Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Buttermilk Scones
August 23, 2022 at 8:06 pm | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, BWD, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 CommentsTags: baking, scones
A quick search tells me we made a Buttermilk Scone recipe before, back in 2014. I have no memory of those (a BWJ recipe), or really of 2014 in general, but apparently I liked them and even said I’d make them again. Well, of course I didn’t, but now I have made these BWD Buttermilk Scones instead.
With only 2 teaspoons of sugar (could that be a typo??), other TWDers said these were more like buttermilk biscuits than sweet pastries. I bumped that up to 2 tablespoons of sugar and also sprinkled the tops with turbinado before baking. They were a sticky-but-easy mix and they got a pretty decent rise in the oven, but they still registered as only very lightly sweetened. While some butter and honey or jam (or 2 or 3 more tablespoons of sugar) would probably give them what they’re missing, they certainly did make me think of a biscuit or a cobbler topping. Since buttermilk is so lean, they also don’t have the same delicate, rich texture as a cream scone. I decided to turn a couple of my scones into strawberry shortcakes with sweetened mascarpone whipped cream and macerated berries and mint. The rest headed into the freezer for Scones Pudding next month.
If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: S’mores Ice Cream Cake
August 7, 2022 at 3:17 pm | Posted in breakfast things, BWD, groups, muffins/quick breads, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, brekkie, cake
I live in a house with no central air, so I’m always looking for a way to keep cool in the summer. S’mores Ice Cream Cake is possibly the best way I’ve found yet to get my core temp down. Think: peanut-graham crust, layers of ice cream, fluffernutter goo, fudge sauce and a mountain of toastie marshies. I scaled it down to fit in my six-inch springform, and also only used two layers of ice cream (coffee was my flavor choice) separated by the peanut fluff instead of the original three. It still weighted a ton…this is a substantial treat. The cake takes a bit of time to put together, as it needs freezing after every step, but it is so good! Seriously, my childhood dreams all came true in one fabulous sugar high.
If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan yet, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Fortune Cookies
August 1, 2022 at 11:11 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
We (TWD) started baking through Dorie’s Cookies back in 2016 with Peanut Butter Change-Ups, and now, almost six years later, here we are finishing off the book off with these Fortune Cookies! It feels weird to put a book that’s lived on my kitchen table for so long up on the shelf, but I’m excited for my baking schedule free up a bit for other stuff I haven’t had the chance to make. While it’s a bit bittersweet to finish cooking though this book, I’ll bake on with my group of friends from Baking with Dorie, so I’m very happy for that!
Back to the fortune cookies…they’re made from a standard tuile batter, flavored with vanilla and almond extracts. The trick to shaping these cookies is to work quickly, and while they are hot from the oven and pliable. Dorie recommends baking just a few cookie circles at a time, so you can fill and fold them without cracking. I have asbestos fingers and kept the cookies on the hot sheet tray to do the first fold over the fortune (rather than transferring them to the countertop, where I think they basically cool immediately, and then it becomes difficult to do the next bend). I managed to bake five at a time that way, and since I just made a half recipe, it only took me two rounds in the oven. These are thin and crisp and tasty, and reveal your fortune with just a delicate snap.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the final DC TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Gozinaki
July 19, 2022 at 7:22 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
I have sort of a Christmas in July thing going on here with these Gozinaki. Made simply of chopped, toasted walnuts bound together in a honey syrup, these are traditional holiday cookies from the country of Georgia. I didn’t have enough walnuts on hand for the recipe, so I added what pecans I had in the fridge, but I didn’t have enough pecans either, so I added flax and sunflower seeds, too. I guess I made a mash-up of both the mixed-nut and multi-seed Playing Around variations. Since I was playing around already, I added a pinch each of fine sea salt and cinnamon. The sticky nut mix is rolled out and typically cut into diamond shapes, but I just did squares for summertime ease (I guess you can rotate them a turn and they are diamond-ish??). I liked these a lot. Even though these cookies were sticky to the touch (as in, I had to pick bits of stuck-on parchment off their backsides), my birdseed blend stayed really crunchy for several days.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Crumb-Topped Ricotta Coffee Cake
July 12, 2022 at 4:45 pm | Posted in breakfast things, BWD, groups, muffins/quick breads, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, brekkie, cake
This Crumb-Topped Ricotta Coffee Cake is one of my recent baking standouts. With a heap of super-crispy (thanks to a secret ingredient…shhhh, it’s cornmeal) crumbs on top and a dense but tender cake (thanks to a not-so-secret ingredient…ricotta), it doesn’t get much better. Oh wait– what about adding a layer of fruit? Well, that would make it better, but not to worry, as this cake has that, too. I used sweet dark cherries in mine, but you could use any berry. Hiding just under the layer of crumbs, the fruit turns soft and jammy. It’s good for a breakfast, snack or dessert treat. Really, this cake hits all the notes.
