Cookie Rookie

TWD: Kids' Thumbprints

2011-12-27T00:06:00.037+01:00

So here we are, at the very end of the book. There was obviously not much left to decide, but Dorie herself will be our host for this week - quel honneur!

She was also the person who made me start baking. I met her at a discussion at the American Library in Paris. To be honest, I was there because of David Lebovitz, in the first place. I was exhausting his blog (and his book on Paris that came out just when I was working in Paris for some month) and already a huge fan of his tips&hints, but also his recipes. I never really did bake or prepare sweets before but with David I started icecream-making (today, one of the few things I dare to say I master really well, even though I still have no ice-making machine). But when I heard Dorie at this event I was amazed by her and had to ask her for an autograph later on. And I asked her about this strange group I somewhere did read about, maybe on David's blog. She encouraged me to try baking and join the group as a good start. How could I not? She was so kind and endearing - everybody would have immediately bought the book and started baking right away!

I met her once again, because when I did visit a friend over in the States, almost two years ago, I just arrived the last day the pop-up cookie-store in NYC sold the fabulous Greenspan&Greenspan-cookies. What a treat! I came to the store, straight from the airport. Must have looked more than curious, some tired looking woman in jeans, hoodie sweater, sneakers and a huge suitcase, running down 5th avenue just do get some cookies...

I tried my best to get this recipe right, as it is "Dorie's" recipe. Unfortunately, my dough was either too crumbly or too sticky, can't decide. It was to sticky to form balls, and too crumbly to keep the balls together. However, I liked the procedure because it was very much like schnitzel-making. Germans make them a bit different, but we Viennese people take the cutlet, put it in eggwhites, and afterwards in a deep dish filled with very fine crumbs. Very similar, isn't it? It was fun doing, and the results were excellent in taste - but as so often with me, not looking the way they should. The molds didn't keep their shape, so I had barely no cookies with molds big enough to fill.
So, what I can give you are some cookies with a bit of orange marmelade and some with a bit of macadamia-cream and a lot of plain cookies. "Plain" is a slight understatement, because these fabulous cookies are made with peanutbutter - one of my all-time favourite ingredients.
Therefore, I was not dissappointed at all, although I wish I had managed to get just this last one recipe as perfect as Dorie would deserve it.

This, for sure, is the place to send out big thanks to all the people who initiated TWD, kept it alive and managed everything - a lot of work, done while having jobs, having children, having families. It is also the place to send out a lot of greetings and regards to all fellow bakers, who made such great treats week after week. And it is the place to send thanks to Dorie who gave us this amazing book, the first one with recipse I can handle! You can find the recipe for the "Kids' Thumbprints" on p. 163, or, I guess, on Dorie's page.

Hope to see you all for the new book!

TWD-rewind: Rugelach (and Chipster-Topped Brownies)

2011-12-20T00:14:00.021+01:00

We're on the finishing-line with the book and as there is only one recipe left (which Dorie herself did chose), we had a rewind-week. Rewind weeks are nice - on the one hand side. They give me the opportunity to catch up with one of the many, many recipe that were on the schedule long before I joined the group back in autumn 2009. But on the other side they leave you with at least one week of questions, doubt and indecisiveness. Which one is the one I really, REALLY want to try? Which one sounds the most appealing to me, is storable overnight and will please the colleagues at work?

One recipe that fulfills all the conditions are the Rugelachs, originally picked by Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal for November 4, 2008. Find the recipe on her blog or in Dorie's book on p. 150-151.
I was tempted to bake them ever since I held the book in my hands for the very first time. What kept me away was the double chilling time in-between. I don't mind if recipe involve a lot of steps and need some time - as long as everything happens in one time-period. I am just too impatient to wait - even though some of my favourites are shortbread and brioche recipes.
But this time, the last rewind-week, I had to do them.

I made mine with orange marmelade, the one with large pieces of candied oranges in it. I used very finely chopped walnuts (and added some shredded nuts as well), swapped the raisins for dried cranberries and used much less chocolate (I took shaved bittersweet chocolate, the one you use for torte decooration). I had some problems rolling the dough into the right, kipferl-like shape. (Kipferl are sort of croissant in Austria. Maybe "crescents" are the most appropriate translation)
The turned out as one of the best recipes I ever made. They fulfilled every expectation and I am glad I made them "my" last pick. My colleagues were delighted, too. "One of your top-three. Ever" was one of the comments. And three people asked for the recipe. Asking for the recipe doesn't happen very often at my office and only for recipes that really, really did score well.

I also made a batch of Chipster-Topped Brownies, because I was just in the mood for. They, too, were a big hit and I am also very much in love with them. My brownies mostly turn out well, but I am unable to picture them adequately, so I spare you from ugly picture - just imagine a wonderful, soft and moisty chocolate bottom topped with a cookie dough layer with mixed in mini-chocolate- and mini-peanutbutter chips and some Reeses peanut-butter pieces. Sounds decadent? Then it sounds rigth! It was Beth of "Supplicious" who did choose this great recipe for TWD- if you are interested in the recipe, have a look at her blog or go to Dorie's book, pp 94/95.

What a great week, what great recipes!

TWD: Honey Almond Fig Tart

2011-12-06T00:05:00.030+01:00

I can't believe the Honey Almond Fig Tart took so long to be chosen. If I wouldn't be so timid when it comes to tart-shell-baking, I sure would have picked this recipe when it was my turn some weeks ago! Finally, Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table opted for it. You can find the recipe on her blog or in Dorie's book on page 373.

Last week I made some more tart dough and put it in the freezer. Therefore I only had to make the cream this week, which comes together very quick and easy.
Figs and almonds are a wonderful combo, I think, and honey makes a perfect third part in this.

And I was not dissapointed. This is for sure one of the greatest tasting tarts I ever made. And whenever I am brave enough to try masterin tart dough, I will re-bake it!

I couldn't find any fresh figs but the florida-version presented in the "playing around"-option was not that appealing for me. So I used dried (but soft) figs and it worked out fine (even though I can imagine that fresh figs would be even more intriguing).

(Don't be misled by the pictures - the top was very dark brown, indeed, but not burnt at all!)

TWD: Sour Cream Pumpkin Tart

2011-11-29T00:59:00.000+01:00

This week was the end of my attempts to avoid baking a tarte by choosing the other recipe on the schedule. As Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats opted for the Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie/Tart (to be found on p.324 in Dorie's book or on Judy's blog) and Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures picked the Normandy Apple Tart (pp 304-305) - I had no choice but to opt for a tart :o]

I took the pumpkin tarte because up to now I only had good experiences with pumkin desserts. Not that I made so many - only the two that were on the TWD-list since I joined. But these, the Caramel Pumpkin Pie and the Butternut Squash Pie were just great.

Baking tartes and pies horrifies me, because the tart dough never works out for me. It takes me two days for making them. I am never able to fit them in the form, it always breaks. And it always always gets too dark before the tart is halfway baked. Even if I put a foil tent over it.

This time I reduced pre-baking so much, that at least the tart shell didn't get burnt. But it took me still two days for preparing with all the chilling needed. But this time I erred with the quantity. I made a double crust and did wonder, where I should spread all this dough in my form... Tart dough and me - we will never be a good pairing. But at least I tried.

The tart filling is more than easy. I made the pumpkin purree myself, and despite of that you only need some dairies and spices.

The tart is interesting, because it is not at all sweet and therefore more like a snack than a dessert. I wish I would have used more spices because I thought the tart is a bit boring in taste. But my colleagues just loved it! And that's (almost) all that matters!

TWD: Snickery Squares (rewind)

2011-11-22T00:03:00.028+01:00

This is one of the recipes I always wanted to try since I opened the book. I love peanuts, and from all chocolate bars you can buy in the store, Snickers are for sure my favourite. I can't imagine that I had my first when I was already 23 years old! We didn't have them in Vienna before Austria joined the European Union. No, Austria never belonged to the Eastern block. But we just did not put so much emphasize on consumption when I was a kid. I definitely neither belong to the "small is beautiful" nor to the "simple things are best"-section. More is more. Period. But food and edibles are maybe the exception to the rule.

Anyways, I had my first Snickers when a german friend I met during my exchange year in France gave me hers, because she couldn't believe I never had one. As I love peanuts and also caramel, and the chocolate is not too dominant in it, and shortbread, sigh - shortbread.... it easily became my favourite disobeyance by the very first bite.

To me it doesn't come as a surprise that Snickery Squares was chosen as one of the first recipes back in March 2008. You can find the recipe on pages 120-122 in Dorie's book or here on Judy's blog "Judy's gross eats". (Funnily, she will also be our host next week, again.)

The Squares are easy to make but hard to cut. You either chill them, so the Dulche de Leche in the middle has the right consistency - but then the chocolate-peanut layer on top is very hard, and so is the shortbread-bottom. Or, you let it come to room temperature, but risk the caramel getting very, very soft and almost liquid.

And these were extremely sweet. Next time, I would definitely not caramelize the peanuts (toasting should be fine) and use unsweetened chocolate. I also would do a bigger cookie-layer and use much less Dulche de Leche. Like that, they should be perfection!

Despite the sweetness I liked the taste a lot, but judging by how much there was left when I left the office, my colleagues felt not quite the same - too sweet, and only eatable in small pieces.

But in the end: Now I can do marshmallows, every kind of icecream, shortbread and Snickers by myself. Wow. Seems I will never have to buy sweets again!

TWD: Bittersweet Brownies

2011-11-15T00:58:00.002+01:00

The very last Brownies - and maybe the best (at least of the brownie recipes since I joined TWD)
They are fudgy, but not too much, and pure chocolat delight.

I followed the recipe exactly as written in Dorie's book on p.90. If you don't have the book (you should!!) got to Leslie's blog Lethally Delicious. She picked the Bittersweet Brownies for this week's TWD.

As we have double-hostings in this in the following month, Jessica of Cookbook Habit chose Alsatian Apple Tart (page 314 in the book). As I am horrified by tarte-doughs I didn't dare to do it. But I am a bit sorry for it, because I spent my exchange semester in Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace. And as much as I am afraid of doing tartes, I like eating them equivalently. Have a look here how it did turn out for all the other bakers!

PS.: Sorry, I have absolutely not a single good picture of them. Just imagine wonderful, soft, chocolate-ey brownies and you got a picture :o]

TWD: Depths-of-Fall Butternut Squash Pie

2011-11-08T00:03:00.024+01:00

This week we had the option between two of my biggest challenges: Madeleines, which are hard to handle for me, as I have no Madeleine-mold, and they just do not turn out as they should in Callisson-molds or anything else. And - when I made them for the first and only time in my life they didn't get fluffy and soft as they should. I am no Madeleine-Master....
The second option was a challenge as well, as I am physically not able to do a decent pie/tarte crust. No idea why. I just always always always have troubles with them.

Nevertheless, I choose the Pie. I love pumpkins. And when we first made a pumpkin pie for the TWD-group I was more than thrilled by the result. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving round here, therefore it never came to my mind to make something sweet with pumpkins - although now it seems so evident, because they naturally bring a sweet taste with them.

Besides the crust, which was an, uhm, let's say adventure, as always - the filling and baking was very easy. I had to cover the pie with foil very soon (after about 15/20mins) and did bake it slightly longer. For the optional dried fruits I voted for cranberries because it seemes more interesting than rasins and more thanks-giving-ish. Instead of the nuts I used pumpkin kernels and it worked out perfectly.

I can only say that I love this pie! The pumpkin and pears and cranberries match perfectly. If you haven't already - go and try it! It's just what I imagine Thanksgiving should taste like in my humble european view!

For the recipe you can go to Valerie's blog "Une Gamine dans la Cuisine". She did pick this Fall Butternut Squash Pie for us this week. Or have a look in Dorie's book on pages 328-329.

For the Mini-Madeleines, look here how they turned out for my fellow bakers. The recipe can be found on Di's blog "Kitchen Notebook" or on page 172 in "Baking".

TWD: Honey Nut Scones and Far Breton

2011-11-01T22:11:00.001+01:00

Far Breton was actually the recipe I thought I would chose when my turn arrives - but in the very last moment I made up my mind and picked the Fig Cake from last week. The more I was glad when I read that the Far is on the schedule just one week later. And as I made it now, I am very, very glad I didn't choose it as "my" selection, because I managed to completely ruin it. And as I have no idea what went wrong at which stage I guess this is just not made for me.

In the end, both recipes for this weeks TWD turned to very very delicious - the Honey Nut Scones, chosen by Jeannette of the Whimsical Cupcake, were awesome. And the Far Breton, chosen by Nicole of Cookies on Friday, was completely not what it should have been, but spooned out of the mold stil very, very tasty.

I love scones in any way, but this scones recipe is definitely a keeper. I made only half the batch and had them for Sunday breakfast with some goat cheese. Just won-der-ful! Nothing else to say about the recipe that can be found at Jeannette's page or in Dorie's book on p. 31. Baking time was maybe slightly shorter, but despite that - just stick to the recipe and you will end up with a perfect breakfast treat.

For the Far, I made also only half the recipe. This recipe is written down in Dorie's book on pp. 202-203 - or have a look at Nicole's page. The first problem arrived when I filled two mini spring forms with the batter. It just ran out. The recipe calls for lining the bottom of the springform with parchment, what I did. But obviously this is a translation problem or just my lack of understanding of baking. The parchment left a mini leak in the form, so the batter ran out and made a massive mass in the oven. I quickly realized the problem and arrived and saving some of the batter and transfering it to another (porcellain) form.

Then the Far became very brown on the top very quickly. Covering the form with foil didn't help a lot. When the top was already burnt at the edges - the batter was still almost liquid in the middle. Then I decided to take it out of the oven and make a spoon-dessert of it. Like that it did taste very good. I like prunes a lot and the batter is very tasty. But from my time in Paris I know what a Far should be - and this was not similar in any way.
I took a picture, just to show I made it, but will spare you from the rest of the ugly pics...

