TWD BCM Rewind: Spiced Honey Cake
January 31, 2017 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, muffins/quick breads, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 CommentsTags: baking, cake
I nominated Spiced Honey Cake a couple of times, and then when it was chosen, I skipped it! Nice, right? I will admit to feeling guilty about that, but now Rewind Week is here to redeem me. So, here it is…
This might not be what you have in mind when you hear the word “cake.” It’s a take on pain d’epices, and is more like a quick bread than a moist, spongey cake. Dorie flavors it with honey (obvi) and also an orange/spice infusion. She uses lavender, Sichuan peppercorns and fresh ginger as her spices, but when I rooted through the cupboard (a chore, let me assure you), I saw don’t have the lavender or the peppercorns. I do have a really nice chai mix with lots of coarse bits of black pepper, ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and fennel. It doesn’t contain any actually tea leaves, just the spices, so I thought it sounded like a perfect choice to go with the orange and honey flavors, as well as the almonds and dried cherries. Because the cake is purposefully on the dry side, it toasts up really nicely (I will thank my fellow TWDers who made the recipe on-schedule for pointing this out to me!). In fact, it’s better as cake toast than as non-toast. And it’s perfect with tea or coffee, so I’m glad to have gotten around to making it!
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll to see what other folks caught up on this week!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Breakfast Biscotti
January 17, 2017 at 8:23 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 14 CommentsTags: baking, biscotti, cookies
My month of baking with granola continues with these Breakfast Biscotti. These are chubby and crunchy and the perfect small treat for dunking in your coffee, tea or hot cocoa. The recipe contains pretty much all my daily breakfast usuals: granola, oatmeal, dried fruit and almonds. If it called for a couple of pancakes to be stirred into the mix, too, then I would really never need to eat anything else in the morning again. These weren’t hard to make, and I thought that they might crumble when I sliced them because of the granola chunks, but they held together quite well. I love how nicely biscotti keep, since a batch makes a lot of cookies. That said, they may keep, but they don’t last– I did half a batch over the weekend, and they’ll be totally gone by tomorrow.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. It was also Dorie’s #cookiesandkindness selection for the month of October, so you can find the biscotti recipe on her site, too. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Granola Cake
January 10, 2017 at 6:22 pm | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 10 CommentsTags: baking, cake
I don’t normally think of granola as a baking ingredient…usually it’s just my breakfast. Dorie likes to incorporate it into all kinds of stuff, though…there were the Granola Grabbers from years ago…now there’s Granola Cake. This actually reminds me of a chewy blondie more than cake– not just because of the add-ins, which include chocolate chunks and coconut in addition to the granola– but also because of the consistency of the batter, which is a lot like stiff cookie dough. Maybe it also reminds me of a blondie because I made just a quarter of the recipe in a loaf pan, so it’s probably thinner than it otherwise would have been. I’m down though. I like it. It’s a great snack cake. The granola contributes to the chew and it’s an interesting use of my normal breakfast cereal.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Pfefferneusse
December 20, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 9 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, holiday
I feel like every Christmas someone mentions Pfefferneusse to me as a favorite holiday cookie…that name is so distinctive that I’ve never forgotten it, but I had yet to make or even try them myself until last week. One thing I know now is that pfefferneusse make really great coffee cookies. They’re dry and firm (but mine were not hard or crunchy)– good keepers– and a natural nibble alongside a cup of hot coffee or tea. They have a lot of spices (even dry mustard–what?!) and some orange zest, but all come together in a nice, mellow way. I liked these little round cookies both covered in powdered sugar and dipped in chocolate glaze.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also Dorie’s #cookiesandkindness selection for the month, so you can find the pfefferneusse recipe on her site, too. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Christmas Spice Cookies
December 6, 2016 at 8:00 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 15 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, holiday
When I want a cookie, I usually go for something chunky with a lot of stuff in it. It’s not that often that I’m like, “I’ll take a plain sugar cookie.” But then I have a really good one, like these Christmas Spice Cookies, and I’m reminded of just how much I like them. These cookies begin with a delicious, basic vanilla sugar cookie dough (Dorie calls it “Do-Almost-Anything”) that’s then amped up with the usual warm holiday spices. You get a crisp, flavorful, subtly spiced cookie with the perfect sandy texture. I’m not much of a cookie decorator, as you can see…frankly, a child could have done better than the hack job I did here. I need more time and maybe a baking buddy to help me get into that, but even with just a sprinkle of sanding sugar, these were festive and tasty.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Caramel Tart
