No TWD this week. Vacation!

Sorry, folks. Nothing to see here. Just got back from vacation today. And as much as I love lime desserts, I didn't get my act together to make it.

I'll be back in full swing next week.

Theory vs. reality

A few months ago, I discovered these cookies through cookie carnival. It was love at first bite. I made a batch. We ate them within days, and I made a new batch. I think this is a fabulous cookie with just a little bit of everything I love.

Fast forward to this summer. The kids and I have been going to a farmer's market every Wednesday. They have some great items, and the kids have become mascots of sorts. They have their favorite vendors and their favorite samples. One of the places that has both is a booth where a lovely woman sells toffee. Homemade, rich, buttery toffee. We chat a bit each week. I told her about my new favorite cookies that contain toffee. I wondered out loud about using her toffee instead of the Heath bits that I had been using for these cookies. So we struck a deal. She would bring me some toffee chips, and I would make her my cookies. Woo hoo!

Last Wednesday I got the chips. This past Tuesday I made the cookies.

Disaster. There is a huge difference between toffee made with simple ingredients (butter, sugar, vanilla, cream) and the Heath stuff. Here's the thing, though, the Heath stuff bakes up better. The homemade toffee melted all over, and the cookies spread to nothing. I cannot adequately explain how thin these are. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't work so well. They also stuck like you can't believe to the pan. Only one or two came off the baking sheet resembling a cookie.

From the top they look delicious.

From the side? Thin. Thin. Thin.

I played with the oven temperature. The recipe calls for 350. I tried a batch at 325 and one at 300. I used convection. Nothing. I refrigerated the dough and tried the different temps. Again, flat nothing. I think the butter from the toffee spreads into the dough and messes with it.

That's the underside of one of the cookies. Not quite done.

They still taste really good. They are extra chewy this time around, again from the butter and sugar in the toffee is my guess.

So here's the lesson I learned. Bake with Heath, eat the homemade stuff straight up.

TWD: Applesauce Spice Bars

I was really looking forward to making these bars. Truth be told, I was going to pick them when it was my choice next month. And then Karen (of Something Sweet by Karen) beat me to it. Ah well, as long as I get to make them.

Easy easy easy recipe. I did it all in one saucepan. I chose to bake it in a 9 x 9 pan instead of the called for 13 x 9 pan. I liked the idea of this more as a cake than a bar. I just needed to add a few minutes to the baking time. I did stick to the rest of the recipe, mostly. I'm not usually a fan of raisins or nuts in cakes, but I was trusting the recipe. I also added the rum. I didn't put on the glaze. It seemed very rich and moist without it. It was a good choice. I thought it was sweet enough.

Here it is just out of the oven and cooling. Golden brown!

Here's a cut piece. See how moist it looks!

This was a good cake. I liked the chunks of apples, and I didn't mind the pecans and raisins. The rum had a fairly pronounced flavor, but I it added to the overall taste. I think I needed to be in more of a fall state of mind. It was hard to eat when it was 85 and humid. Ok, not hard. Eating cake is not hard. I think I'm still in a berry/stone fruit state of mind.

I can't say for sure that I'll make this again. Though talk to me again after we go apple picking. I'll be looking for just about anything to do with them.

Back to the bacon

A while ago, I posted about curing my own bacon. (Not even worth linking to the post. It was that short.)

I used this recipe. The procedure was very easy. I have a great local supermarket with a fabulous butcher. I called. He got me slab pork belly. I think I've mentioned The Spice House before. It's a local shop with an amazing array of spices, dried herbs, and house made seasoning blends. I make excuses to to there. This was one such time. They had everything I needed. Woo hoo! Did you know that curing salt is pink?

I am lucky to have an old coffee grinder to use as a spice grinder. I put everything in and whirled away. The slab pork belly is a bit disconcerting. From the side, it looks just like bacon. But the skin is very.... skin like. And it was a little creepy. Anyway, I took my spice blend and rubbed it all over the belly. It went into a freezer bag, into a pan, and then into the fridge for a week's rest.

Meat side.

Skin side.

Cut to a week later. You take it out of the bag and rinse thoroughly. Then it goes back into the pan for a 24 hour rest in the fridge. This recipe calls for a slow bake instead of smoking the pork. It went into a low oven for about two hours. As soon as it hits the right temperature, out it comes. The skin needs to be removed very promptly or it is hard to cut off. I saved the pieces for future soup/stew flavoring.

This is what it looked like when it was done. It looks like bacon!

Side view. Again, looks like bacon!

Here it is cooked. I cut it pretty thick.

