Tuesdays with Dorie: Flip-Over Plum Cake
September 27, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 11 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast, cake
Plums are one of the last tastes of summer fruit. Let’s not be too sad to see the summer go…instead, let’s celebrate with plum cake– Flip-Over Plum Cake. This is the world’s easier batter to throw together…a quick whisk and that’s it. It doesn’t even have any eggs. That was kind of a curveball, actually– I had to, like, quadruple check the recipe to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Scatter the plums over top and toss it in the oven. The plums magically turn into a sweet-tart jam layer on the bottom, and the bizarrely egg-less batter turns into delicious cake!
Dorie has this in the breakfast section, and it’s so tasty, I’m sure it would be a fabulous way to start the day, but a little whipped cream turns it into a perfectly lovely dessert, which is how we ate it over here. I’m betting it would also be great with peaches or nectarines, although I am partial to that intense plum-red color bleeding though.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Project Domestication, as it was Becky’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Salt and Pepper Cocoa Shortbreads
September 20, 2011 at 4:50 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, chocolate, cookies
Chocolate shortbread with a little hit of salt and pepper? Sounds exotic, but the s&p doesn’t overpower (even though I added 50% more of each than the recipe called for). It just gives the slightest tickle on your tongue. I used a little of my precious Aussie pink salt here…love that stuff. After I baked off what you see here, I put the other half of my dough log into my freezer cookie stash. I’ve built a good selection in there at this point, and while I must admit that this one may not bring about world peace, it’ll be a nice addition to that massive cookie platter I’ll one day make from all the leftover dough hunks.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Buttercream Barbie, as it was Tia’s turn to pick again. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Classic Brownies
September 13, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 15 CommentsTags: baking, brownies, chocolate, dessert
I have made lots o’ brownies with TWD (I think there are even still a couple more versions to go), but this is Dorie’s classic…no honey, no cheesecake, no Peppermint Patties…just straight-up chocolate and walnuts. This is a solid brownie, in both the solidly-good sense, and the fudgy-but-not-raw-in-the-middle sense. It’s the one to take to a bake sale, the one to put in a lunchbox, the one that will please everyone (unless they don’t like nuts, but then you just leave them out!).
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Anne Strawberry. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Spice Quickies
September 6, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
I thought TWD was a pretty PG-group, but this week’s recipe sounds a little racy. Too much talk about spicy quickies might make me blush.
Ok, so these are just quick to make food processor cookies, flavored with spices and chocolate. No ID required. I read that they weren’t actaully very spicy at all, so I doubled the amount in mine. I used allspice, and doubling it makes it noticable, but it’s not in your face. Ground almonds give the dough cute little speckles.
When my quickies turned out soft instead of crispy, I was kind of confused. Ahhh….seems I didn’t read the recipe intro…the one where Dorie says they are chewy. However, as you can see, her side note about turning them into ice cream sandwiches did not escape me! She’s right, they have the perfect texture for ice cream sandwiches.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read the delightful My Baking Heart, as it was Jessica’s turn to pick again. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf
August 30, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, tuesdays with dorie | 10 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast
An earthquake and a hurricane in the span of a few days– what a weird weather week for New York City! If it weren’t for Irene cancelling work this weekend and keeping me housebound, I would not have gotten to make this Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf. Something about baking at home helps calm my nerves if I’m feeling anxious, and wondering if our house would make it through the big storm without any major damage was making me fret (more than just a bit). Thankfully, a little water in the basement was the extent of it for us. If you are on the East Coast, I hope you managed to stay safe.
Whether you are baking to take your mind off something, or just because you want a tasty breakfast treat, this loaf works. It’s totally made by hand…theraputic, quiet and easy. And it’s hearty and satisfying to eat…cornmeal and apples (fresh and dried) give it great texture. It’s not too sweet, so it definitely leans more towards a comforting breakfast or snack than dessert.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read the always enjoyable Engineer Baker, as it was Caitlin’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Golden Brioche Loaves
August 23, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in groups, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 10 CommentsTags: baking, bread
When I first saw that we’d be making Golden Brioche Loaves this week, I thought, “Haven’t we made this one already?” Well, yes and no. We’ve made brioche on a few occasions, but always for an end result other than a simple loaf. Jules pointed out that last week, King Arthur wrote a post on brioche made in a 9″x4″ pullman pan. Go figure, I have that same pan at home! Doing a little back-of-the-envelope math, I geusstimated that 2/3 of Dorie’s full recipe would make enough dough to fill one 9″x4″ pullman to the lid. I had to add about 10-15 minutes to Dorie’s baking time, but I had a gorgeous (and golden) square-cornered loaf.
I bet some people find brioche to be intimidating, but to me it’s one of the easier yeast breads to make. The dough is soft and supple, and comes together easily by machine. Also, great brioche bakes up nicely in a home oven, unlike, say, a great baguette, whose perfectly shattering crust seems to elude me at home. And the dough freezes well, so you can have fresh brioche buns in a snap.
This recipe really does produce a delightful loaf. I can’t lie, though…the fact that I made a single loaf of bread that contains two entire sticks of butter is somewhat horrifying to me! Nevertheless, I enjoyed a fat slice with homemade apricot jam (made identically to this plum jam), and, you guessed it, more butter (I have a weakness for fancy French salted butters on my toast and bread).
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Tea and Scones, as it was Margie’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
P.S.: I got a new camera…what do you think?
