the flavor was a bit strong. If I were to make this again, I would omit it and possibly add some orange zest to the batter. This would be an excellent holiday dessert if you are looking for some variety and are short on time.

We thought this cake deserved a 7.5 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. Many thanks to Sabrina of Superfluous for choosing this lovely cake. You can find the recipe here on Sabrina’s site. There was a lot of chatter about using different fruits, so I can’t wait to see what variations the creative bakers came up with.

TWD: Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

2010-09-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

Peanut butter, cookies rolled in sugar, and three day weekends are all pretty high on my list of Things That Are Awesome so I was pretty happy to make this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Peanut Butter Crisscrosses, on Saturday. The recipe called for chopped peanuts, but I used the dregs of a bag of peanut butter chips for the extra peanut component. Since chewy is the preferred cookie texture in this household, I baked the cookies for ten minutes rather than twelve, and they turned out soft and delicious. (Actually, I like crunchy peanut butter cookies, but I wanted to make sure it wasn’t me who consumed the majority of them.) Our dog loves peanut butter, which means I could tell whenever Josh was eating a cookie this weekend: Eloise was trailing around behind him with her ears perked up. I don't think she was lucky enough to have any crumbs thrown her way.

These cookies rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.2. I can’t wait to try the version with chocolate; perhaps some time when I’ll be seeing my younger brother. Thanks to Jasmine of Jasmine Cuisine for a yummy selection. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see how these turned out for the other bakers.

SMS: Mom's French Pancakes

2010-09-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is Mom’s French Pancakes, which are in fact crepes. Yum! Is anyone else watching “The Great Food Truck Race" on the Food Network? I think it’s kind of a fun show and last week the crepe truck was eliminated. I have to say, as much as I like crepes, when I get food from a truck – which is not too often – I want something a little heartier, like a big messy sandwich or a burrito (the team had been doing well up until last week, though). Anyway, back to this week’s recipe. The crepes were our second breakfast today, actually more like brunch. We are training for marathon number two (well, number two for me, a lot higher number for Josh) and ate energy bars before our fourteen mile run this morning and the crepes were a wonderful treat to look forward to after the run.

Better yet? The batter can be blended ahead of time (and takes approximately one minute to mix) and I made it last night, so all I had to do was cook the crepes this morning. I was worried it would be difficult to swirl and flip the crepes, and suspected I might make a complete mess of the crepes. I almost made a full recipe in anticipation of disaster. I can definitely use more practice, as my crepes definitely were not perfectly round, but I’m glad I stuck with a half recipe, since they’re just light enough to keep eating. We had some with jumbleberry preserves from the Sweet Melissa book and some with Biscoff spread, which has a consistency similar to Nutella, but a spice cookie taste. Since I need more practice with my crepe skills, I will have to make more soon to try other variations.

This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort for an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Jamie of Good Eats and Sweet Treats for an excellent selection. You can find the recipe here on Jamie’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see other variations of these yummy crepes.

TWD: Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

2010-08-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

I think one of the best ways to measure the success of a treat is how quickly it disappears. Though Josh enjoys most things I bake, occasionally he will tell me he likes something I made, but then I’ll find myself having to remind him it’s around (and will he finish it, please, so I can bake something else?). I made this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, on Saturday morning and when I went to photograph them on Sunday afternoon, there was a sizable dent in the cookie jar – success! When I mentioned he must be enjoying them, Josh said they are “small guilt-free little cookies.” I don’t think most people would characterize chocolate shortbread cookies “guilt-free,” but I’m glad he likes them!

Dorie has a neat trick for this recipe: rolling the dough in a Ziploc bag! I was impressed with how evenly it rolled. I was not so impressed with my cutting abilities (it was Saturday morning and my coffee hadn’t kicked in); after a half-hearted attempt trying to cut the cookies neatly into squares per the instructions, I resorted to a cookie cutter. I don’t always like chopping up chocolate, but I thought these cookies deserved a nice chocolate bar and it was worth it. Since we were out of ice cream, I made a batch of Cacao Nib Gelato (recipe here) to go with the cookies, and it proved to be a divine combination.

This recipe gets an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.2. Many thanks Donna of Life’s Too Short Not to Eat Dessert First for a yummy selection. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see what the other bakers thought.

TWD: Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

2010-08-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

I always forgot how much I like peaches until I eat them. I think that the fuzzy skin will bother me and they’ll be sloppy. When I bite into a peach at the height of the season, neither of those attributes bothers me anymore. I stocked up on peaches, not certain if I was going to make a full version or scale back this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart. I ended up making only a quarter of the recipe and was happy to eat the leftovers. In fact, I went to the farmers’ market on my lunch break today and bought more. We’re finally getting some hot weather in the Bay Area and Josh couldn’t believe I went outside on my lunch break when I didn’t need to. I told him I am more than willing to sacrifice being cool for summer produce.

A quarter of the recipe fit nicely into two four-inch tart pans. I was pre-baking the tart shells in the oven, then went upstairs and did not hear the timer go off, so the tart shells were a bit darker than I would have liked, but fortunately not burned. Other than that, it was a nice and easy recipe. I wasn’t sure if I’d like the combination of custard with the peaches; I was happy to bite in and realize this tart is just perfectly balanced in terms of both flavors and texture. I like how the hint of almond brightens the flavors. And seriously? Streusel topping is pretty much always a good idea. It definitely reminds me of a treat you’d find in a fancy French bakery.

