Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Hazelnut, Ginger and Olive Oil Cake
August 28, 2018 at 9:26 pm | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: baking, cake
This Hazelnut, Ginger and Olive Oil Cake is an easy little loaf cake to whip up by hand, but as you can tell from the name, it has a lot going on flavor-wise (and there isn’t even mention of the cornmeal and butter that are in the mix, too). This is a recipe that I’ve breezed past many times in the book without really noticing it. Turns out, it’s the perfect cake to go with summer fruit. Here, I had it with nectarines (my very favorite!) and blueberries, last night, with red plums and the final bit tonight went with leftover wine-poached cherries. I made my own hazelnut flour for this by grinding whole nuts in the food processor, along with the regular flour and cornmeal to keep them from turning into a paste, and I used a nice, flavorful olive oil. It’s a rich and moist cake that feels special. I’ll make it again for sure…I even noted on the recipe page, “very good!”
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Cold Chocolate Crémeux, Wine-Poached Cherries and Lots of Crumbs
August 14, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, cookies & bars, groups, jams & preserves, other sweet, puddings, custards, mousses, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 10 CommentsTags: baking, chocolate, custard, fruit
If Cold Chocolate Crémeux, Wine-Poached Cherries and Lots of Crumbs sounds pretty cheffy, that’s because it’s inspired by a dessert Dorie had a bistro in Paris. A crémeux is essentially a custard that’s thickened with gelatin. It’s not hard to make and sets up dense and rich, especially when it also has a lot of good dark chocolate blended in! The crumbs are cocoa-flavored streusel bits, and wine-poached cherries are just what they sound like…I used an Aussie shiraz in my poaching liquid. Serve this dessert in a cute little bowl…you’ll have a combination of textures and sweetness levels.
Like most desserts with multiple components, it helps when you can get some of them out of the way ahead of time. The cherries can be poached well in advance and kept jarred in the fridge. The cocoa crumbs, too, but I’d keep them in the freezer for longer-term storage. Any extra cherries and crumbs you may find yourself with will be good toppings for an ice cream sundae later…just sayin’.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Classic Fruit Tart
July 10, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 11 CommentsTags: baking, fruit, tarts
This Classic Fruit Tart is the type you’ll encounter in just about every French bakery case. A sweet shell, filled with pastry cream and topped with lots of berries, they are always eye-catching and so tempting. But they are really so easy to make at home, and very often, much tastier. Made at home, you can control when you assemble it, so the shell stays crisp and the berries fresh and vibrant. You can even play around with the flavors. I took the regular vanilla pastry cream and added a bit of almond extract to it, too, because I like that flavor with berries. I made mini tarts just so I can fill them as we want them, since there are only two of us. I couldn’t fit that many different fruits on top of my mini tartlets…space was a little restricted. I went with teensy tristar strawberries and some pink champagne currents. Then I filled in the gaps with some white chocolate Valrhona crunchy pearls. Maybe tomorrow’s pair will have raspberries in place of the strawberries, or maybe even rhubarb compote. Options, options.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Black-and-White Baked Alaska
June 26, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, ice creams & frozen, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: baking, cake, ice cream
What do I have to say about Baked Alaska? Cake & ice cream & meringue…really, do I need to say more? I think not, but I will say just enough to tell you that the cake here is a flourless chocolate souffléd brownie-type thing, and while the ice cream could have been any kind, I chose coffee. Those two flavors are a match that can only be made better with swirls of sticky meringue. I made individual-sized Alaskas, rather than a large one, so I was a little concerned about browning the meringue in the oven. I thought they might be too delicate for that, so I used my blowtorch instead…which is more fun anyway…maybe next time I’ll try setting it on fire.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Cowgirl Cornmeal-Pecan Financiers
June 12, 2018 at 10:48 pm | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, cake
I like the little nutty, buttery French cakes called financiers. These Cowgirl Cornmeal-Pecan Financiers are a perfect Franco-American take on the classic. An easy melt-and-mix batter flavored with cornmeal, ground toasted pecans and plenty of browned butter bakes into a decadent treat. I have a silicone mold that’s in the traditional financier bar shape and used it here instead of my mini muffin tin. To avoid eating too many of these tasty butter bars, I decided to cut just one into bite-sized pieces and kind of extend it into a larger dessert with some berries, dulce de leche whipped cream and candied pecans. I plated it up pretty for a picture before giving it to my husband. Then I took the same components and just tossed them together in a little bowl for myself. Equally delicious, although maybe less photogenic.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
TWD BCM Rewind: Rose-Scented (Loaf) Cake
May 29, 2018 at 7:48 am | Posted in BCM, breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cake
A couple of summers ago the group made the Rose Fraisier cake from BCM. I’m not exactly sure why I sat that recipe out, but it most likely had something to do with not wanting to make pastry cream. Flash forward two years and I still don’t feel like making pastry cream (some things don’t change), so I decided for this rewind to make Dorie’s Bonne Idée take on the recipe. Instead of being a multi-component layer cake, it’s a simple Rose-Sented Loaf Cake. When I say simple, I mean simple. It’s a yogurt and oil-based cake you can stir up in about five minutes with just a bowl and a whisk. I’m pretty sure Dorie uses the base recipe for several other flavor variations because, not only is it a very good cake, making it felt very familiar to me.
