Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes
October 28, 2008 at 4:56 am | Posted in cupcakes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 38 Comments
Growing up, Halloween was totally my favorite holiday (or sort-of holiday, really). I was like Linus, waiting all year for the Great Pumpkin to appear. I went trick-or-treating long after I really should have stopped…until I was 16! Every year, when I would get home with my loot, I’d go immediately to my bedroom, tip the contents of my plastic pumpkin onto the floor and form a sort of crude candy hierarchy out of it. Things like raisins, Raisinets, Chunky Bars and Good ‘N Plenty went immediately to my parents. Then the chocolate bars were divided into order of preference– Kit Kats, Twix, Charleston Chew and Reese’s were at the top of the heap. From the “other” category, I was a special fan of rootbeer Dum Dums and Now and Laters. I wouldn’t gorge on the candy, but it eat it slowly and methodically over the month of November…the whole process seems quite demented now that I think about it.
When Clara of I Heart Food4Thought asked us to put a costume on the Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes she’d chosen for TWD, I was happy to get in the spirit of things, so to speak. I was chin-deep in packing materials when I made these, however, so I didn’t have too much time for creativity– thank goodness for colored sprinkles!
If you have Dorie’s book, you may notice that my cupcakes don’t look quite the same as hers, and it’s not just that mine are crawling with spiders! I finally polished off a bag of white chocolate pistoles, that had been my life’s mission to use up before I left Sydney, by making white chocolate frosting instead of dark. (That accomplished, I’ll now have to find a new, and hopefully less frivolous, life’s mission.) I didn’t actually measure the powdered sugar in the frosting recipe…just kept adding until it was spreadable.
These were good…nothing life-altering, buy hey, they’re just simple chocolate cupcakes after all. I’d make them again, though, for sure. Do test them early, as there were several reports of dry cupcakes in the TWD group…I pulled mine from the oven about two minutes before the recommended time, and they were just fine. For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read CB’s post. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say! Happy Halloween!!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins
October 21, 2008 at 5:14 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, tuesdays with dorie | 52 Comments
It’s spring-time warm here, and pumpkin would be the last thing on my mind if it weren’t for the fact that Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp chose these muffins for TWD. I’d actually better get used to the idea of cool weather foods, and quick, because come Friday, I’ll be back in the States! That’s right–this is my last TWD from Oz…I’ve already done next week’s recipe, but I won’t be able to post “early” anymore. Boo.
I’ve never noticed canned (or tinned) pumpkin in Australian grocery stores. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong aisle, I don’t know, but I assume it’s just not popular here. I would have had to roast and mash my own if I hadn’t had a can of Libby’s that I brought back from home. As an aside, which my American friends may or may not find interesting, all the hard-skinned gourds are referred to as “pumpkin” here (not just the orange ones that I think of in the US). For instance, I’ve gotten used to calling butternut a pumpkin, not a squash.
So, armed with my Libby’s, I was ready to tackle Dorie’s muffin recipe. I started by dividing it half (to make just six) and replacing the raisins with dried cranberries. Then I decided to skimp on the butter a bit, leaving out one tablespoon and replacing it with an additional tablespoon of buttermilk. The baked muffins were moist and soft, so I never even noticed that bit of butter was missing. What was missing, though, were the nuts! I had the exact amount of walnuts needed for this…they were right there on the counter…and that’s where they stayed. Oops! Early morning baking is apparently not my forte. Oh well–they found a new home in a spinach salad instead.
I can’t say that I ever crave pumpkin muffins, but I liked these a lot. I’ll make them again if I have an open can that needs to be used up. Next time, I’ll be sure to remember the nuts!
For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Kelly’s post. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what close to 300 other people had to say!
The Cake Slice: Cappuccino Chiffon Cake
October 20, 2008 at 6:39 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 33 Comments
I’ve joined a new baking group, and I couldn’t be more excited! Gigi and Katie thought it would be fun to actually use the cookbooks they have on the shelves, and so The Cake Slice was born. The premise is easy: we bake from one book per year, making a different recipe each month. This year’s book is a great one, covering a subject dear to my heart–Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne.
