Tuesdays with Dorie: Snickery Squares
March 4, 2008 at 8:22 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 34 Comments
Erin of Dinner and Dessert was at the controls for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. She chose Dorie Greenspan’s Snickery Squares from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours. Dorie calls these “classy Snickers.” Shortbread, dulce de leche, candied peanuts and chocolate glaze…okay, there’s no nougat, but we won’t get too technical here! They still sounded candybar-licious to me!
I can’t say that I’ve noticed store-bought dulce de leche at my local grocery store in Sydney, so I made my own from a can of sweetened condensed milk . I threw caution to the wind and did it they way they all say not to…I boiled it in the can for three hours. Luckily there were no horrific explosions, and when I opened up the tin a few days later (I went away for the weekend and stashed it in the fridge), I had a can of beautifully thick caramel goo.
My bars look a little more oozy than they probably should. I just made them this afternoon, and had to shortcut the chilling time before their photo-session, as my daylight was fleeting! These are rich…super-rich. I’d maybe prefer a thinner layer of bittersweet chocolate topping, but besides that, no complaints here!
You can find the recipe for Snickery Squares in Baking: From My Home to Yours or on Dinner and Dessert. And don’t forget to check out the posts from the other Tuesdays with Dorie members!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
February 26, 2008 at 7:06 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 30 Comments
Ashley of eat me, delicious lured us out of the realm of cakes and into the world of breakfast treats by choosing Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits as this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.
I will fess up and tell you off the bat that I made these twice. The first time around, they were truly delicious, but they didn’t come out the way I thought they were meant to. Dorie described them as ‘high’ and ‘flaky,’ but mine didn’t rise much at all (surprising, given the large amount of leavener in the recipe), and while very tender, I wouldn’t have said they were flaky. Also, my photos of that batch were so blah-looking, I didn’t want to put them up. I still don’t like this photo either. What can I say…I am a perfectionist who never attains perfection. How frustrating to be me!!
The second time around, I followed a good suggestion made by Lemon Tartlet Leigh to grate my butter into the dry ingredients rather than try to cut in larger pieces. Then you can just toss the grated bits to coat and don’t run the risk of over-working the dough. I am usually pretty sensitive to over-working, but maybe I did on my first attempt, who knows. I’d say the second batch did rise a bit higher than the first, but I was expecting them to double in height or something, and they certainly didn’t. The only way I can put it is that they seemed more like scones than biscuits. That being said, they made darn fine scones (pecans and brown sugar are a great combo), and I’d certainly make them again, again…if that makes sense.
If you read the recipe in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or here on eat me, delicious, you’ll notice that Dorie calls for cutting the biscuits into two-inch rounds. I cut mine into larger squares, so there was no waste. Also two inches is tiny…I could eat like five of those. And if you’re wondering what that crazy red stuff is on my scones, it’s cranberry honey, which I received in the last go-round of Blogging by Mail.
Did anyone achieve high and mighty pecan sour cream biscuits this week? I dunno. Join me at the Tuesdays with Dorie site to view the blogroll!
CH#6: Rum Punch Cupcakes
February 24, 2008 at 5:40 pm | Posted in cupcakes, events, sweet things | 18 Comments
If you ask me, any time involving rum punch is a good time. It may have been a decade (or more!) since spring break in Cancún, but rum punch is just as much fun today as it was back then. For this month’s liquor-laden Cupcake Hero event (hosted, as always by Laurie, and this time with the assistance of Tempered Woman), I wanted to make a cupcake that, while maybe didn’t have quite the same GGW effect (totally kidding–that is not me at all!!) as knocking back a few plastic cups o’ rum punch, at least incorporated some the flavors. Pineapple, orange, and of course rum, were what I was going for. And please don’t forget the paper umbrella…
To start off, I made some modifications to Billy Reece’s Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcake recipe, which I used in my cherry-lime rickey cupcakes awhile back. By modifications, I mean I dropped the vanilla, vanilla and made them rum, rum. I swapped out all of the vanilla extract and one-quarter of the milk for Caribbean rum. They did have a different texture than Billy’s original recipe. Not dry at all, but more dense…almost like a rummy poundcake. I’m guessing this is because when I substituted 25% of the milk for rum, I took out a portion of the fat component. I didn’t expect that to happen, but I didn’t entirely mind it either.