I made a half-recipe of the cake batter and rather than baking it in a loaf pan, I put it into my baked donut pan. That pan had gotten zero use because I’ve decided that I like my donuts fried (and also purchased at a donut shop so I don’t have to do the frying). But a baked donut pan is really just an individual cakelette pan, and one that gives a nice little divot in the middle for piling on yogurt whipped cream and roasted strawberries to boot. Even though I was too lazy for pastry cream, I still wanted the flavors of the Rose Fraisier, and the rose-strawberry-cream combination is a lovely and elegant one.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll to see other rewinds!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Springtime Cookies and Curd with Double-Butter Double-Baked Petit Beurre Cookies
May 22, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, cookies & bars, groups, other sweet, puddings, custards, mousses, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, curd
Here are both of this month’s BCM recipes in one nifty post. I’d say I love the efficiency, but actually, I had to get together a lot of bits and pieces before I could stick a spoon in this Springtime Cookies and Curd dessert and call it done. This is a layered treat…cookies, curd, rhubarb and strawberries…oh my! I began by making Double-Butter Double-Baked Petit Beurre Cookies, which I can assure you are double-good. They’re made in an unusual way, starting with buttery baked streusel-like crumbles, to which even more butter is added to hold them together into a rough dough. I knew this would be tricky to work with, so I skipped the step of rolling out the dough and then cutting and transferring delicate rounds. Instead, I pressed the dough into rings, chilled everything well and baked the cookies right in those rings.
Once the cookies were baked and cooled, I got everything else together. Sometimes the state of my fridge drives me nuts, while other times I am thankful for all the little jars of this and that I have kicking around. Taking shortcuts where you can is nothing to be ashamed of. I had passion fruit curd in the fridge already, as well as stewed rhubarb, so I used those. Rather than make a strawberry compote I just diced up some fresh berries. I put all these together in a coupe, beginning and ending with cookie bits, and it made a beautiful and delicious springtime dessert. And the cookies are fabulous on their own…very buttery, a tiny bit salty and with a texture that can’t be beat.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Viennese Sablés
April 24, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 10 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
It’s BCM week, but here I am with another cookie for you. This time I come with Viennese Sablés, which Dorie describes well as being a lot like the butter cookies in the blue tin. Traditionally, these are piped into a “W” shape. I happily went along with that since my last name begins with “W,” but thew in a couple of other random squiggles for good measure. Because even a good vanilla butter cookie can use a little chocolate, I packed a few of these up and brought them to work to dip into the bowl of dark chocolate that I temper everyday. These are perfect for tea or coffee time.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Apple Matafan
April 10, 2018 at 7:31 am | Posted in BCM, breakfast things, groups, other sweet, pancakes & waffles, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 10 CommentsTags: baking, breakfast, pancakes
I’m pretty sure I nominated Apple Matafan a million times for TWD. Finally it’s getting it’s moment in the spotlight! Of course it helped that only two of us voted this month (and one of us was yours truly). Good things come to those who wait…I think we all agree that it is delicious. A matafan is a pancake cooked in a skillet. Traditionally they are savory, but this one’s sweet and loaded with sliced apple. I made a half-sizer in my little cast iron pan. It took less time to cook through than instructed for the larger size and was probably more manageable to flip, too.
This reminds me of a pancake version of the Custardy Apple Squares we made way back when. It’s a great thing to make if you have a couple of apples that have been hanging out in the fridge a bit too long. There’s no doubt this would be delicious with maple syrup, but I have some apple cider that I boiled down into a syrupy consistency and spooned that over the top. We ate this one for breakfast, but it would also make a fine dessert (with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream, perhaps?).
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Pailles
March 27, 2018 at 4:43 pm | Posted in BCM, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 Comments
If you’ve ever had a palmier, this is a similar concept…Pailles are like two palmiers sandwiched with jam. Similar to palmiers, you maneuver a sheet of puff pastry through a series of sugaring, folding and cutting to wind up with a pastry that’s a squiggle of a zillion sweet layers. I like things like this to be well-caramelized– no pale spots! I filled my bronzed pailles with huckleberry jam, finally finishing off a jar that I feel I’ve had forever. Sweet satisfaction all around.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here, but I have to say, I found the picture of the process included in the book’s recipe to be very helpful. I have a short attention span for long instructions. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
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