TWD: Chocolate Cream Tart

Ok, truth be told, I wasn't very excited about making this recipe. I wasn't in the mood to make a crust. It's birthday central around here, and I have cakes coming out the wazoo. Really. But I skipped the previous week, so I'll make a tart.
This is a chocolate cream layered in a chocolate crust with whipped cream on top. What could be bad?

The crust was easy to make in the food processor. I decided to make the full amount of crust because I knew the extra would freeze easily. I found these adorable mini tart pans, so I joined many of the TWD bakers and made mine mini. And then I found my even mini-er pans and made some individual tarts. I took Dorie's advice and froze three of the mini tart pans full of uncooked dough. Now, when I have a chocolate crust emergency, I have some in the freezer. The crust baked up easily. Upon tasting one of the baked crusts, however, I was a little nervous. It was a bitter chocolate taste. I hoped that the chocolate cream and whipped cream would offset it.

I only made a 1/4 of the cream. Luckily, it was easy to reduce the recipe. I simplified the recipe (by mistake) and had some good results. I boiled the milk in the microwave. Worked great! I added the hot milk to the sugar, corn starch, and egg yolk and brought it to a boil. I added the un-melted chocolate to the pan (whoops!) and it worked out just fine. Into a bowl and into the fridge. Done.
I copped out on making whipped cream. I just didn't have enough stuff to cover. I opted for that faux standby -- Cool Whip.

So, it's time to assemble. I layer in the chocoate cream to the mini tart pan. Good. I spoon it into the individuals. Ooops! Should have taken those out of the pans first. Ah well. I'll remove the mini ring from the pan before I finish. I take off the outer ring. Good. I, for some unknown reason, decided to remove the metal plate from the bottom of the tart.

And then I got this.

Dang! About 1/4 of it fell into the sink. Dang!


So the rest gets covered with Cool Whip.


And the mini minis get covered as well.

The verdict -- these are really good. Really good. The slight bitterness of the crust is offset by the sweetness of the cream. The crust was incredibly crumbly. It wasn't bad, but I would have liked the structure to have been a little more stable. It was really easy to make the cream, and I do have three crusts in the freezer. I could see myself making this again. Or I could just bake off the crusts and fill them with ice cream. Could go either way.

Thank you Kim of Scrumptious Photography for picking this yummy recipe. Go check out her blog to see the recipe and to drool. Her photos really are fabulous.
I'm skipping next week. It's a Tiramisu cake. I'm sure it's amazing. But as I said above, I have cake coming out the wazoo. I have baked (or still have to bake) a total of six birthday cakes all in the last two weeks. All for two kids. That's my next post.

No TWD this week. Too much crazy.

Apparently, this is my skip week. I meant to make the bread pudding. I did. But somehow, I didn't.

It's been a crazy week. My niece and I made some Bakerella candy cupcakes (photos coming), we celebrated the girl's eighth birthday, and the husband took the boy to the ER for five stitches. Plus, I got my geek on with the Hearty Boys.

Truth be told, I have a bread pudding recipe that I love, so it's not horrible that I didn't try this one.

Sorry, Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle that I let you down. But go to her site, and you'll get the recipe and see some wonderful photos. I'll be back next week.

Edited to add: The boy is fine. He's up running around playing Star Wars/Power Rangers with no notice of his wound. Stitches are under his right brow bone. They come out on Thursday.

Best ever foodie Saturday night

Last night I got to let my food geek run wild. I was a volunteer along with a friend at a charity benefit for a local adoption agency. (The Cradle in Evanston, IL. Go check 'em out) It was held at a local appliance store, though that is a misnomer. Abt in Glenview is my fantasy land. They have room after room of electronics, appliances, and kitchenware. There are little nooks along one wall that each house a different kitchen set up with various cabinets, counter tops, and appliances. The nooks were each taken up with a local restaurant, caterer, or pastry shop.

I, along with my friend and a few other people, was assigned as an assistant. One of us in each kitchen. I hit the jackpot. I was assigned to work with Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh, also known as The Hearty Boys. Just in case you aren't addicted to the Food Channel like I am, these guys were the winners of the first season of The Next Food Network Star.

Let me just start by saying that these guys are just so genuine, gracious, and nice. Oh, and the food they prepared was amazing. They made two appetizers for the crowd. I'd never eaten raw fish. Ever. Dan made Ahi Poke Rolls. For Steve, I tried it. And it was good. Really good. It was sweet and spicy and creamy and there was a little hint of salt. Really good. The other appetizer they served was a Chicken Satay Skewer. These were so good with a creamy peanut sauce and black sesame seeds and just a little green onion.

