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.
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!
This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars. And they don’t just have oatmeal and chocolate: they also have peanuts and raisins, giving them extra candy bar gooeyness. For some reason I had it in my mind they contained coconut, which would have been a delicious addition, but Josh doesn’t like it and I was counting on him to consume the lion’s share of these bars (I could tell from the name and number of ingredients they were more his type of snack than mine). 
On the Problems & Questions section of the TWD site, people seemed divided about liking raisins in these bars. Since I’m incredibly indecisive (and don’t always like raisins), I used half raisins and half dried sour cherries. I don’t think the type of dried fruit was as important as the bit of contrast and chewiness they lent to the middle chocolate layer, which was also supposed to have peanuts. I chopped up peanuts and then forgot to add them into the chocolate/fruit mixture, so mine were sprinkled on top. I made a half batch, which mostly fit in a 10x7 baking dish, plus one little ramekin. Dorie recommends testing the bars to see if you like them warm, so the ramekin was perfect for that. They’re good both ways! Oh, I thought the bars were a bit difficult to coax out of the pan, so next time I would make a parchment sling for easy lifting – they’re sturdy, so I’m sure it would work well.
I preferred the oatmeal layers and must admit to eating around the chocolate. Josh told me he’d eaten one like that today, too. We thought these treats deserved an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66 . Many thanks to Lillian of Confectiona’s Realm for a yummy selection; Lillian’s husband and sons are great food critics and it’s fun to read their reactions to the TWD treats. You can find the recipe here and visit the TWD blogroll to see what the other bakers thought of the bars.
The Tuesdays With Dorie bakers lucked out with two cookie recipes in a row this month. Don’t get me wrong, I do have a lot of fun making (and eating) the fancy desserts, but can never say no to cookies. This week’s concoction is Café Volcano Cookies, which consist of merely five ingredients and are a member of the meringue family. Mine, however, did not puff much at all – oops. I had used the last of my espresso powder making cheesecake the previous week and failed to replenish my supply, so I was happy to see on the Problems & Questions section that cocoa powder was a good substitution (I have pounds of that, thanks to a couple of over-enthusiastic internet purchases). So that is why my cookies look very dark, though admittedly they were also a little bit overdone.
I asked Josh what he thought of them and this was his reply, “they’ll get eaten, but I won’t request them again. The dough to stuff ratio is too low for me.” He hadn’t seen me bake them, so he didn’t realize there was neither flour nor butter in them. I also caught him feeding a piece to Eloise before he remembered they have chocolate, so I guess that’s what he meant by “they’ll get eaten.” I will admit they’ve grown on me a bit, and I definitely like the idea of a dairy and gluten-free cookie. If I ever make them again, I would not toast the walnuts, as I found the flavor overpowered the yummy almonds and chocolate. And though not a huge hit, I would consider making a variation of this recipe again.
This recipe rated a 7 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving them an EDR of 3.5. Many thanks to MacDuff of The Lonely Sidecar for an easy yet interesting choice. You can find the recipe here on MacDuff’s site and visit the TWD blogroll to see what the other bakers thought of these cookies.
Did anyone watch season two of “Project Runway Canada?” I live in the United States, but my super-awesome boyfriend found episodes of the Canadian version of my second-favorite reality show online and downloaded them. One of the aspiring designers was named Adejoké, but we always misunderstood host Iman’s Somalian accent pronunciation and thought she saying “the other Jacque.” We also wondered who the first Jacque was. Anyway, this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, Cottage Cheese Pufflets, was selected by Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes and she is the only Jacque I know of in the TWD baking group. You can find the recipe HERE on Jacque’s delightful blog.
I had a difficult time mustering up too much enthusiasm for the pufflets, but I had in the back of my mind that they may be one of those sleeper hits. I have been skeptical of recipes in Baking before and rarely have they let me down. I am sorry to report that this one did. It may have been because I overbaked them just a touch, but I tried just the tops and the jam center alone, and just thought they were kind of bland and doughy tasting. I think this is one of the only baked goods no member of my household was would eat. Even if I’m not completely thrilled with the outcome, Mr. Penpen will usually consume an adequate amount before calling it a loss. Eloise was left alone in a room with them a reachable level for a minute, which is about thirty seconds longer than it usually takes her to steal baked goods, and she did not devour them. The good news, though, is I apparently did not have the monumental problems with the dough that many other bakers did, according to the Problems and Questions portion of the TWD site. I attribute my success to draining the cottage cheese before making the dough and chilling it about every five minutes during the rolling/cutting process. I had never baked with cottage cheese, but I have made ricotta gnocchi before (yum) and a crucial step is draining the cheese, so I figured it would help with this dough. This recipe gets a 4.5 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 1.5. Please visit the TWD blogroll to see how the other bakers fared with the recipe and hopefully see some better reviews and nicer looking cookies.
