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Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Bruno’s New Year’s Waffles

January 18, 2022 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

Maybe we are getting to the point in January where we are no longer really celebrating the new year, but I’m giving it one last toast with Bruno’s New Year’s Waffles. I almost skipped these waffles, which are more like thin wafers, because the recipe uses a pizzelle iron to cook them. I don’t have one. In fact, I think that out of the group, Diane is the only one who does…but that didn’t stop Gaye, who used a sandwich press, or Mardi, who used a griddle pan, from getting them done, so I really didn’t have an excuse to sit them out. With two good ways to hack the cooking process explained, I wondered if there could be a third. Made with a stiff dough rather than a loose batter, these thin, crispy waffles sounded a bit like Dutch stroopwafels (which I have only consumed, never made), especially since Dorie recommends sandwiching them with a filling. I spent some time thinking about how I could get them as thin as reasonably possible and decided to try out my tortilla press. I did only a fourth of the recipe and made them larger than Dorie and Bruno do, getting eight cookies in total. I weighed out my dough balls (about 20g each), gave them each a very firm pressing, and then transferred the resulting circles to my comal to crisp up. I did trim the ratty edges with a cutter while the cookies were still hot.

I’m sure they weren’t as delicate as they would have been in a pizzelle iron, but I was pretty happy with how my waffles came out. They cooled caramelized and crisp, and I sandwiched them with some leftover dark chocolate glaze I had in the fridge. I heated up some classic hot chocolate from Dorie’s xoxoDorie newsletter to enjoy them with, for an extra happy new year treat.

For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!

Everyday Dorie: Stuffed Cabbage

January 14, 2022 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things, veggies | 1 Comment
Tags: everyday dorie, savory, vegetables

Stuffed Cabbage is a recipe that might be more appropriate for a book called All Day Dorie than Everyday Dorie. Never mind the three hours of cooking time (hands-off, in the oven, no big deal), I think I probably spent close to two hours assembling the dish. No joke, I had to take a coffee break in the middle of it. But that’s ok– I did it on a cold, grey weekend day when I didn’t want to leave the house and was up for a kitchen project.

I’d never made stuffed cabbage rolls before. I don’t eat ground beef or pork sausage, so I swapped these filling meats for ground chicken and turkey sausage. I couldn’t see how I could successfully get the cabbage leaves off the head in one untattered piece without blanching the whole head, so I just did that, rather than blanch the individual leaves as Dorie instructs. It was a process of removing a few leaves at a time and re-dipping the head in water to easily peel off the next layer, and I do have some leftover blanched cabbage still on the head, but I’ll use that in a soup or make okonomiyaki with it this week. I was able to fill and roll the leaves pretty easily and I skipped the step of securing them each with a toothpick. They were fine.

For the tomato sauce, I didn’t pay attention (i.e., I totally didn’t tread the instructions first) to the fact that the ingredients were supposed to go into the Dutch oven in layers along with the assembled rolls. Instead, everything for the sauce went into the pot at once and I snuggled all the rolls down into the mix. I was kind of irritated with myself, but figured that the cook time was so long that all would be fine. And it was! These are a delicious winter dinner (or a few dinners–even a half-batch was a big batch). I didn’t really know what to serve the cabbage rolls with, as they’re kind of complete on their own, with a meat and rice filling, veggies and a sauce. I just went with a little cucumber and sour cream salad and sprinkled some crispy fried onions on top. I also meant to sprinkle the rolls with parsley, but after all that time putting them together, I completely forgot.

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.

Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Grain and Seed Muffins

January 11, 2022 at 11:42 pm | Posted in breakfast things, BWD, groups, muffins & quick breads, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 Comments
Tags: baking, muffins

Grain and Seed Muffins are about as healthy as my baking gets around here. These aren’t cake-for-breakfast muffins– they are full of good-for-you stuff, like whole wheat flour, wheat bran, oats and sunflower, sesame and flax seeds. I needed a trip to the bulk bins to get these ones done. Dorie suggests that the sunflower seeds should be raw, but does a raw sunflower seed really even taste like anything? I chose to toast all the seeds, and I even toasted the oats and wheat bran while I was at it. The muffins came together easily and were lightly sweet from maple syrup and brown sugar. I liked them best warm, with a swipe of sweet and salty maple butter. I felt like my grandma, warming my bran muffin and spreading it with butter, but grandmas know best, right?

If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan yet, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!

Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Portofignos

January 4, 2022 at 9:54 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

I like a good pun, and calling cookies containing port-plumped dried figs “Portofignos” made me giggle. Dorie points out that the chocolate dough that forms the base of these slice-and-bake cookies is similar to that of her famous World Peace Cookies, but that the bits of toasted walnuts and boozy figs that stud it take things in a new direction. Although I’ve been to Italy zero times and to Portugal only one time more that that, I know Portofino is not even close to where port wine is from…but I’m guessing the direction we are headed is somewhere on the sea, enjoying the good life with a glass of fortified sweet wine and couple of chocolate cookies. I’m very happy to go wherever that is right now, even if it’s just in my imagination.

For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!

Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Mokonut’s Rye-Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies

December 28, 2021 at 10:50 pm | Posted in BWD, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

I remember a couple of years ago when this recipe for Mokonut’s Rye-Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies appeared in Dorie’s NY Times column. They seemed to be popping up, not just at the little Parisian restaurant where Dorie fell in love with them, but in kitchens everywhere, and they always looked so good. They made it onto that mental list I have of things I want to bake and then totally forget about (maybe I should start a notebook for that list??). Thankfully they also made it into Dorie’s new book, and into our TWD rotation…so now they have finally made it into my kitchen.