The crowd was equally wowed. Dan and Steve did a cooking demo of their two treats. And they left me alone at the station. I got to skewer and garnish the chicken and plate and garnish the Ahi. I know. I'm a dork. But here are these guys who are nationally known for their food, and they left me in charge of it! Good thing it was pretty foolproof. The crowd couldn't get enough of it.

They both humored me and smiled when we talked about baking and cooking. I left last night with two big hugs and an autographed cookbook. (Yes, another cookbook) Steve suggested that I start with the cocktails. I think I'll do just that. It's an amazing looking book. If you'd ever like to cook along, just let me know. Hearty Boys Monday anyone?

If you're in Chicago on a Sunday, go check out the brunch. The friend who volunteered with me and I are already planning our visit.

TWD: 15 Minute Chocolate Amaretti Torte

This was not one of my more successful baking endeavors. Well, I take that back a little. In the end, the torte was delicious. It was really, really, ugly, though. And slightly underbaked. And the glaze never set. And.... you get the picture.

First off, I was so excited that this was a "good for Passover" recipe. Strictly speaking, it's not K for P, but it fits into my Passover parameters. The cake has amaretti cookies as one of the ingredients. I found mine at Cost Plus. Straight up, I liked these cookies. They had a nice almond flavor. The other bonus to this was right in the title. It takes little or no time to put the cake together and in to the oven.

I took a cue from some of the other bakers and went the mini route. Cutting the recipe in half was easy. Dorie's recipe calls for a food processor. Mine has a 13 cup bowl. It's great for a lot of things. Half of this recipe was not one of them. Instead I used the hated mini prep for the amaretti and almond grinding. The rest I mixed with my equally hated hand mixer. It did come together easily. I used Baker's Joy (best thing for baking ever) to prep my pans. I used three 3" pans, and half a recipe fit just fine. Because my tortes were so small, I was a little overly cautious about baking time. I could really smell the tortes with about six minutes left on the timer. That tends to make me nervous. And when I looked at them, they looked dry on top, just as Dorie suggested they might. I cooled them on the counter.

And this is what the torte looked like.

I don't think I can adequately describe the canyon in the middle of the torte. I tried to photograph it, but it didn't really come across.

After it cooled, I flipped it out of the pan only to find a similar canyon on the other side. It's hard to describe. A weird hourglass lying on its side? A chocolate torte bow tie? A chocolate torte bialy? Again, the photo doesn't do it justice.

Anyway, on to the glaze. Just a bit of helpful advice here -- when a recipe calls for heavy cream, don't try to substitute skim milk. I thought you should know that. See, when you use skim milk, your glaze never quite solidifies. (On a side note, when you use this recipe and substitute skim milk, you get an amazing hot chocolate.)

Here it is "glazed". I think the canyon is coming through a bit more.

And one last shot, a little closer up.

Even with the underbaking, thin glaze, and canyons, this was a delicious cake. The almond flavor came through just enough to compliment the chocolate. The glaze tasted rich and chocolately. I skipped the almond whipped cream. I certainly wasn't going to try to substitute skim milk there. I would absolutely try this cake again. Next time, maybe I'll get it right.

Thanks to the fabulous Holly of Phe/MOM/enon for choosing this recipe. Go to her blog if you want to see what this is supposed to look like.

In which I revisit matzo brei

So, I had some raging discussions on Facebook. World Peace? No. White Sox vs. Cubs? No. Deep dish vs. thin crust? Nope. Savory vs. sweet matzo brei? You bet.

There are two definite camps out there. I fall firmly and completely into the savory camp. Sweet matzo brei is just.... wrong. I just don't understand how anyone can pour syrup or spread jam on fried matzo. Their argument: It's just like French toast. Only instead of bread, you use matzo. I will even admit to using it as a point of reference in my last post. That doesn't mean I would ever eat it that way. So here I have an illustrated version of my savory recipe. So you can all see how delicious it is and join me in the savory camp.

This is matzo in its whole cracker form.

Here it is in a bowl just before I added water.

This is the cubed salami frying with the the onions. I used the word "saute" yesterday when I was talking about it. It's not a saute, it's a fry.

Having forgotten a few photo steps, here is the delicious finished product. It's not a great picture. It doesn't quite convey the deliciousness that is fried matzo.

