Tuesdays with Dorie: Bourbon Bread Pudding
February 8, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 20 CommentsTags: baking, dessert, pudding
My husband has been out of town for the last few days at a work conference. This was the first time in many years that I have not had to endure the Super Bowl (although apparently I missed a good rendition of the anthem). I spent Sunday night with four hours of “Emma” on Masterpiece Theater instead (dorky, but so good!) and this big fat slice of Bourbon Bread Pudding. Hellooooo alone time!
Dorie has taught me how to make bread pudding at home. You need lots of the good stuff (cream and egg yolks) for it to come out lush and soft. Now, here’s where I admit to you that I did cut back on the cream by a third (and upped the milk by a third in its place)…but not to worry, there was still plenty of cream and yolks in there. And I used challah bread, which is pretty rich in itself. You can see that I added almonds and dried cherries to mine. You can’t see that I quadrupled the bourbon, but trust me on that. My custard base tasted like eggnog! This was a mighty fine bread pudding, not to mention a most amiable television companion.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Simply Southern, as it was Sharon’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Spiced Yogurt Waffles with Toasted Pecan Maple Syrup
January 28, 2011 at 6:19 pm | Posted in breakfast things, pancakes/waffles, sweet things | 25 CommentsTags: breakfast, waffles
Since we moved back to Brooklyn, I’ve been going out for a lot of Sunday brunches with my BFF, who handily lives about a twenty minute walk away. I like having breakfast made for me, and a spicy bloody Mary in my hand while I catch up with a friend. But, truth be told, most of what I shell out hard-earned $$ for at brunch, I could make just as well (and sometimes better) at home. When it’s too cold out and the snowbanks are too high to scramble over, I do just that.
I don’t take my waffle maker out of its box very often (in fact, the last time I did, it was to make these apple ones), but sometimes the urge strikes to switch things up from eggs or pancakes. I always have yogurt in the fridge, so I wanted to give this recipe a try. The warm spices and pecans also sounded pretty good to me on a chilly morning. I read that some folks thought they didn’t turn out crispy enough, so I gave mine a few extra seconds in the iron to make sure that wasn’t an issue. Bring on the maple syrup, and I think I just may keep the waffle maker out for another week!!
Spiced Yogurt Waffles with Toasted-Pecan Maple Syrup– makes about 10 waffles
adapted from Fine Cooking, Issue 108
Steph’s Note: The number of waffles you get will depend upon the size of your maker. This recipe halves well, but I like to wrap up extra waffles individually and freeze them. They can then be re-heated and crisped-up in the toaster or oven.
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1-1/2 cups plain full-fat or low-fat yogurt
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs, separated
3 Tbs. vegetable oil; more for the waffle iron
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract1 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
-Heat the oven to 200°F and heat a waffle iron, preferably a Belgian waffle iron. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, milk, egg yolks, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
-In a medium bowl, with a wire whisk or electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites to soft peaks.
-With a spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the yogurt mixture until just combined (the batter should be a little lumpy). Fold the whipped egg whites into the batter until just incorporated.
-Brush the waffle iron with a little vegetable oil. Working in batches, cook the batter in the waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions until crisp and golden. Set the waffles directly on the oven rack to keep warm. Do not stack them.
-Meanwhile, in a 2-quart saucepan, warm the maple syrup over medium heat. Stir in the pecans and keep warm.
-Serve the waffles with the syrup.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake
January 25, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 21 Comments
It’s cold. So cold that I don’t want to go outside. So cold that I just want to stay at home and bake all day. And that’s just how I spent this past Saturday. First up was this Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake. It’s kind of a cross between a pound cake and a coffee cake…a pound cake-type base with a swirls of sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts and chocolate running through. Dorie’s recipe also calls for raisins, but since I don’t normally go for fruit and chocolate combos, I left them out entirely. However, to totally contradict what I just said, I did add the orange zest (actually I used tangerine), and liked the gentle citrus flavor a lot.
A word of warning…making the cake was easy, making the swirl was easy, but combining them was not. I read about sticking, so I was careful not to let the first layer of the sugar-based swirl mix come in contact with the pan. That wasn’t too tricky, but then when I added the second and final layer of swirl, the cake batter was so stiff, I really couldn’t easily work it over the swirl to cover it. Not wanting to bake it with exposed swirlage (because it would fall out when I flipped the cake), I popped the cake in the oven for about three minutes, until the batter just started to soften. Then it was a breeze to get that swirl covered up with batter.