I rated this dessert a 7.5 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.5. Many thanks to Rachel of sweet tart for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site for more tarts.

SMS: Sweet Almond Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Frosting (All-Homeade, Semi-Fail)

2010-08-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

Sweet Melissa Sundays has had a nice variety of recipes for the month of August. This week’s selection is an absolutely delectable sounding layer cake, Sweet Almond Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Frosting. This is one of those recipes that would seem pretty time consuming and leave you with quite a heap of dirty dishes if you made all three components at the same time. I ended up dividing it over the course of the weekend. I started with the cake yesterday morning when I was busy with a couple other non-SMS kitchen projects and was considering buying a jar of lemon curd to save a bit of time (not just making it, but waiting for it to cool). Frugalness won out, though, and I made the lemon curd this morning.

I made a half recipe of the cake in my (favorite!) six-inch cake pans. The whole recipe used 12 egg whites, plus three whole eggs for the lemon curd. I made my half recipe of lemon curd with one whole and most of the two leftover yolks. I used the other four egg yolks to make some fantastic lemon gelato. So, cake? No Problem. Lemon Curd? Surprising simple. Now we get to the frosting, where somehow all went wrong. The recipe advises to mix the frosting until the ingredients are just incorporated and to not over-mix. Well, mine looked incredibly lumpy after that and very watery. I tried to “troubleshoot” and add more sugar, more butter, cream cheese (I was out of mascarpone at that point) – anything that might help get it to come together. The frosting started to look a bit better and I refrigerated it for about half an hour, hoping it would set. Unfortunately, it was still pretty watery and lumpy, but I went ahead and slathered it on.

Despite looking terrible, the frosting was sweet and tangy and a lovely complement to the almond cake, which was a scrumptious as I thought it would be. We rated this cake an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 5 for Effort, for an EDR of 1.6. A big thank you to Katie of Katiecakes for giving us the opportunity to eat cake! You can find the recipe here on Katie’s lovely site visit the Sweet Melissa site to see if the other bakers had better luck with the frosting.

Lemon Gelato from The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto
Printable Recipe

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
¼ cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
graham cracker crust pieces (optional)

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the milk and cream. Place over a medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn’t form, until tiny bubbles start to form. Around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Temper the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture while whisking continuously. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185 degrees. Do not bring to a boil. (The recipe specifies to cook over low heat, but I felt the custard was taking a very long time to come to temperature that way, so I turned up the heat a bit.)

Pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and cool completely, stirring often. To cool the custard quickly, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water and placing the bowl with the custard in it; stir until cooled. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least four hours or overnight.

Remove the custard from the refrigerator and gently whisk in the lemon juice and zest. Pour the mixture into the container of an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add the graham cracker crust crumbles five minutes before the churning is completed, if using. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least two hours before serving.

TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

2010-08-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

I was definitely interested when I saw the name of this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Oatmeal Breakfast Bread, since it sounds like an amalgamation of what Josh and I eat for breakfast. After much experimentation, I have decided oatmeal is the only breakfast that can get me through to lunch without snacking and eat it pretty much every weekday (I have had my hands full with granola this week, though)and Josh always eats some kind of carby breakfast treat or bread. I was expecting this to be a grainy, lightly-sweetened bread. Though there are delightful bites of chewy oats, the bread turned out to be more like a coffee cake speckled with chunks of dried fruit (I may have gone a little overboard on the dried fruit). No complaints, though, it’s absolutely delicious.

In the recipe notes, Dorie says this recipe was most likely developed in the eighties, when applesauce was often used in baked goods to replace much of the fat, and this recipe actually does not contain any butter(!) – just applesauce and canola oil. I am very impressed at how warm and rich-tasting this bread was, despite the lack of butter.

We rated this recipe a 7.5 for Deliciousness and I give it a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.75. Many thanks to Natalie of Oven Love for picking a fantastic recipe. You can find the recipe here on Natalie’s site and visit the TWD site to see what the other bakers thought of this bread.

SMS: Cherry Almond Granola

2010-08-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

I remember one time when I was young smelling something absolutely incredible baking and I was positive my mom was making some delicious cookies. It turned out to be granola, and we were so disappointed that my mom actually did make some cookies. Luckily I have grown to like granola and was happy when Cherry Almond Granola was chosen for this week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday recipe. And it’s a good thing I like granola, ‘cos this recipe makes a TON.

Three nearly full eight-cup containers! Fortunately, granola lends well to sharing: I gave one container to Josh’s parents and I made Melissa’s Granola Breakfast Cookies to bring to work tomorrow. The group made the cookies a long time ago, but I used store-bought granola and added peanut butter, so I figured this was a good opportunity to make them properly. The cookies, as well as the granola, are outstanding. I think granola is a fun thing to make; once you have a good basic recipe, you can just go down the bulk food aisle and throw in whatever dried fruits and nuts strike your fancy. I actually like all the ingredients in Melissa’s original recipe, but I subbed dried apricots for golden raisins, since golden raisins + currants just seemed too raisiny for me.

In addition to being tasty, this is also such a simple recipe. You have to stir it every fifteen minutes, so it’s the perfect thing to bake on a lazy afternoon or when you have other kitchen projects. I rated the granola an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.2. Thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for an excellent selection. You can find the recipe here on Wendy’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see how the rest of the group fared this week.

