Tuesdays with Dorie: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
July 22, 2008 at 5:55 am | Posted in cobbler/crisp/shorties, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 49 Comments
After a quick chocolate fix last week, TWD’s summer fruit theme picks right back up, with Amanda’s (from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake) selection of Dorie’s Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler. Interestingly (and luckily), rhubarb doesn’t seem to have a season here, and I can find it all year-round at the growers’ markets. Fresh cherries, however, are out in force at Christmastime and pretty much non-existent right now…so this, my friends, is when I must turn to the glorious bounty of the frozen food aisle if I wanna keep up. Armed with a bunch of fresh rhubarb and a box of frozen sweet cherries, I thought I was all set to take this cobbler on.
Then d’oh! I did hit a snag when I saw that the cobbler topping includes whole wheat flour. Just before we moved into this new apartment, I used up the last of my whole wheat in a pizza crust. For reasons I’ll get into later when things become more definite, I’ve been hoping to avoid buying any new ingredients that I can’t easily use up in a few months time. I definitely wanted to include the whole wheat component, as it’s something unique from the other Dorie cobbler we’ve baked, so I decided to make a “homemade” version rather than buy another big bag. No, I didn’t go out back to the grist mill and grind my own (that thing’s been broken since the mid-1800’s– ha!)…I just subbed half AP flour and half wheat germ, which I did have already, for the amount of whole wheat.
There were a couple of things I really liked about this cobbler: the cute little rounds of wheaten topping (which I’ll use again, for sure), and the kick from the ground ginger in both the topping and the filling. There was something about the fruit itself that I wasn’t so crazy about, and it had to do with the cherries. Maybe I’m just used to sour cherries in cobblers and pies, and don’t care for baked sweet cherries. Or maybe it’s simply that fresh cherries would have been better than frozen. Who knows? I don’t, but maybe I can compare when fresh cherries are in season.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Amanda’s post to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 200 other people had to say!
Back to School: Sugar Flowers
July 17, 2008 at 9:49 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, classes, sweet things | 25 Comments
Whenever I’m between jobs, as I am at the moment, I like to make a little investment in what I’ll call “professional development.” I love going back to school to learn something new about aspects of pastry that I don’t often get to dabble in.
Having worked in several restaurants, and with several different pastry chefs, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that most restaurant pastry chefs and cooks don’t know much about cake decorating. It’s not something that’s needed in that realm day-to-day, and it’s such an all-consuming, specialist craft that there would never be the time in between daily menu production and crazy service to really even begin to develop that talent.
That being said, I did work for a few years in a restaurant with a large function area that hosted its share wedding receptions, anniversary, birthday and other private parties throughout the year. Many people arranged to have cakes delivered by outside shops, but if they didn’t mind a simple cake covered in basic buttercream or fondant and just decorated with some fresh flowers, then my chef K and I were happy to take care of it in our kitchen. That planted in me an interest in cake making and decorating, and over the last couple of years I’ve taken several courses to play around in this area.
I’ve written about the classes I’ve taken at Planet Cake before (here, here and here), and that’s where I took this latest one as well. Greg Cleary, owner of a shop called Sweetums Designer Cakes in Brisbane, came down to Planet Cake to teach the class, and pass along his tips and expertise. We learned how to make gumpaste tulips, sweetpeas, lily of the valley and ivy.
I was really happy with the end result, and I had a great time in the class! Greg was a wonderful teacher, and he is really amazing at what he does–I’m so glad he was willing to share. This was actually my second sugar flower workshop (I took a fantastic week-long one at the CIA a couple years ago), and who knows if I’ll ever use it professionally, but I’d love to learn more. And despite the fact that it takes a lot of concentration to keep my self-diagnosed ADD tendencies under control for this kind of thing, I’d like to practise at home, too, because I think you really do forget this stuff if you don’t…you need quite a lot of equipment (cutters, wires, tools, all kinds of powdered colors), though, so I’ll probably have to accumulate that over time.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Pudding
July 15, 2008 at 5:41 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 52 Comments
This week, Melissa from It’s Melissa’s Kitchen put the TWD spotlight on Dorie’s Chocolate Pudding. It may be from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours, but no baking is required for this one, just a little stovetop work.
