Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Torta Sbrisolona
September 22, 2021 at 3:15 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
Torta Sbrisolona is a cookie made from crumbs. Its name even means “crumbly cake,” as a streusel-type mix that includes sandy stuff (cornmeal and almond flour) as well as chunky stuff (roughly chopped almonds) is scattered over the bottom of a cake tin. Just a gentle press into the tin is recommended by Dorie, and so I tried to ride the fine line between not compacting the crumbs too much, and having cut pieces that did not totally fall apart. In the end I had just one square that split in half when I cut it and a some errant crumbles. I like the crumbly texture and the bits of almond throughout, and the fact that they aren’t too sweet. I can definitely see these pairing well with cheese, as Dorie notes, although I went with plums and ice cream.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Pimento Cheese
September 17, 2021 at 12:01 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, snacks | Leave a commentTags: cheese, everyday dorie, savory, snacks
The recipe this Friday is actually one for Grilled Dry-Rubbed Rib-Eye Steaks. I’m not a red meat eater and I was too lazy to post about the Pimento Cheese last month, so I’m just gonna tell you about that right now. I’d never made pimento cheese before, but there’s nothing to it. Blitz some sharp cheddar (I had some orange and some white), mayo, pimentos and chile powder in the food processor, and there you have it. I actually used sour cream instead of mayonnaise and threw in otherwise useless little blob of cream cheese into the mix. Zippy and bright orange, this was great with saltines and a beer.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of the steaks (I didn’t make) this week.
Everyday Dorie: Cowboy Caviar (salad or side)
September 10, 2021 at 12:01 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, salads, savory things, veggies | 4 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, salad, savory
Cowboy Caviar is a fun name for a Southwestern-style bean and veggie salad. I used pinto beans in mine, which I love, but since the beans are the “caviar” here, maybe I should have used black beans instead to really give it that visual effect. The rest is a mix of chopped veggies…things like bell pepper, hot pepper, scallions, tomatoes, avocado and corn kernels. It all gets tossed up with a limey-cumin dressing to make a great salad or side dish, as the title says. I followed Dorie’s suggestion to scoop it up with tortilla chips. Makes me almost want to watch a rodeo.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of our “caviars” this week.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Rousquilles
September 7, 2021 at 8:08 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
It’s been a while since I’ve filled up the cookie tin, but I found some good keepers in these ring-shaped Rousquilles. Flavored with orange flower water and anise, Rousquilles have their origins in Catalonia. I don’t think I’ve had them before, but the flavor combo was very familiar…they remind me of another biscuit my Sicilian MIL likes to get at the Italian-American bakeries. The dough comes together quickly in the food processor and then gets rolled and cut into Os. While Dorie mentions in her headnote that she’s seem them sold in every size imaginable, here, she keeps them fairly small. A sugar syrup-cooked egg white glaze gets brushed on top of the cookies after baking. Royal icing or a simple powdered sugar glaze would be easier to pull off (especially if you scale back the recipe like I did…I didn’t have enough syrup in my pot to accurately temp it so I had to do it by eye, and it definitely went over, but whatevs) and likely give the same effect. Of the floral waters, orange is my favorite, and I like the licorice flavor of anise seed a lot more now than I used to, so I really enjoyed having these as my coffee treat for the week.
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 DC: Baby Buckwheat Bars
August 17, 2021 at 12:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, cookies & bars, DC, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
The buckwheat flour and chocolate combo is a wonderful one, so I’m excited Baby Buckwheat Bars have finally made center stage. These baby bars are really more like bite-sized cake squares than cookies. Since I don’t need 100 pieces of anything, no matter how teeny, I made just a third of the recipe and baked it in a loaf pan. It was a small amount, so I made it by hand, blatantly ignoring Dorie’s headnote warning that the texture depends on using a stand mixer. I think the baby batch of baby bars came out just fine, but I can see the big kid batch being difficult to hand whip properly. I enjoyed the grainy texture and earthy flavor of these GF bars (a strange-sounding compliment), and the little bits of chocolate throughout. Dorie gives a couple of optional embellishments to this recipe, and I opted for both. One is a nip of booze in the batter. I’m all out of the rum she suggests, but I subbed nocino walnut liqueur. The other is a ganache glaze, which I obviously could not resist and also sprinkled with a little flaky pink salt (I did skip the egg wash on top before baking).
