Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Marbled Cheesecake
March 25, 2025 at 3:23 pm | Posted in BWD, cakes & tortes, cheesecakes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, brekkie, cake
There are a couple of easy, basic things that, even after 20+ years of professional pastry experience, I am still not good at. I think I will never be able to make even, attractive slice-and-bake cookies. And I really have just about given up on marbling, as I’m sure you can see from the weak squiggles on top of my Marbled Cheesecake. Well, I guess it’s not all about looks and, especially if you’re baking at home, tastiness is most important. With pockets of chocolate in a vanilla cheesecake and a graham cracker crust flavored with espresso and cinnamon, tastiness here is a sure bet.
I downsized this baby to a 6-inch cheesecake (which still provided four nights of dessert for the two of us) using 1/3 of the batter recipe, but because I am a huge crumb crust fan, I went a bit heavier on that part and used 40% of the graham crust. I baked the cheesecake in the oven for the full 90 minutes because it was still so loose when I gave it a quick shimmy earlier. I’d probably rethink that next time with a 6-incher and turn the oven off after an hour and fifteen. Since it’s left in there to cool down along with the oven, I the think carry-over from that rest would have finished the job.
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 BWD: Biscuits Rose
March 11, 2025 at 7:57 pm | Posted in BWD, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
Here’s a new-to-me cookie that’s in fact over 250 years old. Biscuits Rose have a long history in the Champagne region city of Reims, where they were, and I bet still are, dipped in and nibbled with glasses of bubbles. Sounds delightful…I’ll have to investigate more in person one day.
Based on the name and the pretty color, I thought they’d for sure have some rose flavoring in the mix. Nope, they are just pink with a bit of vanilla extract. The batter is a separated egg sponge that’s similar to ladyfingers with a rosy tint. The “real deal” biscuits are rectangular in shape, but I broke out a piping bag (which I rarely do) to make the homemade version. The piped biscuits are twice-dusted with powdered sugar and then they are twice-baked, or rather they are baked and then allowed to cool down and crisp up in the turned-off oven. What you get are pink, sweet, very crunchy dry cookies that I can tell you are good dipped in coffee, if you don’t happen to be popping the cork off a bottle of Champagne.
If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan (you can also read more about the cookies here), 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!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Brioche Sandwich Buns
February 25, 2025 at 1:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, BWD, groups, other savory, savory things, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 8 CommentsTags: baking, cheese, savory
We’ve made a whole host of treats from Dorie’s brioche dough over the years, but this is the first time we’ve turned it into Brioche Sandwich Buns. They are soft, golden, buttery bubbles and they make any sandwich, be it jam, egg, tuna or ham, even tastier.
Dorie cautions against dividing her brioche dough recipe in half, but I really don’t need that much bread- even delicious brioche- hanging around, so I did it anyway. I think I also used this made-up method when we baked the babka and only needed half the dough recipe…I mixed the dough with the paddle attachment until I had all the butter nicely incorporated, and then switched to the hook for kneading. The paddle helped the butter incorporate into the smaller amount of dough, rather than just smearing it on the sides of the mixer bowl like the hook would. I decided to shape some different sized buns for different purposes (as shown below). I made two regular-sized round buns for burgers and two smaller round buns for egg sandwiches. Three smaller oval buns were for little snack sandwiches (as shown above). I think they rose just fine and tasted great.
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: Brown-Sugar Oat Squares
February 11, 2025 at 9:31 pm | Posted in BWD, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
These Brown-Sugar Oat Squares may not be too fancy, but they sure are good. And they couldn’t be easier to make– the dough is zipped up in the food processor in about a minute. They’re buttery little cookies, with flour, oats, brown sugar and some spices all whirled up in the processor. Pat that stuff into a pan, scatter some extra oats and turbinado over the top, and into the oven it goes.
I made half the recipe in my 6-inch square pan. I lined it with a parchment sling and just lifted the baked cookie slab out of the pan rather than flipping it out. There was still some oat topping loss while moving it around, but it was minimal. I cut my slab into 12 little pieces, so my squares are really rectangles, but they all taste the same. Mine are more crisp than chewy but I don’t mind and I can tell they’ll keep well in the tin through the week…as long as I pace myself.
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!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Coffee Shortbread
January 14, 2025 at 9:56 pm | Posted in BWD, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
We’ve baked our way through multiple Dorie books, which means we’ve also baked multiple Dorie shortbread recipes. I can tell shorties are a favorite of hers and I always think they’re good, so I was looking forward to this Coffee Shortbread version.
Here, her buttery shortbread base (which I think is pretty much the same as shortbreads from Dorie’s Cookies) is flavored with instant espresso, lemon zest (I subbed clementine) and cardamom. I’m into it. Pressed in a cake pan, docked and crimped, these are cut into cute wedges after they’re baked. I opted for the glaze, but I skipped the egg white bit and just whisked together powdered sugar with a splash of milk and a pinch more espresso powder and salt. These were perfect with- you guessed it- coffee!
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!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Yuzu Ginger Cake
December 24, 2024 at 9:16 pm | Posted in breakfast things, BWD, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, brekkie, cake
I had every intention of baking this cake by the book as an Orange Spice Cake with my bag of Christmas clementines and a ground mulling spice mix I concocted…but the other day I saw that my grocery store had fresh yuzu, which they never have, so I impulse-bought a couple. Then I remembered I had a jar of yuzu marmalade (another impulse buy) in the fridge with just a few spoonfuls left, and my own playing around version– Yuzu Ginger Cake– was born.