Since we’re on the topic of granola, I must share something I saw in my local market recently: a $28.99 bag (24 ounces) of granola! It’s a local company and made with organic ingredients, but my goodness! It is a bit more reasonably priced on the company’s website.

SMS: Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Torte

2010-08-08T22:26:00.001-07:00

It’s nice when you’re pleasantly surprised by a recipe (or anything, really) and this week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Torte, exceeded my expectations. The last chocolate-raspberry dessert I made was not a hit and usually when the word “truffle” is involved, I assume the dessert will be a bit rich for me. I liked this torte, though; the texture is kind of like a baked chocolate mousse and the bites of fresh raspberry hidden in the chocolate are a nice reminder that it is summer (when you live in a windy corner of Marin county, you definitely need to be reminded of the season on occasion).

Since I wasn’t sure we’d like the torte, I only made a quarter of the recipe in a 4-inch springform pan. Josh and I both gave it a thumbs up, though it’s probably not something that will go on my repeat list. Based on the few bites I took, I would give the torte a 7.5 for Deliciousness. It was very easy to throw together, so I’d give it a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. Thanks to Jennifer of The Rookie Baker for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see what the rest of the group thought of this treat.

TWD: Gingered Carrot Cookies

2010-08-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Gingered Carrot Cookies, and after a slightly disappointing TWD recipe last week (for me anyway, most people seemed to like the blondies), I am happy to say I love these cookies! Josh pointed out that it’s rare that we chomp through baked goods at the same pace, but it’s happening with these cookies. Keeping up with his prodigious cookie consumption requires me to break my “no bringing baked goods to work” rule; these are worth it, though. And they have carrots, raisins, and nuts, so they’re kind of like having a granola bar as a snack, right?

After depriving myself of coconut with the last two TWD recipes, I added it to half of these cookies. I forgot to separate them when I put them in the cookie jar, but Josh said that “disgusting chewy shreds sticking out” distinguish my cookies from his. I halved the recipe with the exception of two ingredients: I used the full amount of ginger and fewer raisins, as I don’t like them in every bite. I soaked my raisins in a bit of rum to plump them up, and instead of draining the rum, I tossed it in (it was probably about a tablespoon) and it added a nice punch of flavor to these tender little cookies.

I rated these cookies a 9 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. A big thank you to Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina for an excellent selection. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site for more cookies.

TWD: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

2010-07-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Chewy, Chunky Blondies. I had high expectations for this recipe and anticipated it would probably be Josh’s new favorite treat. Sadly, my bars did not come out quite as wonderful as I expected them to. They didn’t seem done after the allotted baking time, so I baked them a bit longer since I didn’t think it would be possible to slice them, and possibly ruined the texture. (These photos were taken about four days after I made them, so they are not at their prime. And yikes – there were still some left four days after I made them; almost imaginable around here.) My add-ins were a cup of chocolate chips, a cup of toffee bits, and a cup of walnuts. Just last week I was saying how nuts interrupted brownies, but with blondies, I think they’re a nice addition to cut the sweetness a bit.

“Too much” has never been an issue for Josh when it comes to desserts (and the recipe comes with a warning that it is more mix-in than cookie), but he actually said he would have preferred a higher dough to chip ratio. Since I wasn’t completely satisfied with how they turned out, I kind of wanted to make them again, but I ran out of time and decided it could wait until we are low on treats. Even though we didn’t love the blondies, they’re still pretty good. This recipe rated a 7 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. Many thanks to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for selecting a recipe I’d wanted to try for a while. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site to see how the blondies turned out for the rest of the group.

SMS: Toasted Almond Lemon Bars

2010-07-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

This week the Sweet Melissa group made Toasted Almond Lemon Bars. I didn’t get around to making the bars until today and I had one of those weeks where procrastination really paid off: I benefited from the tips of other bakers and yesterday at my family’s annual ladies lunch, I ended up going home with at least five pounds of Meyer lemons. And pears. I really have my work cut out for me this week. I do love the challenge of using produce before it goes bad, though.

The main issue with the recipe this week seemed to be the dough being incredibly soft, so since I made my bars so late, I knew to freeze my dough a bit before baking, which worked well. The dough was so soft and buttery that I was worried the shortbread would be greasy, but it turned out to have a nice texture and the hint of almonds gave it a splendid depth of flavor. Since Meyer lemons are a bit sweeter than regular lemons, I reduced the sugar in the lemon filling by a couple tablespoons. I forgot to line the edges of the baking pan with the dough, so I was a bit concerned the filling would seep underneath the bars. It did make it over the sides a bit, which made the edges carmelly and chewy, so no complaints!

These are fantastic lemon bars; I'd never made lemon bars and I'm happy I now have a good recipe. I’m glad I’m sending them to work with Josh so I won’t be tempted to eat too many. We rated them a 9 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 3.5 for Effort, for and EDR of 2.57. Many thanks to Rebecca of Indecisive Baker (that’s how I feel a lot of the time: so many recipes so little time) for a yummy selection. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see what the rest of the group thought.

I also did a rewind this weekend and made the North Fork Peach Raspberry Pie, selected by Rebecca of Beurrista (the recipe is posted here). I was out of town the weekend the group made it, but had been looking forward to it and wanted to be sure to make it while peaches were in season. I didn’t get a slice photo, but it was delicious and my family enjoyed it!