It's creamy and still slightly crunchy at the same time. The onions and salami add a sweet/salty flavor to the eggs and matzo. This is a recipe that I will make even when it's not Passover. That's how good it is. Go try it. Really.

This isn't a recipe so much as it's a guide.
Julie's Matzo Brei

Some onion, diced.
Some salami, diced. (Note: you have to buy a block of salami and cube it. You can't used sliced from the deli. I would highly recommend Hebrew National)
Matzo
Eggs, one per square of matzo
butter
salt and pepper to taste

Place the matzo in a bowl. Break it into bite sized pieces. Add water and let sit. Meanwhile, melt butter in frying pan. And onion and cook until it's softened. When the matzo is a little soft (about two minutes), drain the water. Add salami to the onion and cook until it's slightly browned. I add the eggs right into the matzo and blend them. Pour the matzo/egg into the frying pan and cook until the eggs are done to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste.
For those of you who like to commit sacrilege, you can omit the onion and salami. Add some cinnamon and vanilla to the eggs/matzo mixture, cook as you would scrambled eggs, and then serve with jam or syrup. But only if you like being wrong.

It's Passover, so you know what that means....

Actually, it means some pretty darn good food! I often hear about bland, boring food for Passover. (If you're unfamiliar, here's a decent link that will give you some of the rules for eating during Passover.) In a nutshell, we can't eat any food that is leavened. No bread. No pasta. No crackers. Mostly, we eat matzo.

This year I've found some wonderful recipes. They are mostly kosher for Passover. I use butter instead of margarine, I don't use K for P (shorthand!) vanilla, and I am not strict about only using ingredients (spices, milk products etc) that are K for P.

Having said that, these recipes meet my standards. I was very lax about photos, but the lovely people whose recipes I've used have photos for me.

David Lebovitz makes the most incredible matzo toffee. I could eat it by the panful. And I would if the other people in my house didn't demand their share.

I made my cinnamon/sugar nuts from some of the leftover egg whites. Again, I could eat the whole thing. (It's in the same post as the butterscotch pudding. Scroll down for the recipe.)

I made a great matzo farfel kugel. Farfel is broken pieces of matzo. A kugel is a pudding. This is the recipe I used. I did change it up a bit and added a 10 oz. package of frozen spinach and some diced roasted red pepper for color. It was very tasty.

I made vanilla bean meringue cookies with the rest of the egg whites. These were the "meh" food this time around. I didn't cook them long enough, so they are a slightly weird texture. User error this time around. I've made them before and they were very good.

Passover would not be complete without a meal of matzo brie. It's a Passover version of French Toast. You soak broken pieces of matzo in an egg mixture and then fry it. I make mine savory, however. I don't really use a recipe. Here's how I do it: Dice some onion, saute in oil until softened. Add some diced salami. Cook until the salami starts to brown. In the meantime, break up some matzo, put it in a bowl, pour water over it, and let it sit until slightly softened. Drain the water. I beat one egg per piece of matzo. Mix the egg into the matzo. Add this to the frying pan. Cook. Salt and pepper at the table. I'm making it tonight, so perhaps I'll add some photos later.

This coming TWD recipe can be made K for P! Very excited. I'll have that in a few days.

TWD: Banana Cream Pie

I love banana cream pie. Love. It. Here's what's funny, though. I've never made it. I don't tend to eat it very often, either. I don't know why. I think I may have to start, though.

This is a good pie. It's medium to high on the fussy scale. I did make a minor change to Dorie's recipe. I was really intrigued by a Nilla Wafer crust that I saw someone else talking about. I've made Dorie's pie crust before. It's good. But I really wanted to try this one. Easy enough. Crushed Nilla Wafers, confectioner's sugar, and butter. Baked. Done.

The custard was next. This seemed pretty standard. Boiled milk added to egg yolks and sugar. And cinnamon and nutmeg. I was curious to see how those flavors would blend with the banana. I discovered the same problem that some of the other bakers had. The custard got really thick really fast. Mine never had a chance to boil. I crossed my fingers that there wouldn't be a cornstarch taste. Into the fridge, and part two was done.

Assembly was next. The custard came out the fridge. It was pretty solid. Dorie recommends beating it vigorously to loosen it. I did that. And then I added about three tablespoons of milk. That's what finally did the trick. The custard is layered in with the bananas. Part three done.

The final step is to make the whipped/sour cream topping. It's pretty straightforward. The little secret is the sour cream. It adds a lovely little tang to the topping. This got spread on the top of the pie.