I'm not sure if I will have the guts to try it again. But the scones will be on my Sunday-breakfast-table soon again!

TWD: A Fig Cake for Fall

2011-10-25T00:05:00.081+02:00

It's now almost two years that I started baking with "Tuesdays with Dorie". I am one of the lucky last that had the opportunity to join. The story how I found the group is a strange one - at least all my friends and colleagues, who usually are the benefitors of my bakings - do think so. Baking is a somehow strange hobby for my friends. Cooking - sure. But baking?!?

In summer 2009 I had the chance to work in Paris for some month. I was there from may to August, and believe me - there are worse things in this world then spending summer in Paris! (Actually, I like autumn in paris more, but summer is great as well! And after all - it's Paris, so how could anybody complain...)
I was looking for a yoga-studio with english speaking instructors and found a blog entry from somebody obviously American who had some other hints and tipps for foreigners in Paris as well. As I made my way through the blog I found out it's a cook's blog, actually, a dessert cook's blog who moved to Paris some years ago and started writing about cooking. Therefore, his blog was full of tipps about bakeries and restaurants and cafés in Paris - just what I urgently needed!
(If you are a bit into Dorie's world, than you will have guessed from the start that I am writing about David Lebovitz). Funnily his book (The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City) came out just that summer and I catched a book reading and signing. I loved him! He is such a great entertainer, but I guess thats something typical American.

The same year I came back to Paris for some more work in autumn for a few weeks. And there was a panel discussion in the American Library with David L. and two other authors - of whom Dorie Greenspan was one of. I had read about her in David's blog and somewhere, don't ask me how and why, saw that there is a group baking it's way through one of her books. Strange idea, I thought, never heard of somehting like that. (Now I know that there are other groups, similar to this, too, but believe me - no one of all my friends has ever heard of something like that before!)

When I saw Dorie at this discussion she was that nice, interesting and fascinating that I had to ask her for a signature in one of her books and then I took all my guts and said: "Well, you know that there is a group baking all recipes from your book" - "Yes!" she said, and smiled, "I know, they are so great. I love this group!" I asked her if she thinks that everybody in this group is an experienced baker and if it would be difficult for a newbie like me (I had never ever baked anything in my whole life before). "No, for sure not! There are very very experienced bakers, almost professionals, and there are also hobby-bakers and starters like you. If you want to hear my opinion: Everybody should bake, because it can make you happy - it makes me happy. And the group is very, very supportive to everybody. The founder - she is such a great person. Ask her for joining! She is the nicest person you can think of."
And so I did - and here I am. When I joined the group I didn't think I will have the opportunity to pick a recipe due to the many bakers - the more I was excited that it actually did work out!

I wanted to choose a recipe that fits with the season. The Fig Cake for Fall has autumn already in the name, and: I love cornmeal and I love figs! I am sorry, because I read in the P&Qs that figs are not avaliable everywhere right now. I was only thinking about Vienna/Austria, where I live - and was not so foresighted to think about that fact, that most of the group is living in the US. And I have no overview when which fruits have season over there. So - I am really sorry and hope you all found a way to substitute for the figs!

And here we go (because I am European and a non-english-native I will also give European measures. If anybody should read this, having the same problems but capable of German - I can only recommend this page)

A Fig Cake for Fall

(taken from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking - From my Home to Yours, pp 198-199)

GROWN IN climates that bring to mind the word "sultry", figs conjure sun and heat and sensuality. But the fig has an autumnal side too, reminding us of warm months while it heralds shorter days and cooler nights. This cake plays to the fruit's affinity for fall and chill-wheather foods like cornmeal, honey and ruby port. The buttery cake is a moist, appealing round, sweetened with honey and distinguished by the addition of yellow cornmeal. The cornmeal and honey provide a somewhat Italienate base for the fruit, which is lightly poached in port and honey before it is pressed into the batter. And there's a bonus - once the figs are poached, the remaining syrup is boiled for a few minutes and becomes a lovely sauce. Sauced, the cake jumps from an everyday treat to a company dessert.

MAKES 8-10 SERVINGS

SERVING: Offer wedges of the cake topped with the port sauce (which can be warmed, if you'd like). Whipped cream or icecream alongside would be even lovlier.

STORING: Wrapped well, the cake will keep at room temperature for 2 days.

3/4 cup ruby port [about 0,2 l]
1 cup honey [300g]
2 thin slices lemon
16-20 fresh figs, stemmed and halved
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal [225g]
2 teaspoons baking powder [the best is to just use a usual teaspoon herefore]
1/4 teaspoon salt [here, again: just take about the quarter of a usual teaspoon]
1/4 cup sugar [55g]
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, at room temperature [180g]
3 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract [5ml]

FOR THE FIGS AND SAUCE: Stir the port and 1/2 cup of the honey together in a small saucepan. Toss in the lemon slices and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat, add the figs, cover the pan and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the figs are soft but not falling apart.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the figs to a bowl. Raise the heat just a little and cook the poaching liquid for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until slightly thickened; the syrup should coat a metal spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and set the sauce aside.

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F [175°C]. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, butter the paper and dust the inside of the pan with flour, tapping out the excess. Put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

TO MAKE THE CAKE: Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.

Put the sugar and grated zest in the bowl of a stand mixer or another large bowl, and rub them together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist, grainy and aromatic. Toss in the butter.

With the paddle or whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Pour in the remaining 1/2 cup honey, add the vanilla extract and beat for another 2 minutes. The mixture may look curdled and not so pretty - keep mixing, it will get better soon. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated; you'll have a fairly thick batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and jiggle the pan from side to side a few times to even the batter, then scatter the poached figs over the top.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake to slightly warm or to room temperature before serving it with the sauce.

-----------------------------

I still have only a hand-mixer and for the first month I baked without cup- and spoon-measures (they are not usual in Europe - I had to import them when I visited some friends in the States). I learn at least one new english word every week when I try to figure out what the recipe is all about. And I learned: Dorie is always right! If she tells you to butter foil - do it. If she asks for lining the bottom of a spring pan with parchment - don't doubt. Dorie knows best. Period.

Thanks everybody who tried out the recipe despite the fig-problem and I hope you enjoyed it! And thanks to anybody who made the effort to respond my questions, leave a comment or even read my 2 cents in the last two years! I really appreciate and value that!

I might be not the most enthusiastic commentator on your blogs, but that does not mean I don't read it and would not be blown away every week from anew by the results all of you create!

[And I HAVE to say (despite nobody who reads this will understand): 'Ich hab das Schönste auf der Welt gesehen: Paris im Herbst' ]

TWD: Ginger-Jazzed Brownies

2011-10-18T00:35:00.003+02:00

If you like ginger and if you like chocolate this is the perfect recipe for you!
These Ginger-Jazzed Brownies, chosen for this week's TWD by Hindy of Bubie’s Little Baker are not very fudgy, but a bit more soft than really cake-like brownies.
For my taste preferences, they could have been even a bit more moisty. And even a bit more ginger-y.

I am a ginger-lover since some years now, therefore I was very much looking forward to this recipe, and didn't get dissappointed. I dressed them up a bit with a chocolate glaze and some chopped candied ginger.

I wonder if you could swap the corn syrup for honey and the chocolate glaze for lemon glaze as both are usually a good flavour combo with ginger. Next time, I'll try these changes!

For the recipe turn to Hindie's page or have a look into Dorie's book on p. 101.

TWD: Basic Biscuits

2011-10-10T23:19:00.000+02:00

Biscuits, biscuits, biscuits!
I love doing biscuits, I love eating biscuits - I love biscuits!
Therefore, I am always happy if someone chooses a biscuit recipe for the weekly TWD rotation. As did Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort this time. Go to her page to find the recipe for Basic Biscuits, or have a look into Dorie's book on page 21.

This recipe truely deserve it's name. It is very basic and not too hard to handle. Because I live in Europe and have no biscuit cutter, my biscuits are usually, well - lets call them "creatively shaped". Maybe the only thing not really classic about these biscuits. They do not raise a lot, so I got slightly flat biscuits. But I don't mind at all!

I sprinkled some of them with slivered almonds, and think they did match very well. But in the end, the recipe does not need any dressing up, as the biscuits are perfect just the way they are!

TWD: Apple-Nut Muffin Cake

2011-10-03T23:25:00.000+02:00

October!

Here in Vienna we actually get a full compensation for the terrible summer. Maybe you guys in the US can't belive it, but in Europe we had the probably most awful summer in decades - rain, rain, rain and cold weather. But now it is indian summer, and the "summer" dominates". You can sit outside in the evening and get sunburnt when you stay out around noon. It's not too hot, but just perfect. Wonderful!

Therefore, this week's TWD-recipe, The Apple-Nut Muffin Cake, did correspond perfectly with the calender - but not so much with the weather. Katrina of Baking and Boys has opted for this wonderful autumn-recipe.

This is a good, in my perception almost classic, apple-cake recipe. Nothing too extraordinary, nothing too difficult. Apples, nuts, raisins, that's it. Add some oats and you get an interesting tiny crunchy texture. Go to Katrin's page to find out about the recipe, or have a look into Dorie's book on p. 37.

I have no square pan, so I made it in my loaf form (and additionally one muffin, to have a "test-piece") and it did work out fine. Funnily, when the cake was already in the oven I figured out I completely forgot to add the butter. But to my surprise - I didn't miss it at all! Does this work with all cakes? Or was I just extremely lucky?

TWD: Flip Over Plum Cake

2011-09-27T00:12:00.014+02:00

Wonderful first autumn-recipe! And exactly as Dorie introduces it: quick, quick, quick and it can't get any easier!

If you find 10 mins to bring the batter together you're in!
Baking time was a bit longer than indicated. Still, the cake was very pudding-like. Maybe next time I would even increase the baking time - but if you are ready to eat the cake with a dessert-fork, then everything will be fine. I had to decrease the butter: When I poured in the batter I saw that there was definitely too much "butter-soup" in the pan. But the rest was easy, simple, just-stick-to-the-recipe-and-nothing-can-go-wrong!

I adore these easy cakes! It tastes great and the syrup has just the right flavour-combo of spices. And I can imagine this cake with other fruits, too. (Maybe cherries? Blueberries? Apricots?) and also with some sugar to decorate it or even streusel. Not that the cake needs some dressing up...

Have fun with this recipe for Flip Over Plum Cake chosen by Becky of Project Domestication for this week's TWD. Go to her page to find the recipe or have a look in Dorie's book on p. 40.

TWD: Salt&Pepper Cocoa Shortbread

2011-09-20T00:35:00.019+02:00

When I read "shortbread" I was all excited. I love shortbread, I love baking it, my colleagues love eating it - perfcet.
When I read "salt&pepper" I was even more excited. Savory shortbread! Can it get any better?
When I read "cocoa" my excitement was all gone. Cocoa? With salt and pepper? In shortbread? Why?? Why spoil them?

I was very much tempted to leave the cocoa out and exchange it for grounded nuts or just use more flour. But in the absolute very last minute I thought - stop. No. Don't. very often the recipe that do not sound that appealing turn out best. And I learnt so far that it is mostly better to stick to Dorie's recipes, because she is always right.

So. Salt&Pepper COCOA shortbread. The recipe was chosen by Tia for this week's TWD. Go to her page "Buttercream Barbie" to find the recipe or have a look in Dorie Greenspan's book on p 128.

As all shortbread it takes some time for chilling the dough thoroughly. I rolled the dough too thin (What happen always when I do shortbread. Learnign effect? Me? Never!) I opted for not making logs and round shortbread but to cut rectangles and use my Eiffeltower- and Statue of Liberty-forms.

The first batch was spoiled, but it was all my fault. I forgot that the line between "still too soft" and "burnt" can be very thin and be passed in half a minute. So, the first batch was for the trashbin. But the second one turned out fine.

The verdict? Well. I like them. Compared to my expectations - I like them a lot. My colleagues on the other side where excited, thrilled, ardent. Why? I guess because me - I knew what was in the cookies. They didn't. So they really had a surprise-moment when they found out that these shortbread cookies, with their chocolate-colour, are not that sweet at all, and have a savory after-taste. Therefore - they are a winner!

TWD: Classic Brownies

2011-09-13T12:16:00.000+02:00

Back after two weeks in Chicago and New York - great summer holiday! Even though Irene almost destroyed it. But only almost.

The name of the recipe "hits the nail by it's head", as we like to say in Austria: These Classic Brownies are indeed what you would expect from brownies you call "classic": an easy, simple in the making, basic recipe that results in good, just right brownies. I kept the nuts fairly big and did chop them only very coarsely, because the picture in the book also shows relatively big pieces. And it was good like that! I baked them slightly longer then the recipe calls for (abour 40mins insetad of 33), and they turned out cracky on the surface and smooth-soft in the middle. Exactly what a classic brownie should be like!

(event though I have to admit: the brownies I like most are very, very soft and chewy in the middle, and cake-like brownies are not my kind of treat - but these weren't cake-like, just a good middle-of-the-road between cake-like and completely soft)

Not much more to say about them. Find the recipe on Anne's page, who opted for this recipe to be the TWD-group's duty for this week, or have a look into Dorie's book on pp. 88-89.

TWD: Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf

2011-08-30T00:56:00.011+02:00

And another breakfast-recipe for the last week auf August! Caitlin of Engineer Baker chose Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf from p. 43 in Dorie's book for this week's TWD. You will find the recipe also on Caitlin'spage.