TWD: Lots-of-Ways Banana Cake

2010-07-20T21:47:00.001-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Lots-of-Ways Banana Cake. Dorie encourages substitutions, so basically if you have spotty bananas and minimal pantry staples, you can make this cake. I especially like the name of this recipe for the TWD. Every Tuesday we see the recipes from Baking lots of different ways, and through the group I have learned lots of excellent substitutions and been inspired by many ideas. Of the lots-of-ways to make this cake, I made a plain banana cake. I had planned to add coconut and blueberries, but I sampled the batter and decided it was perfect as-is.

I didn’t get around to baking the cake until Monday night, so haven’t eaten enough to assess its Deliciousness score (which I must remedy shortly), but it is only a 2 for Effort. Josh will think I’m making him sound picky for saying this, but bananas are the only fruit he eats consistently (unless the fruit is in a baked good), so I buy lots of them and inevitably some spot up and need to be stashed in the freezer before we finish them. And to be fair, I’m picky about the ripeness of the bananas (I like a hint of green) and stop eating them about halfway through their ripeness cycle.

Many thanks to Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities for choosing a recipe that reduced the frozen banana stash. You can find the recipe here on Kimberly’s site and visit the TWD site for lots of banana cakes.

SMS: Chocolate Brownies

2010-07-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is Chocolate Walnut Brownies. Funny, I didn’t even think about the fact that we were making brownies for both SMS and TWD until I started making these yesterday. There have been a few other times when the two groups’ selections collided and making both seemed a bit problematic, but with something as simple and guaranteed to be eaten such as brownies, I didn’t consider skipping either recipe. The proportions of ingredients in this recipe seemed a little different than other brownies recipes (low on chocolate and high on both flour and butter). I was tempted to reduce both the flour and the butter, but decided I’d try the recipe pretty much as written. I did add two ounces of 71% chocolate in addition to the four ounces of unsweetened in order to ensure a chocolaty brownie. I’m not a crazy chocoholic who adds extra to everything; four ounces just didn’t seem like quite enough. I mean, when you bite into a brownie, you want to taste the richness from the chocolate, not the butter. The walnuts were listed as an optional ingredient and I opted not to use them (as Josh put it when he tried them, “why would you interrupt the deliciousness of chocolate with nuts?”).

The recipe said to bake the brownies for 45-50 minutes, and in my experience, my oven usually bakes things a lot quicker than the times specified in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, so I started checking at 30 minutes and pulled them out of the oven at 35 minutes. I thought they turned out excellent: fudgy and rich, and I loved the sturdy structure and texture of the brownies. I passed some on to Josh’s parents and they liked them a lot, and we’ve been enjoying them here, too. I made David Lebovitz’s vanilla ice cream to pair with the brownies, because seriously, what is better than homemade brownies and ice cream? I guess in Josh’s case, brownies, ice cream, and a vanilla cupcake.

Josh gave this recipe a 9 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 2 for Effort, for a very good EDR of 4.5. I guess I know which of the two brownie recipes I tried this week may see a repeat performance in this kitchen. Many thanks to Tiffany of A Spoonful of Laughter and a Heap of Fun for a yummy selection. You can find the recipe here on Tiffany’s site and visit the SMS site to see what the other bakers thought of this treat.

Twosdays With Dorie: Brrrr-ownies and Tarte Noire

2010-07-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Brrrr-ownies: incredibly rich chocolate brownies with a refreshing mint flavor due to a healthy handful of peppermint patties. What a great dessert for warm weather (though I guess turning on the oven sort of cancels out the “coolness” of a mint treat and it’s really not very hot where I live right now). Every now and then, we are required to purchase fun ingredients like York Peppermint Patties for Tuesdays With Dorie baking and I will not lie: not all the peppermint patties made it into the brownies, I just couldn’t resist sampling one or two. This was a quick, easy brownie recipe and would be excellent with or without the candy tossed in. I was slightly horrified to see the candy filling had oozed to the top of the brownies, but apparently I was not alone with that problem. I didn’t get around to photographing the brownies until several days after I made them, so they look a little tired (Josh, not unkindly, told me they weren’t terribly attractive to begin with).

These were good brownies, but all things being equal, I think I’d rather consume my brownies and peppermint patties separately. This recipe rated a 7 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.8. Many thanks to Karen of Welcome to Our Crazy Blessed Life for a fun selection. You can find the recipe here on Karen’s site and visit the TWD site to see how these turned out for the rest of the bakers.

I am also rewinding all the way to last week’s selection, Tarte Noire. I was in Portland, Oregon running my first full marathon* over the Fourth of July weekend, so I fell a bit behind on my baking and blogging, but I couldn’t pass up this delectable tart when I returned. One of our favorite TWD recipes to date has been the Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart and this was essentially the same recipe, sans caramel and peanuts. That recipe rated a 10 and without the caramel and peanuts, this one rated an 8. The buttery shortbread crust and rich chocolate ganache are a winning combination by themselves. In small quantities, of course: it’s a very rich dessert. Many thanks to Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life for an excellent selection; the recipe can be found here.

*I’m happy to report that my marathon went very well and I am already planning on running a second one in December, which means I will resume training in about three weeks.