This has a familiar feel to some other Dorie cakes we’ve made. She calls these types of cakes “visiting cakes” since they are easy to bake, are sturdy enough to travel well and keep for several days. With heavy cream and butter in the batter, a compact crumb and nice outer crust, this one seemed like a citrus pound cake. I made just a half recipe of the batter, which only took about 40 minutes to bake, although I think I should I picked a slightly smaller pan than I did to get a taller loaf. It smelled great with the yuzu zest and juice and fresh grated ginger that I used. I noticed that a couple of folks who made it for December’s first TWD posting found their cakes to be a tad dry, so as soon as mine came out of the oven, and before glazing with marmalade, I poked holes all over it and drizzled it with a yuzu liqueur I keep on my bar cart. Can you tell it’s a favorite flavor? Not the holiday-scented cake I’d originally imagined it would be, but a fun bake and a delicious treat.
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 BWD: Rugelach with (two of) Four Fillings
December 10, 2024 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWD, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
The fact that I made two of the fillings for the Rugelach with Four Fillings is probably the closest my little cookie tin is going to get to one of those fancy holiday cookie box assortments that I’ve started to see pop up all over Instagram. No complaints from me though– rugelach is a treat! We’ve made lots of Dorie’s rugelach recipes before, and here we take the easy cream cheese dough and our choice of filling and simply roll them up into slice-and-bake logs. The dough is super thin and flaky, and the filling makes a cute spiral in the middle.
Of the four filling options Dorie gives for her rugelach spirals, I chose the babka one with a cocoa and cinnamon paste and the classic jam one. For the jam filling, I used fig jam, crimson raisins, the cinnamon sugar and walnuts, but I left out the chocolate chips. I brought some of each to my college alumnae association holiday party last week and they all disappeared quickly. I am a rabid chocoholic, so it surprises me to say that I gave a slight edge to the jam-filled ones.
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!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Maple-Walnut Pie
November 30, 2024 at 10:14 pm | Posted in BWD, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, pie
Over here, Thanksgiving dessert is usually pumpkin pie, but after going off script last year, I decided once again to switch things up. Crazy, right? This time I went with a Maple-Walnut Pie. It’s pecan pie-adjacent, so it feels familiar enough for a holiday with some strict food traditions, but uses walnuts (obvi) and a “goo” made with maple syrup instead of corn syrup. A few weeks ago when I baked my Tarte Tatin, I thought of future me and prepped an extra round of All-Butter Pie Dough for this pie.
Dorie does give a “playing around” option here for a traditional pecan pie, but I really liked the sweetness level of the maple-based filling so much (i.e., it’s less sweet), that from now on, I think I’ll make my pecan pies with it instead. After my pie cooled a bit, I glazed it with a little extra maple syrup for shine and sprinkled on some flaky salt.
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 BWD: Tarte Tatin
November 12, 2024 at 4:00 pm | Posted in BWD, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, pie
My mom is a very good cook. We rarely went out to eat growing up or were allowed such delicacies as frozen pizza or fish sticks. She made dinner from recipes in newspapers and magazines that caught her eye, or she’d find something nice on sale at the grocery store and take it from there (she still cooks this way, and so do I). Julie has never been quite as into baking, but she does have a few standards she’s perfected over the years and will make from memory when she’s in the mood. Apple pie is one of those standards, but when she says “apple pie” she’s not talking about the traditional American kind…she’s really talking about a Tarte Tatin, made just like this one. In fact, I don’t remember her ever once making a double-crusted apple pie with lots of warm spices. She did live in Paris for a couple of years before I came on the scene, so maybe that’s the backstory of her apple pie, I don’t really know.
Most Tatins are fully made in a skillet, with the apples first cooked down a bit in the caramel before being topped with puff pastry (usually) and stuck in the oven to fully bronze. As soon as it’s done, you put on your longest oven mitts, say a quick prayer and awkwardly flip the hot and heavy skillet with molten, drippy caramel onto a plate to unmold. This version makes things a bit easier and less scary. First, make a caramel, whisk in butter and pour it into the bottom of a cake pan. Then, at your leisure after the caramel has cooled, arrange chunky apple halves or quarters in a nice pattern and top with your choice of pie dough or puff. I took care of both the caramel step and making/rolling out a round of Dorie’s All-Butter Pie Dough the day before I baked my Tatin. (My mother does the same, lining her tin with caramel and making a brisée dough the night before…but her tin is an ancient metal pie plate instead of a cake pan, and she makes a clear caramel instead and then dots the apple chunks with bits of butter as she arranges then in the pie plate.) After the Tatin is fully baked, instead of flipping it right out, you let it sit for half an hour so any excess caramel and juice absorbs back into the apples. By the time you invert it, it’s cool and neat, with soft, caramelized apples and no soggy bottoms! I think Julie would give this her stamp of approval.
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 BWD: Morning Bundt Cake
October 22, 2024 at 7:26 pm | Posted in breakfast things, bundt cakes, BWD, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, brekkie, cake
Any fan of “breakfast cake” should love this Morning Bundt Cake. Great with your first cup of coffee, but not a typical coffee cake, the batter is a mix of all your breakfast staples…except for bacon, I guess…you’ll have to serve that on the side. It has oranges (zest, juice and chopped segments), yogurt, muesli, nuts and dried fruit. I didn’t buy muesli to make this, but instead used some rolled oats, sunflower seeds and a bit of extra dried fruit and nuts. I chose toasted pecans, by the way, and prunes, since they seemed like a good choice for getting the morning going. I subbed about 1/3 of the AP flour with einkorn flour and combined my “muesli” with the yogurt a few hours ahead of time to soften it before mixing the batter (I had to adjust the mixing order slightly because of this, but it was a tip I got from IG bake-alonger Stef).
This is so good. It’s moist and quite hearty, with all those breakfast ingredients blended together. A citrus glaze that’s brushed on while the cake’s still hot is a nice final touch that makes the crust as special as what’s inside.
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!
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