I wanted to make a filling for the cupcakes, but didn’t want to do a lot of work. I decided to spruce up some more of that Bird’s custard powder I have in the cupboard (any custard mix would do and homemade would be great) with orange zest and Grand Marnier. I set aside a portion of the cooled orange custard and mixed crushed pineapple into the rest. (I bough a fresh pineapple and roughly crushed up a good sized chunk of it in my mini food processor.) Filling done.
Coming up with a frosting was a tricky one. Meringue didn’t sound right…too sweet and not enough flavor. And buttercream was too heavy and fussy. I really liked the whipped cream topping on my cappuccino cupcakes last month. It was super easy and light, but also needed a bit of tropical flavor. I took that plain orange custard I had set aside before and folded that into whipped cream, and my frosting was ready to go. Since whipped cream is not the most stable stuff in the world, I’d recommend doing this part shortly before serving.
These were quite nice; pleasantly boozy but not too overpowering. And I love anything with a little umbrella!
You may notice that the recipe below is rather vague in measurements (quite bogan as they say in Australia). This is because I quartered the cupcake recipe (this gave me four cupcakes, but I could have squeaked out five if I’d made them a bit smaller), and then I basically eyeballed what I’d need to fill and frost them, since there were so few. I trust that you have good judgement, and if you make too much of something, then consider it an extra snack.
Rum Punch Cupcakes– makes as many as you want
-Start with a batch of baked and cooled Billy’s Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes, substitute rum for all of the vanilla in the recipe and up to 25% of the milk. (Not wanting 30 cupcakes, I did a quarter batch, which yields four or five.)
-Make and cool some rum simple syrup. See here for the recipe for plain simple syrup. To flavor it, add a splash of rum as soon as you take it off the heat. (You can make a full recipe of plain syrup and just flavor a portion with rum. The rest can be saved in the fridge for a month or so and be used to sweeten iced tea or coffee, or to moisten other cakes, etc.)
-Make and chill some orange custard, using your favorite pudding recipe with orange zest and Grand Marnier added to taste, or prepare custard powder according to package instructions, flavoring with orange zest and Grand Marnier. Set aside about 1/4 of it for filling and the rest for topping.
-Into the filling portion of the custard, stir in some drained crushed pineapple. This will probably be a couple of spoonfuls, depending on how many cupcakes you are making. You can used canned crushed pineapple or roughly crush some fresh pineapple in the food processor.
-To fill the cupcakes, use a small knife or round cookie cutter to cut a plug out of the center of each (going in from the top). Save the top bit of each plug. Spoon a small amount (about 1/4 teaspoon) of rum simple syrup into each cavity. This is just to keep the cakes moist…don’t drown them. Fill each cavity with pineapple-orange custard. Cover with the top bit so the filling is not exposed.
-Make the frosting from lightly sweetened whipped cream folded together with the reserved plain orange custard (about equal parts). You can whip it up a bit more if it is not stiff enough to sit nicely on top.
-Top and decorate as you see fit.
Taste&Create VI: Roasted Tomatoes with Basil with Cherrapeño
February 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm | Posted in events, savory things | 12 Comments
For this month’s Taste&Create Nicole from For the Love of Food matched me up with Nic from Cherrapeño. Nic has a lot of good-looking sweet treats on her blog (I have all the ingredients to make one of them and if I’m able to this weekend, I will), but for events like these, I often like to branch out to the savory side of the cooking world. Nic grows her own chilies and herbs and puts them to good use on the dinner table.
I decided to make Nic’s roasted tomatoes with basil. I thought they would be perfect with what I was already making for dinner– broccolini and a vegetable lasagna without tomato sauce. These were so easy to make, it almost felt like a cop out, but let me tell you, they are super flavorful and just burst in your mouth. No wonder she says they are one of her favorite dishes..now they’re one of mine, too.
You can find more detail on Nic’s site, but essentially tomatoes, basil and garlic are slow-roasted in the oven with a little olive oil. Then balsamic is drizzled on top before serving. I used some large-sized cherry tomatoes I had and sprinkled on a little sea salt, black pepper and more fresh basil when they were out of the oven. It’s really a beautiful end of summer side dish.
Thanks Nic and Nicole for a great event!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Almost-Fudge Gâteau
February 19, 2008 at 6:33 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 42 Comments
For this week’s installment of Tuesdays with Dorie, Nikki of Crazy Delicious has chosen Dorie’s Almost-Fudge Gâteau. I love saying the word “gâteau”…sounds so elegant! A dense chocolate cake with bittersweet glaze certainly is elegant, and luckily this one is a snap to make, too. I made a half-recipe to fit my 6-inch springform…that pan is getting a workout lately!