It had an interesting taste. It wasn't so bacon-like. It was more corned beefy. Which, given the spices in the cure was not unexpected. I'll certainly try this again. It was a relatively cheap experiment. The bacon was about $10 for four pounds. The spices were about $2. Next time I think I'll try adding maple or brown sugar and perhaps a bit of liquid smoke.

Give it a try yourself and let me know how it turns out.

TWD: Brownie Buttons

I've seen that some TWD bloggers are limiting themselves to one sentence today. I'm not that good. But I'll be brief. These were good. VERY easy, especially for a Dorie recipe. One saucepan. One mini muffin tin. Ingredients that I had on hand.

The original recipe calls for these to be dipped in white chocolate. I said no. In the end, they were brownies. Easy brownies. Tasty brownies. But brownies. I'll keep them in mind if I need brownies in a hurry.

Today was National S'mores day! I made brownie s'mores. I cut marshmallows in half and let them melt in a little, then I sandwiched the brownie between two graham crackers. Pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

These look almost like Oreos.

Dessert!

Thank you to Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen for this week's recipe. Go and buy the book already! Ok, or go to her site to see the recipe.

TWD: Classic Banana Bundt Cake

Hello! I am back! And baking things on a Tuesday that actually have to do with Tuesdays With Dorie!

This week was, as the title will tell you, a classic cake. It was a simple (one bowl. ONE bowl!) cake to make. The recipe halved easily. I jumped right on the mini bandwagon and got to use my under-used mini bundt pan. Truth be told, I have a favorite banana cake. But it bakes in a 13 x 9 and calls for chocolate chips and buttermilk. This one has no chocolate (GASP!) and uses sour cream or yogurt. Really, when I compared, there wasn't much difference. Hmmmm. Other than making these mini and halving the recipe, I didn't change anything.

Whenever we forget about our bananas, I put them in the freezer to use at a later date. Here are said bananas:

RIPE and ready for baking. The white is frost not mold.

This is just out of the oven. Mmmm.

I decided to go with a simple sprinkle of powdered sugar.

The boy thought a shot of the inside was good.

These were a hit at our house. This was a lighter textured cake than my standard recipe. The husband really liked these because he liked the ratio of brown outside to the lighter inside. The boy and girl enjoyed them as well. I liked it, too. But I think I'm still partial to my favorite. I just may have to try it in a bundt pan.

Thanks Mary of The Food Librarian for picking such an easy, sweet recipe.

Edited to add: I'm starting to think that I missed something in the recipe. Mine wasn't nearly as moist as everyone else's. They were more muffin like than cake like. Perhaps I'll have to try this again...

For Megan ;-)

I have no pictures because we ate it all. And it was good. Really good. The girl, who doesn't like anything coffee wanted to lick her bowl. The boy wants it in permanent rotation.

Here is the recipe in case you'd like to try it yourself:

Coffee Almond Brownie Ice Cream

2 eggs

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 c. whipping cream

1 c. milk

3 T. espresso powder (no, that is not a typo. T.)

1/2 c. chopped, toasted almonds

1 c. crumbled chocolate brownies

Whisk eggs and sugar until thickened and pale yellow. Set aside. In a med. saucepan over med-low heat, bring cream, milk, and espresso powder to a simmer. Remove from heat. Gradually whisk into egg mixture. Return all to saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not let it boil. Strain into a clean, large container. Refrigerate covered until very cold - overnight if possible. Transfer to ice cream maker. Follow manufacturers directions. Add almonds and brownies in the last five minutes and let machine stir them in.

YUM!

Let me know if you make it and how it turned out!

Yet another week where I blow it

We've been making ice cream. Lots of it. Three weeks ago, I chose maple ice cream. Two weeks ago the girl picked fresh ginger and white chocolate ice cream. Although I hate white chocolate, this was really good. Really good. The white chocolate just gave it a sweetness. Last week the husband chose lemon ice cream with a caramel swirl. The caramel did not swirl. I need to work on that. Tonight I made the custard for the boy's pick -- espresso ice cream with brownies and toasted almonds. The ice cream will be made tomorrow.

Needless to say, I did not get to the vanilla ice cream. I was planning on it. I even looked at the recipe. And then I just couldn't make anything that called for six egg yolks AND heavy cream AND whole milk. I'm sorry Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu. I'm sure it's amazing ice cream. And I know you have a lovely picture and the recipe on your blog.

I'll be back next week with a banana bundt cake. I promise.

Not a TWD: Instead, it's a Cookie Carnival!

It's been months since I've participated in the Cookie Carnival baking group. Months. And there have been some really good options. Somehow, I've gotten away from it. Well, now I'm back. This month's recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis. It's a Lemon Ricotta Cookie with Lemon Glaze. I love all things lemon. I had to try it.