My husband asked for “big pieces” of this cake. We both liked how it had a nice outer crust with soft cake inside. And course cinnamon, nuts and chocolate, too!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on NPR) or read Cooking for Comfort, as it was Jennifer’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
French Fridays with Dorie: Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake
January 21, 2011 at 11:09 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, french fridays w dorie, groups, sweet things | 24 Comments
This is baked chocolate mousse. End of post.
Really, that’s all I think needs to be said. It is dark and silky and my idea of a perfectly elegant chocolate dessert. There are options with this cake, too. You can bake of just part of the mousse as a base, then top it with the remaining mousse and either chill it as-is or bake it again. If you bake it again, you can either eat it warm or pop it in the fridge and eat it cold. Decision tree analysis is not my forte, but in the end I opted for the fully baked variation and enjoyed it chilled (and I think it was a good call). Don’t fret when your cake comes out of the oven puffed and then totally sinks in the middle as it rests. It’s supposed to…and anyway, that dip is the perfect spot to pile on whipped cream!
I think I’ll be making this again for Valentine’s Day. For the recipe, see Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out my fellow francophiles’ posts (and you might want to check out the P&Q section…some folks had problems with mousee seeping while baking, although I did not experience this)!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
January 18, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 20 Comments
I made these muffins– oh, wow– more than a year ago, and have been waiting patently for someone, like Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness, to choose them for TWD. Lemons and poppy seeds are one of the classic combos of the muffin world, and for good reason. Who wouldn’t want to wake up to a cup of coffee and a little lemon cake? In addition to super-cuteness, poppy seeds give a little crunch. Dorie’s recipe has a lemon glaze that is sweet and puckery at the same time…and I was generous with it. I have the world’s biggest jar of poppy seeds (seriously, it’s like PB jar sized!), so I’ll make these again, and when I do, I’m going to try the jam-filled variation.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read A Cup of Sweetness. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines
January 11, 2011 at 12:20 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, cookies & bars, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 26 Comments
Whenever I start a new food job, my new coworkers always seem to ask me where I’m from. I’m going through this phase at my job right now, and sometimes the question makes me scratch my head…like, what was the last place I worked for, or where did I grow up? I’ve come to realize that, more often than not, the person asking has recently moved to NYC from someplace else, and is wondering about my hometown. While I think a lot about the places and people I grew up with, the day I left for college in the early ’90s was the last time I was ever in my childhood home…my parents packed up and moved cross-country a few weeks later. And, apart from the two years I spent in Sydney, I’ve been in New York since 1996. Sometimes I think that I’m more Brooklyn than NoVA now, but I don’t, and wouldn’t ever want to, forget where I’m from.
If you asked a Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleine where it’s from, it would probably tell you, that while it was born in France, it has spent the last couple decades living in Texas. A plate of these guys would likely not make Proust remember anything, but one taste would probably shoot most American grown-ups right back to childhood! Apart from their scalloped shape and cakey texture, they are pretty far removed from their French origins, but with ganache and marshie Fluff, they are instantly recognizable to me. A couple of tips if you want to make these yummies at home: if you nuke your Fluff jar for 5-10 seconds, it will be much easier to get the sticky stuff out of the jar and into a piping bag; also, madeleines stale quickly, so if you like them soft, eat them soon after they’re put together.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Serious Eats) or read Effort to Deliciousness, as it was Margot’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Midnight Crackles
January 4, 2011 at 12:18 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 23 Comments
Is there a sweeter way to celebrate both the new year and the third anniversary of TWD than with chocolatey cookies? These little, soft, dark and spicy Midnight Crackles were Laurie and Julie’s pick for TWD’s anniversary recipe. Here I made the “Playing Around” Chocolate Gingerbread variation, which uses some ginger, allspice and coriander in addition to the cinnamon and cloves that already scent the “regular” dough.