Tah dah! Pie!

Dorie recommends cutting it very soon after assembly. Problem is that right after assembly, it's still pretty fluid. And your slices end up looking like this:

And the pie left in the plate looks like this:

After a night in the fridge, however, it looks like this:

Much better.

This was a thumbs from all eaters. I enjoyed the Nilla Wafer crust, but it didn't hold together very well the first day. Next time around I think I will use a pastry crust. I discovered that I really enjoyed the cinnamon taste with the bananas. Though, I may drop down the amount a tiny bit next time. It was pretty pronounced. This was not a low-calorie diet dish. Two cups of whole milk, six egg yolks, one stick of butter, and one cup of heavy cream are just part of the recipe. That may be another reason why I don't eat this very often.... Lucky for me it's Passover this week and next so I'll have some good uses for the six egg whites left over.

Thank you Amy of Sing for Your Supper for picking such a yummy recipe. If you'd like to try it, go to her website for the recipe.

TWD: Nope! I'm on vacation!

Sorry, folks, if you were looking for coconut butter thins. First of all, my dislike of coconut is well documented. But more importantly, I'm on vacation in lovely South Carolina. Sorry all you Chicago people who got six inches of snow over the weekend!

Now that I told the people with whom I'm vacationing that I was supposed to make these cookies, I may end up making them anyway.

I'll be back next week with a delicious banana cream pie. Yum!

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

I was very happy to see another cake. Especially coffee cake. Especially coffee cake with a streusel topping. I'm not generally a big fan of blueberries, but between Dorie's blueberry pie and this cake, I could be a convert.

Medium-low fuss factor this week. It was pretty easy with few components. First, the streusel gets made and put in the fridge. The recipe calls for walnuts, but I really don't like them, so I used almonds instead. I tried to do it in my Cuisinart mini-prep. It did not work well. I ended up finishing it by hand. Had I started it that way, I could have had fewer dishes. Ah well.

The cake came together in a snap. I love the way fresh lemon zest smells. Dorie put in a notation to use 2 tsp. of flour to mix with the berries. It's an important step. When the berries are coated in flour, they tend to sink less. I went with frozen berries this time around. I just find that the frozen berries from Trader Joe's are really good and fresh tasting.

Decent mix of berries to cake ratio. No sinking here!

You do have to be careful when mixing in blueberries. The batter can take on a really odd purple tinge. I kept my berries frozen until just before they were mixed in. I think it minimized the purple. The streusel got crumbled on top, and the cake went into the oven. Again, no sheet pan underneath. Mine cooked for 60 minutes.

The house smelled lovely. I brought it to a friend's for an open house. It received rave reviews there. And the pieces that I brought home were very quickly eaten by the husband and his two friends. This is definitely a keeper recipe. I may have to make it again next week for a vacation breakfast. The streusel topping alone was fabulous. Mixed with the cake it was scrumptious.

Mmmmmm. Streusel.

Dorie suggests that this should make nine servings. I cut mine into 16 pieces, and they were just right. Well, except for the husband and his friends. I think they would have preferred that I cut it into three pieces.

Golden brown and delicious.

You can find the recipe at Sihan's blog, Fundamentally Flawed. Good thing, too. You'll want to make this one.

Adventures in Cookbooking -- Week 5

And here we are with another cookbook that I'm surprised I haven't used before. It's 500 Five-Ingredient Recipes. Truthfully, it looks like a great springboard for meals. I can see adding fresh herbs or vegetables to some of these. It's not five ingredients any more, but I can live with that. By the way -- salt and pepper -- not included on the list of five ingredients. Is that cheating?

The recipe we chose was for orange molasses chicken. I would say that I used the essence of the idea and the ingredients, but I kind of changed it.

The idea is to make a glaze out of frozen concentrated oj, molasses, and onion powder. You broil some chicken and brush the glaze on it.

I needed to get the chicken cooked quickly, so I sliced it and sauteed it in some butter and olive oil. The boy helped me turn the chicken on the stove. Not bad for an almost-six-year-old! I made a sauce from regular oj, pomegranate molasses, and onion powder. We used it to deglaze the pan. I let it thicken a minute, added the collected chicken juices back in, and let it thicken some more. Then we poured it over the sliced chicken.

It was really good! It was simple and tasty, and everyone voted this on our "Let's make it again" list. I could see adding a few fresh herbs to make it even better. I served it with brown rice, and the nutty flavor of the rice blended very well with the sweet tang of the chicken sauce.