This was a simple recipe. It all came together in one bowl. Oh, if you don't own a microplane zester, get one. Now. It's a great kitchen tool. I was curious about the addition of the ricotta cheese. It made a very smooth batter. There wasn't a "cheese" taste at all. I could have eaten just the sweetened ricotta pretty easily. I scooped the cookie dough with my 2 T. cookie scoop, which, by the way, is another great tool. Makes it E.A.S.Y.

These are more like little cakes than cookies. That is not a bad thing. I like a soft cookie. I was hoping for more lemon flavor. Even with the zest of a whole lemon and 3 T. of lemon juice, the flavor was kind of mild. Note to self: use more lemon next time. But wait! There's a lemon glaze! I juiced and zested another lemon and added some confectioners sugar. I did not add as much sugar as the recipe called for. NOW I had the lemon flavor I was looking for. These are really good cookies. They will get added to my ever growing rotation. I could easily see making a lime or lemon/lime version as well.

Naked cookies on the sheet pan. Quick! Cover them up!

Whew! Much better.

I love that you can see the lemon zest in the glaze.

Second note to self: Use waxed paper under the cooling rack before you glaze.

I am very sorry, Susan, of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy that I did not make the Raspberry Blanc-Manger with you. I love your blog. The raspberries were just not calling out to me. Go to her blog to see some deliciousness.

Bacon!

Stay tuned, sports fans. I'm curing bacon! It's in the fridge as we speak. Round about Monday, it should be done. I'll have ingredients, photos, and a taste for you then. Well, a virtual taste.

I'm excited! And, clearly, I'm a dork.

TWD: Brioche Plum (Apricot) Tart

This week was interesting. The recipe was actually sort of a hit and a miss rolled into one. Let me explain....

This week's recipe was a cross between a coffee cake, sweet bread, and tart. It had an identity crisis. Essentially, we made a poor brioche. Poor refers to the paucity of butter and eggs. In the brioche world, this was the other side of the tracks. The brioche was topped with fresh apricots and then baked. I had some high hopes for this one. The apricots I bought were ripe and juicy. The brioche dough was doing all the things it was supposed to. But somehow the great components didn't come together. It was nice to look at, but the individual pieces didn't quite work to make a great final product. It wasn't the biggest hit in our house.

On Dorie's fussy scale, this was low and high. Making the dough did not require much work. (Thank you, Mom, for my KitchenAid stand mixer.) But then, it demands to be tended to every half hour for about two and a half hours. I let mine rest overnight where it lulled me into a false sense of ease. The next day was another hour of sporadic attention. The dough needed to be pressed into a tart pan. Then it sits. Then the topping is put on (apricot jam and apricots, almonds and sugar). Then it sits. Then it bakes for 20 minutes, gets covered and bakes for ten more. It smelled amazing.

Sadly, it didn't taste amazing. The weight of the fruit meant that the middle was much more dense than the edges. The apricots were good, but the bigger bites of fruit overwhelmed the sweet dough flavor. That part was the miss. Here's the hit though: we all sat around thinking about other fabulous things we could put on this dough. Raspberry jam with almonds and chocolate chips. Blackberry jam with blackberries. Strawberry rhubarb jam with almonds. Apple jelly with cinnamon and pecans. See! So many good choices! Both the boy and girl picked off the fruit and just ate the bread part with the apricot jam. Lesson learned.

Here it is before baking. I used a mix of halves and slices.

This is after the sprinkle of sugar and almonds. Maybe brown sugar?

Thank goodness for the Silpat! This would have been an ugly mess in the oven. I think I expected the fruit to cook more.

My edges over browned a bit. I'll know to tent it a little sooner next time.

Here's a slice on a plate. See where the fruit has squished down the dough closest to the middle?

I think if we were having brunch company, I would make the dough again. It was easy enough to do with the stand mixer, and I can largely ignore it while I do other things.

Thank you to Denise of Chez Us for choosing this. I was scared away from the previous brioche recipe, so I'm glad to have made one.

TWD: Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies

When I asked my friend if he wanted to try the Katharine Hepburn brownies, he wanted to know if I used real or imitation Katharine Hepburn. Badum ching! Thank you folks, I'll be here all week. But really, he did ask.

According to Dorie, this recipe is a play on the one Miss Hepburn is reported to have used. She changed things up a bit (added coffee, cinnamon, and chocolate chunks) from one of the three or four "orginals" that she found.