SMS: Sour Cherry Almond (Pistachio) Biscotti

2010-07-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is Sour Cherry Almond Biscotti. It has been well-documented on this blog that Josh consumes the majority of the treats I make, but I am actually the bigger cookie monster when it comes to biscotti - I love it. I’ve made a few different biscotti recipes and the one issue they all seem to have in common is that the dough is sticky to work with. This recipe called for chilling the dough for at least an hour before baking, which helped, but I still had to use a generous amount of flour when shaping the dough into logs before baking. I had a surplus of pistachios leftover from when the Sweet Melissa group made the Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints last month, so I subbed them for the almonds in the recipe (still used the almond extract, though), since pistachios tend to be more difficult to find uses for.

The cookies are nice and crunchy and I love the addition of dried cherries, so yummy. Josh tried one tonight and assured me that he will snack on them this week. (I just better not make any competing snacky treats for a few days. I’ve learned my lesson not to do that when it’s something he isn’t super-crazy about.) A nice lady from our HOA saw Josh and Eloise out for a walk and informed Josh that there is another family with a Weimaraner who recently moved into our neighborhood, so we are going to welcome them with some biscotti.

This recipe received an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66. Many thanks to Tracey of Made by Tray-Tray for a great selection. You can find the recipe here on Tracey’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see what the rest of the group thought of this selection.

TWD: Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake(s)

2010-06-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

I was happy when this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes, appeared on the June schedule because I’d actually had it before and knew how good it is. Quite a while ago we had a bake sale at my office and one of my co-workers made this cake. Most people avoided it because there was rum, but I bought two pieces and was tempted to buy more. Suffice to say, I was delighted for an excuse to have this delicious cake again. I was even greedily tempted to make the pair of cakes, but decided to be practical and halve the recipe since there are only two of us and I had already learned it doesn’t go over so well at work. I can always make more and next time I don’t think it’ll be nearly two years before I eat this cake again.

Given the amount in the cake, I actually thought the rum was fairly subtle, and Dorie offers a myriad of other ways to drench the cake if rum’s not your thing. And I’m sure the creative TWD bakers have come up with some stellar ideas of their own. The real stars of the cake are the sweet vanilla taste and the wonderfully soft texture. We gave this cake a 9 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. A big thank you to Wendy of Pink Stripes for an excellent selection. You can find the recipe here on Wendy’s site, along with many other enticing concoctions, and visit the TWD site to see how the rest of the bakers liked this cake.

I also made some ice cream to go along with the cake. A few weeks ago, Josh needed to spend a few more dollars on Amazon in order to qualify for free shipping, so I graciously offered to put a copy of The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto in his cart. (And luckily for me, for once he was not ordering an obscure comic or music book that holds up shipping and delays my cookbook gratification.) I figured I should make Josh an ice cream flavor I knew he’d love since he bought me a new book.

Chocolate S’mores Gelato from The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto
Printable Recipe

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped (I used semisweet)
4 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup (I used a half cup) chopped graham crackers, chilled
½ cup mini marshmallows, chilled

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the milk and cream. Place over a medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn’t form, until tiny bubbles start to form. Around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170 degrees. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. Add the chopped chocolate and stir or whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.

Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Temper the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture while whisking continuously. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185 degrees. Do not bring to a boil. (The recipe specifies to cook over low heat, but I felt the custard was taking a very long time to come to temperature that way, so I turned up the heat a bit.)

Pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and cool completely, stirring often. To cool the custard quickly, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water and placing the bowl with the custard in it; stir until cooled. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least four hours or overnight.

Remove the custard from the refrigerator and gently stir in the chopped graham crackers. Pour the mixture into the container of an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add the mini marshmallows five minutes before the churning is completed. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least two hours before serving.

SMS: Ginger Snaps!

2010-06-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

This week’s Sweet Melissa treat is Ginger Snaps. Although I have a couple of ginger snap recipes I like (which you can find posted here and here), I was happy to try a new one. I hadn’t made any in a while and, in my opinion, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with ginger snaps. I made just a few minor modifications to the recipe: I halved the recipe but used the full amount of spices, omitted the white pepper, rolled the cookies in coarse sugar before baking, and cut the baking time by several minutes in order to ensure a chewy cookie. Josh is a pretty equal-opportunity cookie eater, but he definitely has a preference for ones that are both sugar-coated and chewy, and I aim to please. White pepper does not seem to come up in ingredient lists, and when it does it is usually a minuscule amount, often enough for me to think I need to purchase a jar of it.

So how did these cookies stack up to the other snap recipes? Josh ate two straight out of the oven and said they were some of the best ginger snaps I’ve made. He shared some with his mom at a baseball game today and they got a big thumbs up from her as well. I think my vote may be for Alice Medrich’s recipe, which I really thought was the perfect ginger snap. That recipe calls for grated fresh ginger and crystallized ginger, though, and this recipe has no fussy ingredients (except for the pepper, which I decided wasn’t necessary), so if you want a good ginger snap cookie made from pantry staples, this one wins.

This recipe rated a 9 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4.5. Many thanks to Gloria of The Ginger Snap Girl for selecting this treat. Stop by Gloria’s blog for an excellent ginger snap recipe and also because it’s a great blog; I always enjoy reading her posts and seeing her take on the Sweet Melissa recipes. And click on the bakers’ links on the Sweet Melissa site to see what the rest of the group thought of this treat.

TWD: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

2010-06-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake. Looking at my photos, I’m realizing I should have dressed it up a bit more, maybe some fresh raspberries? It looks pretty plain (and a little messy). And a little bit short, because when I was cutting the layers, the middle layer crumbled. The cake was completely cool when I cut it, I just wasn’t super-careful. I briefly contemplated how I could piece the center layer together, but quickly realized that would make an even bigger mess. I decided a short chocolate cake was perfectly acceptable, since I was also serving a Key Lime Tart and people would probably want a little of each dessert (and sure enough, they did).