There's not much recipe to post. This one is pretty easily faked.

I'm off next week. We'll be on vacation. I'll continue my challenge after we return.

TWD: French Yogurt Cake

Mm mmm mmmm. Cake. I like cake. I've been looking forward to this cake for a while. It just sounded so simple and delicious.

And you know what? It is.

As far as Dorie's fuss factor goes. This was very low. I did it by hand. And I only used *gasp* ONE bowl. Ok, only one that needed washing. I wiped out the bowl with the dry ingredients in it and put it right back in the cabinet.

The boy helped me make this cake. He liked doing the pouring and zesting the lemon. I read that a few people had a problem with the cake sticking. I used a generous amount of Baker's Joy and had no problems at all. I made it a day ahead of when I was serving it. I didn't glaze it because I didn't want the glaze to stick.

And then I never ended up glazing it. Instead, I spooned some orange marmalade (Homemade! By me!) over each slice and topped it with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream. It was divine. The slight bitterness of the marmalade was a great contrast to the gentle sweetness of the cake. The whipped cream brought the whole thing together. I did use the almond meal, and I'm glad for it. It added another little flavor dimension.

This is definitely on my "make again. soon" list. It wasn't heavy as pound cakes can be. We only have one photo. We were too busy eating to care much about photography.

Makes me want to go down to the kitchen and have another slice.



Thank you Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction for choosing such a wonderful recipe. Go to her blog to get it for yourself. And then invite me over for some after you bake it.

Adventures in Cookbooking -- Week 4

Again I'm surprised that I own a book this popular, and I've never used it before. This week was How to Bake: Complete Guide to Perfect Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Tarts, Breads, Pizzas, Muffins by Nick Malgieri.

It's a great read. And I know I've looked through it a number of times. But somehow, for some reason, this was the first time I cooked from it.

I chose a recipe called Soft Rolls. Pretty basic, hard to mess up, right? Ok, except I did. I'm not a novice with yeast. I am very comfortable with it. I make bread once or twice a month. Yet I could not get this recipe to work. I have to think it's user error, but I'm not sure where I went wrong.

The recipe gave options for a stand mixer, food processor, bread machine, and by hand. I have a Cuisinart that has a dough setting and a special dough blade. Easy! I follow the instructions. I mix the (maybe) seven ingredients. I put it in a greased bowl in a warm-ish place. I cover with plastic wrap. And nothing. Not a bit of a rise. Not even three hours later.

Ah well. I shaped it into rolls regardless. Maybe now they'll rise! Nope. In the oven with the heat? Yeah! Now they'll rise.

Nope. They were dense little nuggets of dough. I'll put the blame on my shoulders for now. Perhaps I'll test another recipe and see what happens.

So far, it's one keeper recipe as is, one keeper with modifications, one keeper for adults only, and one not-so-keeper. I'm on the look out for an easy roll recipe. We'll see what next week brings!

See, not soft in any way, shape, or form.

Hard, sad little rolls.

Not a TWD. Instead, we celebrate Purim

Purim is a fun Jewish holiday. It's a celebration of a triumph. To help celebrate, the Jews are commanded to eat, drink, and share what we have with gifts of food and drink. I'm sharing our hamentaschen fest.



Here's a nutshell version of the Purim story. By the way, this is stolen word for word from Yael of Yael's Yummies. Her version is succinct and explains it well.

Tuesday is the Jewish holiday of Purim. "Pur" in Hebrew, means "lots" or "lottery". The holiday celebrates the bravery of Queen Esther and how she saved the Jewish people from the evil Haman (an advisor to the king) in Persia in the city of Shushan. He decided to do away with the Jews and drew "lots" to decide which day would be their doomsday. Queen Esther found out about his plan and basically ratted on him to the king (who up until that time didn't even know she was Jewish). Long, complicated story, but in short, she saved the day. The date that was originally chosen for the Jews to be destroyed , now became a day of celebration. It is a joyful, fun holiday , especially for children, who dress in costumes and parade around the city . The story of Queen Esther is read in synagogues throughout the world. It is a tradition that every time the name of Haman is mentioned, children and adults alike, shake noisemakers in the air, yell and shout, so as to drown out his evil name.

Side note: The story of Purim is called the Megillah. So if you've ever heard anyone talk about "the whole Megillah", it comes from reading the whole Purim story.