On the Dorie fussy scale, this was really low. It was mostly done in one pot. Yeah! It calls for cocoa instead of chocolate. I used my KAF black cocoa. It is nice and rich. Dorie calls for instant coffee to be added. I used my espresso powder. I used almonds in place of the pecans or walnuts because I like them better. I guess I changed things up a bit as well.

I used my glass Pyrex pan, and it worked out just fine. This are a nice, fudgy brownie that was pretty easy to make. The top is a bit crackly, which was a nice contrast.

Here's a close up of the cut side. See how moist and fudgy it is?

Anyone have some milk?

The boy and girl really liked this brownie. Then again, they are not very discerning when it comes to chocolate and baked goods. This was a nice brownie. Now, I've said before that I'm a huge baking snob. Huge. I don't use mixes. Except when it comes to brownies. Ghiradelli makes a great mix. I usually have that on hand when it's brownie time. Though, if I ran out, I would certainly make this one again.

Lisa of Surviving Oz was our guest chooser this week. It's her lovely design that makes up our new logo. Thanks, Lisa!

Oh No! That's two weeks in a row with no TWD!

This is the first time I've ever done this. And I feel bad. But I don't feel as bad as the boy who was home all day today with a 104 degree fever. So my plan for making this cake to send with the girl to her pool party went right out the window.

Instead, I'll show the crazy that was the boy's birthday cake. The Lego cake. Actually, the eight small Lego cakes. Crazy. It was a whole Lego party, so we needed a Lego cake.

I will admit to completely cheating and using a box mix to make each 13 x 9. (One vanilla and one chocolate, because there needs to be choice) I also used canned frosting. I used a very simple idea from Betty Crocker. Gotta love Betty. In essence, you take your cakes, cut them into two rectangles and two squares, frost them, frost some marshmallow halves, and stick the whole thing together. It's not a hard concept. It's not even a hard thing to do. But by the sixth or seventh cake, I just wanted to be done.

Here's the first set of marshmallows. When it was still fun! I was very pleased with my solution for storing the marshmallows.

Here's the blue cake with the little marshmallow knobs on it. They were tricky to get off the toothpicks, but I finally figured out a system.

Here's the green version. Now there's eight of them!

And the green cake all done.

This was the first night's work. Four down, four to go.

Here's the full finished set of cakes. I will admit to getting a little sloppy at the end. I just wanted to be done.

The good news is that the boy loved it. I can't say that I would do this again. I don't think he'll have a Lego party again so I'm off the hook anyway. If you want to try this, and I do think you might, I have one big hint. Freeze the cakes after they have been cut. It makes frosting them much much easier.

Next week, I promise I'll be back with a Dorie recipe. In the meantime, go visit Carol's blog and see what a Perfect Party Cake looks like.

Not a TWD. Instead, I show my Cupcake Bites

My daughter's birthday was in April. She was having a small party this year -- just 12 girls. She had a painting party at one of those "do-it-yourself-ceramic-painting-objects-you-will-never-use-but-you-have-to-paint" places. (The girl painted a butterfly. I rest my case.) Since that was going to be the party favor, I didn't want to buy anything else. Hmmmmm. But I could make something..... And these popped into my head. Of course! Bakerella's Cupcake Bites!

First order of business: Find candy molds and candy melts. Check! Sort of. I used foil mini cupcake cups because I couldn't find the right candy mold. Next was to bake a cake. I went with the suggestion on the site and used boxed red velvet cake. It's very red. It cooled. I crumbled. I mixed in some canned frosting. I made small balls. I kept reading about how it made hands very messy and frequent washing was in order. Sidestep! I used my food safe rubber gloves! The balls were covered and put in the fridge.

Red cake crumbles in the bowl.


See! Messy gloves but clean hands!


48 small balls on this tray. 24 larger ones frozen for later use.

I decided to do a test with just one. I wanted to make sure they were going to come out before I put in the time. I melted some pink melts in a plastic bag in the microwave. I filled the foil cup about half full. I added a cold cake ball. Then I melted some yellow melts. I covered the top half of the cake ball. I added sprinkles.

Ta dah! A cupcake! So cute!


Since it was for the girl's birthday. She got the first taste. Mmmmmm. She liked it.


My niece, who is a wonderful baker in her own right, came to help me with the actual assembly of the 48 that we needed for the party. I had four colors of melts, so we started with twelve foil cups and one color. We used the next color for the top of those cupcakes and for the bottom of the next twelve and so on. There were a few different sprinkles this time around.


Four to a bag.


The party girls were thrilled. I would certainly make these again. Especially if I had my niece around to help me. Truth be told, I couldn't get myself to eat one of these. The idea of candy melts sorta weirds me out.