The other good news is that the same afternoon I baked the pufflets, I made Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice (after seeing many rave reviews on other blogs), and I think it’s one of the best things to ever come out of my oven. You can find the recipe HERE on Google Books preview.
This week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday treat was Snickerdoodles. I recall snickerdoodles being in the cookie jar rotation when I was growing up, but I don’t think I’d ever actually made them myself until this weekend. (Definitely an oversight on my part, given how much we like cinnamon treats around here.) Luckily, I now have a good recipe for them! Much like the other treats in the “After School Snack” section of the Sweet Melissa Baking Book, these were easy to make and quite yummy. The cookies are buttery and tender, with a nice crunch from the cinnamon/sugar mixture they’re rolled in (I also snuck a little cinnamon in the dough to guarantee extra cinnamon goodness). I made a half recipe, which yielded twenty-eight cookies with my two-teaspoon cookie scoop. The small cookie scoop is one of my very favorite kitchen gadgets; I actually had to purchase a new one this weekend, as my first scoop died. I don’t think it was a bad product; I just use it so much!
This recipe rates a 7.7 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 3.85. Many thanks to Spike of Spike Bakes for selecting this terrific cookie. You can find the recipe HERE on Spike’s great site and see what the rest of the bakers thought via the SMS blogroll. And if you like cinnamon, I highly recommend the Cinnamon Roll Muffin pictured below. I found the recipe HERE on Joy the Baker, and like everything I’ve tried from that site, it’s fabulous. I like the idea of making cinnamon rolls on weekend mornings, but I am never organized enough to actually plan ahead to make real ones (seriously, we’d have cinnamon rolls around 1:30 PM at best if I tried). Previously I had been making some non-yeast cinnamon rolls from The New Best Recipes, which are also tasty, but these muffins have instant rise yeast, so you get the more authentic cinnamon roll flavor, and you don’t have to even roll!
This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays treat was Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream. Haagen Daz started selling a brown sugar ice cream earlier this year and we both really like it. I actually haven’t bought any in a while, though, since I’ve been making so much ice cream, so I was happy this recipe was chosen. Aside from the brown sugar, the other ingredient that sets this recipe apart from a standard vanilla ice cream is dry skim milk powder. I was a little skeptical about the milk powder (I have a vague memory of drinking milk made from it and not liking it), but Melissa’s recipes have yet to let me down, so I bought a box of it. (And coincidentally I’ve already found another recipe that utilizes it!)
Typically when I add ingredients to vanilla ice cream to create more interesting flavors it involves candy or cookies, making it a big, gooey concoction. Those ice creams are delicious, of course, but I love that the simple additions of the milk powder, brown sugar, and two kinds of vanilla (extract and beans) give this ice cream a much more intense flavor than your average vanilla ice cream. We loved this ice cream and I can’t wait to make it again. This recipe gets an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 2.83. Many thanks to Karen of Karen’s Cookies, Cakes, and More for choosing this wonderful ice cream. You can find the recipe on Karen’s site and see what the rest of the group thought via the SMS blogroll.
I think this ice cream would be good with just about anything, but we were in need of portable treats, so I made some blondies. I found this recipe in the June issue of Bon Appetit and it’s a winner too! It calls for all brown sugar, which makes the blondies are nice and chewy, yet still cakey. The recipe is called Chocolate Chip and Peanut Blondies, but I didn’t have any peanuts and I liked the almond chocolate chip combination from a few Sweet Melissa Sundays ago, so I used roasted almonds. This recipe gets a 9 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 4.5.
Chocolate Chip and Peanut (or Almond) Blondies, from Bon Appetit1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 1/4 cups (packed) golden brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts (or other nuts), divided 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (about 3 ounces), divided Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda in small bowl to blend. Melt 1/2 cup butter in heavy large saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and pour butter into a medium bowl; add sugar and whisk until smooth. Cool mixture 2 minutes; whisk in eggs and vanilla. Using flexible spatula, stir in flour mixture, then half of nuts and half of chocolate chips. Spread batter in prepared pan; sprinkle with remaining peanuts and chocolate chips. Bake blondies until golden, tester inserted into center comes out clean, and edges just begin to pull away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes; cool completely in pan on rack. Invert blondies onto a plate and then onto a cutting board. Cut blondies into 16 squares; serve. Store in airtight container for up to two days.