The first of what promises to be twelve amazing layer cakes is a Cappuccino Chiffon Cake. Chiffon cake is light as cloud, and relies on air (in the form of a meringue) to give it a sky-high rise, with a little baking powder mixed in for “insurance” purposes. Because it’s made with oil instead of butter, it’s not incredibly flavorful in and of itself, but its texture makes it a perfect vehicle for soaking up a flavored syrup.
This cake looks and tastes sophisticated, but it’s really quite basic–three layers of espresso-flavored chiffon soaked in a coffee simple syrup, finished off with heaps of whipped cream. Wanting to pack as much cappuccino flavor as I could into the cake, I skipped over to the coffee shop on the corner and bought a few shots of strong espresso to use in the cake batter and the syrup. The only change I made to the recipe was that I switched out the rum in the soaking syrup for Kahlua.
I love the lightness of whipped cream frosting, but I have to admit that I’m always a little nervous when actually icing a cake with it. It’s so fragile that messing around with it just a bit too much can overwork it in a hurry. As someone who will muck about with buttercream icing for half an hour trying to get it just so, I had to try hard to just get the whipped cream on there, throw the spatula in the sink and walk away.
I wondered how the whipped cream would hold up, but this cake lasted nicely for a couple days in the fridge. It became even tastier as syrup soaked its way through the cake layers. There’s a little cinnamon in the cake batter…I really love it in combination with the espresso. I don’t allow myself to have an afternoon coffee any more (too many sleepless nights), but I’ll make an exception anyday for a slice of cappuccino chiffon cake!
Visit Gigi and Katie for the recipe, and cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our chiffon cakes!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Lenox Almond Biscotti
October 14, 2008 at 4:28 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 60 Comments
Is this picture ridiculous? Of course I did not store the Lenox Almond Biscotti I made for TWD in this jar. I couldn’t close the lid without destroying them. That would be dumb, possibly even self-defeating. I just need better props.
Anyway, we have Gretchen of Canela & Comino to thank for this week’s recipe choice. I knew before baking these biscotti that they would go over well. R, being the good half-Sicilian that he is, loves crunchy, almondy Italian bakery cookies.
You probably know that biscotti are sturdy, crunchy and “twice baked”…they first go into the oven as large log to set the dough, and then again when that dough is sliced into individual cookies. During the first bake, my biscotti log certainly spread, as I knew it should, but it didn’t poof. The finished product was much flatter than I expected or hoped. I decided to cut them a little wider to compensate for their sad, deflated look. I must have done something screwy, because I’ve seen others make this recipe with picture-perfect results. I was kind of pissed at myself, but they tasted *fantastic*, so I got over it soon enough.
I definitely had to increase the times for both the the first and second bakes…I can’t really tell you how much extra time I added, but for the first bake, I left the log in the oven until it no longer had visible raw spots. For the second bake, I made sure the slices were crisped through before taking them out of the oven.
I followed Dorie’s cue to add a couple extras to the dough…a big pinch of cinnamon (that was for Gretchen, although I chickened out on the cumin!) and a handful of white chocolate chunks (there is still a tiny bit left in the bag). The full amount of almond extract sounded quite overpowering, and too much can be a little artificial-tasting, I think, so I did choose to go skimpy on that. Also, I used slivered almonds instead of sliced, because that’s what’s I had.
The finished cookies were crunchy and craggy– perfect with coffee, or with ice cream! Quite sweet, too, but then again I did add white chocolate. The cornmeal in the recipe gives a golden boost to the color of the cookie dough, and a rustic, gritty crunch (which I like, but I know some aren’t crazy about).
For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (she also has it here on NPR’s website) or read Gretchen’s post. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake
October 7, 2008 at 5:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 63 Comments
My blog buddy Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy picked a winning recipe for this week’s TWD–Dorie’s Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake. These are three good things that go well together, let me tell you!