The recipe is pretty easy and quick. I made some exchanges: I used polenta instead of cornmeal, but I guess that doe almost not really count as an exchange, as it is fairly similar.
I opted for a fresh pear but dried apples.
And I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup, used nutmeg an no cinnamon - and did include some freshly grounded pepper (I used a colour-pepper-mix). And I added a bit dried rosmeary, althoug there was no recommendation for it in the "playing around" section. But I recently developped a fond love for rosemary and think it matches very well with the pear.

I am pretty happy with the result! The cornmeal/polenta gives it a tiny crunchy side I like very much. As it is an easy-made, fast recipe, that is open for some exchanges, I guess I will do it some day again, in one version or the other.

[The pictures show the little test-piece I made, but the original-sized loaf was not standing behind in taste and looks!]

TWD: Golden Brioche Loaves

2011-08-23T00:32:00.014+02:00

I love doing brioche! Generally, I am more into breakfast treats, cookies and viennoiserie than torte loaded with cream.

For doing the brioche, you need some time because it has to rest and rise over night, and you have to give the dough some "treatments" from time to time. But it's oh so worth the fuzz!

I use a hand-mixer and this recipe was almost too much for it. At the very end of the mixing I was afraid it could overheat. I guess 1 more minutes and it would have happened. But lucky me - everything went find.
The recipe itself is not difficult. Go to Margie's page "Tea and Scones", who did choose this one for this week's TWD, or have a look into Dorie's book on pp. 48-50. I made a loaf and some typical shaped brioche.

The hardest part is maybe that you have to wait for one hour until you are allowed to taste it! I went out and had a jogg, to keep me away from it! Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to resist the delicious smell...

Just a quick word on the recipe: I make brioche from time to time, and I am not always in the condition of having this much time to prepare the dough. I foudn another recipe in Ginet Mathiot's "I know how to cook" (something like the "french bible of cooking" - seriously, I gues you will find it in every home!) You need about the same ingredients in the same quantity for it, but can do it in one day.

TWD: Tropical Crumble

2011-08-16T00:20:00.000+02:00

Another recipe that would have been on my top3-list for my very own, first pick, that will probably never come... the more I was pleased to see that after last week, another one of the remaining recipes that appeal most to me was chosen.
This week it was Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen who did opt for this week's TWD. Go to her page to find the recipe, or have a look in Dorie's book on pp. 418-419!

I really like crumbles a lot because I adore anything streusel! And crumbles are always a great dessert, because they have plenty of fruits. I like that they are so easily made and you have so many options to combine flavours and textures. Mangos are great, even though I dislike peeling an cutting them due to their slickiness.

However, I must have made something terribly wrong. I made it a bit in advance, because I just came back from an extended weekend trip to Hamburg and made it before I left. Still - although some days ellapsed, I have no idea what went wrong. I ended up with a whole mess of fatfatfat. The amount of butter for the filling was so much too much, you can't imagine. In Europe, we have other measures so I guess I made a wrong calculation. But something like that never ever happened to me. I am not speaking about a bit too much butter. The topping never got firm, not after 45mins, not after an hour, never. There was a soup of butter covering everything. I am baking along with the group since almost two years and I never did throw away anything. But this time I had to, because there was no way to save all the good mangos and bananas. What a pitty!

The pictures show a "test-piece" I made, where the butter-soup did not show up as much, but when I tried to taste it it was also so terribly much too much butter, you have no idea!
Sorry Gaye, I really don't know what went wrong - I tried my best. Maybe I will try this another time and just cut back the butter on my own.

TWD: Carrot Spice Muffins

2011-08-09T23:08:00.001+02:00

Oh boy, Tuesday is almost over and I did not blog yet!
So, little bit late, but still on the right day - Carrot Spice Muffins, chosen by Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs. You will find the recipe on her page or in Dorie's book on page 14. I was pleased when I saw in on the schedule, because my turn to come has not come yet (and may never come... long story), but these muffins would have been on my Top-3-List.

These are easy to make, but you need some preparation time - for shredding carrots and chopping and toasting nuts. But afterwards this is a quick recipe, that can be done before breakfast. (Well, before Sunday breakfast. Me - I won't ever be able to be as quick that I can do muffins before breakfast on a ordinary weekday!)

The muffins are very moisty thanks to the carrots. Generally, I really like doughs with carrots as they give it a special texture, flavour and moistiness. The coconut in them gave it an additional pretty special touch.
I think, they would also be great without the sugar. They are not too sweet, but I can imagine them without it, too. Therefore I will keep this recipe in mind for the next Lenten season (that will come faster than I can now imagine...)

TWD: Cocoa Almond Meringues

2011-08-02T00:10:00.011+02:00

Meringue is something Iusually only make as a side product. I got to admit, normally they are not my favourite treat. But I like doing icecream, and I particularily like doing it French style, but this involves leftover eggwhites. In general, I guess there are more recipes calling for eggyolks than eggwhites, so from time to time I try to make some meringue or some cookies popular in Austria especially around Christmas, called "Kokusbusserl" or "Nussbussserl" which literally means "coconut / nut peck", which are similar to meringue.

This time it was the other way round - I was in need for a recipe to use up the left over eggyolks. So I made icecream. Toasted Coconut Icecream, with folded in sauted sour cherries, again a David Lebovitz recipe from "The perfect Scoop". (increadible good!!!)

But lets get back to the main topic: The meringue went all fine. Iopted for the "playing around" variation and used shredded toasted coconut instead of chocolate. It was easy done, got firm but still chwy in the middle and tastes surprisingly good. I don't know where I lost the coconut shreds. They have a slight taste of it, but not very much. But you know what? I guess I am happy with this little idea of coconut. As overall, I am happy with these. They turned out so much better than expected!

When I see a recipe on the TWD schedule I surely will like, I am eager to do it and can't wait for the week to come. But when I see a recipe that does not sound so appealing to me, I am happy someone has chosen it, because I would have never tried it on my own. And I definitely like experiences that I would not have taken if it was not for someone else.
So - this week props go out to Mike of Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude. Turn to his page for the fast and easy recipe or have a look into Dorie's book on page 155.

TWD: Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet

2011-07-25T21:52:00.001+02:00

Doing icecream is one of my favourite things to do in summer. I especially like doing french-style icecream, which is not for everybody, as it involves uncooked eggs you have to temper. But I like the creaminess of custard-based icecream more and for me, in the end it is easier to handle. I don't have an ice-machine, therefore Philadelphia style icecream tends to get too hard and have too many ice-crystals.

The same is true for sorbets and sherbets. Therefore, the recipe for Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet choosen by Steph for this weeks TWD was an "oh, I don't know, can't I just make ice-cream?"-recipe. But I decided to stick to my "duties" and try it out. And I am glad I did. The sorbet is in fact a sherbet, as it includes dairy (milk), and ice-crystals were no problem - I guess thanks to the fat in the chocolate. It is really a creamy sorbet - yes, these kind of things exist! :o]
Find the recipe in Dorie's book on p. 431 or go to Steph's page "A Whisk and A Spoon".

I made some fresh/dried-apricot icream (combined from the two recipes in David Lebovitz' "Perfect Scoop"), too, so I am going to bring this mix tomorrow to my office, sprinkled with some roasted pinenuts. If my colleagues don't like it, they don't deserve it!!

This recipe is really a good alternative to "real" icecream because it is so much faster, easier, and does not involve so many pots, bowls and utensils.

TWD: Cream Scones

2011-07-12T00:19:00.008+02:00

Scones! I'm in love with those treats ever since I first had them (what is not so long ago, because Scones are not very usual in continental Europe. First scone-experience: February 2010, NYC. No Joke!).

And I can't say it often enough: I'm pretty happy we have so many breakfast treats left to bake. I strongly belive that there are people who make wonderful, exciting cakes and there are people who are good in baking "dry stuff" like bread, Viennoisserie, scones and biscuits. Maybe simple cakes, too. No, I know, these things are not really "dry" at all. It's just to describe the difference to creamy cakes.
Guess I am the second kind of person.

I followed the recipe for Cream Scones just as written in Dorie's book on p. 12 - you can find the recipe on Lynne's page "Cafe LynnyLu", too. She picked this easy, fast and at the same time great recipe for this week's TWD!
The heavy cream gives the rceipe a special touch.

But: I was wondering, where the raisins come in? Must have a blind spot or anything.Well, I changed them for dried apricots, anyway, because I LOVE dried apricots and could not imagine rasins in these.

Wonderful, wonderful recipe! Am going to re-do, and re-do, and re-do...

P.S.: If anybody knows the "flowers" in the picture - that gives an extra 10 points for beeing a bloomer-nerd! Found them at my market. I once read about this plant, because it has the same name as an cookbook-author, but this was in a spice-context - so I would never have expected them to be sold at the flower stand!

TWD: Chocolate Chunk Muffins

2011-07-05T00:38:00.011+02:00

Big surprise!

First surprise: I thought we have chocolate cookies on the schedule, this week again. Didn't read the monthly preview thoroughly.
Second surprise: I am not a huge chocolate lover, so I would never make chocolate muffins on my own. But - I really really liked these!

For the melted chocolate I used bittersweet as in the recipe. But for the chunks I used white chocolate. Not extremely creative, I know, but a bit. Looking at the dough I had the feeling, some more chocolate chunks would do no harm. I took about 3 ounces - more would still have been no problem. Afterwards I saw that some other members also recommended to use more chunks.

Well, I ended up with pretty good Dark-White Chocolate Chunk Muffins, some of the few ones I really like!

Thanks to Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles for chosing this unexpected good and easy recipe! Go to her page for the recipe, or have a look at page 18 in Dorie's book.

TWD: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

2011-06-28T00:33:00.006+02:00

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

2011-06-21T00:56:00.027+02:00

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

2011-06-14T00:28:00.007+02:00

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

2011-06-07T00:15:00.020+02:00

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!

TWD: Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones (and rewind: Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte)

2011-05-24T00:15:00.013+02:00

Breakfast treats, breakfast treats, breakfast treats. This month is full of ... right: Breakfast treats! I love them. I admire them. I adore to eat them, I adore their easiness in the making, they are just perfect for me. Scones (just like biscuits) are more or less unknown in Austria, where I live, so I am never sure if I get the shape and size right. But as far as I remember from my trips to New York, scones look like triangles in the States (and more like american biscuits in England, but that's another story...)

I wasn't sure if oatmeal and nutmeg are ingredients I could fall in love with, but they match wonderfully. I made these scones with dried apricots and I am very happy I've chosen them as an extra ingredient. They make this more or less savory delight a tiny little bit sweet. And dried apricots still work perfect with cheese, so you have all options for what to eat with them still open - jam, butter, ham, cheese, whatever you like!

For my part I got to say that I like these scones best plain, or with a bit goat cheese. I know, that's not very American. But after all - I am not, so: Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones with dried apricots and goat cheese - we are going to have several dates in the future!!

For the original recipe of the Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones , go to Patricia's page Life with a Whisk - she has chosen this amazing recipe for this week's TWD. or - buy Dorie's book and have a look at page 30.

P.S.: Football season is oer now, so I don't really know what to do with my time (same problem every year - last for about, uhm, 10 days :o]). I made the Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte, from pages 240-242 - a recipe I was always wondering what it is like. It was originally due way way back in January 2008. In fact, it was the second recipe on the rotation, can you imagine? Jamie of Good Eats n' Sweet Treats did choose it. She has 136 posts labeled with "TWD" - gosh, what a great record!

This cheesecake is just wonderful! I used blueberry jam and added some fresh berries, too. Cheesecake is great anyways, but this recipe is maybe the best cheesecake I ever ate (at least, it is the best I ever made). If you haven't - go and bake it!

TWD: Maple Cornmeal Biscuits

2011-05-16T22:43:00.002+02:00

Hmmm, biscuits! I adore biscuits! And I very much like corn-meal, or polenta, what I used instead. Let's make it short and simple, just as these biscuits: They are adorable! The maple syrup gives them a very special touch, and with the polenta they get a bit crunchy, but not too much.

They come together in a snap, it's almost impossible to make something wrong, and they don't have a long baking time. Even though I made them in the evening (lack of time on the last week-end...), I am sure they are perfectperfectperfect for breakfast due to the fastness and simpleness of this recipe.

This was really the right recipe on the right time. I spent my week-end (my usual baking time) in Dortmund in Germany, because even though I am Austrian, my favourite soccer team is a german one. They won the championship this week-end (well, in fact they already "won" it two weeks ago, but on Saturday was the last game and the big party), so I HAD to travel to Dortmund. Luckily, I won tickets (teh stadium has 86.000 seats, but only about 20.000 "free" seats because all the others are reserved for abos and regular visitors - so 400.000 people asking for tickets participated in a lottery for the available seats. Lucky me, I got two for me and a friend...)

Well, nobody who is going to read this knows about european soccer, so - let's not bore you any further. Just so much: Thanks a lot to Lindsay from A Little Something… Sweet for chosing these simple and easy to make Maple Cornmeal Biscuits - I would not have found the time for anything more time-consuming! Go to her page for the recipe or have a look at Dorie's book on page 24.

TWD: Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

2011-05-10T00:47:00.027+02:00

When I read "Brown Sugar Bundt Cake" I thought: Hm. Dunno. Sounds not too exciting. I usually use brown sugar anyways. But then I read that the recipe calls for prunes and pears - complete change of mind! Prunes and pears are some of my favourite ingredients.

To make it short: This cake tastes wonderful and is easy in the making! I halved the recipe and still got two little children-bundts and three minis. (I use minis as "test-pieces" because I don't want to give somehting to my co-workers I have not tested before.) I made no changes to the original recipe but did cut the baking time due to the smaller mold I used.

Dorie says, the cake will be even better tomorrow, because the taste will spread through the cake. Well - I am looking forward to it! [P.S.: Now it is tomorrow - and Dorie is right, as so often!]
Thanks to Peggy from Pantry Revisited who has chosen this recipe for this week's TWD. Go to her page for the recipe or have a look at Dorie's book page 179.

