Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Meringue Snowballs
January 21, 2020 at 1:00 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 1 CommentTags: baking, cookies, meringue
Meringues aren’t something I make on the regular and they don’t really call to me in a bakery display either. It’s not that I don’t like them— I do. Their sweet crispness basically evaporates on the tongue, and that lightness is what I like about them but it’s also what keeps them from being a truly satisfying sweet. These Meringue Snowballs look so cute in the book, though, that I was game to give them a go. Dorie lists several fun ways to color and flavor them beyond the basic white sugar puff….I saw the words “mint chip” and there was pretty much no other option for me (although I kept them au naturel in color).
I whipped up a third of the recipe with a hand mixer, scooped them with a cookie scoop and gave them a few swirlies with an offset. After the necessary baking time, I let them hang out in a turned off oven for several hours while I did the day’s errands. When I finally bit into one, it did have that crisp, shattery exterior, but the center was a delicious pocket of chocolate chipped chewiness. I really enjoyed these, I must say, and a scoop of chocolate ice cream turned them into a “proper” dessert quite easily.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Chunky Chocolate Fruit-and-Nut Bars
January 14, 2020 at 1:59 pm | Posted in BCM, candy, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: candy, chocolate, nuts
Dorie describes these Chunky Chocolate Fruit-and-Nut bars as both nougat’s crunchy cousin (a very timely comparison, since we made her Honey-Nut Nougat just last month) and as a homemade version of a Chunky candy bar. The raisin-hating child version of me would not have touched a Chunky with a ten foot pole, but the adult version of me has more evolved tastes and would now gladly consume this mass-produced packaged product. Haha.
This is an easy recipe– it really is. You just need some toasted nuts, some chopped dried fruit and some melted chocolate to make it. It’s totally customizable to your tastes and to the contents of your cabinet. It’s not even really a recipe, it’s just stuff mixed together. And yet, I managed to screw a few things up and fumble my way through it. Ironic, since my day job is actually making chocolate candy.
For my nuts I used cashews, which I burned when I toasted them, so I toasted more. For my dried fruit, I used a pre-mixed blend of golden raisins, cranberries, cherries and blueberries that I buy at TJs. I also put in some crystalized ginger and some candied orange peel. For my chocolate, I used a bittersweet 72%. I decided I didn’t need to eat a full 8×8 pan of this, so I scaled everything back by a third to fit in a small loaf pan I have. Or I tried to, at least…I must have divided the chocolate incorrectly in my head, because I only had enough to coat my add-ins, not to stick them together. I just eyeballed a little more to seal my fruit and nut glob together and pressed it into the pan. Even if it looks a little rough and I needed a nap afterwards, it was all good and tasty in the end (I secretly ate up all the little bits with a spoon and they were fab!), and that’s the moral of today’s story.
Dorie recommends lining your pan with cocoa-dusted parchment paper and then dusting more cocoa on top of the finished chocolate mix and laying another piece of parchment on top as you press it in to the pan. I did line my pan with parchment, and I lined it so it acted as a sling, but I skipped all the cocoa powder and also the top parchment sheet. I’m guessing the cocoa is to help the mass release from the pan, but when chocolate gets cold it contracts, and since this is stored in the fridge, I didn’t see the need for it.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here, along with a great video). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Puffed Grain and Miso Cookies
January 7, 2020 at 8:26 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory
I buy rice cakes on the regular and usually use them as a vehicle for hummus, nut butter or smashed avo, but it had never really occurred to me that I could make my own version, with add-ins so tasty I could enjoy them just on their own. To be fair, these are Puffed Grain and Miso Cookies, not merely rice cakes, and they have a lot going on, even though they come together in a snap once you have all the ingredients. I was sort of hemming and hawing about having to buy both a bag of puffed rice and a bag of puffed barley, as the recipe calls for…then I spotted a box of Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs, decided seven grains would be even better than two, and went with that instead. I stirred in sesame seeds, cashews (instead of peanuts) and a mix of dries berries and raisins, along with the miso, brown rice syrup and sesame and olive oils. They bake in muffin cups into light, crispy-chewy, sweet-salty little rounds. No bland or stale rice cakes here!
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
TWD DC Rewind: Cocoa-Almond Uglies
December 31, 2019 at 3:21 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 1 CommentTags: chocoate, cookies, nuts
Cocoa-Almond Uglies– such an unfortunate name for something so tasty! I’d say don’t judge a book by it’s cover but I really don’t think these chocolate-almond meringue blobs are that bad looking. Knobbly with chopped nuts and chocolate, they do kind of do what they want to in the oven. But they’re unique, not ugly, and they’re very, very good. They also happen to be gluten- and dairy-free. The cookies stay chewy inside but have a crispy crust and they have great chocolate flavor. They’re like the cookie version of a Ferrero Rocher. Need I say more? I’ll have one with a glass of bubbles tonight. Happy New Year!!
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here). Don’t forget to check out the rest of this week’s rewind on the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Honey-Nut Nougat
December 24, 2019 at 8:42 am | Posted in BCM, candy, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: candy, holiday, nuts
Happy holidays! Is Christmas Eve too late to show you a fabulous edible, homemade gift idea? I admit that I am one of those last minute types, but I really think it isn’t too late, as this Honey-Nut Nougat can be ready to cut up in a just couple of hours (provided you have a candy thermometer and an abundance of nuts in your pantry). And anyway, we still have plenty of party-time ahead of us. This isn’t difficult to make, but the instructions are lengthy, and since you’ll be dealing with a hot sugar syrup, it’s advisable to read them all the way first. Trust me, I would almost never say that, as I would almost never do that, but here it’s important, because timing is everything in candy-making.