Although it’s called a “brownie cake,” it’s not as dense and fudgy as a brownie. It definitely has a cake-like crumb, but is quite moist. (Mine dipped a little in the center as it cooled, but Dorie suggests that that’s normal.) I’m running a little low on vanilla extract, and trying to save my last few drops for something where it’s really needed. Here I replaced it with a sprinkle of instant espresso and a splash of Kahlua added to the warm melted chocolate and butter. I often put espresso powder in my brownies, so hey, why not here?
You can probably tell from the top picture that I made a half-recipe (a 6-incher). I made even less caramel…I figured 1/3 of the full amount was all I’d really need. Rather than pour the caramel-peanut sauce over the whole cake, I spooned it over the cut slices. That way I could easily (and cleanly) wrap and save the remaining cake overnight.
Sweet and salty, this has all the flavors of a yummy candy bar! For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Tammy’s post. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Wattleseed Crème Brûlée
September 30, 2008 at 9:15 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 54 Comments
Who doesn’t like crème brûlée? At every restaurant I’ve worked in, if brûlée is on the dessert menu, it outsells all the rest. Although I’m not so keen to order it myself (other things always seem much more interesting), I do like it, too. With that crunchy caramelized top, and silky smooth custard, how could I not? It’s Mevrouw Cupcake Mari’s choice for TWD this week.
Dorie’s recipe is unusual, in that, instead of baking the custards in a water bath at about 300°F, they’re baked at a much lower 200°F, without water. I was a little skeptical, but they set up nicely in about 50 minutes. I don’t have proper crème brûlée dishes so I used little teacups instead.
I flavored my brûlées with ground wattleseed, which I steeped in the warm milk and cream (one teaspoon for the two servings I made). The wattleseed gave it a lovely color and taste, much like café au lait. And then of course, there is the sugary top…
For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Mevrouw Cupcake. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
Daring Bakers in September: Lavash Crackers & Toppings
September 27, 2008 at 6:42 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, savory things, snacks, yeast breads | 51 CommentsTags: baking, savory, snacks
This month we had our first “Alternative” Daring Bakers’ Challenge! Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl teamed up to bring us a two-part challenge. The first part involved making homemade lavash. Lavash are thin Armenian-style crackers. They are very popular here in Australia, and packets go for big bucks in the gourmet stores. Funny how easy it is to make them yourself! Lavash are great with cheese, but the second part of this challenge was to concoct a vegan and gluten-free spread or dip to go with them.
Lavash dough is a simple yeasted dough, rolled out thin and often sprinkled with a seedy topping. We were allowed to flavor the dough itself if we so desired, so I subbed a couple of tablespoons of the bread flour for wheat germ. This gave the baked crackers a subtle, almost Wheat Thins-like flavor. I made a full batch of the dough and divided it into two pieces–one to use straight away, and one to park overnight in the fridge. I used different toppings and made a different spread for each.
When it came time to roll the dough, I busted out my pasta machine (for the first time since moving to Sydney, so I was glad to actually have used it and justified its move). I’ve made some form of cracker in every restaurant I’ve worked in, and have always used a pasta machine to roll them out. It makes such quick work of it and is the easiest, least frustrating way to get your crakcers paper thin. Use the lasagna sheet section, work with one bit of dough at a time, and take it down to the thinnest setting.
For my first batch of cracker, I rolled out long, wide pieces that I sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper and Kosher salt before baking (brushing on a little water first acts as glue for the topping). I simply broke these big pieces into more manageable shards after baking. I served them with a chunky avocado relish with heaps of cilantro, lemon juice and spices.
For my second batch of cracker, I got a bit more fussy. Instead of just baking off big pieces in whatever form they took when rolled, I used a pastry wheel to cut them into rectangular crackers. I sprinkled them with poppy seeds and Maldon salt. I had a huge bag of fava beans (a.k.a broad beans) from the farmers’ market, so I took about half of them and whizzed them into a dip for this batch of lavash.