P.S.: This was a big cooking and baking day for me. First, I made the bundt. Then I made some vanilla frozen yogurt (taken from David Lebovitz great book "Perfect Scoop") - my first frozen yougurt ever. Then I went to the monthly "Guerilla Bakery" - three friends baking once a month in a pop-up "store" (in fact it is their flat) and did taste some great little cakes: mini-cheescake with crumbles, peanutbutter cookies, lime cakelettes, lemon ricotta muffins and coconut-almond muffins. And no, I didn't eat all of it alone ;o]. Back home I started making vegetable soup, which is still simmering in my kitchen, made some strawberry-champagne-sorbet (also adapted from the champagne-raspberry-sorbet by David L.) and strawberry-rhubarb-compote. I guess my duty for this week is done :o]

TWD: Basic Marbled Loaf Cake

2011-05-03T00:52:00.012+02:00

Marbled Cake. How odd. I thought. Am I really going to do this? Hmpf. I got to. I missed so much during pre-Easter lentening. So I thought.

Well, I should have learned by now that it is very often the most unexpected of Dorie's wonderful recipes that leave you most astonished and excited. Again, this time.

I am not so creative as many of my fellow bakers who experimented with colourful variations. Funnily, in fact I thought about using my red and blue sugar for a second, but did not follow this idea. I made the chocolate-orange version.
For the orange batter I took aranzini (Not sure if this word exists in english. I am talking about thick pieces of candied orange peel cut in stripes with a lot of sugar around. They are widely used in fruit loafs for christmas in Europe; picture source: www.gewuerzhaus-altstadt.de) and orange aroma. Next time I would also use some orange flavoured chocolate to support the taste, but it was also very, very good like that.

I just do not understand why all my cakes, no matter what mold I use, tend to form a tent. A friend suggested that I might not butter the mold enough, because obviously the batter sticks to the mold. But today I buttered the mold like mad, but still - there is a tent. If anybody has a hint, I would be grateful!

I followed the "lay stripes and zigzag 6-7 times"-method, but it didn't marble a lot, so it looks more like checkers-cake than marble cake, but who cares.

So, thanks a lot to Carol from The Bake More for chosing this surprisingly good recipe. Have a look at her page for the recipe, or go to Dorie's book to pages 230 and 231.

TWD: Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies (and catching up with the Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp)

2011-04-26T00:29:00.025+02:00

(Lenten season is over - hooray! So I can finally get back in track and bake along with the Tuesdays with Dorie-group, instead of doing some sugar-less rewind...)
And what a re-start - shortbread! I am a huge shortbread fan, and some of my colleagues (who are always the beneficiaries of all my baking) are, too. So, thanks a lot to Valerie of Une Gamine dans la Cuisine for chosing Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies. For the recipe, go to Valerie's page or have a look in Dorie Greenspan's fantastic book on page 130.

I used polenta instead of cornmeal (and idea I had stolen from Heather of Sherry Trifle and Cats), merely for getting-rid-of-it reasons. I cooked the polenta, because I thought it would be too granular and hard otherwise. The only other change I made is that I sprinkled about half of them with roasted, chopped nuts. They were great with and without the nuts. But maybe the plain version is even better.

They turned out just great, wonderful, marvelous. But, it's shortbread - what else can you expect?

And here comes a "sorry it is Lenten season, so no baking for me"-related catch-up rewind: I made the Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp, chosen by Sarah of Teapots and Cakestands. I HAD to do this as soon as possible, because in spring I merely live from strawberry-rhubarb compote, sometimes with vanilla sauce or joghurt, sometimes with some lemon balm, sometimes just plain. And I am a huge crisp/cobbler fan. So - perfect recipe for me. For the filling I made 1 1/2 recipes, and for the streusel I doubled everything, because for me there can never be too much streusel and I am always afraid it won't be enough. I tossed the sliced strawberries in some lemon-mint-lemonpepper-tinybitofchampagne-juice and let it in the refrigerator for some hours.
For the streusel I exchanged about half the nuts by coconut. I didn't look at the recipe thoroughly enough, so I didn't see it calls for candied ginger, which therefor I did not have at home and just omitted.

For the original recipe, go to Sarah's page or have a look in Dorie's book at pages 420 and 421.

And, btw, this is perfection!! Love it. Hope my colleagues will too, tomorrow. But let's face it: They get strawberry rhubarb crisp and shortbread. If they are not happy with that, I don't know what could please them....

Unfortunately, my pictures are not able to catch the superbness of this dessert.
(If I really have to give the grinch: It was, as often, too sweet. But maybe this is also due to the fact I didn't eat any sugar in the last seven weeks, so my senses are extremely sharpened at the moment).

TWD rewind: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

2011-04-19T21:45:00.000+02:00

So it is Tuesday, and what you see here is... not a regular TWD blog entry. I was really prepared to do the Tourtely Apple Tart, chosen by Jeanette of The Whimsical Cupcake. You can find the recipe on her page or on pages 306 and 307 in Dorie's book.
I buyed the apples, and had everything else already at home. I was really looking forward to it.

But.

It is still Lenten Season. One more week to go without sugar, alcohol or meat. I already had to skip the Coffee Icecream Tart and the Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp this month, which I both regret a lot. I thought I could handle baking an apple tart without tasting. But in the very last minute it was evident for me: No way. I won't resist. I just can't bake something without tasting the result and the dough in the making. I am sorry.
But I will catch up with as much as possible. That's how it did work last year, and that's what I am going to do this year. I don't want to break my Lenten promise. Not one week before it is over anyway.

So, this week again I had to choose another recipe, one that is do-able without sugar. Mostly this is true for some muffins, some scones and almost all biscuits. I already had a look at this recipe very often because I like nuts, I love sour cream and I adore biscuits.
For the nuts I toasted a nut mix. An in half the batch I folded in some fresh chopped bear's garlic (like last year, I have no idea if this word really exists; LEO says so. But it could be that the real name for it is ramsons or wild garlic. Smells lice garlic, tastes a bit similar but less strong, and is biological no garlic)

The Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits were originally due long, long time agoe on February 26, 2008. You can find the recipe in Dorie's book on page 25.

TWD: Pecan Powder Puffs

2011-03-28T21:39:00.005+02:00

Prologue: Apologies, apologies, apologies. I forgot to take pictures... Shame on me. On the plus side: These where tasty, great, wonderful. But not very pretty. Especially because I did not dust them in sugar, so they looked like brown marbles.

So we have Cookies on the schedule! Well, not round, thick cookies like you buy them in a coffee shop. The Pecan Poweder Puffs chosen by Tianne of Buttercream Barbie very much resemble a christmas sweet. At the end of march? That might sound strange for the one or the other - but for me, this is a very welcome surprise and something different just before we all start baking tons and tons of tarts, pies and other desserts with berries of all kinds and other spring/summer fruits!

They are really easy to make (especially when you, cough, cheat a bit and use already grounded nuts for the dough...) and they taste extremely good. I did not roll them in sugar before serving because I thought they are sweet enough. But maybe I should have. Not because it would improve them in taste, but their look.
However - my colleagues enjoyed them just as much as I did and also thought of them as w welcome surprise!

I am sure to make them again, they are just too easy not to!

P.S.: I was a bit surprised that Tianne did pick this recipe. She always makes such innovative changes to our recipes and unbelievable tarts, cakes and muffins. I would have guessed she had chosen a more difficult, subtile recipe. But TWD always keeps you surprised and you learn a bit abour your fellow bakers every day :o]

TWD: Honey Nut Brownies

2011-03-22T00:54:00.010+01:00

I am really happy, that there are so many breakfast treats left for the remaining TWD-recipies! They are made fast, you can easily store them for a day and bring them to work, and they are perfect for a Sunday morning breakfast. I can somehow understand that many TWDers prefer to choose more sublime, subtile recipes that challenge your baking abilities. But for me, when it comes to baking, the simple things are not the worst!

For this week, Suzy of Suzy Homemaker opted for Honey Nut Brownies. You may find the recipe on her page, or in Dorie's book on page 102.

I changed the recipe only slightly by reducing the sugar, because with all the honey and chocolate, I think of them as sweet enough.
For the nuts, I just used a nut mix, so I went with any nuts possible.

In the end, I like them, but they might not be my all-time favourite brownies. I love very moist and fudgy, almost mellow and creamy brownies, and these are more cake-like. Maybe this is because they have not so much chocolate in it, and the eggs are not seperated nor are the egg whites beaten seperately. But I know there are zillions of cake-like-brownie-lovers out there, and for them this is an extremely wonderful recipe, with a decent but still remarkable honey flavour!

TWD: Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins

2011-03-15T00:03:00.003+01:00

Muffin Time! Great, great, great.
I love eating muffins, I love making muffins.
I don't love taking pictures of muffins, that's why I have to bother you with these bad pics...

Anyhow. Citurs Currant Sunshine Muffins are just great. I used whole-wheat flour, because I had to get rid of it (that's why the muffins looke a bit "sprinkled" in the pictures), and swapped the orange juice for pink grapefruit juice. And I had to skip the currants (not available round here...). Instead, I did include some orange jam into half of them - yummi!

Generally, I love citrus flavouverd sweets, and so I love these, too. They are like all muffins easy to make and fast and perfect for sunday morning breakfast! maybe I should have used some other dried fruits, instead of currants, mybe raisins or apricots. Next time!

P.S.: Some of my molds (they are more cupcake-molds, but I use them for all "small cakes") have a heart on the bottom. Unfortunately, I took some of them out too early, so the bottom did stay in the mold. One came out almost completely, except for the heart. So I got a muffin heart. Cute, isn't it?)

TWD: Toasted Almond Scones

2011-02-21T23:19:00.000+01:00

Oh, how I love, love, love Scones! In Vienna you can buy Scones maybe at Starbucks, but nowhere else. Not in any bakery, not in any other coffeeshop. Just like biscuits, they are not common round here. So I know them more from TWD and my few visits in the US so far. But I ADORE them, every single one. Really. I never met a scone or biscuit I didn't like :o]

So, many thanks to Mike of Living Out West who chose Toasted Almond Scones for this week's TWD. You can find the recipe on this page or in Dorie's book on pages 28 and 29.

I first made them about one year ago because during Lenten Season I was looking for recipes in Dorie's book where you could omit the sugar and this was one of them, and I think that these were definitely the best scones I made so far! I liked them last year, and I love them the now the second time I made them.

Generally, breakfast treats are some of my favourite bakings. Some people are good when it comes to chocolate loaded torte, others master tartes like nobody else. And I guess I am at my best when it comes to scones, biscuits and everything brioche (and icecream, funnily).

The Toasted Almond Scones are easily made. The most time consuming part is toasting the almonds... you can bake them before breakfast on a Sunday morning and enjoy them while they are still warm. Is there a better start for a Sunday ?

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

2011-02-15T00:25:00.002+01:00

This TWD week has two host: Caroline and Claire of Bake With Us chose Chocolate Oatmeal Drops (got there for the recipe or have a look at page 75 in Dorie Greenspan's book).

This is an excellent choice for this week, as Dorie herself will have been involved into heavy cookie baking this last week... I have been in NYC by chance, when the Cookie Bar did pop up last year. What a great experience! The cookies are great and it is nice watching Dorie and her son talking with baking friends.

So, now what about this week's TWD-recipe?
Generally, I love doing cookies, but I am not all too much into chocolate in the batter. I like chocolate chunks, I like chocolate chips, but I am not thrilled by chocolate cookie dough.

Taking this into account, these cookies are very good. The combo of dark chocolate cookies and oats is a fine one, and gives the cookies a special texture.

They are easy to prepare and don't need a lot of baking experience. But don't misinterprete them as "healthy", just because they have some fiber in it :o]

(P.S.: If you wonder why some of the Drops in the first picture seem to be completely pale - these are Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters, originally due long time ago in September 2008. I was looking for a way to bake something with the oat-leftovers, and peanutbutter is my all-time-favourite baking ingredient, so the choice was easy!)

TWD: Great Grains Muffins

2011-02-01T00:57:00.000+01:00

Let's make this quick and dirty - Great Grains Muffins, chosen for this week's TWD by Christine of Happy Tummy, are a wonderful breakfast treat! They are not too sweet and even I can mix them together in a snap. And: There are millions of possible varieties, because you can deviate from the basic recipe in a myriad of ways. So, no excuse for not baking them due to any unloved ingredient ;o]

I did stick mainly to the original, despite I mixed the meal-types in slightly different quantities (more cornmeal and only wholewheat). And I omitted the oats, because I did not want to open a 2 pounds package for just a few grams, and used some shredded nuts and grains instead (a mix of sunflower/pumpkin seed and soya beans for salad) . Perfect match! And it additionally supports the breakfast/muesli character of the muffins.

They did almost not rise, but maybe they shouldn't. But who cares anyways... as long as they taste good and look agreable!

Find the recipe at Christine's page or in Dorie's book on pages 8/9.

TWD: Nutty Chocolatey Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

2011-01-24T22:56:00.000+01:00

This is the second time I made a cake with a swirl, and this time I am as happy with the result as I was the first time! This cake ist just great - the moisty cake, the orange-nut-chocolate-combination for the swirl ... just wonderful. And look how pretty the swirl is!

I exchanged the chocolate chips for a chocolate spread (because I have to get rid of it...) that is infused with blood orange flavour, thus supporting the slight orange flavour in the batter.

It's made easily, looks pretty and is overwhelming in taste - what more can you ask for?

Thanks so much to Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort who opted for the great Nutty Chocolatey Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake! Go to her page to find the recipe, or have a look at Dorie's book (page 182).