I love pudding (I was especially nuts for JELL-O’s pistachio flavored mix growing up), but I have an awkward relationship with it. I can eat pudding that I make, but I cannot eat other people’s pudding. No, no…I am not down with OPP. I can pinpoint the exact reason for this, too, which goes back to a childhood visit to my mum’s Aunt R. Aunt R served me something that was more skin than pudding, and it was all I could do not to gag at the table. I need to know that my pudding will have no trace of skin on it…therefore, I must make it myself.
When I first read the instructions for this recipe, I noticed that a lot of ins and outs of the food processor were required. I thought that sounded like a bit of a pain in the butt, but it was really no big deal. And the using the food processor is the best way to get an uber-smooth pudding. You can bet I pressed plastic on the surface straight away before refrigerating it!
I made mine with low-fat (not skim) milk, instead of whole, and I thought it worked great. The chocolate I used was from a dark chocolate bar infused with mint that I had in the pantry. Sorry George Costanza, no pudding skin singles here…just super-smooth, super-chocolatey, sightly minty, totally delicious pudding!
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here on Dorie’s blog to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out Melissa’s post and the TWD Blogroll!
Back to School: Mini Cakes
July 11, 2008 at 6:52 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, classes, sweet things | 27 Comments
With so much going on the last couple weeks, I forgot to tell you that I took course on decorating “mini cakes” at Planet Cake in Balmain. In one day, we did a little handbag, a watering can, a present box and a simple two-tier cake.
Doing work in miniature requires a lot of concentration! I’m glad to know how to do the gift box, as I’ve seen that one around (usually in Tiffany blue). And the two-tier had endless decoration possibilities. Right now, I’m taking a gumpaste flower course there…I’ll report back on that one in a few days.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie
July 8, 2008 at 4:47 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 70 Comments
I may not have had fireworks this Fourth of July, but I still had homemade blueberry pie! As you can tell, I’m back in action in my new kitchen…although the day we moved in, we got some news that makes us wonder if we should bother to unpack, but that’s a different story for a different time…I’m here now to talk about Dorie’s Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie, which Amy from South in Your Mouth selected for TWD. Look at that pie with its little blueberry juice scar–it’s so homely, it’s almost cute!
The recipe for Dorie’s pie dough calls for mostly butter with a small amount of shortening. I’ve actually never made a pie crust with shortening before, but since I do have some the fridge (why, I cannot remember), I decided to give it go. I won’t lie…it’s a great crust. It’s crispy and flaky and all that, but I do generally have the shortening creeps, and will probably stick with my normal all-butter recipe going forward. Due to the fact that fresh blueberries are hard to find here right now, and break-the-bank expensive when you do, I took a gamble and used frozen ones in the filling. I do think, by the way, that fresh blueberries make a noticeably better pie filling, but in a pinch, these were acceptable. Besides the frozen berries and the fact that I made a mini pie, I followed Dorie’s recipe to a tee. I served up our slices with vanilla whipped cream.
Thanks to everyone who left comments here last week! Dorie herself commented on my Apple Cheddar Scones post–I almost choked on my coffee when I saw that! Now, off to the TWD blogroll for all the other pies out there! And check out Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or Amy’s post for the recipe for her Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple Cheddar Scones
July 1, 2008 at 5:10 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 43 Comments
These are the last treats baked in the oven of my old apartment (sniff). Karina of The Floured Apron has chosen Dorie’s Apple Cheddar Scones for TWD this week. If it weren’t for the group, I probably wouldn’t have made this recipe. Not that doesn’t sound good to me, it actually sounds quite good, but I just know I wouldn’t have gotten around to it. I’m so glad I got the push I needed, because I thought they were fantastic!