I was really pleased with challenge! The lavash and dips made perfect pre-dinner snacks (with a glass of wine, not too shabby!). And how impressed would your friends be if you served them homemade crackers at a dinner party?
Check out the DB blogroll! And visit Gluten A Go Go or Musings From the Fishbowl for the lavash recipe (which was adapted from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart). I made my two spreads pretty much freehand, but the basic procedures are below.
Chunky Avocado Relish
1 avocado
leafy green herb (such as basil or cilantro)
juice of half a lemon
olive or avocado oil
ground spices to taste (I used garam masala, cayenne, and cumin)
salt and black pepper to taste
-Scoop out the avocado and dice into chunks. Chop your herb. In a small bowl, make a dressing from the lemon juice, a slight splash of oil, the spices and salt and pepper. Add the avocado and herb to the bowl and toss gently to mix.
Fava Bean Dip
1 1/2 cups fava beans, shelled from the outer pod
1 clove of garlic
leafy green herb (such as basil, parsley or cilantro)
squirt of lemon juice
olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
-Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Blanch the fava beans for about thirty seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and shock in ice water. Pop the garlic clove, peeled or unpeeled, into the boiling water and blanch for about 1 minute (this just helps take the edge off the raw garlic).
-Pop the papery outer skins off the blanched fava beans and discard. Peel the garlic clove if you haven’t already, and rough chop.
-Put the fava beans, garlic, lemon juice, herbs, splash of olive oil, salt and pepper into a mini food processor. Pulse until it’s the consistency you like (you can use a couple tablespoons of water to thin out, if needed). Taste for seasoning.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Dimply Peach Cake
September 23, 2008 at 5:49 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 49 Comments
Michelle of Bake-En selected Dorie’s Dimply Plum Cake for this week’s TWD. I’ve read about this little breakfast cake all over the place, so I was really looking forward to trying it. Unfortunately, stone fruits are not in season just yet here in Australia. I had to take what I could get on this one, and what I could get were a couple of rock-hard peaches. I stuck ’em in a paper bag and crossed my fingers that they’d ripen after a few days.
Well, they didn’t really ripen at all, and frankly I was surprised that I could even get the pits out, but I charged ahead with my out of season fruit anyway. I went with one of Dorie’s “playing around” suggestions and added a few shredded basil leaves instead of citrus zest to the cake batter. I kept in the cardamom, which is a spice I love, and added a pinch of cinnamon, too. To try and help the crunchy peaches along a bit, I sprinkled each exposed half with sugar just before putting the cake in the oven, and then a couple more times during the baking process as well.
Such a cute cake– I loved the fruity dimples, and the peach halves looked almost like hearts! What I’ve hidden from you in these photos, though, is a little patch of raw batter left under each peach half. Drat– I couldn’t get that part to cook through for the life of me! In a flash of genius while taking these photos, I thought that if I flipped the individual slices upside-down on a baking sheet and stuck them under the broiler for a minute, I cook get the raw bits to firm up. And it worked! (That technique might get a little messy with a whole large cake.) There was no time to take extra pics, however, as the coffee was good to go, and R was grumbling that breakfast was already taking too long.
I made half a recipe and baked it in a standard-sized loaf pan. Leftovers weren’t a problem, as R and I polished off the whole thing in one sitting! The peaches did sweeten and soften nicely in the oven (I do think the sugar sprinklings helped), and I loved the warm, spicy cardamom flavor. Although R was initially suspicious, the basil was a really nice touch, too…I should bake with herbs more often.
