sweet things | a whisk and a spoon

Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Mocha-Ricotta Puffs

April 17, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

I had to go out and get a tub of ricotta to make these Mocha-Ricotta Puffs, but they’re a great way to use up a bit of extra cheese if you already have it. These puffs are like little cakes, flavored with cocoa and espresso. Actually, as Dorie notes, they don’t really taste of coffee…I wouldn’t mind if that flavor was a bit more pronounced. I do like their soft texture a lot, and the way pretty way they dome and crack. I think I’d like to eat one with a big scoop of coffee ice cream!

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: 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 Comments
Tags: 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 DC: Kamish

April 3, 2018 at 9:19 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
Tags: baking, biscotti, cookies

I had never heard of Kamish before making this recipe. Turns out, it is mandelbrot, a twice-baked almond cookie, and is made just like biscotti. This recipe is full of almonds, and also some cinnamon and coconut. After the first bake, when the dough log is sliced, the individual cookies are even sprinkled with coconut-cinnamon sugar for extra pizzaz before going in for the second time. I let my kamish dry out further overnight in a turned off oven, a suggestion in the recipe’s intro for even crunchier cookies. Of course these are great dipped in coffee. Also, of course, I’ve already eaten up the end bits and all the crumbles.

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: 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!

Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Sunny-Side-Up Meringues

March 20, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies, meringue

I don’t make a lot of meringue cookies, but I do enjoy them. So sweet and crisp, I like the way they basically evaporate in my mouth. These Sunny-Side-Up Meringues playfully resemble eggs, with a nice spoonful of bright yellow curd (made of yolks) sitting in the center of each white vanilla-flavored meringue (made of whites). The recipe calls for homemade lemon curd, but I cheated a bit and brought home some passionfruit curd from work. The tartness of the curd balances nicely with the sweetness of the meringue. The meringues are easy to make, but do require a lot of time in the oven to dry out completely. I let mine sit overnight in a turned off oven for maximum crispness.

Although I got the started recipe yield, I feel like I made my meringues a little too big. Or too round. Or maybe I made the curd crater too big. They look like strange eggs, whatever it is. But they are yummy, and I’m thinking of turning a couple of unfilled cookies into pavlovas, another meringue treat I’m a big fan of.

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: Apple Weekend Cake

March 13, 2018 at 9:49 pm | Posted in BCM, breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 Comments
Tags: baking, cake

I like the concept of a “weekend cake.” It’s good to have a simple, sturdy cake that lasts for several days and travels well. Something reliable and something that everyone will like. This Apple Weekend Cake fits the bill nicely. It’s good for dessert, afternoon tea or for breakfast, so it’s multipurpose as well! Though it’s meant to be a loaf, I baked my batter off in a muffin tin. I swapped out a third of the plain flour for rye flour and kept my apple pieces chunky for some texture. I like that in addition to cinnamon and vanilla, there’s some rum in the batter. Apples and rum are BFFs in baked goods. The apple keeps this cake very moist. It hadn’t dried out at all three days later…in fact, I think it tasted better over time. I drizzled my cakelettes with a bit of reduced apple cider that I boiled down a couple of weeks ago.

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: Hamantaschen

March 6, 2018 at 12:33 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

It’s Hamantaschen time! Or at least it was last week, for Purim, when these triangular filled cookies could be found all over New York City bakeries and gourmet shops. Actually, I think most bagel shops here sell them year-round in the pastry case next to the Italian rainbow cookies and the black & whites. At the bagel shop, they know no season. I have made hamantaschen many times before at home, but have always used a butter-based recipe that’s very similar, actually, to the cookie-like sweet tart dough that we use often with TWD projects. This recipe uses oil instead and makes a very soft dough that’s kind of fiddly and needs a lot of chilling before you can work with it, and then even some more chilling while you are working with it. Mine stayed together pretty well, but I don’t mind if hamantaschen open up or leak a little. That just means there’s lots of filling and will probably be delicious. Soon out of the oven, these are like little jam tarts with a crisp shell. Let them sit awhile and they become soft, like the ones you get at the shops. Dorie’s recipe calls for making your own jam filling from dried fruits, but I cheated and took out apricot and huckleberry jams from the fridge. The apricot are my favorite.

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 and please join us if you haven’t already!

Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Chocolate Crème Caramel

February 27, 2018 at 12:45 am | Posted in BCM, groups, puddings, custards, mousses, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 Comments
Tags: caramel, chocoate, custard

Whether it’s called crème caramel or flan, I am a huge fan. I don’t get people who think it’s too eggy, but I’ll just eat their portion as well, so it’s all good. Actually this Chocolate Crème Caramel doesn’t strike me as eggy at all, since it gets an extra boost of flavor and richness from a good amount of chopped chocolate. You get a smooth chocolate custard with a fabulous liquid caramel sauce. It’s an elegant classic– so easy to make, and doesn’t use any cream! It just may create some new flan fans.

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: Bee’s Sneeze Nuggets

February 20, 2018 at 6:49 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 2 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

I am a big fan of the at-home apéro hour. I like to have just a splash of wine and a little something to nibble on while I’m preparing the rest of dinner. Makes prep time more fun. Usually I’ll go for boxed crackers with my cheese, but when the TWD pick is a “cocktail cookie,” things get a bit more exciting. These Bee’s Sneeze Nuggets are inspired by the flavors of a cocktail that’s a spin on a traditional bee’s knees. They’re flavored with gin, honey and lots of lemon, and lean savory rather than sweet. After I mixed the cookie dough and patted it out, I wasn’t sure how big to cut the nuggets. I made them really small and I love how they held their shape, rising up instead of spreading out. They look like tiny biscuits–so cute! (I’ve gotta add that I think nuggets this small would be great floating in thicker soups, in place of croutons or oyster crackers…mental note.)

You can dip them in some extra honey on the side, but to help control stickiness, I glazed each nugget with a dab of honey while they were still warm. Then I ate them with olives and cheese. A proper bee’s knees cocktail would probably be an appropriate drink choice, but due to an incident years ago (I will spare you the details), I am not a big gin drinker, so I went with red wine.

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: Cheesecake, Alsace Style

February 13, 2018 at 9:16 am | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, cheesecakes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 Comments
Tags: baking, cake, cheesecake

A Cheesecake, Alsace Style is something very different from the thick and hefty cream cheese cheesecake that New York is famous for. This Alsatian cheesecake is made much lighter with fromage blanc (or a Greek yogurt and heavy cream combo if you can’t find it). It’s the type of cheesecake that soufflés up in the oven and then falls as it cools. If a dessert can be beautiful and schlumpy at the same time, this is it. The base is a tall galette dough crust, and the fluffy filling is dotted with rum-soaked raisins. I used to be a raisin-hater but I appreciate them now, especially when they get a rum bath! Other dried fruits could be used, of course. And the cheesecake is nice served with fruit, too. I spooned some candied kumquat slices and syrup over the top to dress up my slices.