Tuesdays with Dorie: Cardamom Crumb Cake
December 21, 2010 at 12:06 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, muffins/quick breads, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 11 Comments
Have I told you what I have been up to lately? I started November wishing I could find a part-time job, and now I have two part-time jobs, totaling way more hours than a typical full-time one. I get very anxious about waking up for job #1 at 5:45 in the morning after I’ve been at job #2 until 11:00 at night. How do I get myself into these things, and why have I started every new food job I’ve had during the super-busy holiday season? Oh well, it won’t last forever…job #2 is only for another few weeks.
For the time being, I do really look forward to the one morning a week when I can drink coffee out of a proper cup and stuff my face with things like Cardamom Crumb Cake for breakfast. I get really happy when folks like Jill pick a breakfast recipe for TWD, and this coffee cake highlights one of my favorite spices. I’d say that this is a simple, plain cake, but cardamom is an interesting flavor and is something a bit more unexpected than cinnamon. Combine it with orange zest, espresso powder and walnut crumb topping, and you’ve got a cake I’d eat any day of the week. Happily, the second half of mine is tucked away in the freezer until Saturday.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Jill’s Blog. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple-Coconut Family Cake
December 14, 2010 at 9:37 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 16 Comments
R and I just got ourselves a new desktop computer. After working off laptops for the past six or seven years, my fingers feel very clumsy on a full-size keyboard and I’m not used to a mouse at all. (Can you tell I also haven’t had a desk job in a really long time?) I have to be sure to hit the spell-check button, or this post will be riddled with typos. I’m excited to see all the beautiful Apple-Coconut Family Cakes on a big screen, though!
There’s something about the term “family cake” that sounds really appealing…cute and cozy. And there’s something about the apple-coconut combination that sounds unusual…how often do you see those two paired up? Even though there is quite a lot of coconut in this cake (I used unsweetened desiccated coconut from the health food store, which is more finely grated than the sweetened sheds), I didn’t find its flavor to be that pronounced…I actually thought it tasted more of the rum than coconut. Instead, I noticed most what it gave to the cake’s texture– sturdiness and bit of chew. A heap of diced apples kept it moist and the unsweetened coconut kept it from being too saccharine. This is one I’ll make again.
We are just a family of two, so I only made half a recipe. Despite its small size, my cake took longer to bake than the 45 minutes Dorie recommended for the full version. At the 45 minute mark, the edge was nicely browned, but the middle was still wet, so I put foil over the pan and popped it back in the oven for an extra 5+ minutes. That helped steam up the middle a bit and cooked it through.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Cobbler du Monde, as it was Amber’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Translucent Maple Tuiles
December 7, 2010 at 10:14 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 16 Comments
I’ve had a busy last couple of weeks, with back-to-back sets of houseguests to entertain, take care of and clean up after. It was fun, but I’m glad to be back to my regular routine…and that includes getting my Tuesday TWD post up.
Luckily, this week’s pick, courtesy of Clivia of Bubie’s Little Baker, couldn’t be easier. The world’s simplest cookie dough, made of just maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and flour, gets a quick-mix by hand. After a brief rest in the fridge, and only seven minutes in the oven, Translucent Maple Tuiles are ready! Tuiles are crispy, buttery, lacy-thin cookies. The coolest thing about a tuile is that, while still warm from the oven, it’s pliable. If you don’t want to cool your tuiles flat on a rack, you can gently curve them around a rolling pin, or roll them more tightly, like cannoli tubes.
I followed Clivia’s suggestion to use a “shave” less butter than the recipe called for. They come out of the oven a little greasy, so I was glad I did. R and I enjoyed our maple tuiles with a little bowl of ice cream.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or Bubie’s Little Baker. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Devilish Shortcakes
November 30, 2010 at 12:01 am | Posted in cobbler/crisp/shorties, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 19 Comments
I had a quick thought of skipping these Devilish Shortcakes and this week’s TWD. Then on Sunday, after the last of our Thanksgiving pie had disappeared, my husband asked what we’d be having for dessert. Seems as though someone’s not worried about putting on extra holiday pounds!
I’d never made chocolate shortcake biscuits before (never even thought about chocolate shortcakes before), and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. Fruit and chocolate combos aren’t usually too appealing to me, and anyway the berries right now look downright sad. But then I found a sudden burst of inspiration sitting on my counter– a banana! I caramelized banana slices with a little brown sugar, added a spoonful of peanut butter to my whipped cream, and grabbed a handful of salty peanuts and two baked shortcakes. Bingo!
The photo is a little…well…unappetizng, but these were good. It’s hard to go wrong with chocolate, peanuts and bananas, I guess. The shortcakes themselves weren’t very sweet, so I was glad I’d caramelized the fruit. I have a few more shortcakes in the freezer, so I’ll be looking through the TWD Blogroll for some more ideas for what to do with those.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or Love Big, Bake Often, as it was Tania’s pick of the week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
TWD Rewind: Cranberry Upside-Downer
November 23, 2010 at 12:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 Comments
This week the TWD crowd will be going in about 200 different directions (and I’m not just talking about holiday travel plans)– we’re having a “rewind” day to make up a missed recipe or remake a favorite. I’ve been in the group for a long time, and I think I can count on one hand the number of recipes I’ve skipped. At some point, I’d like to tick at least a few of those of the list, but not this week…this week, I’m revisiting a recipe I’ve been itching to try again.