For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (she also has it on Serious Eats) or read Bake-En. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Chunkers
September 16, 2008 at 4:15 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 54 Comments
Just reading the recipe for this cookie is enough to make you grab a tube of Clearasil and apply a proactive smear all over your face. You may initially feel relief upon only seeing 3 tablespoons of butter, but look a little closer, and you’ll see 1+(6×3)=19…19 ounces of chocolate! This cookie is basically bits of chocolate held together with a smidge of brownie batter. Before you think I’m poo-pooing the Chocolate Chunkers (did someone say poo-poo? hmmm…I won’t go any further, but I think you know what I mean), let me make it clear that they are insanely good! Thanks to Claudia of Fool for Food for picking it for TWD this week! And a special shout-out to Mari…I did totally copycat you with the cooling rack thing (although yours is cuter!). What can I say? I am out of ideas for cookie photography at this point.
This recipe is easily divides in half, but I toughed out the math to cut it down to just a third. I didn’t want to blow my whole chocolate stash in one swoop. Dorie notes that good chocolate is a must here, and she ain’t kidding. For the label-curious, I used cocoa powder by Valrhona, bittersweet by Scharffen Berger, unsweetened (well, really 85%) by Lindt, milk by Green & Black’s and white by Belcolade. Semisweet was also in the recipe, but I don’t have any, so I used a bittersweet/milk combo instead. It’s not all chocolate in here, though…there are nuts and dried fruit going on, too. I decided to toss in coconut flakes rather than raisins, which I don’t like, and toasted almonds. The whole thing was deliciuosly Almond Joy-esq.
A couple of observations…if you chill this dough, it becomes rock-hard! For easier shaping, and the well-being of your cookie scoop, you may want to let it come to room temp before digging into it. Also, my cookies didn’t want to flatten at all in the oven, so at the half-way point I helped them out by giving them a gentle smoosh with a silicone spatula.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Claudia’s post to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
P.S.: This week I’m Port Douglas, Queensland. I know, I know…I’ve been travelling a lot lately. Back over the weekend!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
September 9, 2008 at 5:20 am | Posted in cookies & bars, events, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 63 Comments
We had a great week in New Zealand…the South Island is so beautiful, with so many different landscapes, it almost doesn’t look real in some places. And the baby sheep (otherwise known as lambs, I guess)–heart-meltingly cute! Lots of good food and vino, too (so much that, even though we brought back several bottles of wine, I am on the wagon for the next couple weeks). Should you ever go to Christchurch, do yourself a favor and check out Restaurant Schwass. Same goes for Gibb’s Vineyard Restaurant in Blenheim in the Marlborough wine region.
Enough rambling–on to the cookies! Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops are the TWD choice of Rachel from Confessions of a Tangerine Tart. These cookies are really Maltesers drops, the brand of malt ball sold here. A lot of people say they are better than Whoppers, but I haven’t had a Whopper in a very long time, so I can neither confirm nor deny this. (If you live in Brooklyn, though, the dark chocolate espresso malt balls sold at Two For the Pot on Clinton Street are most definitely the best ever!) I was pleased to notice a dark version of Maltesers, and that’s what I used here.
I, of course, only made half a batch of cookies, and they were a bit of a test-kitchen experiment for me. I don’t have any malted milk powder, and I wasn’t about to buy a big canister of Milo or Ovaltine just to make cookies. I do, though, have barley malt syrup and powdered milk, so for my half-batch I used 1/2 cup of powdered milk and 2 teaspoons of malt syrup in place of the malt powder. Luckily, they were not a total mess! Malt syrup is strong stuff, and the flavor here is definitely noticeable. I did do something that some may consider a sin–I cut back the amount of chopped malt balls and chocolate chunks (for which I used white instead of dark) by about 25%. It was still plenty, trust me, but I guess that’s why I don’t see as many chunky bits on the surface of mine as in Dorie’s book picture.
The first night, we ate them straight up, and they were so soft and chewy that R commented that they would be the perfect ice cream sandwich cookie. Well, I can’t ignore a comment like that, so the next day I made a batch of vanilla malted ice cream. He was right–they were great, albeit a little drippy.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Confessions of a Tangerine Tart to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
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