P.S.: The February recipes are here! Hooray! This is going to be the last full month I bake along with the TWD-group until Easter Sunday, because I like to deny all sweets (and alcohol and meat) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Nothing religious. Just the feeling, some weeks without these things would be no harm after all the Advent, christmas, New Year and birthday gourmandizing. Last year I made some other recipes from the book instead that go without sugar (biscuits, scones, some muffins). Therefore I am especially looking forward to Great Grains Muffins, Bourbon Bread Pudding and Chocolate Oatmeal Drops. (The Toasted Almond Scones were one of the recipes I pre-made last year during Lenten)

TWD: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

2011-01-17T23:59:00.000+01:00

Muffins! Haven't made them for ages!
Since I an at ny current job I almost have not time for nothing, so there is barely more baking then my TWD-"duties" in my house. The last time Muffins haven been on the schedule was in back in October 2009, just shortly before I joined the group. Therefore, my last muffin baking is almost a year ago. Unvelievable...

I like poppyseed very much. Poppyseed is something very familiar in the Austrian sweet kitchen. We do a lot with it, not only for dessert, but we also make sweet main-courses with poppyseed.

Did you know that poppysedd doens't exist in the French cuisine? Strange, isn't it? The just don't plant it, therefore they don't use in the kitchen.

Well, so much for the intro, now the main part. I was excited to make muffins but couldn't decide wheather to fill them or not, so I made what I always make, when I am indecisive - I made both.

The first batch came out a bit underdone, although I baked them for about 22 minutes. Nevertheless, some tops broke up and the raspberry jam came out a bit, but I don' think that's any harm (that's the very light couloured ones). The second batch was without filling (these are the little ones in the paper molds). But the third batch, this time filled with strawberry jam, came out perfect in colour and shape.

The one I did taste was just wonderful. The sweet-sour mix in combination with the poppyseed is a wonderful flavour!
Thanks a lot to Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness who did choose Muffins after such a long time and opted for this great recipe. Go to her page for the recipe or have a look at Dorie's book (page 11 and 11).

TWD: Chocolate (Fluff Filled) Madeleines

2011-01-10T23:31:00.000+01:00

I have, as probably most of you, no Madeleine mold and really didn't wanted to buy some just for this recipe. But - I once brought my mother Calison-molds from Paris (explanation and pictures for Calissons), so I thought I am going to try it with this form.

For the filling: Marshmallow fluff is extremely rare in Vienna. I once saw it at an extremely high-end gourmet supermarket. With lemon curd it is the same. But I had a glas of chocolate spread, infused with Sicilian blood-oranges waiting since aeons in the cupboard...

No idea wheather the form made a difference, but anyhow, the Calisson-"Madeleines" turned out well, but when I tried to fill them, they were too dense and compact. Some broke, some were so solid, the filling came back out the pipe. So after some attempts I stopped and decided to go for plain "Madeleines" and top half of them with what was intended as the filling, and the other half with white chocolate ganache.

Taste and looks are fine, despite they are not what the recipe has foreseen. But as always - the not-predicted is sometimes the best :o]

Thanks to Margo of Effort to Deliciousness who was so brave to choose this TWD-recipe for Chocolate Fluff Filled Madeleines. You can find the recipe on her page, or in Dorie's book on page 170 and 171.

TWD: Midnight Crackles

2011-01-04T00:45:00.022+01:00

Cookies! Yeah! Haven't had them on the TWD-schedule for some time... Midnight Crackles are pure chocolate. They come with not much more than a whole lot of bittersweet chocolate and cocoa. Sounds like great chocolate cookies, not too sweet, but chocolatey ad nauseam. Good, huh?

Well. The cookies where a pain in the making and didn't turn out well. :o[ The options where I may have failed:

I used less sugar. Because all the recipes always turn out very, very sweet for my taste, and for that of all my colleagues. I started to mostly use less sugar than asked for. This time, I maybe went too far.
The batter didn't come together. Not. At. All. I had individual crumbles like shortcake-crust for tartes. I included another egg. That was a slight improvement. But I wasn't able to get somehting like one piece of dough before I mixed it with some water. Then, the consistency was as described in the book.

But, after chilling the dough for 2 hours (much longer than most other bakers recommended), it was still a soft, smooth dough. So I had no problem to scoop and form it, but: despite the softness, my balls didn't really stick together.

Somehow I managed to roll balls and press them softly (see again the hints from other bakers) on the baking sheet. But: After about 8 minutes, not a single ball had spread. They remained in their shape. That's not what a cookie should look like! I took a spatula and pressed them flat. That was about the moment when I thought: What a mess. Nothing did work properly today. Nothing. I had to fudge on these cookies in every step.

At least, in the end they looked like cookies should in my world. But the first bite from a still slightly-warm cookie: disappointment. Sometimes cookies seem to absorb some taste from the cookie-scented air in the kitchen while cooling. So, let's wait and taste again later. --- Later: No difference. The cookies taste bland and boring. Not sweet at all. No good not-sweet-at-all like shortbread, just ... flavourless. Don't ask me. No idea how I managed to mess so completely up with them.

I am sure the problem is all on my side, so have a look at the perfect Midnight Crackles from all the other gifted TWD'ers, and especially at wep-pages of Laurie of Slush and Jules of Someone’s In the Kitchen, a.k.a. our wonderful TWD-team who can't get enough thanks and thumbs-up for their great work and devotion! There (or in Dorie's book on page 74) you will also find the recipe as it was their turn for TWD-birthday to choose this week.

Interestinlgy, they really look much better than they taste. And: I tried them with orange marmelade and this is really a winner-combination! So, a mess in between, a dissappointment for the plain cookies, but in the end I can close with a slightly positive balance sheet.

TWD - Christmas Rewind: Split-Level Pudding

2010-12-28T00:54:00.044+01:00

And again it's rewind-time at TWD! And, again, first I am all excited that I may chose a recipe and catch up at least with one of the many recipes I missed because I joined the group too late. And, also again, I end up in complete despair because - give me options and see me panic! How can I decide for a recipe when there are so many?
I won't bother you with the different approaches I tried out to narrow the choices. Let's just say that after hours and hours and hours of reflection and deliberation I picked a recipe that was always tempting to me and one which always made me a bit sad that the group just made it directly before I started TWD: The Split-Level Pudding. It was originally due for October 6th 2009 and chosen by Garrett of Flavor of Vanilla. You can find the recipe on his page or in Dorie's book on pages 384- 385.

You may see no point why this should be a very christmasy recipe, but in fact... uhm... I guess it isn't. Except that I had not made something creamy for a long time and was longing for trying this pudding also for a long time. So it's like a little present for myself :o]

I mostly followed the directions but made some variations. Between the ganache layer and the vanilla pudding I sprinkled some chopped moisty dried plums. I added some vanilla sugar to the pudding to make it even more vanillier (I don't think this word really exists...), and some almond and rum flavour. Usually I would just use dark rum, but one of my colleagues is pregnant and I want to take the pudding to work, so, no alcohol!.

Then I topped the vanilla layer with some white chocolate ganache. In the pictures you can't really see the difference between these two layers. I merely made it to get a thicker, harder top because I wanted to sprinkle some crumbs (left-overs from the cardamom crumb cake last week) as the top-layer and thought the pudding might make them too soggy. So in the end I had a chocolate ganache-plum-vanilla-white chocolate ganache-streusel-pudding. And I loved it!

I really extremely love this one! As all puddings and cremes, it is a bit of a fuzz. Warming the cream or milk, pouring it over the eggs, slowly, slowly, than putting everything back in the pot, reheat, than again back to the bowl etc. But it's always worth it! I just think that the quantity turns out not too much. Fortunately half our office is on holiday, so I hope everybody will get one of the glasses tomorrow.

And if you haven't already - do this recipe!

TWD: Cardamom Crumb Cake

2010-12-21T00:04:00.001+01:00

Phew! Feels like a little eternity since I baked along with TWD. (in fact, I had to skip only three weeks, what is not too good, but also not too long. Work, holidays, guests and life in general kept me away from the oven).

Cakes are good, and crumbs are wonderful. I likelikelike streusel! Let me choose between a dry, ordinary cake with streusel and a fancy spectacular torte with lots of cream and chocolate - and I will always choose the simple cake.

This one is easy done. I had the feeling the batter was slightly too moist, so I added a little bit more flour just before baking. But I guess it would not have been necessary.

Cardamom was not available in the supermarket next door, and it is far too much winter here in Vienna to take a walk to the next bigger one on a Saturday afternoon. So I mixed what I had and what did sound like an acceptable deviation: For the 1 1/4 teaspoons in the batter I took 1/2 TS cinnamon, 1/2 TS ginger, 1/4 TS nutmeg, a pinch of pimento and a dash of pepper.

I like this pick by Jill form Jill's Blog for its easiness, fastness and sapid taste. Although it is not the same as in the original recipe, I guess it is a good approximation and variant. Find the original recipe on Jill's page or in Dorie's book on page 38/39.

TWD - Applesauce Spice Bars (Thanksgiving rewind)

2010-11-23T00:19:00.000+01:00

Give me options and see me overextended. Once I got a yes-no-coin from a friend I visited in Budapest. She was completely enervated by my unability to meet a decision (how can I decide between strawberry and blueberry yoghurt? and what about vanilla? vanilla might be fine as well. and what to drink in the morning? coffee? tea? which tea? aaaaahhhhh!!!)

At the same time, when I read "rewind" I was all "hooray, I can pick one of the many, many recipes I missed because I strated TWD so late".

So I limited the enourmous range of possibilities. And limited them further, and further, and further, until... until I recognized that I have about a million apples waiting to be eaten. So in the end it was an easy decision. I opted for the Applesauce Spice Bars, originally due for August 18, 2009. You can find the recipe in Dorie's book on pages 117 and118 or on Karen's blog, who was the first to choose this recipe for a regular TWD. Her bars look perfect, just like the picture in the book.

I made the applesauce myself, what is pretty easy (just cook the cored and peeled apples as a whole in a tiny bit of water, until they fall apart by themselves). Apple sauce is incredible, because it has very few calories and still tastes so sweet! Love it.
I ate a bit of the bar with applesauce and vanilla pudding and completely enjoyed it.

Apples and fall are a wonderful combo. But honestly spoken, I am not too sorry fall is almost over and I can for some months leave all the (wonderful, fabulous and delicious) apple-recipes behind me, and head over to some other things.

TWD: Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake

2010-11-08T22:55:00.000+01:00

I had no idea what a Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake as chosen by Jessica of Singleton in the Kitchen chose for this week's TWD, should look like. So I did what every decent 21st century women does - I googled it.

Therefore I hope, what I made is pretty close to what it should look like. Anyhow, it did taste excellent, but it was not too hard to convince me, because I adore shortbread. They are really my favourite kind of cookies. Because they are sweets, but more and the fat-and-a-tad-salty taste than on the complete sweet side. And that is just my cup of tea.
The cranberries match perfectly. I am glad I didn't switch to plums - my first intention. Because it is impossible to get fresh or frozen cranberries here. Only dried ones. Dried with a heavy load of sugar. But we have something similar, lingonberry-jam, which is served with deer. So that's what I used. I know, I know, I skipped making the jam myself. But honestly, you cant' really buy fresh lingonberries, only the ready-made jam. I mixed them with some of the dried cranberries, and ended up with a good mix for the filling.

Without the jam in the middle, the cake would be a bit too dry. All in all it was pretty, pretty easy to make (uhm, maybe only because I buyed the jam...) and fast and at least one of my colleagues (and me!) loved it!

You can finde the recipe on Jessicas page or on pages 208-209 of Dorie's book

TWD - Peanuttiest Blondies

2010-11-02T21:30:00.000+01:00

OMG, Tuesday's almost over and I haven't blogged and it was not because I did work so much today (unfortunately). Some other thoughts just kept my far away from the computer...
But here we go.
I adore Blondies. I did already mention it one or two times: I haven't ever seen a blondie until February this year. No joke. Never. Doens't exist aorund here. But I fell in love with them immediately once I had my first bite at Amy's Bread in Bleecker Street in the Village.

And, I also mentioned one or two times (or a million of times) that I fancy, love, adore anything peanuts and in particular peanut butter.
So, absolutely nothing could go wrong with these Peanuttiest Blondies chosen by Nicole of Bakeologie for this week's TWD. You can find the wonderful recipe in page 119 in Dorie's book or on Nicole's page.

I used only half the chocolate chips amount, and added the rest of the peanutbutter chips I had left. For the peanutbutter I didn't use Skippy's but indian peanutbutter. It is slightly softer than the ordinary peanutbutter, but it did work out fine. I like the taste of this kind of peanutbutter slightly more, because it is a bit more natural (I guess it only pretends to be...).

These were really excellent and wonderful, and because they are so easy to make, I will definitely do them again!

TWD - All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie

2010-10-26T12:48:00.000+02:00

So here we go - this is my TWD-"birthday" entry, because I started just one year ago with TWD. Emily of Sandmuffin chose the All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie (to be found on her page or on pages 300-302 in Dorie's book) for this special week.

For me, this is a wonderful "TWD-birthday"-pick, because I love apple pies.

I made it according to the recipe but did skip the tapioka, because it is hard to get round here and I didn't wanted to by 1 kg of tapioka for using just two spoons. I used some shredded nuts instead, but maybe should have taken more or some floor or anything else that holds the filling together, because it fell apart a bit.
I also included some raisins. (I know, there are raisin-haters out there, but I like it, and I am the baker here on this blog, so, harhar, I only just do what I want :o])

The pie is pretty easy made, you just need some preparation time for the pie crust. But once you are used to it, you get a routine for doing the dough and then it is no problem.
The name of the pie is no exaggeration - it is an all delish pie, indeed! And it is a perfect fall recipe. So I guess, this is a keeper. I can even imagine it, made as minis in small soufflé forms, as part of a christmas dessert plate.