Apples and cheddar cheese are a classic combination. I used to think it was a southern thing…then I thought it was a New England thing. I have no idea what kind of thing it is now, except for a good thing. This recipe calls for dried apples, which hold their form well in the scones, and grated cheddar (I used white), which melts into the background. The dried fruit and cheddar cheese, along with apple juice, make for a slightly sweet and salty combo that I love. Cornmeal in the dough makes them bake up golden and gives them texture. If I make them again, I’ll either scoop out the sticky dough in rounds or pat it out a bit fatter, but that’s purely for looks. I served mine with a little honey butter on the side–tasty!
Sorry to keep this so short, but as I write this, I’m still in the midst of packing. A big thanks to Karina for this week’s pick! My internet connection may be down for several days due to the move, so I might not be able to check out the TWD blogroll myself this week, but you should! And check out Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or Karina’s post for the recipe for these Apple Cheddar Scones.
Daring Bakers in June: Danish Braid
June 29, 2008 at 5:48 am | Posted in breakfast things, daring bakers, groups, sweet things, sweet yeast breads | 70 Comments
This month, the Daring Bakers tried our hands at making a laminated dough. Hosts Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What’s Cooking? chose a recipe for a Danish braid from Sherry Yard’s book The Secrets of Baking. While I can’t say that I ever feel the urge to have a Danish, I do appreciate tasty homemade breakfast treats, so I was looking forward to this challenge.
Like its sisters, puff pastry and croissant, a Danish is made from a butter-laminated, or layered, dough. This means a block of butter is encased in dough and repeatedly rolled and folded to create layers. Danish dough is sweet and contains a bit of yeast to help it rise (it also makes it a bit more bready than puff or croissant). While this type of dough may initially seem intimidating, it’s not hard to make in small quantities, and Danish dough is a good introduction to the laminating process.
The dough is flavored with cardamom, vanilla and orange. While the cardamom and vanilla were must-have flavors for me, I found the orange to be a bit too pronouned. If I made it again, I’d probably leave out the zest and use only the orange juice. We were allowed to choose our own filling, and I made mine with a center of sweetened quark cheese and cherries. It was great, but I was worried about having a runny filling so I was a little skimpy with the cherries. I wish I’d been a bit more liberal with them. Just about all sweet breakfast pastries should have an icing sugar glaze in my opinion, so I was liberal with that!
The full recipe provided by Kelly and Ben made two braids. I didn’t need that much, so I halved it to make just one. It was beautiful, and big enough for six quite healthy portions. And braiding dough is way easier than braiding hair, let me tell you. If I’d thought about it enough, maybe I would have made a smaller braid and saved aside some dough for other fun shapes like pinwheels…another time.
If you’d like to test your laminating and braiding skills, you can find the recipe in Kelly’s post or Ben’s post. And no need to worry if, even after you look at the zillions of braids on the DB Blogroll, you still feel nervous about trying it yourself. Kelly and Ben also pointed out a great video clip from Julia Child’s Baking with Julia series on PBS. This clip demos a different recipe by Beatrice Ojakangas, but the technique is very similar.
This and That
June 28, 2008 at 3:37 pm | Posted in other stuff | 3 Comments
This is the view from both our living room and bedroom in the apartment we are leaving this weekend. I’m sad to give it up, but I guess I’ve been pretty lucky to enjoy the sight of sailboats in Sydney Harbour for a whole year. Our new place is back in downtown Sydney and the view there will be into the windows of the hotel right smack across the street. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for some good spying at least!
As I’ve been going through my things at home, I realized that I also have a few things here to take care of. I’ll start with some thank yous for a few awards that I’m truly honored to have had passed on to me.
Shari from Whisk: a food blog gave me a “Blogging with a Purpose” award. I’m thrilled to get an award from someone as excited by, and interested in, food as Shari. She claims to be a “cooking school wannabe,” but I think she knows her stuff well enough to be a cooking school instructor!
