Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Mincemeat-Oatmeal (Raisin) Bars
December 15, 2020 at 7:59 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, holiday
These Mincemeat-Oatmeal Bars are Dorie’s “Playing Around” take on her Raisin Bars, with a jammy raisin filling sandwiched between two layers of delicious oatmeal-almond cookie dough. Actually, maybe they are my take on the “Playing Around” take, as I made a very off-the-cuff approximation of a (meatless) mincemeat filling. I don’t even know if I’ve ever had mincemeat, but it is the holidays, so why not give it a shot? I swapped out a couple of spoonfuls of the raisins for candied orange peel, added a few grates of fresh ginger and a big shake of mixed spice and cooked it down in apple juice. Mardi mentioned that she found the Raisin Bars to be too sweet, so I kept that in mind and didn’t sweeten my mix until I’d cooked and thickened it. A little sprinkling of maple sugar was all I thought it needed.
The same cookie dough, made with oatmeal, brown sugar and almonds, forms both the crust and the topping to these bars. It’s like an oatmeal crisp really, and basically any fruit jam would work sandwiched in the middle. I used to make very similar bar cookies for family meal meal at work, using up whatever fruit was on the way out (or often pâte de fruit scrap) for the jam. The only thing I did differently here was to pre-bake the crust layer for ten-ish minutes before finishing the bars. I’m not sure it was necessary, but I knew I’d have these around for a few days, and I planned to bring a couple to the trainers still at the gym, so I wanted to be sure they had a stable base.
There was a time in life when I wouldn’t have touched a raisin, but I’ve really come around in recent years and I thought one of these bars with a scoop of vanilla ice cream was, well, *chef’s kiss*. Oh, and the dudes at the gym requested more, but they’re all gone now, so it’s on to the next…
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Molasses Coffee Cake
December 11, 2020 at 8:07 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, everyday dorie, groups, simple cakes, sweet things | 5 CommentsTags: cake, everyday dorie
Although, I can assure you, a slim slice of this Molasses Coffee Cake is fabulous with a morning cuppa, it isn’t the hefty streusel-topped sour cream number you might normally think of when you hear the words “coffee cake.” This one’s like a molasses gingerbread with coffee in the batter. Five-spice powder is an interesting twist here on the typical gingerbread spicing, and that glug of coffee adds to the rich dark flavor of the molasses. The white chocolate and coffee glaze on top may be optional…but is it really? I made mine a tad thicker than the Dorie did, just by decreasing the liquid a bit, so it would stay put and hold onto the holiday sparkle I scattered on top.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of our coffee cakes this week.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Mint Chocolate Sablés
December 1, 2020 at 5:26 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, chocolate, cookies, holiday
I’d say that the first of December marks the start of cookie season, but isn’t it always cookie season around here? I’ll just put a more festive spin on things this month, starting with these Mint Chocolate Sablés. We make this type of buttery French shortbread on the regular, but this particular sablé has a chocolate base jazzed up with mint oil or extract and little bits of chopped chocolate. Chocolate and mint is a pretty winning combo in my books. If it had occurred to me in advance, I would have bought a nice mint chocolate bar to cut up for the added bits, but, as per usual, my best ideas happen just as I’m about to put something in the oven. These are really good anyway, and I could actually smell their minty-ness while baking…I did add some gold glitter sugar for sparkle, so there’s that. I’m having a cookie tonight with vanilla ice cream and am very much looking forward to it.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll.
Everyday Dorie: Parsnip and Cranberry Cake
November 27, 2020 at 8:30 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, everyday dorie, groups, layer cakes, sweet things | 8 CommentsTags: cake, everyday dorie, layer cake
This Parsnip and Cranberry Cake was the star of the show for our Thanksgiving-for-two dinner last night. And for leftovers night tonight. And I’m sure for leftovers-turned-into-something-else night tomorrow. It is very good. Originally, this cake is a big triple-layer nine-incher, but since we were solo for the holiday, I scaled the recipe back to a third of that to get two (rather tall) nice six-inch layers. I pretty much expected it to taste like carrot cake, until I realized the spicing is quite different. This one has ground coriander, grated fresh ginger and orange instead of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. It’s filled and frosted with cream cheese icing, but it has a sneaky layer of cranberry sauce inside, too. It also should have had chopped fresh cranberries mixed into the batter and sugared cranberries on top, but I was working with a partial bag of berries, and after making the sauce, I didn’t have any extras. Rather than the berries in batter, I used chopped candied orange zest (and left out the sugared fresh zest in the recipe) and put some bloops of sauce on top of the finished cake, along with some maple-parsnip chips. I don’t always go for the “nearly naked” style of decoration…like someone did the crumb coat and then said “to heck with it”…but here, I thought it was kind of charming with that little bit of cranberry sauce peaking out.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of our cakes this week.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Pain de Gênes Buttons
November 17, 2020 at 11:57 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
Calling these Pain de Gênes Buttons “cookies” is a stretch. These buttons are really baby cakes, not that I mind at all. The star of the flavor show here is the good bit of almond paste that’s incorporated into the batter (the rum I sloshed in was runner-up). My husband loved these because they reminded him of the almondy treats of his childhood from the Italian-American bakeries in Long Island. I liked their flavor, too, and their texture, which was spongy and dense at the same time. These were another winning treat for the WFH coffee station.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll.