Anyway, on to the hamentaschen. Hamentaschen are filled sugar cookies that are traditionally served on Purim. The cookies are three cornered and meant to mimic Hamen's hat. At least that's what I was taught in Sunday School. There are other stories out there.

For the past four years, we've had hamentaschen baking parties. This year we had four five-year-olds and five eight-year-olds come to help us form the cookies. Traditionally, the cookies are filled with poppy or prune fillings. At our house we use chocolate chips, swirled chocolate chips, apricot jam, and raspberry jam. Any and all combinations of said ingredients can be used. One of the girl's friends has an egg allergy, so this is the recipe that I used.

It's a fun afternoon. I'm pretty sure that the kids ate as many chips as they put into the cookies. There was lots of giggling and messes, and it was just as it should be.

Here's a representative sampling of our goodies. The cookies turned out well this year. This just might be the recipe that I keep using, even if we no longer have an egg allergy.







The other TWD bakers made a lovely Lemon Cup Custard chosen by Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles. Check out her blog for the recipe. I'll be back next week with a yummy looking cake.

Adventures in Cookbooking -- Week 4

This week the girl "picked out" the recipe. Really, she wasn't all that interested. So many things to do in her almost-eight-year-old life. I was looking for a side dish this week.

Now that I'm really looking at my cookbooks, I wonder why I have some that I have. This week's book is called A Passion for Potatoes. It's a book where all of the recipes have potatoes of one form or another in them. Including desserts.

Back to the side dish. The recipe this week was Potatoes Gratin with Onions and Beer. See how perhaps the girl was led to this one. It's a pretty straight-forward gratin. Only the liquid is beer instead of cream or milk. I used a mandoline for the potatoes. (Indispensable kitchen item) The potatoes rest in the beer while the onions are caramelized. Then the onion, potato, and cheese are layered in a dish. The beer and potato starch are poured over the top. The whole thing gets baked for 1 1/2 hours.

It smelled great while it was baking. The verdict: good for the adults, not so good for the kids. The beer flavor was just too pronounced. I think it would be great for an adult barbeque. I'm not rushing out to make it again. Ah well.

Side note: I have a convection oven that I hate. Every time I try to use it, it takes longer than the stated cooking time. That isn't supposed to happen! I started this recipe in the oven and had to switch it to the convection. The top started burning almost right away. Anyone use one of these ovens with more success?

Here's the full pan.



A close up of the burnt top.



A serving of the potatoes.



Not the best choice this week. Ah well. There's always another cookbook and another week.

TWD: Chocolate Armagnac Cake

Or, as Dorie also calls it, "The Cake That Got Me Fired." It's a good story. Go buy the cookbook and find out how it happened.

This is a (mostly) flourless chocolate cake with a rather adult edge to it. The original recipe called for whisky soaked raisins and almond meal. Dorie's version calls for Armagnac soaked prunes and pecan meal. Ok, she changed the recipe at the restaurant where she was working. That's why she got fired. Buy the book anyway.

I went with the original recipe. Remember this:



Whisky I had. Raisins I had. Ground almonds, yup, in the cabinet.

As I said before, flourless chocolate cake. I used many many dishes.



My last count was six cooking vessels. It's not a complicated recipe, but you need to know what you are doing. It's a medium-high fuss factor. I was a little confused with the instructions for the whisky soaked raisins. The prunes were boiled in water, steeped in the Armagnac, and then flamed a little. The raisins, as far as I could tell, were just supposed to steep for at least three hours. I decided to flame them before I added them to try to take a little boozy edge off of them. It didn't work.

I didn't follow the "put it on a sheet pan" instruction. I've found that the bottom of things don't cook as well when I do that. I also didn't bother taking it off the bottom of the springform before serving.

This is the finished, fairly unattractive cake.



Here's where I also veered away from the recipe. I chose not to frost it. I thought that it was rich enough without another layer of chocolate. I think it was a good choice.

What I did do was dust the cake slices with powdered sugar. It came out looking just lovely.



The verdict was mixed. The girl did not care for it. The boy ate up his entire piece. The husband, who is the whisky fan, really liked it. The husband's friends finished the rest of the cake. In one night. They liked it. I thought it was good, but the raisins were a little much for me. Ok, raisins would have been fine, it was the serious shot of whisky that came with each raisin that raised my eyebrows. Apparently, the prunes tend to melt into the cake, the raisins stay intact. The chocolate flavor was lovely. The texture was silky with the barest hint of crunch to the crust. I could see this adapting very nicely for Passover.

