Tuesdays with Dorie: Cream Scones
July 12, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 9 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast, scones
It’s steamy hot out…hot and gross…but these Cream Scones were sooo worth turning the oven on for. Butter and cream…they are a combo to be reckoned with. I don’t know how two things that are so rich can make something that is so light, crumbly and almost melt-in-your-mouth, but there you have it. I’ll be making these again when it’s cooler out and I can stand a proper cuppa to go along with them.
After many attempts at scones and biscuits that wound up looking annoyingly like pancakes (sad!), I think that with my last few batches, I’ve finally gotten it down. I already told you all this stuff with the last one, but….now I grate my cold butter, and then pop it into the freezer while I assemble my dry ingredients. Then I just give a quick, fingertippy toss of the butter and dry stuff. I find that this way, I don’t have to do as much rubbing and working to get the two incorporated. Also, I pat the scones out a little fatter than Dorie says to ensure a tall rise (which I don’t think the angle on this photo shows, but I assure you, they were nice and high). Of course I get one or two fewer scones per batch, but that’s fine by me.
I skipped the currants here (I didn’t have any), but they aren’t really necessary anyway…especially when there’s jam. Also not strictly necessary (but crazy delicious!), one of my favorite things about British-style tea service is the thick cream you spread on along with jam. I found some of that Luxury Clotted Cream in a local shop, and shelled out for it in anticipation of these guys.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Cafe Lynnylu, as it was Patricia’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins
July 5, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast, muffins
Will you think less of me if I admit to you that I don’t really “do” chocolate for breakfast? I eat sweet stuff for brekkie all the time–usually pancakes or waffles drowned in syrup– but chocolate for some reason feels a bit too indulgent. I made a little exception this past weekend (since it was a holiday and all) for these Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins. OK, these really are great with coffee. They’re not too sweet at all, and I did follow suggestions to add more chocolate chunks by doubling the amount of chips I folded into the batter at the end. Hey– if your gonna have chocolate for breakfast, you may as well really have chocolate for breakfast.
And, if chocolate in the a.m. isn’t really your thing either, I can assure you that they are also fab for dessert with a scoop of ice cream (may I suggest something like Strawberry- Sour Cream Ice Cream?).
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Epicurious) or read The Way the Cookie Crumbles, as Bridget got to pick again this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies
June 28, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
Hooray, Spike, for finally giving these Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies their fifteen minutes of fame. This is one of the first recipes in the book that really piqued my interest, mostly because I couldn’t imagine what the heck a “cake cookie” could be. But then, after making approximately a hundred zillion whoopie pies at the bakery in Red Hook where I used to work, it dawned on me that these might something similar. Although Dorie says they are thin and plain, somehow mine came out chubby and rounded– like little cakes in cookie-mound form. These are nice and moist, and to boost the chocolaty-ness, I used my darkest cocoa, replaced the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe with a bit of instant espresso powder and left out the currants entirely. While they are pretty good on their own (just grab a glass of milk or iced coffee and have at ’em), I think they’d be great filled with buttercream. Since it’s so schwetty out here, I decided to make them into ice cream sandwiches instead, using a bit of the caramel gelato I help to make at the shop where I now work.
For the Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookie recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Spike’s blog. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Date-Nut Loaf
June 21, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 18 CommentsTags: baking, cake
I hate to admit it, but I didn’t think this Date-Nut Loaf seemed like much when it came out of the oven. It was kind of pale, and when I sliced into it, I thought it looked a little dry. Boy, I was wrong! This was a great cake with a cup of coffee for breakfast. It’s actually really soft and has a tender crumb. My husband was pumped for this, because he loves dates. They taste like soft brown sugar nuggets in the cake.
I made a half recipe in my little loaf pan, so I shortened the baking time to under an hour (and didn’t bother to foil tent it). Because it sounded like a good candidate for a little whole grain flour swapping, I subbed about a quarter of the AP for whole wheat pastry flour. I haven’t yet tried Dorie’s suggestion of toasting left over slices, but if there’s any remaining tomorrow morning, I might give it a shot.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Popsicles and Sandy Feet, as it was Mary’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake
June 7, 2011 at 5:06 pm | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 15 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast, cake
A trip to up Boston for my Wellesley reunion this past weekend meant that I wasn’t able to make this Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake until this morning. Glad I got around to it though, because it is just plain good. It has a hint of cinnamon, a kiss of brown sugar and a big whomp of blueberries. With almost as much fruit as batter, I think it should stay moist for a good long time…although I won’t find out, because we’ll be polishing it off for breakfast tomorrow! (Hey–don’t judge–I only made half a recipe…we can’t eat that much cake in two days!)