Sorry, I couldn’t resist posting a photo of the tart, as it was the more photogenic of the two desserts I made this weekend. But seriously, the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake is a darn good cake! I loved the fudgy texture and the raspberry filling cut the chocolatiness of it splendidly. Aside from my little mistake slicing the layers, the cake was simple and quick to make, and it’s always nice to have recipes like that in your repertoire.

This cake rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66. Thank you to Amy Ruth of Amy Ruth Bakes for choosing this lovely cake. You can find the recipe here on Amy Ruth’s site; her conversational writing style and pretty photos are also worth stopping by for. And visit the TWD site to see what the rest of the group thought of this chocolate treat.

SMS: Chestnut Honey Madeleines

2010-06-20T17:58:00.001-07:00

Shortly after Josh and I moved in together, we went on a shopping spree to fill in the gaps for our shared kitchen. Although I did cook (not as much as I do now), I had always lived with roommates and had limited kitchen equipment of my own. And Josh didn’t cook at all, unless you count heating up bags of frozen pasta, so his kitchen was pretty sparse. He didn’t even have a cutting board until I came along – you should see him now though, he has excellent knife skills. Anyway, when we went shopping, one of the items I deemed *essential* was a Madeleine pan. Actually two: both mini and standard. Did I really think I was going to be making the tender little cakes all the time? This was a couple years ago and I can probably count on one hand how many times the pans have been used, so I was happy to see this week’s Sweet Melissa selection was Chestnut Honey Madeleines and I would have an opportunity to use the pans.

I was worried that the recipe would involve chestnuts, which would be impossible to find this time of year, but it actually called for chestnut honey. I just used clover honey, which seemed to work fine. The recipe did call for roasted hazelnuts. I was very happy that last time I needed hazelnuts, I roasted and peeled the skins (tedious!) off extra nuts, which saved a lot of time when I wanted to make these cookies. I made a half recipe, which yielded a dozen minis and 6 standard size Madeleines. The recipe says to place the oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven, but it did not specify to rotate in the middle of baking, which I should have known better to do, because the Madeleines on the lower level were quite a bit darker. Luckily they still tasted fine, just not as pretty.

Hazelnuts are so often paired with chocolate (also delicious) that I’m glad they had a chance to be the star of this recipe and I really enjoyed the flavor in these little cakes. The recipe was heavy in sugar and low in honey, so I’m curious how they’d be if the recipe could be tweaked to add a more prominent honey flavor. We rated this recipe a 7.5 (approaching on 8) for Deliciousness and I gave them a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR 3. Thank you to Debbie of Café Chibita for selecting this yummy treat and giving me an opportunity to use my Madeleine pans. The recipe will be posted on Debbie’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see what the other bakers thought of this selection.

I’d also like to wish a happy Father’s Day to my dad (and all other dads out there). Eloise says happy Father’s Day to Josh. Seriously, she loves me (anyone holding bread or willing to pet her, actually), but she’s really a daddy’s girl!

TWD: Raisin Swirl Bread

2010-06-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Just last Tuesday I mentioned that I hadn’t made Josh too many breakfast treats recently, so I was delighted that this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Raisin Swirl Bread, would provide breakfasts for him this week. There aren’t a lot of yeast bread recipes in Baking and I’m always happy when they’re selected, since it is so satisfying to bake yeasted treats. The dough came together quickly and rose beautifully – seriously, it seemed enormous! This bread was meant to be baked in a 10x5 inch pan. I had baked an amazingly good cinnamon raisin bread from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice a while ago, which was divided in two portions and baked in smaller pans (8x4?). I noticed the proportions of ingredients were similar, so I divided the dough in two parts to make two loaves. I baked one yesterday and I’m hoping the dough will last in the refrigerator another day or two and then I will make a second loaf. I used the ingredients (cinnamon, raisins – not quite as many as the recipe called for, sugar, cocoa) in the recipe for the first loaf and I’m thinking of adding chocolate chips and hazelnuts to the swirl for the next one. I’m pretty sure I’ll see some inspiring ideas from other bakers, though.

I was pleased with how the bread turned out. It was slightly misshapen and the swirl could have been a bit more dramatic, but those are minor complaints. I haven’t sampled it yet, but Josh enjoyed it for breakfast this morning. I suspect it will be extra-good toasted and sprinkled with some more cinnamon and sugar. Josh rated the bread an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.28. Many thanks to Susan of Food.Baby for a great selection. You can find the recipe here on Susan’s site and visit the TWD site for more swirly goodness.

Super SMS: Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints and Chocolate Orange Macaroons

2010-06-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

It’s cookie month for Sweet Melissa Sundays (every single recipe selected this month was a cookie recipe – fun) and I have a double post today. First up are Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints, which were last week’s selection. I made them on time, but didn’t get around to posting them last Sunday. I blame the season premiere of “The Next Food Network Star” being two hours long, if it had been its normal length, I would have been able to watch it, post, and get to bed at a decent hour. (Actually, we had a busy weekend in general, including a half-marathon in oppressive humidity and attending the first birthday party of a cute relative, so by Sunday night, flopping on the couch and watching reality television was an appealing activity.) Anyway, it had been reported on the Problems & Questions section that the dough was difficult to work with when cold. I made mine on Saturday and then let it sit out for about half an hour when I made the cookies on Sunday, before shaping the cookies and found it easy to work with.