You can find nougat in every Italian deli/specialty shop year-round, but the nice thing about making it yourself, aside from the freshness and the fun, is getting to choose exactly what goes into it. Dorie’s recipe uses heaps of roasted nuts, so I went for a combo of hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios, along with tart dried cherries. Nougat is traditionally formed between sheets of edible rice/wafer paper to help with the stickiness, but you can use cornstarch and powdered sugar instead. I actually had the rice paper, which I bought the last time I was in Australia (now that I write that down, it seems like a weird souvenier)…you can also get it online and in decorating supply stores.
This is delicious–chewy and full of nuts and honey flavor–and it lasts for a few weeks, so if you don’t take it to a holiday party, you can just cut off little hunks as you want them. Which will probably be often.
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 DC: Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops
December 17, 2019 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, holiday
What happens when you take brownie batter and treat it like a crinkle cookie? You get Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops! So cute! So tasty! OMG!
Just like making brownies, this is a hand-mixed dough, so it’s easy to put together. I flavored mine with a bit of mint extract instead of vanilla, because ’tis the season for peppermint treats. The dough does need some time in the fridge to firm up before scooping, since it really more of a loose batter when just made. After you scoop and roll the dough into cookie balls, dredge it in a ton of powdered sugar. And I mean coat them well, or else the sugar will sort of absorb into the dough as the cookies bake and it won’t look like a snowy day on Mount Brownie. I baked mine for exactly the time stated in the recipe and they came out fudgy and chewy and with enough powdered sugar still clinging to the crackles to make me cough just a little. Perfect.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll.
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Touch-of-Crunch Chocolate Cake
December 10, 2019 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cake, chocolate
I totally didn’t realized what this Touch-of-Crunch Chocolate Cake was all about until I actually went to make it. I just thought, “gonna make a chocolate cake today,” and assumed it would be like most others. Then I had to switch out my cake pan for a pie plate, get a double boiler going and locate some black sesame seeds in the freezer (they’re the hidden crunch in the batter). But what a nice surprise this turned out to be. It baked up with a pretty, crackly, brownie-like crust and a rich mousse-like middle. Super chocolatey, there’s not much in the way of dry ingredient binder here…just a spoonful of flour or cornstarch. I used cornstarch to keep it GF. Dorie says that this cake shines straight from the fridge, and it does, but I actually preferred it at room temperature, when it’s smooth like a truffle, except for that touch-of-crunch from the surprise sesame seeds of course!
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 DC: Double-Ginger Molasses Cookies
December 3, 2019 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, holiday
I love these Double-Ginger Molasses Cookies. I love them so much. Not only do these molasses-spice cookies have double ginger (ground and crystalized), they also have double chocolate (cocoa and bits)! I want to share them with everyone I know, but I also want to eat them all myself. That, my friends, is the sign of a fabulous cookie.
Once you have your dough mixed and portioned into balls, you can bake the cookies free-form, but I went with Dorie’s muffin tin option, which keeps them chubby and chewy and perfectly shaped (especially if you weigh each dough ball…I used 26-28 grams per). The dough is rolled in sugar before baking…I do suggest flattening the balls into pucks before dredging them in sugar, instead of after. You can flatten them gently in your hand and then toss them in the sugar before laying them into the muffin tin. If the sugar gets pressed all the way into the dough, you might lose the sparkly, crunchy effect.
These are definitely worthy of your cookie box, your cookie swap or your secret hidden alone-time cookie tin (I know you have one!). For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll.
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Caramelized-Coffee Bean Pots de Crème
November 26, 2019 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, groups, puddings, custards, mousses, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: caramel, coffee, custard
Pots de crème are luxurious baked custards (pots of cream! and egg yolks!), and these Caramelized-Coffee Bean Pots de Crème are flavored with cracked coffee beans further roasted and toasted in caramelized sugar. Pots de crème are rich, and a small-ish serving will do. I baked these babies off in some cute little French yogurt pots that I had to go all the way to Europe to collect! Turns out it was worthwhile trip. I served my cream pots with a little whipped cream and some chocolate covered espresso beans.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll.
Everyday Dorie: Apple Custard Crisp
November 22, 2019 at 12:01 am | Posted in cobbler, crisps, shortcakes, cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, sweet things | 6 CommentsTags: baking, everyday dorie, fruit
Nothing against pie, but I honestly like a fruit crisp or crumble just as well. Some people won’t agree with this, but me, I’m mostly eating pie for the filling. Why not just skip the crust and sprinkle on a little sweet streusel instead? So much easier and just as good, IMO. This Apple Custard Crisp ups the easy deliciousness with a creamy brown sugar custard (quickly whisked up in a measuring cup) that’s poured over the apples before the streusel goes on top. My custard didn’t really come out saucy when baked, but it coated the apples luxuriously. The no-oat streusel baked up crispy and not too sweet, and the recipe for it made extra, so I have some in the freezer for another custard crisp when the urge strikes.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
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