P.S.: Wow, one year of baking. Who would have thought so. And so much did happen in this year. A lot of good things, some not so good. But over all, the balance sheet is far in the blacks. And I am pretty much happy for all the wonderful things that did happen to me and the great people I met.

364 days

2010-10-22T21:35:00.000+02:00

I just had a look when I actually started this blog. I could only remeber that it must have been shortly after my return from my Paris-stay in October. And it turned out, that I wrote the fist enry on October 23rd, so tomorrow is my first annoversary.
My first TWD entry (in fact the reason why I started the blog, and still the almost single justification for it) was written in November 4th, the Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookie.

Since then, I made 43 regular TWD recipes (i.e. in time, or at least almost), about 15 rewinds and a handful of recipes from other sources. All in all, I can say on average I did bake once a week.

My reason for participating in TWD was to get some practice, because my baking abilities were really low and I wanted to improve them. Now, one year later, I am still far far away from getting a good baker. But some things turn out well, already. I can find some leitmotif in it, but it is hard to explain why I find a common ground: Cookies (especially Shortvread/Sablés), Brioche, Biscuits, Brownies/Blondies as well as Cremes/Flans and icecream turn out really well. Cheesecakes and some chocolate cakes are fine. Muffins and Cupcakes are sometimes yes, sometimes no. Tartes and Tortes are still a bit of a horror, mostly due to my unability of making a good crust.

So, for my birthday entry this weekend I will do an apple pie, and I think that's a wonderful celebration recipe.

And for my first month in my second year we head over to:

Peanuttiest Blondies - big hooray for this recipe! I adore Blondies even more than Brownies, and Peanuts are my big love
Not-Just-for Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread - excitement for this. "Shortbread" is only a cookie for me, but as far as I understand it, this is more of a cake. Wonder what it will be like, and where to get cranberries...
Cranberry Lime Galette - and again the cranberry problem... But the combo sounds extremely good!
Devilish Shortcakes - and again the Shortcake/Shortbread-question. But here I have a picture in the book, that gives me a hint.

There is one week missing - because for November 23 we are free to choose a fall/holiday/Thanksgiving Dorie recipe. hat a great idea! I am already considering my options...

TWD - Fold-Over Pear Torte

2010-10-11T22:43:00.000+02:00

And another fall recipe this week... This month of October is full of them for the TWD-community with the Double Apple Bundt Cake last week and the Caramel Pumpkin Pie (can't imagine this one - sounds, uhm, special...) and the All-American, All-Delicous Apple Pie to come the weeks to follow.

But let's talk about this week. Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen selected the Fold-Over Pear Torte. Go to her page to have a look at the recipe, if you don't own Dorie's book (pages 348 and 349). But I recommend to have a look at her page anyways, because she is one of the few non-American-TWD'ers and I always find it very interesting how non-Americans find their way to TWD, and what they choose. I think they often choose the most typical-american of all, funnily. And (more important) - she is very supportive, always kind, leaves a lot of hints, tricks and comments and bakes wonderful treats.

I like pears and fall recipes, and I extremely like this Torte. Even though I think of it more as a pie than a torte, but maybe that's a language problem. The dough is wonderful. I could eat tons of it even without filling. But why should I, when I have additionally this tasty pear-filling?

I had way to much filling, so I made some minis. Unfortunately my torte didn't turn out very photogenous.I feel always sorry for not being able to picture the baked goods I like most in a way that comes up with their taste. But taking pictures of baked goods is maybe a bit like baking itself - the more often you do it, the better you get...

TWD - Double Apple Bundt Cake

2010-10-04T22:22:00.002+02:00

It's fall! I like fall. I love fall. Fall is my time. Maybe it has something to do with my red hair and pale skin, what makes me the "autumn type". Maybe it has something to do with the possibility of wearing boots with your short skirts, what makes me always more comfortable than with ballerinas. Or maybe it is because I just love walking with a cappuccino to go in my hand through the red and brown leaves in the parks of Vienna before returning home for making a big pitcher of chai tea just for myself.

One of my favourite songs from my favourite band is about why they love their wives and girlfriends and all their freaky nuttiness that makes them even more adoreable, and one line translates to "because you love fall more than summer". I love this line! :o]

So, let's talk about this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, the Double Apple Bundt Cake, which is chosen by Lynne of Honey Muffin. You can find the recipe on her page or in Dorie's book on pages 184 and 185.
It's a "double" apple bundt because you use apple butter and grated apples - and therefore end up with a pretty moisty, soft bundt cake.

It's easy made, has a great consistence, is full of autumn-flavour thanks to the appels and nuts (I skipped the raisins because I halfed the recipe, and it wasn't worth opening a whole pack of rasins for not even a handful of fruits).

I halved the recipe and made12 minis and really, really liked them. The right cake for the right time of the year! (see on the right side: a flying mini double apple bundt cake :o])

I joined TWD not even a year ago, so there are a lot of recipes I didn't bake with the group. With some I try to catch up. We had a birthday girl in the office, so I tried my luck with the Peanut Butter Torte. It was one of the early recipes in TWD, and it is easy to see, why: Because it is just incredible! It has a crust made of oreos, the filling is a mix of peanutbutter, salted peanuts, a bit of bittersweet chocolate and whipped cream. I love anything peanut, and peanutbutter is my nemesis, so it was easy to cinvince me of this torte. I am pretty satsified with the taste and looks of it, but the cream didn't firm completely. Therefore, it turned out more as a spoon dessert than a torte. But who cares as long as it is an oreo-peanut-peanutbutter-with-a-tad-of-bittersweet-chocolate-spoon-dessert!

TWD - Tarte Fine

2010-09-28T20:06:00.003+02:00

For this week of TWD Leslie of Lethally Delicious decided on Tarte Fine - go to her page to find the recipe, or flip through Dorie's book to page 315.

Tarte Fine is a french classic - the recipe says. When I read the ingredients and this introduction, I had a certain picture in mind. A picture of a very thin tarte crust (the "fine" part in the Tarte Fine, I thought), layered with apples. Well, the second part of my guess was right, but the "crust" should be puff pastry.

Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of puff pastry. It has a lot of fat and calories for not so enormously much taste. In this respect it reminds me very much on a croissant. When I see a croissant I always ask myself why I should eat something as fat and full of calories as a muffin, but without any taste of itself (despite, maybe, the taste of butter).
That doesn not mean I never eat croissants :o]
And it does not mean I didn't try the Tarte Fine...

The second point why I am not a huge fan of puff pastry is that it's not a good keeper. I always bake on Sunday and bring the treats to work the next day, so anything puff pastry is always difficult and never a big success.

The Tarte Fine didn't taste bad, but it had the looks of a cold Pizza and wasn't a big hit around here. Maybe it didn't help I used the jam as a bottom layer between the pastry and the apples...

So. Let's just not speak too much about this tarte and start thinkig about the next apple recipe, which is just one week ahead with the Double Apple Bundt Cake to come!

PS: Don't forget to visit Leslie's page anyways! She is one of the nicest, most helpful and most awesome bakers of all these awesome TWD-ers!

PPS.: Now that I had a look at Leslie's page and some other TWD-bakers I found out what the Tarte Fine should actually look like! And as I had some puff pastry left, I just tried it out. Looks much better! Now my colleagues will have to deal with another Tarte tomorrow...

TWD Rewind - Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

2010-09-20T21:00:00.002+02:00

I am not going to leave my link in this weeks TWD-"Leave your Link"-section because I made a catch-up. I missed the cookies Jasmine of Jasmine Cuisine picked two weeks ago. But I adore peanut butter (and anything peanut in general) so it was no question I am going to catch up with those one day. Additionally, I do not really like coffee-taste. Funnily, very often when coffee-including recipes are scheduled for TWD I nevertheless decide to follow them - and often they turn out great.

However.

Two weeks ago I missed the Crisscrosses because I was in Paris (no misery, I know). And this week I was a bit in a hurry, because a close friend stopped by for the week, so there was no chance I am going to do both, the cookies and the Coffee Break Muffins Rhiani of Chocoholic Anonymous picked this week. You can find the recipe on her page or in Dorie's book on page 15.
And you can follow all the honest TWD'ers who made the right recipe for this week.

I got to say that I was as sorry two weeks ago not to bake along with Jasmine, as I am this week for not going down the road with Rhiani. Both are incredible bakers and have wonderful homepages! Additionally, Jasmine is one of the few European participants and I am always surprised they often chose recipes with very typical american ingredients, just like peanut butter. Strange, isn't it?

Well. The crisscrosses turned out just as expected. Incredible. In-cre-dible! Peanuts. Butter. Peanutbutter. Perfect.
The recipe gives a whole lot od cookies, about 40-50. My colleagues really loved them, and nevertheless there were some left in the evening. But be sure, it was not the falt of the cookies, but of the quantity.

Do it again, again, and again...

TWD - Peach Upside Downer

2010-09-14T11:14:00.001+02:00

Cranberries are not very common in Austria. No, that's not completely true. In fact, something very similar (lingonberry or cowberry or lowbush/mountain cranberry - that's what the dictionary tells me is the correct translation for- what I have in mind) is very common as jelly to accompany game. But it is almost impossible to by fresh ones, and frozen are just not available. You can have them dried or as jam. But both are not suitable for the Cranberry Upside Downer, the recipe Sabrina of Superfluous chose for this weeks TWD. (find the recipe on her page or in Dorie's book on page 206).

So I had to opt for the Playing around version of this easy and fast-made cake, the Peach Upside Downer. It is the end of the summer, but just perfect to give it a last summerly treat - so I don't regret it a tad!

I enjoyed baking this one, because it was easy made and fast, and it looks very good because the combination of yellow-peach and strawberry jam for the glaze is a pretty combo. Essentially, it did remind me very much on a Tarte Tatine in the making (except you on't have a special pan for it).

On the next day it was very humid, because of the "wetness" the peches gave the cake, but still more than good.

P.S.: Can you see the steam on the one picture? I took it just a few minutes after bringing the cake out of the oven. Looks funny, doesn't it?

TWD - Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

2010-08-31T14:50:00.001+02:00

Gosh, how did that happen, it is Tuesday again!
The last days just ran through my fingers like sand... it is already afternoon and I didn't realize until now, that I haven't made my blog entry for this weeks TWD...

This week it was Donna's turn to pick a recipe, and she opted for these fabulous sablés, the Espresse Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. Shortbread, or Sablés, are really one my favourites. And I am pretty satisfied with the result.
You can have a look at the recipe at Donna's blog Lifes is too short not to eat dessert first" (cool name, isn't it), or in Dorie's book at p. 125.

When I read "coffee" in a recipe I always think "Oh no, I don't like coffee flavour". But funnily, whenever I eat sweets with coffee flavour, especially when it is only a bit of it, and combined with chocolate, I like it quite a lot. Don't ask me why. I just have this image of coffee as not very tasty in my mind, but reality always proofs me wrong.

This time it was the same. I was very tempted to try the "Playing around" version with oats, but decided to stick with the original in the very last minute.

And I am really, really happy with it. And my colleagues were, too.

[If I could only find a way to picture cookies in a better way, I would be completely satisfied]

TWD September Preview

2010-08-29T13:39:00.001+02:00

Hooray for the September Issue!

The schedule for the weeks to come looks like that:

September 7, 2010- Jasmine of Jasmine Cuisine selected Peanut Butter Crisscrosses on page 78.

September 14, 2010- Sabrina of Superfluous opted for Cranberry Upside-Downer on page 206.

September 21, 2010- Rhiani of Chocoholic Anonymous picked Coffee-Break Muffins on page 15.

September 28, 2010- Leslie of Lethally Delicious decided on Tarte Fine on page 315.

The Cranberry Upside-Downer and the Tarte Fine are perfect fall-recipes. And the Tarte gives me the chance to continue my effort to bring the "me vs. tarte crust"-story to a happy end one find day.

I am completely in love with Peanutbutter in any way (and I guess with peanuts in general), and was looking at the Peanut Butter Crisscrosses a lot lot lot of times in the recent months. Unfortunately I will not be in town the next week-end. (Fortunately, I will be in Paris for some days :o])
But maybe I will manage to pre-bake them (not very probable). And if not, I will for 100% certainty do a catching up!

The Coffee-Break Muffins don't sweep me off my feet, but I didn't do muffins for a very long time, so I am really glad someone picked muffins. And I learned during the last 10 month of TWD that it's often the underestimated recipes that turn out to become keepers and all-time faves.

Not only that I am really looking forward doing these treats, but I think we have a good variety of choices here. And, I got to say that this month some of my favourite TWD'ers were called to choose a recipe - so, no wonder they did such a good job!

TWD: Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

2010-08-24T00:26:00.004+02:00

I was on the road almost the whole day because I had to accompany my boss to a day at a summer think-tank in the Austrian mountains. It was an exciting and interesting day, but also an exhausting one. We have been on the road for 9 hours - 4 and a half each way.

Nevertheless, and also against all the work I had to to on the weekend for preparing today's event, I made the Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart, chosen by Rachel of sweet tarte (have a look at her page for the recipe, or flip through Dorie's book to pages 346 and 347. and left it at the office at 6:30 am, before we left from there. I am a good colleague. :o]

This tart was great, wonderful, extremely tasty! I did not arrive to get a perfect crust, but it turned out the best crust I ever made (which is not hard...). Anayways, I can live with the result, and the tart itself is almost perfect.

Funnily, the fruits didn't taste like peaches, but more like apples. Maybe I left them too long in the boiling water during blanching, maybe I cooked them too long in the oven. But who cares as long as the result tastes as perfect as it did?

Did I mention I love Streusel? Well - I do!!

TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

2010-08-16T21:51:00.000+02:00

I don't know how it happened - but I forgot to take pictures, so - sorry for the awful pics of the rest of the rest...
For this TWD-week, Natalie of Oven Love selected Oatmeal Breakfast Bread (you can find it on page 44 in Dorie's book or on Natlie's page).