I'm glad to have tried it. Thanks to LyB of And Then I do the Dishes for choosing this recipe. Next week is my chosen "skip week." I'll have something else sweet up. Perhaps I'll do a two-fer and make it from a cookbook I've never used!

Adventures in Cookbooking -- Week 3

This week's recipe was chosen by the boy. (He's helping me write this post) The cookbook is called The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. It's essentially a compilation of the "best" recipes from the Best of the Best book series. The series seems to be books made up of more compilations of local recipes. Did that make sense?

I told the boy he could choose a main dish or a side dish from this book. He paged through some of the recipes and decided on a beef vegetable soup. Side note -- the recipe is from Van Cliburn's aunt!

It was a straightforward recipe. It was easy to make with ingredients that were easy to find. By the way, they carry beef soup bones at the supermarket. Who knew? It calls for canned or frozen mixed vegetables. I found a great mix at my local supermarket. It's called a fiesta blend. It contains broccoli, carrots, white beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, Italian style green beans, and red peppers.

This was a big thumbs up. It had nice beefy flavor with lots of good vegetables.

Here's the boy's bowl of soup ready to be eaten.



And here's the boy! Eating!



And not to be left behind, here's the girl.



I'll use this book again. There are some nice homestyle/family recipes that looked good. E-mail me if you'd like the recipe.

Come back and see what we choose for next week!

*** edited to add -- The wonderful ladies who edited the book left me a very nice note. The book is for sale ($5!) at their website. Go get a copy!

TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars. And my 100th post!

Woo hoo! Post #100! Woo hoo!

Now on to the cookies. We liked these cookies. We liked them a lot. I will say that I've been making a version of this bar cookie for years and years. It was in my mom's recipe box, and I remember making them as a kid. Mostly because they were incredibly simple to make, but also because they were delicious. Dorie's was slightly more complicated, but for a Dorie recipe, this one was pretty easy and not very dish intensive.



Dorie's recipe isn't far off from my mom's version. This one calls for a little espresso powder and cinnamon in the shortbread, which I thought added a nice flavor note. It also calls for chopped chocolate in the shortbread crust. Dorie likes toffee bits as her finishing touch. We used toasted chopped pecans.



It's very basic construction. A shortbread crust is baked. Chocolate is melted on top. (By the way, don't bother putting it back in the oven to melt. The residual heat will melt the chocolate just fine). Toffee bits are scattered over the melted chocolate. Bingo. Dessert!

You can see the layers pretty clearly here.



I brought these to an Oscar party. All the reviews were favorable. The ones that were left at home were quickly eaten up by the boy, girl, and husband. I could absolutely see myself making these again. I will omit the chocolate from the crust next time. I didn't think it was necessary. I think that flavor got lost because of the chocolate topping. And while I really enjoyed the crunch of the toffee bits, I'll probably use toasted nuts next time. It counteracts the sweetness of the rest of the bar very nicely. Either this crust recipe or my mom's works very well.

Thanks Whitney of What's Left on the Table for choosing this yummy treat. Next week is a chocolate cake with whiskey soaked raisins. Come back and see what happens!

Edited to add:  I can't help but note that today is Fat Tuesday.  Isn't every TWD a fat Tuesday?

Adventures in Cookbooking -- Week 2

First of all, thanks for the name, Nancy! She let me steal her idea.

Week two brings a recipe called New York Spiedies. (pronounced speedy) The book is The Best American Recipes 2002-2003. The husband paged through and found the recipe for us. This is an interesting book. It's actually a compilation of recipes from books, magazines, newspapers, and the interwebs. These two women, Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens, are, respectively a cookbook editor and contributing editor for Fine Cooking. Some recipes in the book are from celebrity cooks and others are from home cooks. I like the mix. Each recipe comes with cook's notes that can be advice on where to find ingredients or variations on the recipe. There's also "serve with" and "to drink" advice with each recipe. I also liked that each recipe has a story that goes with it.

It's a very easy recipe to put together. Essentially, you make a marinade, cube some meat, let it soak for up to three days, thread it on a skewer, and cook. It's all pantry items, so that was really a bonus. To serve, you use some squishy Italian bread as the meat remover. Instant sandwich!

This recipe didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. It was completely user error. I think I chose the wrong cut of meat. Sometimes, the labels really flummox me. It's meant to be cooked on the grill or broiled. I tried to use my grill pan and ended up crowding it. The flavor of the meat was wonderful, but the texture was too chewy. I will absolutely make this again in the summer when I can use my grill. Plus, I'll look more carefully at the meat label.