November 22, 2016 at 7:29 pm | Posted in BCM, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, tarts
This looks like a pumpkin pie, and given this time of year that would be a logical assumption, but it is in fact a Caramel Tart. I was expecting something super sweet, chewy and gooey but was surprised. It really isn’t overly sweet, has more the consistency of a ganache tart and really is fabulous cold, as Dorie recommends. I made just two individual tartelettes, using a quarter of a recipe, but if I have a dinner party, I won’t hesitate to make a big one. I put a quenelle of ganache top (more for photo decoration than anything else) and when we ate them, a bit of whipped cream, too…delicious.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll. Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Chocolate Crème Sandwiches
November 15, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
For our second Dorie’s Cookies recipe, we have a homemade take on the Oreo, Chocolate Crème Sandwiches. These are as you’d expect– sturdy, crisp chocolate cookies with vanilla cream filling sandwiched in between. The cookies are made from a simple roll-out dough. I used a combination of black and Dutch process cocoa to get them extra dark. I had a bunch of dough scrap leftover (which always happens with rolled dough), but I baked it off, too, and tucked it into the freezer in case I need to make cookie crumbs for something one day. I was a maybe little skimpy with the powdered sugar and butter filling, but these were good! Different flavored fillings would also be fun here.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Apple Speculoos Crumble
November 8, 2016 at 3:25 pm | Posted in BCM, cobbler/crisp/shorties, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: baking, crumble, fruit
Happy US Election Day…maybe…depending on how you see it. For voting day, I’ve made patriotic ramekins of Apple Speculoos Crumble. This uses speculoos spice cookies to top apples and (optional) raisins. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and made my own speculoos using the recipe in the book. I have a log of raw dough in the freezer to bake later and post about whenever its time rolls around.
I wasn’t crazy about this one, I have to admit. For me, was like just having loose cookie chunks on top of baked fruit chunks. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, and frankly store bought Biscoff cookies may have worked better consistency-wise, but I prefer a more traditional crisp or crumble topping to what I made here. And I like when the fruit has a bit of thickener in it and gets a little saucier than mine did here, so it’s held together better. Maybe I can fiddle with it a little bit another time.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Peanut Butter Change-Ups
November 1, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 17 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
I hope you didn’t think that just because TWD BWJ has wrapped up I’d go down to only posting two Dorie Greenspan recipes a month. Oh no. Not when she’s just released a shiny new tome on cookies…welcome to Tuesdays with Dorie: Dorie’s Cookies! For our first of about 150 cookie entries (whoa!), I present you with Peanut Butter Change-Ups.
These PB cookies aren’t so dissimilar to the flattened crisscross ones we all usually think of. But these are scooped and since they keep the domed shape, they wind up with a softer center. They have lots of chopped peanuts stirred into the batter and little bit of nutmeg, which is a nice touch. I love the saltiness of a good peanut butter cookie. These are a winner in my books. The recipe makes heaps, so it’s perfect for sharing now or for stashing scooped cookie dough in the freezer for baking later.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us if you haven’t already!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Pear Tart with Crunchy Almond Topping
October 25, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, fruit, tarts
I do like a good baked pear dessert. Apples and pumpkins will be around for a long while yet, but pears are more delicate and have a quicker season. Use ’em while you can! This Pear Tart with Crunchy Almond Topping has Dorie’s Sweet Tart Dough holding a mound of lightly caramelized pears and a topping of sweet and crispy glazed sliced almonds. Pear-plus-almond is a classic combo, and for good reason– it’s delicious! I did one thing to my tart that wasn’t in the recipe. I had a little bit of almond frangipane in the freezer that I’d been looking for a home for. After blind baking the tart shell, I spread it on in a thin later before piling on the pears and the almond topping. Not a bad call, if I do say so myself.
This tart is really best the day it’s made. The topping and the tart shell both go a little soggy after sitting overnight…although that sure didn’t stop us from finishing it!
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
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