I was really looking forward to making this, because it is chocolate-free and - I know, that's not the way how to make friends in a baking group ;o] - but in summer I do not need too much chocolate. And last week was already chocolate-packed.
I made some minor changes - a bit less sugar, some more fruits (about 1/4 cup more - still more would have been even better). Used dried figues and apricots (no good idea - usually I like it more to stick with one taste. And there is good reason for...). Then I recognized my "oats" (I wanted to use spelt, what I always have at home) were not useable anymore. So I had to substitute them for 1/2 cup shredded almonds and 1/2 cup flour, what worked out.

I had to bake the bread a bit longer (about 70 mins), and then the consistency was perfect, but the crust became too crusty - for not to say, briquette-like. I am exaggerating a bit. It was still ok. But far away from perfect. What is no problem, because most of my baking is always far away from perfect. But bread is something I master a bit better than the rest, because I bake bread for a comparatively long time, so it was a bit a disappointment.

Despite the bread was ok, I am not jumping and hooraying. It is fruit bread. A good one. But still fruit bread. I think of it as a good basic recipe. I can imagine it with creamcheese and jam. But when it comes to sweet (or at least not completely savory) breads, I like brioche based recipes more.

TWD: Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

2010-08-09T23:58:00.001+02:00

Icecream - I really like making icecream! It's mostly a whole mess, because you always need various pots and bowls, spoons and whisks and spatulas. And it is still a miracle for me, how something so cold as ice starts with hot dairy.

Icecream was in fact at the very beginning of my "baking" history, as I first started with reading David Lebovitz' blog when I was working in Paris. And only got to know about Dorie Greenspan through him. And as he is a genius in icecream making, I took all my guts and started trying it out myself, even though I have no ice-machine until now. But believe me, you don't need it if you follow his instructions and tips!

Therefore, I am always happy if somebody at TWD opts for icecream, as this week Katrina of Baking and Boys did (find the recipe at her page or in Dorie's book on page 430).

The only problem is that it is not that easy for me to take good pictures, as I bring everything I do for TWD to work. Therefore, I decided to try icecream-sandwiches and make some of David Lebovitz icecream-cookies. I made almond-cookies and chocolate-chip-cookies with chunks of bitter-sweet-orange chocolate.

But the main and most important part was the icecream, the Chooclate Ganache Ice Cream - a wonderful, tasty, chocolaty icecream, smooth and full of flavour. Plus: It tasts like frozen Mousse au Chocolat. It's really worth the mess in the kitchen!

And for the sandwiches - they turned out to be a perfect side-kick!

TWD: Gingered Carrot Cookies (and TWD-catch-up: Chewy Chunky Blondies)

2010-08-02T22:54:00.002+02:00

It's the last day of my holidays. I spent some days in Riga and some in Frankfurt, visiting a friend, and today I had a final day off back in Vienna, which I love, because it gives you the possibility to come back, wash your cloths, have a final day of relaxation. And to do your baking "duties".

So I am going to make it short and simple, what is even the easier, as the Gingered Carrot Cookies, chosen by Natalia of gatti fili e farina where really easy to make (find the recipe at her page in case you don't have Dorie's book). They came together faster than fast, they baked much faster than the recipe said (about 10 mins for the first rack and the later batches even faster). And they are oh-my-gosh-good!

Natalia is one of the few Europeans partcipating in TWD and I got some helpful and great tips and hints from her about how to adapt the recipes to European conditions - thanks a lot! I am always wondering how other Europeans made it their way to TWD and I am always curipus to see what my "fellows" are choosing.

Carrots and ginger might not sound like a summer recipe, but they are indeed! Now that I tasted them I even think they are a pretty good pick for summer, because they have no chocolate and are a mix between sweet and savory.
Love them!

I will make an even quicker catch up for last week's recipe, the Chewy Chunky Blondies. I was on the road last week but I pre-made them, not at least because I adore Blondies - I even like them more than Brownies. Can you believe that you can't get Blondies round here? I have so far never seen them in Austria, Germany or France where I spent most of the last years. And I ate my first Blondie in February in NYC. Really. Not kidding.

Those were just great and I will have do re-do and re-do and re-do them again and again. My collleagues loved them. I adored them. So, thanks a lot to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for chosing them - I didn't post them in time, but I baked along with you!

TWD: Lots of Ways Banana Cake

2010-07-19T21:25:00.002+02:00

Last week I said my life is a bit upside down. Whether it is a good thing or not, this week everything is back in place where it was some weeks ago. I got my daily and weekly routine back, I got my old haircut back, I kind of got my life back.
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday running in the morning, Monday yoga in the evening. Some swimming in between. Getting to work at 8, going to the market Saturday morning, listening to the news afterwards while unpacking everything. Meeting all the people I left besides a bit recently.
And baking on Sunday, blogging on Monday, publishing on Tuesday. :o]

This week, Banana Cake was on the schedule for TWD. Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities decided on it, and you can find the recipe on her page or in Dorie's book on pages 204 and 205.

I made little cakes, because in summer I get kind of in mini-mode and like to make cakes small. (Unfortunately, the ones with the heart shaped bottom, which turn the heart-shaped-top did not come out properly. But at least you can still see the heart)

As you can guess from the title, the recipe gives a lot of options. I went for the simple, ordinary, call it boring or sublime version, and used just what the main recipe calls for (bananas, dark rum, coconut milk, toasted shredded coconut). I didn't use any other dry fruit because usually I think too many flavours can ruin the result, and coconut and banana are enough for a good summer cake. But I am pretty sure that frosting the cake would be wonderful! I can imagine white chocolate ganache, for instance...

TWD - Brrrr-ownies

2010-07-13T00:45:00.000+02:00

It was a bit of a crazy week for several reasons. Some changes in my life occur and I can not predict if it will turn out for good. So I am nervous and keen and strained all the time anyways.

Additionally, we Europeans have been absorbed by the Football Worldcup in Southafrica in the last weeks (You may think of it as soccer, but let's face it: You play it with your feet, whereas what is called American Football is neither played with a ball but with an egg, nor with your feet...).
I am a football lover, and I support the Netherlands since I am a child. Dutch fans usually prefer loosing as long as they have seen a good game over winning an ugly game, and usually the Dutch team drops out of any tournament because they are too playful.
But this time, everything was different, and the Dutch made in to the final. For the first time since I support them, which is some decades now. I haven't thought this would ever happen.
However. In the end they lost the big final on Sunday. I am sad, I am dissappointed, I am gloomily.

Besides the Netherlands there are also other teams I like, but they may vary from year to year. For some time now I like the German team, too, which is pretty crazy, because we Austrians grow up really hating everything German (and yes, I recognize the antagonism as we speak German....), and especially and formeost when it comes to football. But a lot of things changed in the recent years, and so I like German football, too.

When I flipped through the recipe, Karen of Welcome to our Crazy Blessed Life selected, I was astonished, because when I hear "Brrrr-ownies" I think chocolate (go to her page for the recipe or have a look at Dorie Greenspans book on page 103). Indeed, there is a lot of chocolate in it - but also peppermint.

But 1. we don't have these little peppermint-stuff the recipe asks for round here. And 2. I tend to like the peppermint-chocolate-combo, but my colleagues already did send me a signal that they would not be amused when I bring something like that to work. So I changed the recipe, used peanutbutter chips (which I still have from my trip to NYC, because you really can't buy something like that in Vienna), and decided to top them with "Schland"-M&Ms (Schland is a "funny" abreviation for Deutschland, the Germand word for Germany - you see, German sense of humour can be pretty, hum, unfunny...) - M&Ms in black, red, yellow, like the german flag. And we ate them during the game for place 3, which Germany won.

They were great! I guess I fall in love with anything peanutbutter, so it was not too hard to convince me. But they really were the best Brownies I made so far and I would always, always come back to this recipe for chocolate brownies, no matter what other ingredients I include.

TWD - Tarte Noire

2010-07-06T00:52:00.001+02:00

This is what the Tarte Noire should probably approximately look like. The recipe was chosen by Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life for this weeks' Tuesday with Dorie, where you will find the recipe. (you can find the recipe also in Dorie's book on p. 351 and the recipe for the crust on p 444 or 446)

To make it short: I completely failed. Well, not completely completely. I managed to make the ganache. But the more tarte crusts I make, the worse I get. Usually, I tend to overbake it. Not this time. This time I made a wonderful chocolate shortbread crust. The problem was: When I pulled the crust of my small test-piece out of the shell, it completely cracked. Cracked in hundred pieces. So I hurried to re-arrange the pieces and filled in some of the ganache to get at least a picture.

With the "real" tarte it was the same problen. No idea what went wrong. I used two medium egg yolks despite one big one, but I think this should add more humidity, not less. So - who knows. Tarte crusts and me just don't become friends.

At least you can't tell from the picture how big the fail was. I ate the test piece it with a spoon, and it did taste great. I planned to decorate the tarte with some red currants, for the looks and to get a counterpart to the sweetness of the tarte, and for the little pice the taste-combo did work very well. But there was no sense in filling the the crumbling crust and bringing it to work.

So I mixed the chocolate ganache with sugar-water and some yoghurt, added big pieces of the tarte crust and the rest of the un-baked dough and now have Chocolate Half-Baked Sherbet to bring to work tomorrow.
There are worse things happenning, I guess :o].

If I make this ever again (and for the taste and looks it is all worth it, it is just the question if I dare to do a tarte crust, without having it on the TWD-list), I would go for orange-dark-chocolate, an idea I got from Karen from Our crazy blessed life, that sounds terrific, as I adore orange-dark chocolate!

TWD - Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes

2010-06-29T23:17:00.000+02:00

Ok, I got only some more minutes to go before it turns Wednesday... I had just not a single minute today to post, so, let's make it quick and dirty:
Here it is, my version of a Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake, which is a rum-drenched lemon-vanilla cake with a bit of orange flavour.

The original recipe can be found on pages 226 and 227 in Dorie Greenspan's book, or on Wendy's homepage "Pink Stripes" who was so wise to opt for this simple but still special cake!

I first thought it is a bit boring, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Most of all, it is very moisty, so all the drenching is really worth the (not so much) effort.

(and maybe one day I will learn how to bake minis that do not pop up in the middle, so I can turn them around and they don't look like pegtops...)

TWD - Dressy Chocolate Loafcake

2010-06-21T21:58:00.004+02:00

Yuhu, and after some weeks of skipping Tuesdays with Dorie, I am back on track! (ok, it was not that long, but I had premade the last blog entry, the White Chocolate Brownies, and the last weeks were crazy, crazy, crazy at work, so I had not a minute time to bake)

Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes decided on Dressy Chocolate Loafcake (to be found on her page or on pages 286 and 287 in Dorie Greenspans book ). This was an incredible good pick for me to come back to the baking world, because it was not too difficutl to make, even if it is called "dressy". In fact, the batter itself is very classic and easy. What did frightend me a bit was the cutting thing.

Since the first real TWD-recipe I ever made, the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake, I know I'm not very good at cutting my cake. First, because I am impatient and can't wait until the cake reaches room temperature. But if you don't wai,t you risk the cake to be too soft and fall in pieces. And you can't really fill the cake anyways, because the cream or spread will either be absorbed by the warm, soft cake, or liquify and run over the edges.
And secondly, I am not a very good cutter. In fact - cutting is not the real problem, but straight lines are. I am physically incapable of drawing a straight line and don't ask for straight cuts in paper, or wood or cakes. That has already been the abrupt ending of my career-aspirations as an architect. (That, and that I can't count and calculate. Don't ask me what drove me to want to be an architect when I was insschool...)

But back to the Chocolate Loafcake.
Frosting a cake is also not a thing I am an expert in, and this was also only the second time I frosted a cake after the CCC-Cake. Despite some difficulties I somehow managed to cover the whole cake, and topped my mini-test piece with the frosting. I opted for using creamcheese despite of sour cream, and it was an excellent choice!
But I was not very happy with the result, because chocolate cake with chocolate frosting does look boring somehow (boring cake on the left). But I found a way to dress up the dressy cake a bit... (not so boring cake on the right)

The verdict of my colleagues was "very good", and I guess the sourcream really makes the difference in this cake. So when I need a good and easy chocolate cake recipe, I would always come back to this one!

TWD: White Chocolate Brownie

2010-05-31T23:19:00.015+02:00

I like raisins. I like bananas. I love coconut. I am not afraid of making icecream or other desserts where non-cooked eggs are involved. So I am not very picky. And all the things that might lead to some eyebrow-raising here or there in the Tuesdays-with-Dorie-familiy are fine with me.
But: I just found out this weekend, that I am also picky. I discovered my new pickiness when I made the wonderful White Chocolate Brownies, chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights. You can find the recipe on her page (she is one of the few Europeans participating in Tuesdays with Dorie - and she is Dutch - and I am the biggest fan of dutch soccer in an ambit of about 1000 miles. So I particularily like her blog :o]) or in Dorie's book.
I am picky about raspberries. When they are warm. And in a cake.
I really was disgusted by the smell of the raspberries. Funnily, I don't mind the same smell when the warm raspberrries are poured in a sauce over vanilla icecream.

Therefeore, that is, hm..., not very picky, because, hey, how often does this combination come along, but... let's call it "special".

The problem was easily resolved as I just waited a bit longer to let the brownies completely cool down, and with them the raspberries, and like that everything was fine again.

"Fine" is maybe not the right word in this context. Wonderful. Sublime. Great. Yum. To-do-again-and-again-and-again. That's more appropriate :o]

I tried some of the brownie batter just as foreseen by the recipe, and for the rest I was in the mood of playing around. So I made some minis and used apricots, what worked pretty well, omitted the merengue, what was not problem (I topped the apricots with a bit of the batter to ensure they don't burn, because they did not drown down like the raspberries), and decorated them white chocolate ganache/glazé and a raspberry.