If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan yet, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!
Everyday Dorie: Cornmeal-Buttermilk Skillet Cake
July 8, 2022 at 3:29 pm | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, everyday dorie, groups, muffins/quick breads, simple cakes, sweet things | 3 CommentsTags: cake, everyday dorie
This Cornmeal-Buttermilk Skillet Cake with Strawberries is one I actually whipped up a couple of years ago. With the pandemic in full swing, summer 2020 was all around good times. I, like most you, was cooking with whatever I could get my hands on or had already. Saturdays were my shopping days, masked up at the farmers’ market and wondering what would be left after waiting in block-long socially distanced lines, and then going to the grocery store for the other stuff and finding the shelves half empty. But if you know how to cook, you can make some pretty good stuff in all kinds of different circumstances…you can even have cake.
This was an easy, dump-and-stir type of cake that can be baked off as a loaf or a round (I went with the cast iron skillet option). It’s made similar to cornbread, but a little sweeter. I stirred in some strawberries, but you can use whatever berries you have, or none at all. Maybe I should make it again this summer, while the blackberries are around and more readily available.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of our cakes this week.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Chocolate-Pecan Cookies
July 5, 2022 at 2:45 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
We’ve made Dorie’s “Do-Almost-Anything” Chocolate Dough a few times now, and here it is again, making its final (!!) TWD appearance in these Chocolate-Pecan Cookies. This time we’re working chopped toasted pecans into the dough, and then before baking, we’re topping our cookies with a little mound of chopped nuts tossed in a sugar-egg white coating. Not only does this act like a glue, but it candies the top pecans nicely, too. These are good, simple cookies, and they’ve stayed crisp in the tin for a few days now, despite my sauna-like summer kitchen. I cut my dough into squares as to avoid fiddling with re-roll, and got 12 of them out of a 1/4 batch.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Mostly Rhubarb Tart
June 24, 2022 at 2:05 pm | Posted in everyday dorie, general pastry, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things | 7 CommentsTags: everyday dorie
Mostly Rhubarb Tart is just what the name says…a tart that’s mostly rhubarb, but with a little extra stuff, too. Macerated rhubarb covers the bottom of a par-baked Sweet Tart Dough crust. An easy custard, quickly whisked together but delicately rose-scented, fills in all the gaps. Then some halved strawberries are arranged here-and-there on top. I was pleased to find hot pink stalks of rhubarb at my greenmarket, and by placing the strawberries on top of everything else, they get direct heat and concentrate into deep red jammy pops. Anyway, the whole thing was very pretty and tasted like a spring day.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of our tarts this week.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Zan’s Birthday Cookies
June 21, 2022 at 10:29 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
Some baking book authors are into streamlined desserts…one bowl, one whisk and into the oven it goes. Others make you use every bowl you have, a stand mixer, two sets of measuring spoons, two sieves, multiple cookie scoops, who even knows how many whisks and spatulas, and want you to fire up the oven two separate times. Dorie often falls into the second camp, but at least you can trust you’ll get something delicious in exchange for dish duty. Zan’s Birthday Cookies involve making and chilling three different components: a chewy brownie cookie base, a coconut pastry cream and a cocoa streusel topping. Dorie says these layered treats have German chocolate cake vibes (my favorite!) and, minus the pecans, I happily agree.
Making these three components is actually not difficult. You can make them a day (or more) in advance, but I did them all this morning…I like a challenge, plus I had the extra daylight of summer solstice on my side for late afternoon photos. I made a quarter of the recipe and had enough base and crust for nine cookies. I only had enough coconut pastry cream for eight, though, so I gave the ninth one Black Forest vibes instead with a spoonful of cherry jam. Dorie says in the recipe headnote that you’ll wind up with extra streusel to use for something else, but I didn’t want to deal with that kicking around in my freezer so I just loaded up my cookies. More is more. And and extra is extra, so I also added sprinkles (which I saw Mardi do and then I couldn’t not).
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: One Big Break-Apart Chipper
June 14, 2022 at 12:04 am | Posted in BWD, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
Sometimes (most times) one little cookie isn’t enough, and for those times, there’s One Big Break-Apart Chipper. Rolled out into a thin sheet, this chocolate chip cookie slab is ideal for those who like a crispy CCC. (I feel like this style of cookie is also known as “cookie brittle” but I’m not 100% on that). Dorie includes ground cinnamon and cardamon in her recipe. I left out the cardamon because I only have whole pods and didn’t feel like getting out the spice grinder. You can add nuts if you want…I’ve been in a salty peanut mood. I made one-third of the recipe and it fit into a quarter sheet tray. This is a tasty treat, and you can break off big pieces or little pieces, depending on the cookie monsters you are baking for. It makes a good bit of crunch for an ice cream sundae or a good dipper for a cup of coffee.
If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan yet, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!
Baked Fresh Weekly
Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