I thought this would make a perfect Valentine’s Day dessert. I actually had to work that night and was unable to make it then, but turns out it was also a perfect Sunday night dessert. (It was even more fudgey on Monday night!) And I still went ahead and decorated it with sugar hearts and pink pearls. It was really great with a little espresso ice cream on the side.
The recipe is, of course, in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, but you can also find it on Crazy Delicious. The TWD group is growing by leaps and bounds…check out all of our gâteaux on the Tuesdays with Dorie site.
Food Fight #3: Lentil Soup
February 17, 2008 at 4:07 pm | Posted in events, savory things, soups | 9 Comments
It’s been awhile, but Allen from Eating Out Loud is back with another Food Fight, and this time it’s a pantry raid. That phrase makes me giggle in a juvenile sort of way…one of the lingering side effects of having seen Revenge of the Nerds a few too many times.
My pantry isn’t super-well stocked. I don’t have a huge family..it’s just my husband and me (and I guess now my brother since he’s been “visiting” for four months!), and several nights a week I am working at the restaurant and not home to make dinner. I tend to do my shopping on an as needed basis so I don’t have too much junk lying around. Poking through what I do have in the pantry the other day, I was wondering how I could combine Craisins, wild rice, peanut butter and golden syrup into something delicious. Perhaps I could encase them in that puff pastry that’s been in the freezer for several months. Yeah, maybe not. Then I discovered something I’d forgotten about…a bag of lentils.
Rather than concoct something potentially disgusting, I decided to go with a classic lentil soup that I could easily put together with things I had already. I’d say this particular pot of soup fit the definition of a pantry raid. It was made only from items I already had in the pantry and fridge (and wine rack). I didn’t go to the store to get any additional ingredients for it, and nothing was bought in advance with the intention of making lentil soup with it.
I used a recipe that I’d made once before from my most favorite cooking magazine, Cook’s Illustrated. I modified it slightly to use up what I had at home…dried thyme instead of fresh, a chicken chorizo sausage instead of bacon. (The other time I made this recipe, I turned it into a vegetarian soup by sauteing my veggies in olive oil rather than rendered fat.) I had a few small new potatoes hanging around from the previous week…there weren’t enough of them to do anything else with, so they went into the pot, too. The chicken chorizo gave it a wonderful smoky flavor that we all loved. Even my brother, who was quite suspicious of lentil soup, asked for seconds!
Allen asked us to also include a photo of our pantries. How personal! I bet you aren’t going to get any organizational tips from mine–what’s in there is a total mess! This photo is of a large pantry closet in the kitchen. I have a few shelves dedicated to food items and the others are for cake pans, the salad spinner, etc. Stuff is kind of all over the place, but I could close my eyes and still be able to pull out exactly what I need when I need it–sort of an organized chaos, I guess. I also have a smaller cupboard with my expansive vinegar collection, honey, jams and stuff like that.
Lentil Soup- makes about 2 quarts
modified from Cook’s Illustrated
Note: Instead of chorizo, you can use 3 slices bacon (about 3 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch pieces, or for a vegetarian version, use olive oil.
1 chicken (or other) chorizo sausage, cut into slices
1 large onion , chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 medium carrots , peeled and chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 T)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 bay leaf
1/2t dried thyme leaves
1 cup lentils (7 oz), rinsed and picked over
1 t salt
ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
4 small new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 t balsamic vinegar
3 T minced fresh parsley leaves
-Fry chorizo in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and chorizo crisps on the outside, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer chorizo to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Leave the rendered fat in the pan (although you can pour some off if it is excessive). Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, bay leaf, and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until vegetables are softened and lentils have darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, add wine, and bring to simmer. Add chicken broth and water; bring to boil, cover partially, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes, then add in the diced potatoes. Continue to simmer until lentils are tender but still hold their shape and potatoes are cooked, about 10 to 15 minutes more.
-Discard bay leaf and puree 3 cups soup in blender until smooth, then return to pot; stir in vinegar, add the chorizo back to the pot and heat soup over medium-low until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons parsley and serve, garnishing each bowl with some of remaining parsley and sour cream or yogurt, if desired.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake
February 12, 2008 at 8:32 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, cheesecakes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 36 Comments
Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake–doesn’t that just sound so good? This Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was hand-picked for us by Jaime of Good Eats n’ Sweet Treats. I like all kinds of cheesecake, but I’d never made one quite like this before. Usually I do the standard graham cracker crust and regular base, with maybe some type of berry coulis swirled in (here’s an example). This one has a gingersnap crust supporting a cheesecake sweetened with brown sugar and cider. And there’s a layer of caramelized apples hiding inside!