Though they ended up being a bit more work than a simple mix and scoop cookie (somehow I created quite a mess between rolling them in the pistachio crumbles and filling a pastry bag with jam), I thought they were fun to make and enjoyed the flavor combination. I also thought their rustic-look was quite charming. I was worried Josh wouldn’t like them, since he had told me he’s not big on pistachios, so I was pleasantly surprised when the half-batch I made disappeared in just a few days. He said he was happy he could surprise me with his gluttony. These cookies rated a 7 for Deliciousness and a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2. Tracey kindly helped out a fellow baker and hosted last week; you can find the recipe here on her site.

Moving on to this week’s cookie: Chocolate Orange Macaroons. I made these last Sunday evening, another thing I did when I should have been posting, with intentions to bring them to my book club on Monday. Unfortunately, the macaroons did not turn out so well. As Melissa promised, it was a very simple recipe to put together – one bowl, no mixer! – but I ended up over-baking mine a bit. My oven is kind of temperamental and I need to be careful about monitoring the actual temperature and baking times. I checked these on the low end and the bottoms had totally crisped up. The flavor combination was great and cookies were edible, but I didn’t want to bring them to my friends and be like, “here, have some kind of burned cookies.”

I’m not sure how to rate these, because mine really didn’t turn out so well and just really aren’t worth the calories to me. I guess they ended up rating about a 5 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.5. Many thanks to Ellen of Blue Tree, Green Heart for hosting this week. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the SMS site to see how the other bakers fared (hopefully better).

TWD: Tender Shortcakes

2010-06-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Tender Shortcakes. What an ideal selection for this time of year. I’ve been eating strawberries pretty much every day for the past month and a half, but last week ALL the good summer produce started appearing at the farmer’s market. Also, we’ve had a rather cool spring and it finally got warm last weekend, so I appreciated that the shortcakes only required fifteen minutes of baking time and a minimum of prep time. I love when recipes end up taking much less time than I think they will. Last time Tuesdays With Dorie made biscuits, I learned I underestimated how much the dough should be mixed, and was much happier with the results of the shortcakes. I feel bad that I haven’t made Josh too many breakfast treats recently, so I told him they were scones and that he could have them for breakfast. Of course we had to try one (I only made four) the traditional way with berries and whipped cream and it was amazing. I don’t make whipped cream very often since Josh prefers his desserts be drowned in ice cream and I’d forgotten how delicious it is. I’ll definitely need to find an excuse to make these again before the end of the summer.

I gave the shortcakes an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.2. Many thanks to Cathy of The Tortefeasor for a splendid seasonal choice. You can find the recipe here on Cathy’s site and visit the TWD site for more shortcake.

TWD: White Chocolate Brownies

2010-06-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is the much-anticipated White Chocolate Brownies. (I say that they’re much-anticipated because for months there has been a campaign to have them selected.) When I told Josh what the selection was, he said, “wouldn’t they be blondies?” Hmm, good question. I’d never seen a white chocolate brownie, either. Then he tried them and said they tasted more like cupcakes than brownies.

There was much chatter on the Problems and Questions section this week about it being impossible to tell when the brownies were done underneath the layer of meringue, and also that they were difficult to get out of the pan. The latter problem was solved with a parchment paper sling and I lucked out with the baking time. I left them in about ten minutes longer than the recipe called for (even though I only made a half recipe) and they turned out well. The one problem I had was the meringue distribution. I plopped some on the brownies, then had trouble spreading it without mangling the entire concoction, so I whipped up more meringue in order to evenly coat the entire pan. Since I make a lot of ice cream, I almost always have extra egg whites on hand and I was happy to use up some more of my surplus.

So did we like them? Eh, they're good but I can definitely resist them and Josh even warned me they might not get finished, which NEVER happens with regular brownies in this house. I liked the addition of citrus (in the form of orange zest) with the sweet white chocolate, but didn’t think the meringue was a particularly special addition and I missed the chewy texture of a traditional brownie. We rated the brownies a 6.5 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 1.85. Many thanks to Marthe of Culinary Delights for ending the White Chocolate Brownie anticipation. You can find the recipe here on Marthe’s lovely blog and visit the TWD site to see what the other bakers thought of this recipe.

SMS Rewind: Orange Blueberry Muffins with Pecan Crumble

2010-05-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope everyone is enjoying the three-day weekend as much as we are around here. The holiday-free stretch between the middle of February and the end of May is just way too long for me. This week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday selection is Coconut Custard Pie, selected by Ruby of I Dream of Baking; the recipe can be found here on her site and you can stop by the Sweet Melissa blogroll for more pie. I apologize for not baking along with the group this week, but Tuesdays With Dorie also involved coconut and there’s only so much I can handle. Instead, I’m rewinding back to the Orange Blueberry Muffins with Pecan Crumble, chosen by Chaya of Sweet & Savory three weeks ago; the recipe can be found here. I actually baked, photographed, and consumed these muffins the week they were “assigned,” but then didn’t get around to posting them and if I don’t do it now I probably never will!