I am happy to report that consuming an entire pound of frozen chicken has no noticeable ill effect on a sixty-five pound Weimaraner. Thanks for all the nice comments about her – she loves attention and is very flattered. Seriously, Eloise suffered no physical consequences from her mass ingestion, which is a good thing, because I don’t think she would have learned her lesson. In fact, Mr. Penpen just caught her licking a cutting board. And now for what I originally wanted to write about on Wednesday night: raspberry bars! Although I like to think people enjoy most of the treats I bake, these bars are the one dessert everyone always loves. (And World Peace Cookies, people can’t seem to get enough of those either.)
It’s not hard to understand why these raspberry bars are such a hit: they have a buttery shortbread crust as their base, a sweet, but not saccharine, filling made with jam and fresh raspberries, and a divine streusel topping. You really can’t ask for much more in a bar cookie. 
I found this recipe in a back issue of Cook’s Illustrated a couple years ago. The magazine wasn’t mine (this was back when I had housemates other than my boyfriend and my dog), and the next time I went to make the recipe I couldn’t find it. Luckily, I managed to find it on the internet, and now subscribe to both Cook’s Illustrated magazine and their website, so I can get my hands on wonderful recipes such as this one. I know that ingredient lists for recipes can’t be copyrighted; however, I’ve read that Cook’s Illustrated is a little fussy about their content being reproduced, which makes me apprehensive about putting one of their recipes on my site. I also know that this recipe is too good not to share, and a quick Google search verified that I’m not the first person to think so.The Best Raspberry Bars , adapted from
Cook’s Illustrated September 2005 issue2 ½ cups all-purpose flour2/3 cup granulated sugar½ teaspoon salt2 sticks, plus 2 tablespoons room temperature butter, cut into ½-inch pieces¼ cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)½ cup rolled oats½ cup pecans, finely chopped (I’ve also used almonds)¾ cup raspberry preserves¾ fresh raspberries (I usually up it to one cup)1 tablespoon lemon juicePreheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut two pieces of foil to make a sling (in order to lift out the bars later) in a 9x13 inch baking pan. Spray lined pan with cooking spray.Mix flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed until combined. Keep machine running on low speed, and add the two sticks of butter, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture resembles damp sand (and it really will!). Set aside 1 1/4 cups of the mixture in a medium bowl. Pour the remaining dough into the baking pan and press evenly to form a crust, using either your hands or a flat-bottomed measuring cup. Bake in preheated oven until the edges are brown. (The recipe says 14 to 18 minutes, but I err on the latter, possibly even 20 minutes.)Meanwhile, prepare the filling and topping. Add the brown sugar, oats, and nuts to the flour mixture set aside in medium bowl and stir to combine. Add in the last 2 tablespoons of butter until fully incorporated into the mixture. Work with your hands to create clumps about the size of hazelnuts. (Mine are usually a little smaller.)Place the preserves, raspberries and lemon juice in a small bowl. Mash together with a fork, making sure some berry pieces remain intact.When the crust is done baking, spread the berry filling over it right away, and then sprinkle the streusel on top of that. Put pan back in the oven and bake for another 22 to 25 minutes, or until top is gold and bubbly. Cool in pan to room temperature, then lift bars out with the foil sling and cut in squares.Yields 24 bars, which can be stored in an airtight container for several days – if they last that long!
This week Tuesdays With Dorie finished off a great month of baking with Caramel Crunch Bars. I was excited that this recipe contained one of my old favorite baking treats, toffee bits, which I had somehow forgotten about. I used to cut up Heath or Skor bars and put them in a basic chocolate chip cookie dough recipe instead of chocolate chips. The cookies were always a big hit; I don’t know why I stopped making them. This recipe was a great reminder.
The recipe called for the bars to be baked in a 9x13” pan, but when I read the Problems & Questions on the TWD site, other bakers said they would recommend a smaller pan, so I used an 8x8” and a 4” springform pan. I think a 9x9” pan probably would have been ideal, but the person I share a kitchen with thinks I already own plenty of baking pans, so I’m trying to make do with what I have. I didn’t put as much chocolate in the dough as the recipe called for, since there was so much chocolate on the top layer and the Heath bits had chocolate as well. The book suggests making ice cream sandwiches with these bars, so I made Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream to accompany the bars – they never quite made it into sandwich form.
I asked Mr. Penpen what he thought this recipe should rate for Deliciousness, and he gave it a 9. I had been thinking more like a 7 (a little too sweet for me), so its official D score will be 8. I gave this surprisingly easy recipe a 3 for Effort - for some reason I thought more layers would equal more work, giving it an EDR of 2.33. If I took the ice cream into account, the E score would definitely be higher. 
Many thanks to Whitney of What’s Left on the Table for selecting these yummy bars. You can find the recipe for the bars on Whitney’s site, and if you can find the recipe for the ice cream on David Lebovitz’s site.