I was quite pleased to remember that on a trip to IKEA a couple months ago I’d bought a package of Swedish gingersnaps, and they were still unopened in my cupboard. Also, as we roll into fall here in the southern hemisphere, we are now getting “new season” apples at the market…much better than ones that have been sitting around for nine months. So all systems were go for making this cheesecake! I do often have a hard time judging when a cheesecake is ready to come out of the oven (quiche and brownies also torture me this way). Mine didn’t crack on the sides as per the instructions, but it seemed fully set, so I crossed my fingers and took it out. I was worried about overbaking it, too, since I’d halved the recipe and made a six-inch cake.
Seems like it came out just fine. I had some apple jelly in the fridge, so once it was cool, I glazed the top of my cake for a little shine. I love how high up the sides the crust came. The spices (cinnamon and ginger in the base) were just right, and the cheesecake was really creamy.
This recipe is from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, and you can find it here on Good Eats n’ Sweet Treats. It’s really good, so thanks Jamie for choosing it! Also check out the blogroll on the Tuesdays with Dorie site to see all of our cream cheese creations this week.
Time To Make The Doughnuts: Crullers with Rum Glaze (Spritzkrapfen)
February 10, 2008 at 2:53 pm | Posted in breakfast things, events, other sweet, sweet things | 37 Comments
What time is it? It’s time to put on my disposable paper cap and make like Fred! Two of my favorite food bloggers, Peabody and Tartelette, have teamed up to host Time To Make The Doughnuts, and I couldn’t not participate. I must say, I love doughnuts but I rarely allow myself to have them because I can quickly spiral out of control. This is embarrassing, but if you have a box of Entenmann’s chocolate glazed things in the fridge (those MUST be eaten cold!) and invite me over, do not turn your back on me because I will sense their presence and they will magically disappear! And back when Krispy Kreme was just a southern thang, it was so fun to go to the big shop near Grandma W’s and watch as they plopped off the line and into the vat of fat! Oh, and have you ever had one from the Doughnut Plant? They are the schiznit!
I definitely go for cake-style doughnuts over yeast-raised; usually cinnamon-sprinkled or chocolate-frosted. But there is another type of doughnut that really makes my heart race (yes, this is probably actually because of sugar content)…glazed crullers. I love them, but I had never made them myself and had no idea how they were made either. So I decided to find out, and fry them up for Peabody and Helene.
Turns out they are just pâte à choux, the same dough you’d use for eclairs or creampuffs, fried and glazed. I found a recipe in the book Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers. They are a Viennese treat, properly called spritzkrapfen. As an aside, I drool over everything in this book. I went to Vienna, Budapest and Prague as part of a backpacking trip in college. It’s too bad that I didn’t know anything about anything back then, because I would have loved to experience the kaffeehaus atmposphere (and pastries!). I will have to go back sometime and do it right.
Back to the doughnuts…My crullers came out very homemade-looking (if not for the label, would you have mistaken them for onion rings in the photo??), but they were totally melt-in-your-mouth, and the rum glaze was sensational. They were easily the best crullers I’ve had…probably because they were so fresh, and of course dripping with rum. My brother had two suggestions for improvement–make them bigger (I couldn’t agree more) and make more of them (I only made three so as not to be piggy)!
Be sure to visit Peabody and Tartelette on February 15 to see a great round-up of fried and baked doughnut delights!
Crullers with Rum Glaze (Spritzkrapfen)– makes 14
adapted from Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers
Crullers
1 cup water
8 T (4 oz) unsalted butter, cubed
1 t sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup unbleached flour
4 large eggs (3 whole and 1 beaten), room temperature
Vegetable oil, for fryingRum Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
2 T golden rum
1 T water, approximately
For the crullers:Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a full boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally so the butter melts. Remove from the heat, add all the flour at once, and stir hard with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated and it forms a ball. Return the pan medium-low heat and cook. Stir continuously to evaporate some of the moisture, until the dough films the bottom of the pan, about 90 seconds.
Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer (you could do this by hand or in a stand mixer), beat in the three whole eggs one at a time, making sure they are completely incorporated and stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add as much of the fourth beaten egg as needed so the dough is thick and hold its shape, but falls slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift it out of the bowl. It should be smooth and shiny.