These cookies have quite the ingredient combo: more rye flour than AP, dried cranberries, chunks of bittersweet chocolate and poppy seeds, so many poppy seeds! They bake up chubby but get flattened down with a tap of a spatula, which makes them really chewy and gives them lots of bumps and crackles. The cookies are golden on the outside, but poppy seed grey on the inside. They hit all types of flavor and texture notes…sweet, tart, salty, earthy, chewy, seedy. Deliciously interesting, for sure!

Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Cheese Puffers

December 28, 2021 at 10:25 pm | Posted in breakfast things, BWD, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 6 Comments
Tags: baking, cheese, savory

I’ve never really thought about what would happen if a muffin and a popover had a baby, but apparently it would be a Cheese Puffer. Made like a popover that’s baked in a muffin tin, these are heavy on the cheddar cheese. I guess that cheddar-weight is why they don’t really “popover,” but they are custardy, with melty cheese pockets (I used my favorite Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar) and bits of chopped scallion on the inside, and a beautiful golden brown crust. I scaled back the recipe to just get these four…two were had with chili one night, and the other two with eggs in the morning.

If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!

Everyday Dorie: Spatchcocked Chicken

December 24, 2021 at 3:09 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things | 1 Comment
Tags: chicken, everyday dorie, savory

It’s been a while since I’ve cooked a whole bird, but this Spatchcocked Chicken was a good excuse to haul out the roasting pan. Spatchcocking is a technique that involves cutting out the chicken’s backbone and flattening down the breastbone a bit so it roasts more evenly and quickly. I’m not the most nimble butcher, but it’s not really too gruesome a task (I used heavy kitchen shears to get the job done), and you can save that backbone to add to your future stockpot. Dorie had us rub up the chicken with butter and Middle Eastern spices (although you can take the flavorings whichever way you choose) and add some veggies to the pan before it all went in the oven. It came out pretty seductively bronzed and moist, and was a good reminder to make a roast chicken dinner more often.

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.

Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Hot-and-Spicy Togarashi Meringues

December 21, 2021 at 10:01 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, tuesdays with dorie | 3 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies, savory, snacks

It’s been a while since we’ve done a savory “cocktail cookie,” and these Hot-and-Spicy Togarashi Meringues sound like just the thing to pair with a frosty beer or cup of sake on ramen night. A little sweet and a little spicy, these meringues are flavored with shichimi togarashi, a ground chili pepper sprinkle mix that also includes sesame seeds, orange peel and seaweed. I have a little jar of straight-up togarashi powder, meaning it’s not the blend, just the ground chili pepper. It packs a pretty big heat punch, but I’m still on condiment lock-down at home and far too lazy to get out my spice grinder to pulverize the missing ingredients myself, so I just went with it.

I had a vision of making my meringues into Ottolenghi-like swoopy poofs, so I scooped them nice and big, rather than piping out small kisses. They totally went flat in the oven! I don’t know what that was all about, although I have to say, I think the ones in the book photo also look a bit “settled.” Although they tasted fine, dissolving away while leaving a burn, I was pretty disappointed in their looks. I still used them as part of a little snack spread for a Japanese-themed happy hour at home, and that was fun, but I’m not sure I’d make these again. If I do, I’ll try using a Swiss or Italian meringue and see if I get a puffier baked result.

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 anytime!

Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Mulled Wine Jammers

December 21, 2021 at 9:54 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 2 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

Baking with TWD, I’ve made Dorie’s jammers every which way over the years, once even as a galette. No matter the variation in flavor or shape, the formula is the same: a sweet and sandy sablé base is topped with jam and ringed with sweet streusel. Mulled Wine Jammers are the winter holiday edition of the classic fave. A semi-homemade mulled wine filling, made by jazzing up shop-bought cherry jam with red wine, spices and dried fruit, is the star of the show here.

Dorie forms these jammers in the usual round fashion, as cookies baked in a muffin tin…but I remembered seeing Joy the Baker make her own version of the recipe baked as bar cookies a couple of years ago, and I never got that good idea out of my head. I knew I wanted to give it a shot when the recipe finally rolled around for us. (Shall I say I’d been “mulling” it over for some time?) I only wanted to make half a recipe, so I pressed the crust into a 6-inch square pan, and proceeded like normal. Baking them off as bars took out a bit of the fiddly work needed to form them individually, but they are delicious, however you make them!

For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!

Everyday Dorie: Paper-Thin Roasted Potatoes

December 10, 2021 at 9:55 am | Posted in breakfast things, cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things, veggies | 4 Comments
Tags: everyday dorie, savory, vegetables

Paper-Thin Roasted Potatoes aren’t your typical roasties. If you have a mandolin hiding in a drawer, now’s the time to pull it out. Also get out the guard…fingertips are not part of the ingredient list here. Thinly sliced, oiled and seasoned potatoes and onions (or leeks in my case) are shingled down a sheet tray. They bake up crispy-curly-edged and, as Dorie says, like hot potato chips. I scaled back the recipe and set up just a half sheet pan of potatoes and leeks. I had some slices leftover, so I arranged them into a little cast iron skillet, which I just par-baked so I could easily finish it off the next morning for breakfast with some smoked salmon and an (unpictured) egg. I know my sheet tray is also unpictured (although I do have a few horrendously-lit nighttime photos on my phone), but I did take Dorie’s suggestion to add little bloops of sour cream here and there, along with a flurry of chopped scallions and cilantro, roasted red pepper bits and dashes of green Tobasco. So basically I turned a very elegant side dish into sheet pan potato chip nachos for Sunday night football, and they were awesome!

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.