The group has made several of the muffin variations in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, and it has been well-documented amongst the group that although the flavor combinations are superb, the actual muffin base leaves a little to be desired. The words dense and dry have been thrown around a lot, which certainly aren’t the most inspiring adjectives for a muffin recipe. With just a few minor adjustments (namely more liquid), the muffins’ texture is fluffier and moister. I have mentioned many times that I often substitute nonfat (European style) yogurt for some of the butter in muffins and quick bread. I subbed a couple tablespoons in this half batch, and then added a couple more, plus some extra milk. I typically substitute small amounts of yogurt for butter when I feel that it will decrease the fat a bit, without sacrificing flavor or texture. However, I actually recently learned from Cook’s Illustrated magazine that yogurt assists in yielding attractive muffin tops.

We thought the blueberry orange combination was delicious, and what’s not to like about a crumble topping? I don’t know if this recipe will ever reach the top of my make-again pile, but they were a delightful spring breakfast treat. We rated the muffins a 7.5 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.5.

TWD: Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie

2010-05-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection is Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie. Mine is better described as a Pineapple Coconut Sorbet Tart. I enjoy all the ingredients involved and I intended to make the recipe as specified, which involved blending ice cream, bananas, and rum for the filling, but for some reason I just wasn’t sold on the combination. I bought some coconut sorbet on sale at Whole Foods last week and decided to just scoop it on top of the crust with some pineapple. Hmm, I guess it wasn’t even much of a tart, more like a cookie topped with sorbet and fruit. Regardless, it ended up being a terrific combination. The coconut-shortbread crust is a brilliant creation.

I’ve given up trying to convince Josh to like coconut desserts, so I just made a mini for myself and didn’t even make him taste it. He is enjoying the leftover shortbread cookies, though. I gave this little tart an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort (since I only made one part), for an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Spike of Spike Bakes for an excellent selection. You can find the actual recipe here on Spike’s delightful blog and visit the TWD site to see the rest of the bakers’ creations.

SMS: Butterscotch Pralines

2010-05-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

I’m happy to be back to Sweet Melissa Sundays with Butterscotch Pralines. Usually when a recipe involves cooking sugar, my post involves me going on about how nervous it makes me and how I always burn or undercook it. I am happy to say that I actually had no problems this time – hooray! I don’t know if was my new candy thermometer (after going through several, hopefully this one will work out) or my fearless attitude, but something worked. I do have a few tips for this recipe: 1) They say a watched pot never boils, but definitely keep your eye on the boiled sugar – I used a medium-size pot as suggested, and it nearly boiled over (what a sticky mess that would have been). 2) Make sure you soak the bowl with the candy mixture immediately after making the pralines. Do not eat dinner and watch “Top Chef,” then think you can just clean it up - no fun. 3) Definitely crumble some of the pralines over Melissa’s Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream, which she recommends. That ice cream is undoubtedly the recipe I have made most from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. So good.

Now for the rating. Often times I ask Josh for a Deliciousness rating right after I make something and he tries the treat. I have decided that’s not always the best method, as a fresh baked good (or piece of candy in this case) is always appealing. Sometimes he’ll give a high rating, but then treats won’t get eaten quickly and I’ll have to remind him they’re there. I made these on Wednesday night and asked for a review today: they received a 7.5, and they are steadily (not rapidly) disappearing, so it seems pretty accurate. I thought the pralines were tasty, but on the cloyingly sweet side. I think they would be spectacular layered on top of a buttery shortbread cookie, for a nice contrast of flavor and texture. I gave them a 3 for Effort, for an EDR 2.5.

Our hostess this week, Tessa of The Cookin’ Chemist, said she selected the recipe since they were quick and would be great on ice cream, which I think are awesome reasons to choose a recipe. I also think it’s awesome that the scientist chose a candy recipe. You can find the recipe here on Tessa’s site and visit the SMS blogroll to see how these worked out for the rest of the group.

TWD: Apple-Apple Bread Pudding

2010-05-18T00:43:00.000-07:00

After taking a somewhat unintentional week off from Tuesdays With Dorie last week (and two weeks of Sweet Melissa Sundays), I am back with this week’s selection, Apple-Apple Bread Pudding – and hopefully back-on-track. Bread pudding is one of those desserts I really enjoy, but I find about once every six months is about the appropriate frequency to eat it. The other times I’ve made bread pudding, I’ve baked small portions in ramekins. I had a feeling Josh would have no trouble eating copious amounts of apple bread pudding (with a little help from me, of course), so I made a half recipe in a 10x7 pan. I made the full amount of apples, though, for extra apple-y goodness; I used about three quarters of them in the pudding and saved the rest to eat with my oatmeal.

After a busy week last week, I was grateful to have more free time this weekend and I made brioche! I used the “Middle Class” brioche recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, which used a moderate amount of butter (two sticks) and yielded lovely light buttery bread. A definite winner and perfect in the bread pudding.

As predicted, this bread pudding was a huge hit. Josh had a hectic day today and didn’t have time for lunch, so I offered to make a heartier dinner than I had planned. He rebuffed my offer and said he would just have an extra-large dessert instead (as opposed to all other nights :). We rated the bread pudding a 9 for Deliciousness and a 3 (this does not count baking the bread) for Effort, for an EDR of 3. Many thanks to Elizabeth of Cake or Death (cake, please) for a yummy selection. You can find the recipe on Elizabeth's site and visit the TWD site to see what the rest of the group thought.

This photo? Not the extra-large dessert. Just a moderate portion of bread pudding, brownies, and ice cream.