Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Chocolate Éclairs
April 22, 2025 at 7:35 pm | Posted in BWD, general pastry, groups, other sweet, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, choux
Choux-based treats are some of my favorite to make and eat. I think pâte à choux is a really fun dough, and one of the few things worth breaking out a piping bag for, imo. These Chocolate Éclairs actually required me to use two piping bags (one for the dough and one for the filling)– something that I could see coming, and had me putting off this bake until this very morning.
Luckily, choux pastry is pretty easy-peasy to make, and a little cocoa powder is all that’s needed to give the dough its chocolate twist. I piped out the dough a bit thicker than Dorie says to because I like chubby éclairs (and as a result only got six instead of eight). I didn’t really feel like making pastry cream to fill them, and I’ve seen other group members do some nice whipped cream-filled versions, so I followed suit. The flavor, texture and stability of mascarpone whipped cream is something of an obsession of mine, so I whisked up some of that.
A couple of months ago, I impulse-bought a jar of Sicilian pistachio cream at Eataly; I decided to finally crack it open and flavor my whip mix with a big blob of it. Yum is all I have to say about that. When I brought these out, glazed and dressed up for dessert, my husband asked if I was inspired by Dubai chocolate– I think it’s hilarious he has even heard of that!
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: A Big Banana Cake
April 8, 2025 at 8:05 pm | Posted in BWD, cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 14 CommentsTags: baking, brekkie, cake
I just had a big birthday, one that ends in a zero and makes me think about what I’m doing (or not doing) with my life. That has been a bit hard to swallow, but what does go down easy is A Big Banana Cake. How’s that for a segue?
I did, in fact, make this as my at-home birthday cake, but I turned the really big 9-inch original cake into a 6-incher, which is still plenty big for the two of us. I used 1/3 of all ingredients to avoid it being too tall. The batter is flavored with bananas (obvi), vanilla and allspice. I don’t have any allspice on hand, so I subbed a pinch of this and a pinch of that, which in the end basically mimicked pumpkin pie spice. Another twiddle I made with the batter was to add just a bit of baking powder along with the soda. The amount of leavening seemed a little skimpy to me given the amount of flour, some of which is even whole wheat.
Once the three cake layers are baked and cooled, they are filled and frosted with flavored cream cheese frosting. Dorie adds cookie butter to the frosting, which does sound really yummy, but I didn’t want to buy a jar of it only to use a couple of tablespoons. I considered some alternative options I already have like peanut butter and dulce de leche, then settled on Nutella, an open jar of which I’ve had on the counter forever. I didn’t successfully finish off the jar, but the combo of the Nutella frosting and the banana cake is delish. I brushed my cake layers with rum (not only because I firmly believe that rum improves just about every dessert , but it also helps keep a cake that will last a few days a bit more moist) and frosted away. I could spend all day trying to perfectly frost a cake, and dirty just about every sized offset spatula I own in the process, but I’ve wisened up in my advanced age…a swoopy homemade look is really quite charming.
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: 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!
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