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Culinate) or read Everyday Insanity, as it was Cindy’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
P.S.: I forgot to mention that I swapped out some of the AP for spelt flour, one of my favorite flours to use in muffins and fruity cakes like this. Also, I think this cake would be tasty with raspberries, and I may try that out later in the season.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Caramel Pots de Crème
May 31, 2011 at 5:38 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, custard, dessert
Remember those ultra-luxe little custards called “Pots de Crème“? Lucky for my taste buds, we are making them again, but instead of chocolate, this time I have Caramel Pots de Crème. I like to take my caramel fairly dark, so it’s not too sweet and has a just a hint of a bitter edge.
It was only after I baked these that I realized the recipe doesn’t include any salt. I solved that by sprinkling a little of my precious Aussie pink salt over the whipped cream I heaped on top (as though there wasn’t enough cream in the custards!). I fired up the oven to bake these off a few weeks ago, when it was still relatively cool out…but if I were making them in the mid-80s humidity-a-thon we in the middle of now, I think pots de ice cream à la Mike would be the ticket.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Peggy the Baker, as Peggy picked it this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones
May 24, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 13 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast, scones
I think I have finally found my scone mojo. Maybe I shouldn’t speak too soon, but these Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones are the second batch to come out just as I’d hoped (now I need to revisit the Apple Cheddar ones to see if I can get something with a bit more height). My two scone “secrets” (although I wouldn’t be surprised if these aren’t secrets at all, but just things I took forever to catch on to!)…first, I grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients. I find that this way, I don’t have to do as much rubbing and working to get the two incorporated…just toss the butter around a bit with my fingertips. Second, I pat the scones out a little fatter than I used to. Tricky, right? Of course I don’t get as many per batch, but that’s fine by me.
Yes, these scones have oatmeal in them, but they have a load of butter as well, so I’d be lying to you if I said they were a healthy breakfast. I did try to up the whole-graininess a bit by swapping 2/3 cup of the AP flour for whole wheat pastry flour. They are really hearty and good…only as sweet as they need to be and no more, which I appreciate in the morning…espeically when I’m slathering jam all over them anyway.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Life with a Whisk, as it was Patricia’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Maple-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits
May 17, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 14 CommentsTags: baking, biscuits, breakfast
The weekend before last, my husband and I managed to briefly (or should I say too briefly) escape Brooklyn to meet up with my parents in Santa Fe. Lots of sun during the day, lots of stars out at night (wow–I forget how breathtaking a sky full of stars is), lots of enchiladas and tamales. On Saturday, I insisted that we go to the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market to pick up some edible souvenirs. In my suitcase, I brought back chile powder, honey and a bag of blue cornmeal. Thankfully no glass broke and no bags burst…I would have had quite a mess!
That blue cornmeal is what gives the funky color to my Maple-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits. These were easy to make for breakfast…even half asleep, like I was. No rolling or cutting required, although I do think using an ice cream scoop to portion the sticky dough makes things easier than messy spoons. And you can make bigger, rounder biscuits that way, too! They are slightly sweet and have that nice little gritty corn crunch, especially on their crispy tops. They were delish with strawberry jam (mine was NYC-made), and I’m sure would have been just as tasty with yellow cornmeal as with blue.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read A Little Something….Sweet!, as it was Lindsay’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Brown Sugar Bundt Cake
May 10, 2011 at 12:10 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 19 CommentsTags: baking, cake
Well, I do think we have finally found ourselves at the end of the TWD Bundt cake chapter. A bittersweet day, perhaps…if that may be said concerning something called a Brown Sugar Bundt.
The recipe for this brown sugar and buttermilk cake calls for chunks of apple or pear in the batter (and some prunes, too), but in the interests of being sort of seasonal, I was really hoping to make this with rhubarb. That plan was foiled, though, after trips to two different farmers’ markets and one produce stand turned up zilch. I returned home with a nice, ripe mango in my bag and just used that instead (and nixed those prunes). Despite all the brown sugar in the ingredient list– I used half light, half dark–this cake was not a sugar-bomb at all. The sweetness was understated enough that I think it would have been a fabulous breakfast cake, even though we had it for dessert.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Pantry Revisited, as it was Peggy’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Matcha Marbled Loaf Cake
May 3, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, cake
Chocolate and vanilla may be the classic marble cake combo, but a flash of springtime color inspiration made me want something different from the usual swirls of black and white for my Basic Marbled Loaf. After wondering what I might have at home that would give me a “natural” green swirl (besides frozen spinach, that is), I remembered my tiny tin of matcha tea powder. I used it to tinge half of my batter green, and added almond extract to the other (plain) half.
I made a half recipe in my little loaf pan, so I was already on the lookout for a shorter baking time than the recipe suggests, but it sounds like even if you bake a full-sizer, you may want to check your cake several minutes early. My marbling efforts looked more like blobs, but I don’t care too much since it tasted good. I had a slice with some tea while watching the Royal Wedding.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read The Bake More, as it was Carol’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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