Holly from PheMOMenon gave me another “E for Excellent” award. Holly bakes up excellent stuff for her boys. They are lucky ducks to grow up with such great homemade things! Holly, you are spoiling them for life! 🙂
Tammy from wee treats by tammy bestowed upon me a “Rockin’ Girl Blogger” award. Even though she’s a full-time lawyer, Tammy manages to bake amazing treats several times a week. She’s currently rockin’ her mad decorating skillz making gorgeous cakes and cookies.
Mimi from Mimi on the Move passed along a “Yummy Blog” award. Mimi’s photos are seriously the ultimate in yumminess. I want to reach out and take everything she posts, sweet or savory! As part of this award, I have to list my top five favorite desserts I’ve made on this blog, so here they are: German chocolate cake, Bill’s Big Carrot Cake, Nanaimo Bars, Cranberry Bliss Cupcakes and Julie’s Brownies.
Thank you Shari, Holly, Tammy and Mimi!!
Also, I was recently tagged for a meme by Amanda from Slow Like Honey and Allison from The Neon Celery Kitchen. Not so recently, Tammy tagged me for a similar version of this (sorry, Tammy!). Thanks! Here goes:
What were you doing ten years ago?
Probably sitting a cubicle starting at cashflow models or bond prepayment scenarios. I my first spent six years out of college in a Wall Street job, and I do not exaggerate when I say that for much of that time I lived in my cube.
What are five non-work things on your to-do list today?
(these are actually things I did yesterday, as I started this post yesterday morning)
go to the gym
a zillion loads of laundry
continue packing up
get a facial
make dinner
What snacks do you enjoy?
This is totally boring, but because I eat dessert most nights, I try never to snack between meals. Most days I stick with this..if I must snack, then it’s fruit or raw veggies. I do enjoy those, but in an ideal word, I’d snack on cheese and crackers everyday.
What would you do if you were a billionaire?
So many things!! I’d make sure my parents, brother, grandparents and in-laws were set for life. I’ve been dreaming of owning an apartment in a Brooklyn Heights brownstone, but if I were a billionaire, why not make it a whole brownstone? And I’d fill the closets of that house with clothes and shoes that Tim and Veronica were paid to helped me chose. I’ve been to a lot of places already (just had to get extra pages put in my passport, actually), but if I had billions, I step up my foreign travel, too. Maybe I’d open up a pastry shop with a friend…of course I’d want our business to be profitable, but we wouldn’t really have to stress about having the money to hire good help so we could take a couple days off a week (and of course travel)! I’d do a lot of research into how I could philanthropically make a difference with donations of my time and cash.
Where have you lived?
Northern Virginia (a few different spots)
Wellesley, MA
Edinburgh, Scotland (one great year, but could have stayed forever)
Brooklyn, NY
Sydney, Australia
What jobs have you had?
office temp
investment banker
pastry cook
I know I am supposed to pass along this meme, but I also know it’s been around the block lately, so I’ll hold off for now. And as far as passing along the awards goes, I’ll give it a good think-over and let you know when I’m settled into the new place!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Mixed Berry Cobbler
June 24, 2008 at 5:04 am | Posted in cobbler/crisp/shorties, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 46 Comments
I figure that I’ll have to opt out of a few TWD recipes between the months of June and August. While it’s prime fruit and berry season up in the Northern Hemisphere, a packet of raspberries or blueberries would pretty much bankrupt me here ($15 for skinny plastic packet of raspberries and $11 for blueberries at my local produce shop– ouch!!). Beth of Our Sweet Life may have chosen Mixed Berry Cobbler for this week’s TWD recipe, but I’m not SOL just yet becasue luckily Dorie designed this one to use frozen berries. Those I have plenty of!