Back in September I made a Summery Peach Upside-Downer, and I’m been thinking about trying the original Cranberry Upside-Downer version ever since. Now’s the time, especially since I’m on a cranberry roll this month! The cake was just as soft and cinnamony as I remembered from the first time. I think I actually prefer this version, though, because the tart cranberries are a perfect balance for the sticky sweetness of the butter-sugar topping. If my husband weren’t insisting on pie for Thanksgiving, I would certainly not hesitate to put this on the table on Thursday night!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Superfluous, as it was Sabrina’s choice a couple months ago. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what everyone chose to make this week! Happy US Thanksgiving!!
French Fridays with Dorie: Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans
November 12, 2010 at 6:23 pm | Posted in french fridays w dorie, groups, other savory, savory things | 9 Comments
This French Fridays with Dorie recipe isn’t a dessert flan with caramel, but a savory custard with blue cheese and walnuts. The pumpkin flan base comes together in snap thanks to canned pumpkin and the food processor. I think I was a little aggressive with the whizzing up…my flans looked like I had some tiny air bubbles trapped below the surface. No matter, they still tasted great, and baking them in a water bath ensured a creamy, soft texture. I know I usually think of pie when I think of pumpkin, but really, it’s just squash and goes wonderfully with cheese and nuts. Add a spinach salad, a piece of baguette and maybe a glass of wine, and you have dinner!
For the recipe, see Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out my fellow francophiles’ posts (not all of us are doing flan this week)!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake
November 9, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 31 Comments
I am apparently the world’s worst interior decorator. Bought a few rugs for the new house, and totally don’t like them with the furniture. Got a new mattress for the guest bed, and didn’t realize I should have gone with a low-profile boxspring…looks ridiculous…like a princess and the pea bed.
At least I can usually make a cake look nice, although it’s not hard to do when the cake has a layer of gorgeous ruby-red cranberry jam running through it. This Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake that Jessica of Singleton in the Kitchen chose for TWD seemed more puffy cookie than fluffy cake to me, but I was more than happy to gobble it up. It’s very good, and it’s not just for Thanksgiving at all. I really like a nice, tart cranberry sauce, but it could just as easily be filled with fruit jam. In fact, I’m tempted to try it with the lingonberry jam I buy from IKEA, and also to see if a half-recipe with fit in a loaf pan, because I think it would make for nice bars.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Singleton in the Kitchen. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
I have a dentist appointment today…time to see if the past six months of sweets have caught up with me! Eek!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Peanuttiest Blondies
November 2, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 21 Comments
As evidenced by the little bit of blur along the plate rim on the bottom left, I am apparently not quite grown up enough to have a set of unchipped plates. If I did act my age, though, I may not have appreciated these Peanuttiest Blondies as much as I did. With hunks of chocolate and peanuts, and lots of peanut butter, they tasted remarkably like a favorite candy bar of mine (which I ate way too many of on Sunday night, by the way). A nice crackly top and chewy on the inside gives them a homebaked feel. I think I’ll wrap one up and take it to the polls with me today.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Bakeologie, as it was Nicole’s choice for TWD this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll! I’m interested to see if anyone else had this sinking middle (why? they were not underbaked–wacky, right?).
French Fridays with Dorie: Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake
October 29, 2010 at 12:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, french fridays w dorie, groups, simple cakes, sweet things | 27 Comments
I mentioned last time we met, that R and I went apple picking in Warwick, NY. Sometimes it’s really nice to escape the city and go to a place that looks like this. It’s also nice to have a bin full of apples at home! The first thing I did with them was to make Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake.
This cake is easy to make because it’s easy to mix. No creaming required, as it uses melted butter. I actually used browned butter in my cake, which wasn’t entirely intentional (I put it on to melt before I’d had my morning coffee), but as soon as I tasted the cake, I knew it wasn’t a mistake either. Rum and vanilla flavor the apples, and while you could use cinnamon instead if you wanted, I really think that apples and vanilla are a fabulous combination. I went a tad skimpy on the sugar measurement, because although I was using a mix of apple varieties (like Dorie and her friend Marie-Hélène recommend), they were all on the sweet side. There’s really only just enough batter here to hold together all the chunks of apple, and the result is an almost puddingy-soft texture inside. Definitely one I will make again.
For the recipe, see Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Epicurious). Don’t forget to check out my fellow francophiles’ posts!
Want more apple cake? How about Double Apple Bundt Cake, Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze, Applesauce Spice Bars or Applesauce Snack Cake?
Tuesdays with Dorie: All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie
October 26, 2010 at 12:01 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 22 Comments 
Wasn’t I just whinging about having too much kitchen crap? Know what did I do right after that? I bought a new half-size deep dish pie plate! Makes a lot of sense, right? Oh bother…at least I think it will get good use. In fact, I was able to use it right away for this All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie that Emily of Sandmuffin picked for TWD.
I haven’t made a double-crust apple pie in a few years, and this one was so good (the “all-delicious” is an apt description) that it actually made me feel a little sad thinking about what I’ve been missing. This was a true deep-dish pie– it was positively stuffed with apples. In mine, I used a random mix of red and green apples that my husband and I proudly picked ourselves during an orchard outing to Warwick with the in-laws a couple of weeks ago (I probably have enough apples in the fridge to make 20 pies!). I also used flour to thicken mine, although the recipe calls for tapioca…I didn’t want to buy any, but an equal amount of AP flour worked just fine.
These last couple of pie-crusted treats have turned me on to a bad little habit…purposefully leaving myself one last mini-slice to have for breakfast with a cup of coffee. Very naughty.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Sandmuffin. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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