Tuesdays with Dorie (on Friday!): Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake
January 1, 2010 at 3:24 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, cheesecakes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 22 Comments
Happy New Year, my friends! Here’s to a 2010 full of sweetness and happiness!
So, how did you ring in the new year? There was a time when I’d stay out all night, but I can’t toss ’em back quite like I used to, so these days I like to keep it low-key…make a nice dinner and drink champagne cocktails at home. Part of last night’s celebration involved Dorie’s Low and Lush Chocolate Chessecake. I added my own chocolate and sour cream topping, mainly so I’d have a nice shiny surface on which to place the edible gold stars I found not long ago. Pretty cute, but I did have to go through the tiresome task of applying each one individually with tweezers.
This cheesecake was made my favorite way (which is also the easiest way to lump-free batter, if you ask me)– in the food processor. It baked up creamy and smooth and pretty, but I have to say that I prefer the bright freshness of fruit, rather than chocolate, with my cheesecake. For that reason, I probably wouldn’t make this one again just for us, but if I had a guest coming over that simply adored chocolate cheesecake, I certainly wouldn’t hesitate.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Tea and Scones, as it was the Tea Lady’s choice for TWD this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Saturday!): Dorie’s Favorite Pecan Pie
December 26, 2009 at 6:33 pm | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 Comments
Pecan pie is certainly one of my favorites, so I thought I’d give Dorie’s version a go for Christmas dinner. Dorie’s Favorite Pecan Pie has a couple of unusual twists– chocolate, cinnamon and espresso powder. (My one twist was to use golden syrup in place of the corn syrup.) This was a big hit, especially with a little bit (or a lot, as the case may be) of whipped cream. Not too sweet, and not too gloppy either, if you know what I mean. Next time I think I’ll experiment with leaving out the chocolate, keeping the cinnamon and espresso, and see what I think about that.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Someone’s in the Kitchen with Brina, as it was Beth’s choice for TWD this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Daring Bakers in December: Gingerbread House
December 25, 2009 at 1:11 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, daring bakers, groups, other sweet, sweet things | 20 Comments
Welcome to my home– my gingerbread home! Let me show you around inside. It’s nothing fancy. Just four walls and some spackling. Oh, and mind your head…the roof has quite a slope.
Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi had us break out our hard hats and toolboxes to construct our very own gingerbread houses for this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge! As a result, I’m sure you’ll tour some ultra tricked-out gingerbread houses around Food Blog Avenue this Christmas. Mine’s more of a cottage, really…some may say a shack…but I’m quite pleased with it. And it’s now over two weeks old, so I know it’s solidly built!
I used the Scandinavian Gingerbread recipe provided by Y, found an easy template, and started construction. I needed just half a recipe of dough, and I actually added a spoonful of cocoa powder to it, just to make the color a bit darker. Some windows, a sanding sugar snowstorm and a wreath out front, and I was a proud homeowner in just a few hours!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I’m sure I’ll see you again before the new year!
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas
1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]
-In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
-Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
-Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.
-Roll out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. You can save any scraps to reroll at the end.
-Preheat the oven to 375’F (190’C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
Royal Icing
1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract
-Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren’t using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
The Cake Slice: White Chocolate Layer Cake
December 20, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 20 Comments
As I type, we are in the midst of the first big winter snowstorm here in NYC…so it seems only appropriate that I share with you this white-on-white White Chocolate Layer Cake chosen by the Cake Slice Bakers this month. I’m not super keen on white chocolate, so I probably would have bypassed this recipe if not for the group, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It’s the toothachey sweetness that really bugs me about white chocolate, but for every element of white chocolate here (it’s in both the cake and the frosting), there is an element of tanginess to balance it out. For the cake, it’s buttermilk. For the frosting, it’s cream cheese. The cake is moist and soft, and c’mon, let’s face it…cream cheese icing would make pretty much anything taste good…so whats not to like here?
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our white chocolate cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Café Volcano Cookies
December 15, 2009 at 1:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 26 Comments
Would you like to come over for coffee? We can chat…we can gossip…I’d really love to meet you. And, yes, of course there will be cookies. It’s no problem at all…these little Café Volcano Cookies that MacDuff of the always entertaining The Lonely Sidecar picked for TWD are ridiculously easy to whip up.
Just a few ingredients (egg whites, sugar, espresso powder, walnuts and almonds) stirred together by hand produce these sweet and crispy little treats. Not quite the same as a traditional meringue, they’re like coffee air held together by nuts.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on The Splendid Table), or read The Lonely Sidecar. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Parmesan and Thyme Sablés
December 8, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in BCM, groups, other savory, savory things, tuesdays with dorie | 46 Comments
I was thrilled to see that Bungalow Barbara chose a recipe for TWD that can swing sweet or savory– Sablés. Between all the junk I munch on at the bakery, and all the desserts I make at home, these days I need a salt fix more often than a sugar fix. I went with a parmesan cheese sablé, and since I had heaps of fresh herbs left from Thanksgiving, I threw some thyme in there, too. Cheesy, buttery and salty…with that perfect crumbly texture– exactly what I wanted with a glass of white wine.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here), or read Bungalow Barbara. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart
December 1, 2009 at 1:26 pm | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 37 Comments
I feel like I’ll be dealing with leftover turkey forever, but the holiday bundt is all gone now. Time to move on to the Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart that Lauren of I’ll Eat You picked for TWD. I will be honest and admit that making it was a bit more work than I felt like doing after just having prepared Thanksgiving dinner a couple of days before. You have to make tart dough, pastry cream, poached pears, caramelized nuts and sauce. That’s a lot of stuff, but the payoff is most definitely worth the effort. This is a stunningly delicious tart!
Pastry cream-based tarts don’t hold up so well overnight, so I made individual tartlette shells that I could fill with the pistachio pastry cream as needed. I haven’t had JELL-O pistachio pudding in years, so I’m not sure if I’d love it today as much as I did when I was little, but this pastry cream is spot-on for my tastes now…little flecks of nuts and the color is a far more “natural” green. I used bosc pears for poaching, and they sucked up all that gorgeous color from the red wine. BTW, the chilled poaching liquid tastes an awful lot like sweet sangria to me…hmmm…keep me away from the leftovers or I may wind up with a lampshade on my head!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read I’ll Eat You. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Thursday!): All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake
November 26, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
I’m up to my elbows in stuffing and cranberry sauce right now, but just wanted to quickly wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! This is the Holiday Bundt that I’m serving up for dessert tonight. It really is all-in-one: pumpkin cake with spices, pecans, apples and cranberries. I sneaked a tiny taste, and I can tell you that it’s moist and fully of yummy chunks. Can’t wait to try a proper slice later with the maple glaze!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Serious Eats). Read The Nitty Britty, as it was Britin’s choice for TWD this week, and don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Burnt Sugar Cake
November 20, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 34 Comments
I almost forgot about this posting! My head has been somewhere else, and the date kind of got away from me. Oh well, here it is in all its sweet glory: the Burnt Sugar Cake for this month’s Cake Slice.
A burnt sugar syrup (really a dark caramel simple syrup) is the key to this recipe. Both the cake and the frosting have a nice dose of this syrup, giving them a very eye-catching soft caramel color.
The cake itself is nice– a dense crumb, but moist. Thanks to heaping amounts of powdered sugar added to the sugar syrup, the frosting is, predictably, very sweet. While my husband was a big fan, it was a bit too much for me…I made a bee-line to my toothbrush after each slice!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our sugary cakes this month!
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