Even though my berry fears were assuaged, I was still a little apprehensive about this recipe. Lots of TWDers who made it early in the week thought that the topping was bland and disappointing. Shoot– I didn’t want to be let down, but I was also curious as to what I’d think of it. I will say that I made one change to Dorie’s ingredient list, and I really only did this because we are moving over the weekend. She uses heavy cream to bind the cobbler topping together, but I used sour cream. Even though we’re just moving locally, I’ve been trying hard to use up what I have already, rather than add to the stuff in the fridge. Anyway, it worked really well as a substitution (and probably gave the topping a flavor-boost as well). I also sprinkled a little raw sugar over the topping before I popped in the oven. I like the extra sweetness and bit of crunch it gives, so I almost always do this with pie crusts and cobbler toppings.
Maybe I’m just not that picky, but I really liked the simplicity of this dessert. I’m sure it would great with a hit of vanilla or cinnamon in the topping, but I thought it was good as is, too. The biscuit-style crust is buttery and homey, and my berries were just sweet enough to make the whole thing taste like summer. A little vanilla ice cream doesn’t hurt much either. And you know what else? I think it’s really beautiful with the purpley-pink juices running everywhere!
One last note: I only wanted three portions, so I cut the recipe back to one-third the original size and put it in a small (about six-inch) square ceramic baker. It took just under 40 minutes for the top to be golden and the berries to be bubbly.
Thanks Beth! As always, the recipe’s in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, but she also has it here on NPR’s website as part of an interview she did for All Things Considered. And don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Peppermint Cream Puff Ring
June 17, 2008 at 4:16 am | Posted in groups, other sweet, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 67 Comments
When I saw that Caroline of A Consuming Passion had chosen Dorie’s Peppermint Cream Puff Ring for TWD, my fist thought was that it reminded me of Christmas, but that’s actually quite right for the weather over here. I even had a bunch of mint in the fridge that I was looking to finish off (why is that stuff so hard to use up?)–perfect!
Have I ever told you that I love making pâte à choux, the base for cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles and the like? This wasn’t always the case though. In culinary school, we had to use all these crazy tests to tell if we had added the “proper” amount of egg to the dough. And for baking–turn the oven up, then down, then off. Argh! Then I went to work in a restaurant and it was like, “just use four eggs and bake them at 375° till they’re done.” Freed of all that egg ambiguity and temperature trickery, choux became really fun and easy!
Dorie calls for the choux paste to be piped out in the shape of a large ring that is later cut in half and filled, similar to a Paris-Brest. Partly because several other TWDers had their choux rings deflate on them, but mostly because a big ring sounded a bit too much for our small household, I decided to pipe individual cream puffs instead. For these cream puffs, I made a half recipe of choux, using two whole eggs. (One tip that Dorie doesn’t mention is to paddle the cooked paste in the mixer for a minute to cool it off a bit before adding the eggs one by one. It should still be warm, but it is good to let some of the steam out before the eggs go in.) This yielded about 24 two-bite puffs (using a 1/2-inch tip to pipe about 1 1/2-inch mounds).
I baked off nine right away and put the rest in the freezer to bake later. Since I was already switching up the shape of Dorie’s choux, I decided to proceed with her baking instructions rather than my one-temperature method. I baked my puffs for 15 minutes at 425°, then about 10 more at 375°. While I was at it, after they were fully baked, I used a pairing knife to put a small slit in the side of each baked puff, and further dried them out in the turned-off oven, which I cracked open with a wooden spoon, for about 30 minutes. This baking process was much less painful than I remembered it in school (but then again, most things are).
The cooled puffs (or ring) were sliced in half and filled with a mint-infused whipped cream. A little sour cream or crème fraîche folded in gave it a bit of tang, but it would have been just as tasty without. Capped off with dark chocolate glaze and toasted almonds, these were perfect little bites. And just for Dorie, I presented my puffs in the form of a (rather dodgy-looking) “ring!”
Thanks Caroline! As always, the recipe’s in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, but this time she also has a version of it here on Epicurious. And don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Baked Fresh Weekly
Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
a whisk and a spoon 