TWD: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

To begin with: These are not my favourite cookies. They taste like gingerbread or lebkuchen (not sure if there is a difference), event though I did omit the cinnamon.

Maybe it is my recent non-enthusiasm for chocolate. Maybe it is because I am not a huge fan of soft cookies in general and my cookies need "pieces" in it - more than some sprinkled dried cherries (what I used instead of the raisins. The chocolate-cherry combo just won me over when me made the Chocolate Biscotti some weeks ago).

After all - I like cake, I like cookies, I like sour cream, but the combination is not made for me. This is pretty sad, as they are easy to make.  They look a bit like Macaron shells, so maybe they are useful for "false macarons"?

But tastes are different, so let's see what my co-workers will say about them!

This week's "Tuesdays with Dorie" recipe was chosen by Spike of Spike Bakes. Go to her page for the recipe, or have a look at Dorie's book on page 160.

P.S.: Am I the onyl one who sees a comic-cat in the picture above? And a pig in the right picture???

TWD: Date-Nut Loaf

Super!Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet chose Date-Nut Loaf for this week's TWD. You can find the recipe on her page or in Dorie's book on page 228. [personal comment: what are popsicles??]

Easy in the making, great in taste!
I used dates as in the basic recipe. When it was time to fold in the nuts I realized I ran out of them - but I had some pinenuts left. And dates and pinenuts - doesn't sound too bad, or?
I had no time to roast them, what would have given them an extra flavour, but it was good like that, too.

Super moisty and tasty cake! If you haven't already: try it out!

P.S.: I always have the problem that my cakes tend to become tents. I had two recommendations. One said: Obviously the dough has problems to raise at the edges, so you should butter the form better. The other one said the complete opposite: Leave some space at the upper end of the mold free from butter. I tried both, and: even if the first tip sounds more logical, in the end the second one did work out! So, no tents anymore, yay!

TWD: Chocolate Biscotti

 Boy, this was a failure! I have no idea what went wrong. Maybe I had just a bad-baking-day. Guess that happens to the best of us...

The dough went together very easily. I used dried sourcherries, because the chocolate-cherry-combo did sound extremely appealing to me

The baking time was far too long for my dough. No idea what went wrong. So I ended up with almost burnt logs, that were still so soft in the middle, that one of them broke up. How could that happen? Either I did bake it too long (would be an explanation for the almost black surface) or too short (what would be an explanation for the softness in the middle) - but both at a time?

Then I tried to cut them, what was impossible for about 2/3 of the dough.

Putting them back in the oven, for consolidation, it was clear that I had to shorten the baking time. Still, even 5 min. was too long.

So I ended up with about 6 or 7 acceptable biscotti, some "when I am generous you may call them mini-biscotti"-pieces and a whole lot of crumbs.Well, let's store them and make some cookie-icecream soon!

Nevertheless: The crumbs I tested did taste great. Biscotti dough with chocolate, almonds and dried cherries - a wonderful and excellent flavour combination. So don't blame the cookies for my lack af baking-abilities!

Sorry I can't give you better pictures for these (Cherry) Chocolate Biscotti, chosen for this week's TWD by Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes. On her page you will not only find the recipe, but far better pictures!
(for the recipe you can also open Dorie's book on page 144)

TWD: Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake

 June has arrived! And with June came full summer - and berries! Blueberriess belong to my favourite fruits so I was very excited to bake this. I don't need no fancy dressed up cakes and torte. Give me a plain and simple cake, made with some of my favourite fruit, and you see me happy! Therefore - thanks to Cindy of Everyday Insanity who has chosen Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake for this week's TWD. Go to her page to have a look at the recipe or buy Dorie's book - you find it on page 36.

This cake is not only simple, but also fast in the making. I am sure it would also work with many other fruits and if you like it a bit dressier there are plenty of options that could work out fine - crumbles or just the most obvious, I guess. I am pretty sure my fellow bakers will show you other creative ideas.

I made one loaf that did work out fine. My baking time was a bit longer and the cake still turned out very very soft and mellow. I sprinkled the berries a bit with flour following Nicole's recommendation. Most berries sunk about into the middle of the cake so in the end it looked a bit marbled.

I also made six minis to have "test-pieces" and they did not work so well. I guess the problem is that the molds are a bit hard to handle because they have a heart-shaped bottom, so very humid batters tend so stick in the mold. I am sure, with ordinary muffin-cups it would have worked perfectly!

The cake did taste just great. It was so fast away from my office-kitchen that I had no time to take pictures of single pieces to show you the inner look of the cake. Therefore you must be satisfied with the pictures of cakes and mini-cakes in molds :o]

Verdict: Perfect summer treat!