Sorry I don't have Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise here to show you. But if you go to Andrea's blog, she'll have a recipe and fabulous example for you.

Pssst. I have a secret.

I've stopped updating my TWD blogroll. There. I've said it. In a previous post I noted how Google Reader overwhelmed me. I want to be able to respond, and yet I get into gridlock. And now there are even more members. I am taking the ostrich approach. I have my fingers in my ears and I'm singing "I can't hear you" over and over.

So if you are new and wondering why I haven't ever commented on your blog, it's because I don't know you're out there. Yes, I feel guilty. And yes, I'm still not updating. A girl's gotta cope.

TWD: Honey Peach Ice Cream

I was glad for and nervous about this week's recipe. Glad, because us making ice cream signals summer at my house. (Last year, we traded who got to pick that week's recipe) My canister has been in the basement freezer sad and lonely waiting for a call to duty. But I was a bit nervous because it's not quite peach season. I can find some California peaches around here that are pretty good, but I'd rather use a fruit that's really in season. And I'm not a big fan of honey. There are few, if any, recipes that I use that call for honey. Still, I was going to trust that Tommi of Brown Interior knew what she was doing when she chose this recipe. (Check out her blog for the recipe. Or go buy the book already!)

So there I am at the store the other day. I found some peaches. They smelled pretty peachy. I took it as a good sign and bought them. I left them on the counter for a few extra days to get a little more ripe. Dorie called for four peaches that equaled half a pound. It took me six peaches to get there.

This recipe called for peeled peaches to be cooked with the honey and then pureed. It actually called for half the peaches to be cooked and added to the base and half to be added when the ice cream was being churned. We are not fans of chunky fruit in ice cream in our house. Too icy. So I cooked it all. I think it was a good decision. It mellowed out the honey flavor so that it was an accent and not overpowering. I made the custard yesterday. My custard came together pretty fast; faster than I think it was supposed to, but I didn't notice any ill effects. I added all the peach puree and then put it in the fridge to ripen overnight. Side note -- if the taste of the custard is any indication, this is going to be good ice cream!

I made the ice cream today. This made a very generous 1 1/2 quarts. It looked like the ice cream was trying to push its way out of the canister. More for us!

This ice cream was a big hit. The peach flavor was just right. The honey was subtle and added a nice sweetness. I used my homemade vanilla (read - alcohol based), so the ice cream stayed a nice scooping consistency. I absolutely think this is a recipe I would use again. I can see this being made with other fruit purees as well.

I used the immersion blender to puree the fruit. It was a good choice because it left little bits of peaches. You can see the peachy flecks.

Ice cream for everyone!

I've chosen next week as my skip week. I'll try to make something fabulous from another cookbook. As if there is such a thing...

TWD: Parisian Apple Tartlet

I heart Jessica of My Baking Heart. I really really heart her. Dorie and her recipes are fabulous. I've tried many new and wonderful things. I've created many many dishes that the husband has to wash. Many dishes. This week's recipe was simple beyond belief. And not only was it simple, it was good. Really good. And versatile.

I needed four things to make this recipe. Four. The dishes? A knife, a cutting board, and a spoon. Four ingredients + three utensils + delicious = a total keeper.

Delicious like this.


And this.


It's frozen puff pastry topped with a few apple chunks, some brown sugar, and a bit of butter. Heaven. I will say that there are a few on the blogroll who couldn't leave well enough alone and made their own puff pastry. I say when there is Pepperidge Farm, why bother. The original recipe does call for a round pastry. If it's possible to be any lazier in this recipe, I found it. I cut squares.

Puff pastry, apples, brown sugar, butter.

I did mess around a little bit. I wanted to see if other toppings would work as well as the apples did. I have some lovely strawberry/vanilla/rhubarb compote in the fridge.

Before:


After:


Also completely delicious. The butter on this one was unnecessary.

And here's one that was just brown sugar and butter. Before:


After:


Very very good. Though I did lose a bit of the caramel. The good news was it stuck to the bottom of the pastry and I got to eat it anyway!

This is a recipe I can see myself making over and over again. It was simple beyond belief. My only note would be to cut the apples a bit smaller. I was afraid to let it bake much longer, and the apples had a bit more crunch than I would have liked.

I usually have puff pastry in the freezer. It would be a snap to pull it out before dinner, let it thaw during dinner, and then assemble the pastries while the table is being cleared and coffee is being made. Instant amazing dessert warm from the oven.

Thank you Jessica! Have I mentioned that I heart you? Next week is honey peach ice cream. The boy and girl are very excited about that one!