Tuesdays with Dorie: Stonefruit Crumble
August 16, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in cobbler/crisp/shorties, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 11 CommentsTags: baking, dessert, fruit
This was supposed to be a Tropical Crumble with mangoes and bananas, but like I mentioned when I made jam, I have apricots and plums up the wazoo right now. So this became a Stonefruit Crumble instead, with apricots and yellow plums (look, I kept the colors similar!), and a little red plum ice cream for good measure. I tried to keep my version along the same lines as the original, flavoring the fruit with ginger and citrus, but since my fruits were small and soft, I didn’t pre-cook my filling before baking the crumble and I added a sprinkling of flour to the fruit mix to help thicken the juices.
Does anyone know if theree’s technically a difference between a crisp and a crumble?? Maybe there is, because my topping wasn’t as crunchy as I thought it would be. It had pecans, brown sugar and butter (cut back from the original recipe by a couple of tablespoons), so it wasn’t bad, but it did just kind of meld into the smooshiness of the baked fruit.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Laws of the Kitchen, as it was Gaye’s turn to pick again. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Carrot Spice Muffins (aka Morning Glories)
August 9, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, tuesdays with dorie | 9 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast, muffins
“Muffin” is a weird word. And I just realized that I totally spelled it wrong in the titles of my last two muffin posts. How dumb, and obvious now that I look at those posts again. (OK, I’ve just gone back and corrected that, so it’s as if it never happened).
These Carrot Spice Muffins are something of a substitute for when your tummy really wants a piece of Bill’s Big Carrot Cake (wow, that cake was awesome…I think about it all the time) for breakfast, but your head just won’t let you. Like a good carrot cake, they have lots of add-ins beyond carrots…walnuts, coconut, raisins and, of course, a gentle amount of warm spices. Unlike carrot cake, though, they are sans that decadent cream cheese frosting (but now that I think about it, a thinned out cream cheese glaze would have been fabulous!), and they are a bit dialed down in the oil department. These seemed like they could be a vehicle for a little fiber boost as well, so I swapped about 25% of the flour with whole wheat. I also used unsweetened desiccated coconut instead of the sweet stuff. Then I ate two.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read The Dogs Eat the Crumbs, as it was Nancy’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cocoa Almond Meringues
August 2, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 9 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
We are having hot, sticky weather here. I’ve baked enough to know that sticky weather equals sticky meringues, so I thought about hitting the snooze bar on TWD this week and skipping these Cocoa Almond Meringue Cookies. But I had some weekend time on my hands, and I figured I could do a scaled down batch…just enough to be eaten the same day, with nothing left to wilt in a container overnight.
I like meringues, and I’m a fan of these. Beneath their crisp, light cocoa shells, they are chewy and very dark with chocolate (studded with crushed hazelnuts, too, in this case). If you like your meringues drier and crisped-through, I’m guessing you could bake them longer, or at the end of the book’s suggested time, turn off the oven and let the cookies continue to hang out for a few more hours inside. I actually did bake these about 15 minutes longer than the recommended hour and ten because I made a few quite large meringues as opposed to a zillion little guys, and I wanted to make sure they weren’t soup inside. I made a special exception to my “no coffee after 3:00” rule and served these with a little glass of milky iced joe. It was the perfect thing to cut the sweetness of the meringues.
Next time I find myself with extra egg whites, I’ll be sure to keep these in mind! For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Ugly Food For an Ugly Dude. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet
July 26, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in groups, ice creams & frozen, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 32 CommentsTags: dessert, sorbet
Yes–my week to pick again for TWD!! I am crazy-excited! My first turn came way back in March of ’08, when I chose Caramel-Topped Flan. I think a lot of folks skipped that week. Turns out flan is a love-it-or-hate-it thing (I’m a lover, btw). We’ve made sooo many good things in the three+ years since then, and I’ve only missed out on a handful of them. There are still a lot of good things left, which made my choice this month a hard one, but I hoped Dorie’s Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet would be a hit with most everyone (sorry, Kayte!!).
This sorbet really is creamy and intensely chocolaty. It’s also super-melty. Like, don’t blink or you’ll have a chocolate puddle where your sorbet once stood. Of course, that can more than possibly be chalked up to triple-digit temps in NYC and no A/C in my house! No matter…eaten with a spoon or just slurped up out of a bowl, it’s delicious. And so freakin’ easy. I have a plan to work around the meltiness with the rest of my batch, and it looks something like this…
As always, hugs and kisses to Dorie, Laurie, Jules and the TWD gang for making every Tuesday fun and tasty. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll this week!
Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet– makes about 1 1/2 pints
recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours
Steph’s Note: I added a pinch of salt to the mix. Milk with any fat content will work.
1 cup milk
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
-Stir all the ingredients together in a 3- to 4-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium heat and bring the ingredients to a boil, stirring frequently.
-Lower the temperature and boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and keeping a close eye on the pan- as the ingredients bubble and roll, the potential for boil over is high.
-Pour mixture into a heatproof bowl and refrigerate until chilled before churning the sorbet.
-Scrape the chilled sorbet mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Pack the sorbet into a container and freeze for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.
Serving: Unlike ice cream, with could be served as soft custard straight from the churn, this sorbet needs time in the freezer to firm.
Storing: Packed tightly in a covered container, the sorbet will keep in the freezer for up to two weeks.
Playing Around: 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract added to the cooled base will give you chocolate-peppermint sorbet. You can even add crushed candy canes a couple of minutes before churning is complete.
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