Everyday Dorie: Roasted Acorn Squash Wedges
November 13, 2020 at 7:51 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, veggies | 6 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, vegetables, vegetarian
I eat a lot of roasted orange stuff in the colder months– squash, sweet potatoes, carrots– and I’m always looking for new things to do with them. These Roasted Acorn Squash Wedges are brushed with a dressing of olive oil, pomegranate molasses, za’atar, lemon juice, cayenne and, of course, salt before they go into the oven. While they roasted, I stirred together the harissa yogurt Dorie suggests serving alongside, and I’m glad I did, because I thought the squash really needed it. I told my dining companion that I thought that this preparation was okay but not great. I thought maybe the squash I bought just wasn’t sweet enough for the tart dressing, but after reading the group’s reviews, I saw that I wasn’t alone. Perhaps I don’t really need to find a new thing to do with acorn squash…the “classic” butter and brown sugar schmear with a hint of salt and spice is just what I like. I think the pomegranate molasses dressing would be a better coating for already-roasted sweet potatoes, or actually even salad greens.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all that the group made this week.
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Carrèment Chocolat, The Fancy Cake
November 10, 2020 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, cake, chocolate
Wow– after six years, this is our final Tuesdays with Dorie recipe from Baking Chez Moi. I’m not crying, you’re crying. Okay, I’m definitely crying, but a slice of Carrèment Chocolat, The Fancy Cake will make me feel better.
This is a chocolate cake that is sleek and slim, but rich and luxurious. A single pan of chocolate cake is sliced into two thin layers, brushed with syrup (which for me was Kahlúa) sandwiched with chocolate pastry cream, glazed in ganache and topped with homemade salted chocolate shards. It’s no wonder that it’s the book’s cover girl, and it’s no wonder that we saved her for our grand finale. I actually made this over the summer for my husband’s birthday. It seemed like a nice treat for a quarantine celebration and a fun project for me. We savored every bite.
My copy of BCM has lived on my kitchen counter for the last six years. It’ll go on the bookshelf now, but I’m sure I’ll take it down often (and, if I’m being truthful, I do have a few things to rewind). We have made close to 150 recipes, and it would be really, really hard for me to pick a favorite..maybe the Caramel-Topped Rice Pudding Cake, maybe the Chocolate Crème Caramel. Clearly I fancy upside-down puddings sitting in a caramel puddle, but I’ve had such fun baking and sharing all kinds of treats with our small group on Tuesdays. Thank you, it’s a highlight of my week. Also, of course, merci to Dorie for teaching, inspiring and encouraging us, and to Laurie, who started TWD back in 2008 with BFMHTY.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out our last BCM TWD Blogroll! We bake on with Dorie’s Cookies, but for this one, c’est fini.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Cheddar-Seed Wafers
November 3, 2020 at 6:31 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory, snacks
Cheddar Seed Wafers, full of cheese and poppy seeds, have a highbrow Cheez-It thing going on. They’re rolled really thin and they bake up delicate, salty, savory and a bit flaky. These are in the “cocktail cookies” section of the book, and they would certainly be an excellent sidekick for a glass of crisp white wine, but I actually had my extra-large wafer broken up into shards with a roasted veggie dish that was heavy on the tomatoes.
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 anytime!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Macaron Biscotti
October 27, 2020 at 1:52 pm | Posted in BCM, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
When you pipe a tray of macarons, there are bound to be at least a few, maybe more if by “you” I mean “I”, shells that bake up too big, too small, blob-shaped, footless or for whatever reason wonky. You can eat them on the sneak and destroy the evidence (my go-to method for dealing with them) or you can make Macaron Biscotti with them and serve them up with tea. I’ve never seen twice-baked mac shells before this, but the idea is neat and easy— dip once-baked shells in melted butter and rebake. I didn’t even bother to melt any butter…I have a small container of ghee that I keep at room temp in the cooler months and brushed that on both sides of my shells. They turn very bronzed in the oven and are super crunchy through-and-through. Macarons with a suntan.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Bean and Tortilla Soup
October 23, 2020 at 9:19 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, soups | 10 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, soup
It’s sweater weather but not yet parka weather, so if you’re you’re looking for a soup that manages to be light and fresh and warm and satisfying all at the same time, then this Bean and Tortilla Soup is for you. As written, this recipe is for a vegetarian soup with a spicy, tomatoey base broth with carrots, bell pepper, onions and whatever beans you want bobbing around in it (I used tinned black beans). Then you can go nuts with the toppings— load it up with whatever you’d like. I went with cherry tomatoes, scallions, tons of cilantro, avocado, crumbled feta and lime juice. Your soup bowl is the perfect landing spot for those lingering bits and pieces of cooked stuff in the fridge, too, even if that stuff is something like chicken, sausage or shrimp. Of course this is tortilla soup, so don’t forget some chips to go with! I sprinkled over those broken bits at the bottom of the bag that are too small to hold salsa or guac but make perfect soup crunchies.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
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