Cut out fourteen 4-inch parchment squares and place a wire rack over a sheet pan for draining. Using a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip (Rodgers recommends a 9/16-inch-wide tip, like Ateco #825, but I’d go even a bit wider), pipe the dough into 3-inch circles onto the parchment squares.
Pour the vegetable oil into a large pot or Dutch oven to a depth of 3 inches and heat to 360°F. Working in batches, without crowding, place the dough circles (still on their papers) upside-down in the oil. After about 15 seconds, use tongs to pull off and discard the papers. Fry, turning once, until golden on both sides. Using a skimmer, transfer the cooked crullers to the rack to drain, and repeat for the next batch. Try to keep the oil at 360°F throughout.
For the rum glaze: Sift the powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in the rum and enough water to make a glaze the consistency of heavy cream. Dip each cruller upside-down in the glaze and place right side up on the rack to cool and set.
TWD Rewind: Orange Berry Muffins
February 9, 2008 at 11:05 am | Posted in breakfast things, muffins/quick breads, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 Comments
When I put up my first Tuesdays with Dorie post earlier in the week, I mentioned that I’d like to make the recipes the group tried out before I joined. This morning I decided to start with the simplest one, the first in the book: Orange Berry Muffins.
I may be a little groggy at 8:00 on a Saturday morning, but I had no trouble putting these together. A few ingredients, mixed by hand…twenty-five minutes later, breakfast is ready. The best part is they’re loaded with berries!
This recipe was Michelle’s choice and she has it posted on her blog, Sugar and Spice. It is from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Black-and-White-Chocolate Cake
February 5, 2008 at 6:32 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 42 Comments
Like probably a lot of you, I have a bookshelf dedicated to my cookbooks. I read them, I admire them, I love and cherish them…but apart from a couple of standards, I don’t really use them that often. Over the holidays, I finally got Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. I felt like the last person on Earth to get it…I wondered if anyone noticed the big “L” stamped on my forehead for the past year! From what I’ve heard, it’s a fabulous book, so I would also be a total loser if I didn’t put it to use. But I need a little peer pressure sometimes, so help cattle prod me, I just joined a really great group called Tuesdays with Dorie! The brainchild of Laurie from quirky cupcake, TWD makes one recipe a week out of Baking from My Home to Yours. It’ll take awhile, but we hope to get through the whole thing! This means that at some point I will also need to get around to baking the first five recipes that I missed out on. I’m hoping none of this is too ambitious on my part…
For my first TWD, the group is making Dorie’s Black-and-White-Chocolate Cake, a recipe chosen by April of Abbey Sweets. It’s a vanilla buttermilk cake, layered with dark chocolate pastry cream and white chocolate whipped cream. Then the whole thing gets frosted with more white chocolate whipped cream. I love me some cake, so I was pretty psyched to get this one going.
OK, if you have the book and look on page 260, you’ll probably notice that my cake doesn’t look a whole lot like Dorie’s from the outside. In fact, it looks like crap. I had some big-time filling and frosting issues…it was highly upsetting, and I almost didn’t want to post a photo. I found the white chocolate whipped cream too soft to spread on the side of the cake (I couldn’t whip it anymore, because it was beginning to look separated, and I actually had to make it twice because the first time it really did curdle and wouldn’t come back together no matter how I tried to save it). It just slid right off and mucked up the cake plate…in hindsight, I should have realized that would happen and just iced the top, leaving the side exposed for an old-fashioned look. Since the dark chocolate pastry cream was oozing out between the layers anyway, I put some that I had leftover into the freezer for half and hour and tried to use it to frost the side instead. Because of it’s consistency, I couldn’t get a nice frost with that either (that’s why no one frosts with pastry cream!), but had to settle for more of a thin smear…grrrrr. I had made some tempered chocolate curls before beginning this whole process, so I hoped they would distract the eye from my frosting failures.
Thank goodness that the inside of my cake looks more or less normal. Oh, by the way, I halved the recipe in the book so I’d just have a six-inch cake. I have have to say, the dark chocolate cream was damn good…a perfect chocolate pastry cream. The cake itself was a little dense, I thought, but this could very well be due to differences in flour (I have had a couple of baked goods come out funky using my US books and Aussie flour).
Because of the problems I had, I’m really interested to see how my fellow TWD members did with this recipe. I’m going over to the Tuesdays with Dorie blog that Laurie set up to see the list of TWD bakers and visit their sites. So should you! And if you want to try your hand at the cake, take a look here on Abbey Sweets for the recipe.
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