Apart from arming yourself with a glass of milk when you eat these, my one piece of advice is to not chill the raw dough for too long before forming it into balls. The chocolate in dough makes it very firm, very fast. And the just-mixed dough is a lot like Play-Doh and is easy to work with. Bake them on the short end of the time recommendation and they are kind of brownie-like inside. I made just half a batch, but it yielded a heap of cookies, so I have a stash of unbaked dough balls in my freezer– ready for when the midnight munchies strike.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read the TWD blog. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
P.S.: On Dorie’s blog, she has an idea for using this same dough to make roll-out cookies. Take a look!
Glitter Ball Cookies
December 29, 2010 at 5:15 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, sweet things | 12 Comments
I like sparkly things. Sequins, glitter, rhinestones, metallics…totally mesmerizing. Well, ’tis the season for sparkly things, and for New Year’s Eve, why not make cookies with some bling? These little Glitter Balls are just shortbread rounds dressed up in shimmery sugar. Festive little head-turners…and tasty, too.
Happy New Year!!
Glitter Ball Cookies- makes 12 double cookies
adapted from marthastewart.com
Steph’s Note: While the suggested filling here is flavored with ginger, you can flavor it with anything you wish. I actually made mine almond instead (using extract), but vanilla, lemon and rum are other tasty-sounding options.
for the cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
sanding sugar, in assorted colorsfor the filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon honey
-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
-Beat butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down side of bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add flour, and mix just until combined. Shape into 3/4-inch balls (chill dough if too sticky).
-Place sanding sugar in shallow bowls. Roll each ball in sanding sugar, and place on baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. If you find that the sugar won’t stick, lightly wet one hand, and roll the cookie first in your hand just to dampen, and then roll in sugar.
-Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are lightly golden, 15 to 18 minutes. let cookies cool completely on a wire rack.
-While the cookies cool, make the filling by beating all ingredients by hand or with an electric mixer on medium high speed until smooth.
– Spread two cookies with just enough filling to allow them to stick together.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cardamom Crumb Cake
December 21, 2010 at 12:06 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, muffins/quick breads, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 11 Comments
Have I told you what I have been up to lately? I started November wishing I could find a part-time job, and now I have two part-time jobs, totaling way more hours than a typical full-time one. I get very anxious about waking up for job #1 at 5:45 in the morning after I’ve been at job #2 until 11:00 at night. How do I get myself into these things, and why have I started every new food job I’ve had during the super-busy holiday season? Oh well, it won’t last forever…job #2 is only for another few weeks.
For the time being, I do really look forward to the one morning a week when I can drink coffee out of a proper cup and stuff my face with things like Cardamom Crumb Cake for breakfast. I get really happy when folks like Jill pick a breakfast recipe for TWD, and this coffee cake highlights one of my favorite spices. I’d say that this is a simple, plain cake, but cardamom is an interesting flavor and is something a bit more unexpected than cinnamon. Combine it with orange zest, espresso powder and walnut crumb topping, and you’ve got a cake I’d eat any day of the week. Happily, the second half of mine is tucked away in the freezer until Saturday.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Jill’s Blog. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple-Coconut Family Cake
December 14, 2010 at 9:37 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 16 Comments
R and I just got ourselves a new desktop computer. After working off laptops for the past six or seven years, my fingers feel very clumsy on a full-size keyboard and I’m not used to a mouse at all. (Can you tell I also haven’t had a desk job in a really long time?) I have to be sure to hit the spell-check button, or this post will be riddled with typos. I’m excited to see all the beautiful Apple-Coconut Family Cakes on a big screen, though!
There’s something about the term “family cake” that sounds really appealing…cute and cozy. And there’s something about the apple-coconut combination that sounds unusual…how often do you see those two paired up? Even though there is quite a lot of coconut in this cake (I used unsweetened desiccated coconut from the health food store, which is more finely grated than the sweetened sheds), I didn’t find its flavor to be that pronounced…I actually thought it tasted more of the rum than coconut. Instead, I noticed most what it gave to the cake’s texture– sturdiness and bit of chew. A heap of diced apples kept it moist and the unsweetened coconut kept it from being too saccharine. This is one I’ll make again.
We are just a family of two, so I only made half a recipe. Despite its small size, my cake took longer to bake than the 45 minutes Dorie recommended for the full version. At the 45 minute mark, the edge was nicely browned, but the middle was still wet, so I put foil over the pan and popped it back in the oven for an extra 5+ minutes. That helped steam up the middle a bit and cooked it through.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Cobbler du Monde, as it was Amber’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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