Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Berry-Buttermilk Pie Bars
June 20, 2017 at 7:50 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 13 CommentsTags: baking, biscotti, cookies
Well, I almost didn’t make these Berry-Buttermilk Pie Bars, but then I felt a little guilty this morning and since I was up early anyway, I decided to throw them together. However, things did not go exactly to plan, or rather, to recipe. I made the crust and baked it off…felt tight on time because I had a morning gym appointment (which takes priority over all else in my life…seriously) to go to, so I didn’t let it cool before pouring on the buttermilk custard filling. This didn’t seem to affect the bars at all, and I think it may have helped to quickly set the custard, which was a very loose mix, on the edges. The recipe called specifically for fresh blueberries, which I didn’t have. I did have frozen, so I used those. But then I didn’t have enough, so I also sprinkled in some frozen raspberries. I put the pan back into the oven and then at the half-way point realized I really needed to head for the gym. I decided to just turn the oven off and leave them in there until I got home. That’s what you would do, right? Maybe not. I had no idea what I would find when I returned an hour and a half later. Guess what? They were perfect-haha! I love it when I half-a$$ something and it works out– usually this is not the case! I’ve never had buttermilk pie before and I like these a lot. The crust has a nice crunchy sandiness from a bit of cornmeal, and the tangy buttermilk custard filling goes really well with the berries.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Les Whoopies
June 13, 2017 at 3:09 pm | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cake, whoopiepies
It doesn’t matter if they’re called Les Whoopies or whoopie pies, I’m a big fan. I used to work in a bakery where we made heaps of them (the chocolate and the pumpkin ones were my favorites), so I know my whoops. These are great– moist and chocolatey, like little devil’s food sandwiches, with peanut butter filling. I always like how good whoopee pie cakes are a little sticky on my fingers. Is that weird? I made these a few months ago actually, but now that I’m looking at the picture I took, I should go make them again!
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Dorie’s Newest Chocolate Chip Cookies
June 6, 2017 at 5:18 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
I’m very happy to make and sample all styles of chocolate chip cookies. Crispy, chewy, thin or chunky, they are all worth eating to me. And if Dorie has a “Newest” Chocolate Chip Cookie, then of course I want to know what it’s got going’ on. These have a little whole wheat flour in the mix, as well as nutmeg and coriander. I often think of coriander working in tandem with cumin in savory recipes…cookies are not the first thing that come to mind…but on it’s own, it’s a spice that’s gentle and fragrant and a little citrusy. The nutmeg and coriander don’t come across as strong in the baked cookies. They’re just a little something different in the background. These cookies manage to be thin and chewy at the same time, with a little crispiness on the outer edge. Best of all worlds, perhaps?
Chilling your cookie dough is good for flavor development and baking up into a nice round shape. Dorie says to chill the dough and then portion it, but I prefer to scoop the dough after it’s made and then chill the dough balls, even if it’s a little sticky. I’ve broken many a cookie scoop spring on cold, hard dough. I think an overnight chill is best, but you can just give it an hour if you need cookies ASAP! Cookie emergencies do happen.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
TWD BCM Rewind: Tarte Tropézienne
May 30, 2017 at 4:52 pm | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, puddings, custards, mousses, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, bread, cake
A year ago, the group made Dorie’s Tarte Tropézienne, a pastry cream-filled, sugar-sprinkled brioche cake. I did not. That’s why rewind week comes in handy. I’d never had a Trop before…now I know what I’ve been missing. I really like pastry cream. And brioche.
Trops come in various sizes. I chose to make individual ones rather than slice up a large one. Mine came out looking a little more like burger buns than like the flatter cakes they should be…I clearly didn’t press the dough out enough. No matter, they were still delicious. I served them with chopped strawberries alongside, but next time I may put the berries inside instead.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Pistachio and Summer Fruit Gratins
May 23, 2017 at 4:32 pm | Posted in BCM, cobbler, crisps, shortcakes, general pastry, groups, jams & preserves, other sweet, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 1 CommentTags: baking, fruit
What to say about these Pistachio and Summer Fruit Gratins? Well for one thing, they are pretty tasty. A layer of fruit and berries topped with pistachio frangipane could almost not be a winning dessert. I will fess up that I fudged the frangipane and used the “regular” almond kind, which I have a stash of in the freezer. I sprinkled a bunch of pistachios on top to fool everyone, though! Haha– I have a few tricks up my sleeve now and then. The fruit in this can be pretty much whatever’s in season…I went with a rhubarb/raspberry combo. The ‘barb and ‘berries bubbled up in the oven and turned into a jammy layer that was the most gorgeous shade of hot pink. Hot pink and pistachio green might be my favorite color combo, but I can see myself making this one over and over again this summer as different fruits roll though the farmers’ market.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies
May 16, 2017 at 8:05 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory
These Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies are part of Dorie’s special “cocktail cookies” collection…little savory bites to pair with drinks. I went with white wine, but Dorie says they are great with Prosecco. Maybe I’ll give that a try with the rest of the dough still in the freezer. These are roll-out cookies, and I definitely rolled mine a little thinner than I should have, but you can see that they have flaky-biscuit like layers. They aren’t super-crisp cookies, but that means you can hold a glass of wine in one hand and a cookie in the other and not have them crumble all over your shirt while you snack and mingle (and maybe dance around the backyard like a dork!).