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Drop-Biscuit Peach (and Blueberry) Cobbler
August 13, 2021 at 1:27 pm | Posted in cobbler, crisps, shortcakes, everyday dorie, groups, sweet things | 6 CommentsTags: cobbler, everyday dorie
Is it even August if you don’t make at least a couple of peach desserts? This Drop-Biscuit Peach Cobbler is a quick and easy way to a summer classic. The cobbler topping here is made from more of a batter than a dough…rather than working butter into the dry ingredients, you just stir in a buttermilk and heavy cream combo. And you don’t pat out and cut the biscuits, you just spoon them on top of your peaches (if you have some berries, throw those in, too). What you get is a lighter, cakier topping than a true biscuit cobbler, but it’s great on the cooked fruit. I also made the biscuit shortcake variation of the recipe earlier in the summer.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of our cobblers this week.
Everyday Dorie: Oven-Charred Tomato-Stuffed Peppers
July 23, 2021 at 8:51 pm | Posted in breakfast things, cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things, veggies | 5 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, vegetables
I have a salad for lunch most weekdays, but sometimes I like to switch it up with something more exciting than a bowl of raw veg and vinaigrette. These Oven-Charred Tomato-Stuffed Peppers were the veggie surprise of the week. Stuffed with anchovy bread crumbs, lots of herbs and cherry tomatoes, these pepper boats get roasted on a bed of garlic and more herbs for the better part of an hour, till everything is soft and collapsed. I love that the dish emerges from the oven transformed and yet still so beautifully colorful. The stuffed peppers are sweet, juicy and flavorful. I sprinkled a little salty feta cheese on top.
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: Caramel-Sugar Pufflets
July 20, 2021 at 10:27 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, snacks
I am almost too sugared out with my summer recipe testing job to handle these Caramel-Sugar Pufflets this week. If I hadn’t already had a packet of the base dough in the freezer from the Sour Cream Everything Seed Knots, I may have just quietly skipped them. As with the knots, the dough for these pufflets goes through a series of folds and turns to create flaky layers, but instead of salty, seedy sprinkles between each layer, these get hefty sprinklings of sugar that caramelize in the oven. I really gave these the “French bake,” so the are super crisp and have little lacy caramel bits on the edges. My tastes are trending toward the savory right now, as I’m making and tasting three or four sweet recipes a day, but I can appreciate a small nibble with a cup of coffee.
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 DC: Sour Cream Everything Seed Knots
July 6, 2021 at 4:40 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory, snacks
As soon as I heard the news that today would be 93° with a heat index of 100, I decided it would perfect weather to make a rough-puff- style dough to bake off these Sour Cream Everything Seed Knots. I plan so well. As it turns out, even without A/C, I didn’t have any issues making the yeasted sour cream dough in the food processor, or completing the set of folds and turns that created the flaky layers and worked in the everything seed blend I stirred together. I think it helped that I made a super small batch, and each step took me only about twenty seconds, so my dough didn’t have the chance to warm up too much. The trickiest part came with forming these knots. I think I did ok, but I don’t have much decorative bread or dough forming experience, so I had to read the instructions like fifty times. Anyway, I had one of these knots along with my lunch salad, and it was a delicious, salty, seedy, garlicky treat. Kind of like a flaky breadstick, I also think they’ll go well with a glass of wine and a piece of cheese for sundown snacks.
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!
TWD DC Rewind: Natasha’s Mum’s Fruit and Walnut Bread Bars
June 29, 2021 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
Natasha’s Mum’s Fruit and Walnut Bread Bars wins the award for cutest recipe title. A family recipe given to Dorie by an Aussie friend, these are full of walnuts and dried fruit and definitely have an old-fashioned feel to them. They’re baked off in a loaf pan and cut into slices, and you might at first glance think they are dense fruit and nut bread. But then you bite one, and they are definitely a sweet treat. All the ingredients are bound together by a meringue, and the cookies have a nougat-like chew to them. As for the dried fruit, you can add what you like and what you have on hand. Of course I used walnuts (honestly, pecans or almonds would be great, too, but then you need to change the title), and also dried blueberries and candied ginger. These slice beautifully and are perfect keepers for the cookie tin.
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!
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