Definitely too crowded in the pan.



It never really got a chance to sear and get brown.



Here's the recipe. This one I'll post because it was previously published in the Washington Post.

New York Spiedies

2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. vinegar
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T. each dried thyme, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder
zest of one lemon
1/2 c. water
5 pounds top round roast, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 loaf soft Italian bread, thickly sliced

At least one day ahead, combine everything but the bread and meat and mix well. Reserve 1/2 c. marinade for basting. Add meat to rest of marinade. Cover and refrigerate, turning occasionally, for at least 24 hours and up to three days.

Preheat a grill to high. Transfer the meat to skewers and discard the marinade. Grill the skewers, turning occasionally and basting with the reserved marinade until meat is cooked to liking. Serve immediately with the bread. To eat: fold the bread over the contents of a skewer and pull the skewer out, leaving the meat sandwiched within the bread. I cut this recipe in half.

If you give this a try, let me know. If you have the book and you've made something else, let me know that, too!

TWD: Devil's Food White Out Cake

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have the cover cake.  Here it is.  

This is a three layer cake slathered with marshmallow frosting and coated with more cake crumbs.  Truthfully, what could be bad.

The cake is baked in two layers.  I would say for a Dorie recipe, it was medium fussy.  Funny story, I searched quite a few places trying to find the 8" cake pans that this recipe calls for. Other than slightly expensive options at Williams-Sonoma or the internet with resulting shipping charges, I was not having much luck.  And then I looked in one of my lesser-used cabinets.  And what do I find there, but a checkerboard cake set with, yup, 8" cake pans.  Woo hoo!

Anyway, back to the cake.  The cakes came out lovely and moist.  I didn't put them on a baking sheet.  I find that it doesn't bake as well on the bottom when I do that.  The layers are sliced in half.  I don't have a hard time doing this, though I know it can be daunting.  I just hold it in my hand and go at it with my long serrated knife.  Three of the four layers are used for the cake base. The fourth is crumbled and meant to be squished in the frosting.  That was actually nice because if you screwed up, it was still meant to be crumbled!

The frosting was new to me.  I wasn't part of the group when they made marshmallows, and I've never made marshmallow frosting.  The directions, I thought, were a little vague.  I know that you whip egg whites.  I know that you make a sugar syrup.  I know that you add them together.  When you add them together, however, was not very clear to me.  Regardless, my guessing seems to have worked.  I will say that I think I screwed up by adding the vanilla a little late to the frosting.  It ended up having a slightly alcohol taste to it.  Though, there was much wine drinking the night it was eating, so I'm not sure anyone noticed.  It ended up being easy to frost.  Again, the crumbs were a bonus.  If the frosting was a little crumby on the side, it didn't matter!

Here it is from the top.  It almost looks like Dorie's cake!

Here we are looking at it from the side.

And this is the inside.  Mmmmm.  This is where it stops looking like Dorie's cake.  I have to wonder if she had extra frosting somewhere to make it so thick in the middle.  Ah well.  I also discovered that it was definitely a little squishy when it was sliced.

I enjoyed this cake.  I'm not sure that I'll be rushing to make it again.  Mostly because I don't have a lot of occasions that call for cake, but also because I make a similar one that I like a little better.  I think the cakes are pretty close, but the other one is frosted with whipped cream and coated with toffee.  Winner.

Thank you Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater for choosing this lovely cake.  Up next:  Caramel Crunch Bars.

Cookie Carnival: Chocolate Fudge Cookies

Ok, yum.  Seriously, just yum.  This month's recipe is good.  Not just good, but GOOD.  So good, that less than a week after I made the first batch, I made a second one.  On the same day that we were picking up our Girl Scout cookies.  There wasn't going to be a shortage of cookies in my house.  But I needed to have these available to me.  This is a "I can barely pass by the jar without taking one" cookie.

They are very easy to assemble.  Ice cream scoops -- not just for ice cream.  They make portioning out cookies very easy.  I used dried cherries in the first batch, and a mix of dried fruit in the second one.  Normally, I am not a dried fruit fan when it comes to cookies, but this really added a nice dimension.  I used a mix of black and regular cocoa.  It helped to make these extra rich.  I did cut down on the amount of chocolate chunks for the second batch.  I wanted the other flavors to come through a little more.  This recipe is definitely finding a spot in my cookie world.

Thanks, Kate!  Here's the recipe if you'd like to start your own addiction.