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. It is also Dorie’s #cookiesandkindness selection for the month of May, so you can find the recipe on her site, too. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Plain and Simple Almond Cake
May 9, 2017 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 10 CommentsTags: baking, cake, glutenfree
If you think Plain and Simple Almond Cake sounds a little unexciting, just change the “plain and simple” to “light and delicious” and go get to cracking yourself some eggs. While you’re at it, separate those eggs, too, because this easy almond cake is made like a separated egg sponge with almond flour replacing the normal wheat flour. This cake is light and moist, with great flavor. Since it’s plain and simple, you can dress it up however you like…we ate it at home with some fig sauce. I gave a big chunk to a chef friend of mine who is gluten-free and a little cake-deprived. Poor guy! He was so happy and said it was the best cake he’d had in a long time. I’ll make it again for sure.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Chocolate-Cornflake Haystacks
May 2, 2017 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 11 CommentsTags: baking, biscotti, cookies
Anytime I have a box of cereal open, it sits on the counter forever…case in point, a box of cornflakes I bought in January to help test a recipe for a friend. It’s still there on the counter now (and shockingly not stale!), even though I depleted the inner bag by a bit making Chocolate-Cornflake Haystacks. These are little crispy, chewy mounds of cereal, coconut, pecans and raisins (you could swap these add-ins for others, if you’d like) bound together by egg, agave and melted milk chocolate. They’re pretty sticky to scoop out raw, and I was concerned that they wouldn’t hold together, but they were just fine when baked. They’re good little snacky cookies and it’s not hard to eat a couple at a time.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Laurent’s Slow-Roasted Spiced Pineapple
April 25, 2017 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, general pastry, groups, jams & preserves, other sweet, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 11 CommentsTags: baking, fruit
I’ve had my eye on Laurent’s Slow-Roasted Spied Pineapple for a while. I’ve high-heat roasted pineapple in a vanilla-caramel sauce before, and I can tell you that it is the stuff my ice cream sundae dreams are topped with. Now that I’ve made this slow-roasted version, I can say that if I ever meet Laurent, I will shake his hand. Or maybe give him cheek kisses because la bise seems more French than a handshake. My disappointingly flavorless bodega pineapple was totally transformed after marinating for two hours in a low oven with jam, OJ, Grand Mariner and spices. I was also pretty pleased that the process used up two jars of jam that had been hanging around for longer than I wish to admit…keeping with a tropical theme, one was a jar of passionfruit-orange-gauava jam that I bought in Hawaii a year and a half ago but never opened, and the other was half a jar of homemade tangerine marmalade that had been kicking around since waaaaay before that. This cooked for two hours…I’m sure anything potentially troublesome was taken care of by the heat, right? For my spices, I used vanilla bean, fresh ginger and coriander seed.
I actually wound up keeping my pineapple in the oven for longer than two hours. At that point, the kitchen smelled amazing, but the pineapple still seemed a little firm when I stuck a knife into one of the chunks. I had errands to do, so I just turned the oven off and let the pan sit in there until I got back home from running around. When I pulled it out, everything was syrupy and sticky and candied (including the ginger slices– yum!). I’ve already had this twice with “plain cake” and ice cream and I cannot wait to make pineapple pancakes drizzled with roasting syrup this weekend.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Anzac Biscuits
April 18, 2017 at 10:50 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 16 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
I made Anzac biscuits on this blog ten years ago, when I was living in Sydney. (Sidebar: Ten years ago– holy smokes! I’ve been writing this thing for over ten years! I just now realized I missed that big milestone back in February.) I baked them then, as I did this year, to mark Anzac Day, a day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand (you can read more about it here), which is coming up on April 25.
Anzac biscuits are sturdy cookies. With no eggs in the recipe, a mixture of melted butter and golden syrup binds together all the coconut and rolled oats that are packed into the biscuits. I don’t have any problem finding golden syrup where I live in Brooklyn, and it’s become a cupboard staple since my time in Sydney, but if you can’t find it, fellow TWDer Mardi (who helped Dorie develop this recipe for the book– so cool!) suggests brown rice syrup as a sub. These are chewy and really good…this version has a little pop of salt that’s missing from most Anzac biscuit recipes but plays really well with the sweetened coconut. This batch of cookies didn’t spread nearly as much as the other I’d made back in ’07, but I don’t mind the chubby, rustic look.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
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