Side-notes: The white chocolate flavour was not all too dominant. And I almost liked the apricot version even more.

Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

2010-05-29T17:31:00.006+02:00

It's not often that I bake&blog beside the weekly Tuesdays-with-Dorie recipe, and it has become even more rarely since I changed to a new and very, very demanding (but also very, very exciting job).
Some weeks ago I bought some Philadelphia because it was an offer (I am so easy to manipulate...). So before it expires I had to make some cheesecake with it.

Doing cheesecake is not that easy where I life, because we do not have creamcheese round here. There are numerous webpages offering hints how to mix different dairy products so they come as close as possible to creamcheese. I mostly use about 3/4 Philadelphia and 1/4 curd cheese and for me that works.

I had a "TWD-free" weeke-end last week because I pre-made the scheduled recipe (the Banana Coconut Icecream Pie) already some weeks before. I love american desserts even more than french ones, and I particularily adore cheesecakes. And brownies. So this combination screamed "bake me" for aeons.
And I really loved it. The brownie-layer turned out comparatively dense, but in combination with the cheesecake-layer that was just about right. Marbeling didn't work, because I used a too big pan so I had not enough batter left, but I used a white-chocolate glazé and decorated it with some dark chocolate glazé.
I served it with a rhubarb-strawberry hotchpotch - and look at the colour combination!!

Definitely a "do me again"-recipe.

(the only downer is that many bowls and pots are involved due to the different layers)

P.S.: The recipe can be found in Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking: From my home to yours", or on Melissa's page Life in a peanut shell, who opted for this recipe back in September 2009)

TWD: Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie

2010-05-25T00:29:00.038+02:00

The second icecream-recipe this month!
I took the easy way and combined them. Instead of chocolate icecream, as in the original recipe, I used the Burnt Sugar Icecream (and some Dulche de Leche Icecream) - Bananas and Caramel go together well in my opinion, so I also decorated the pie with some caramel sauce (what is hard to see in the pictures due to the similar coclours).

I am the coconut-lover type, be it in savory dishes or sweets, shredded, toasted or as milk and juice.
But, to make it short: I liked this icecream pie, but it is not going to become an all-time-favourite. The crust was to buttery and fat, and there was not as much flavour on the whole as there should be. Maybe my bananas where not ripe enough. Or maybe the caramel icecream was not such a good idea in the end. Who knows.

Additionally, I always, always, always tend to make the "crust" too thick, be it for a tart or as here the pie. The relation between crust and filling was not appropriate, even though I really love the "crust" and can imagine to also use it with other recipes.

On the plus-side: It is easy to be made (especially with store-bought icecream), and can be assembled way ahead and stored for a longer time. I even re-fridged a part of it with the banana-topping on it and have the feeling it was alright.

For the recipe, go to Spike's homepage, who selected the Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie, or have a look on page 350 in Dorie's book.

P.S.: One of my friends said: "Uh, yummy, this muesli is not all too bad!" - but for some people everything that involves anything slightly healthy (as nuts - and coconutflakes do count in this book) is muesli....

TWD - June Preview and first Macarons try

2010-05-22T23:16:00.005+02:00

And here we have five more weeks of tempting, challenging, diverse recipes for the next Tuesdays with Dorie-month.

In the weeks to come I will try my luck with

White Chocolate Brownies, picked byMarthe of Culinary Delights,

Tender Shortcakes, chosen by Cathy of The Tortefeasor,

Raisin Swirl Bread, selected by Susan of Food.Baby,

Dressy Chocolate Loafcake, named by Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes, and

Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes determinded by Wendy of Pink Stripes.

I am extremely excited about the White Chocolate Brownies, not only because one special TWD'er will be specially happy with this special pick :o] I adore Brownies and they are oh so easy to transfer to the office. And they are also oh so easily to be shared. I am craving for those for a long time.

The Tender Shortcakes will be an experiment: I have no idea what this should be. Shortcakes are new to me, I have never seen or eaten one: So lets see if I arrive to create something similar to what it should be. The picture in the book looks extremely promising, just as I like my desserts. Additionally, it is made with berries, and therefore a perfect pick for this time of the year.

I love anything made of brioche, so hooray for Raisin Swirl Bread! The only fly in the ointment is that you gotta have brioche before you can head over to making the actual recipe And brioche means "take your time". Anyways, I learnt to like making brioche dough, so I am looking forward to this week!

And then we have a chocolate-vanilla-combo for the last two weeks of June. I am not so sure about the Dressy Chocolate Loafcake, as up to now I am not such a big fan of the similar TWD-recipes we made so far (like the Cocoa-Nana Bread). But lets see. At least, a loafcake is something not too laborious, but easy to transport and share. And the Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes - perfect occasion to take some of my mini-molds out of the mothballs! Wonderful!

Finally, something completely different:
In a delusion of grandeur I tried to make Macarons. I had eggwhites over and over from the last TWD-weeks, so I thought "why not? why should I not be able to do Macarons?"
Well, maybe because other bake-bloggers who are far, far, far better bakers than me had difficulties. And phrases like "this is not about the actual recipe, but about mastering the technique" would have been a good hint for me to keep my hands off.

I don't know how I mastered the shells turned from "too soft and almost liquid" to "burnt, so smoke comes out the oven" in a second or so. Like that, my shells (all, all and every single of it), were dark and black. The filling was really good, and I even had the guts to try some of these little black anythings. If it would not have been for the edges, they weren't that bad. But "not that bad" is not even the ugly little sibling of "good".
On the other side, the preparation does not take long and making the batter is really easy, so maybe I am going to re-try it soon.

Here David Lebovitz' recipes for my fail:
French Cocolate Macarons with Chocolate Filling and Prune Filling

If you have never seen Macarons, here is what they should look like. See the difference? :o]

TWD: Apple-Apple Bread Pudding

2010-05-17T23:46:00.007+02:00

I know "pudding" in english and in german isn't the same. But despite some british Christmas Pudding, which I have to say I am not a particular fan of, I never had or saw one. So I thought all puddings are like that. But when I read this recipe I thought, well, that all sounds familiar. Very familiar. And after some net-search for pictures of this recipe I was sure: Bread pudding, or at least Apple-Apple Bread Pudding, is very, very well-known in Austria - just with another name, for sure.

"Scheiterhaufen" (what translates to "stake" - yes, stake, no lost in translation...) is a very common dish, especially with school cafeterias. It's considered to be a smash-up meal, although I think in fact it isn't anymore, but I guess it used to, as it is a way to use old white bread, and apples are to be found en masse everywhere. So it also was kind of a cheap dish. And very often, in schools and at universities it is served on Fridays instead of fish. (Austria has a very catholic tradition, and despite it doesn't really influence most people's life - at least much less than in the States!! - but some habits never dissappear...)

(unfortunately, not a picture of my Apple Bread Pudding, but a Scheiterhaufen by www.lebensmittelfotos.com - looks familiar, huh?)

In Austria, we have a lot of warm sweet dishes that are served as main courses, and "Scheiterhaufen" is one of them. The only difference is that some people serve it with raisin and/or nuts (classical accompaniment for apples), but both is optional. Usually, it is served with a vanilla sauce that is slightly thinner than a Crème Anglaise. In German we call it "Kanarimilch", but don't expect any German to understand it - it is a very Viennes word... (it would translate to "canary milk", due to the colour, but for sure it is much less yellow than a canary)

So this is a big childhood-memory. And a very good one.
I tried Scheiterhaufen once but failed completely. As so often, I have to credit Dorie for her great recipes. And Elizabeth of Cake or Death? who picked the recipe for this week's TWD form Dorie's book (pages 408 and 409).

Today, I am happy, because I just had my test piece, and it turned out wonderful, exactly as it should be.

But don't ask for yesterday. Yesterday was the first day I tried to make it. It took me ages to caramelize the apples (no idea why). I had too less brioche (or ate too much of it...). When I finally found a pan for the pudding, I forgot it 5 minutes afterwards and buttered the wrong pan. My sugar went slightly dense, and then splashed out all of a sudden - much more than needed, for sure. And it splashed on the counter and there on the open package of butter. Salted butter - yes please. Sugared butter? Urks. Two eggs didn't seperate correctly, one I "spread" over the counter, so I had to start anew. When I mixed together the milk and the cream I realized that my pan was already completely full with the brioche and the apples. And then, with the sugar on the butter, a buttered pan nobody needed, milk and cream just shortly before burning, and only about one hour left before I had to leave to a friend's (who I promised to bring the pudding), I accepted that it is not bread-pudding-making day.

So I turned of the gas, covered the pan with the brioche-apple-mix to put in the the fridge, tried to clean up the mess, took out the Banana Coconut Icecream Pie I already made for the next TWD-week, and went to my friends house to see the traditional Sunday crime series. Icecream is right at the moment not really appropriate in Vienna - we see the coldest and rainiest May since ages. But I didn't wanted to arrive barehanded.

But the luckier I am today, after my second attempt to finish the recipe. Apple Bread Pudding sounds and tastes a bit like autumn, and that's just what I see when I look out the window...
Thanks to Elizabeth for a wonderful childhood memory - and for sure, this recipe is way better than any Scheiterhaufen I ever had at the cantine!

TWD: Quick Classic Berry Tart

2010-05-10T22:35:00.002+02:00

For this TWD-week Cristine of Cooking with Cristine picked the Quick Classic Berry Tart - go to her page or have a look at Dorie's book on page 377 for the recipe.

This was a great choice for the first weeks of May. I opted for a pure strawberry tart because I found some really good tasting ones (which is not that easy...).

I had the feeling that this classic tart as you see it on the left could use some more colour besides the vanilla of the pastry cream (I used vanilla milk instead of ordinary whole milk, so my pastry cream was alreayd very, very vanilla-coloured), and the red of the strawberries and the strawberry-glazé.
First I thought pistacchios, but I ran out. And then my look fell on the basil at my kitchen sill. Strawberries naturally match with savory tastes like red pepper or chilis in chocolate, or old Balsamico (or a Balsamico reduction) on the plain fruits. And I am generally a big fan of combining sweet and savory.
So I candied some basil leaves to sprinkle them over the finished tart, and mixed the glazé with a tiny little bit of Balsamico.

I love this tart!
My crust didn't burn for the first time (it was a bit dark, but still alright - but I made a nut crust, so it should be darker than a normal one), I managed to handle the pastry cream, and the final product did look well. Usually, nobody complains about the taste when I bake, but the looks of my desserts are improvable.

Here, it turned out exactly as I intended it.
Honestly spoken, I am pretty proud on me. :o]

(and, most importantly, my co-workers and me were excited, excited, excited about it)

P.S.: For candying basil it is better not to use the usual sugar-water-mix as for fruits - this might be too heavy. It's better to first put the leaves in egg-whites and then sprinkle it with sugar, as you do with edible flowers.

TWD: Burnt Sugar Icecream

2010-05-04T08:08:00.004+02:00

(I'm sorry, but the pictures of the Burnt Sugar Ice Cream are not very impressive, so I have to bother you with some of my Paris-pictures.)

Since I spent some month in Paris last year and discovered David Lebovitz' blog (funnily, not even because I was looking for a recipe or a restaurant recommendation, but on the search for yoga classes in Paris...) I was curious for making icecream. I tried some before, but it more turned out as fruit sorbets (can live with that ...), and frozen mousse au chocolate (can definitely live with that...). The fact that I have no icecream machine didn't improve the situation. But when I came back to Vienna last autumn I started following David's recommendations. And I loved it right from the start. A definite highlight has been the Matcha Icecream with Red Bean Sauce so far. (incredible!)

The procedure is easy, just needs some time, because you have to stir and check your mix several times. You can find a step-by-step introduction here. Also very helpful are his hints for making icecream (with or without machine) softer.

But this is about recipes by Dorie Greenspan and not David Lebovitz, although I am pretty sure she won't be offended being named in the same blog as him when it comes to icecream.

Burnt sugar is a nicer name for caramel. I was very much looking forward to it, because I didn't make icecream for some time. So credits go out to Becky of Project Domestication, who has chosen icecream for a quick-start into the summer! You can find the recipe at her blog or on p. 432 in Dorie's book.

The procedure is easy-peasy. I didn't use ordinary sugar but caramel-sugar because I thought of it as a very clever idea. The problem was, that the already caramelized sugar was dark right from the start, so I wasn't able to see when the colour of the caramel was right. Maybe that was the reason why my mix didn't really freeze. Normally, I wait for two hours before stirring it up the first time and then continue to do so every 30-45 mins. I made the icecream-mix at noon, and mixed it up the last time before I went to bed, and it was not frozen by that time. (No, I don't go to bed that early; that was not the reason :o])

Anyhow, the next moning the texture was perfect. I had the feeling it could use some add-in. I couldn't imagine serving the icecream with cookies or brownies, as the Burnt Sugar Icecream itself is already sweet enough. I thought about a fruity side-dish, but had to use all my strawberries for something else. Dried apricots also came to my mind, but I used them in the Chockablock Cookies last week, and don't like to repeat myself too often.

So, what's left? As I came home late yesterday, I flipped through David's icecream book, looking for something fast and easy, and ended up with pralined almonds. I didn't taste the complete icecream so far. But I can't imagine how this can go wrong. Caramel and nuts - what more can you ask for?

(Maybe for reading the recipe properly, and not using one cup water instead of 1/4 cup... - but after a long, long time and adding more and more nuts and more and more sugar I somehow managed to rescue the nuts)

Cardinal Slices (Kardinalschnitte)

2010-05-02T21:18:00.001+02:00

On the special wish of a colleague (in detail, she said: "Can't you make something like THAT???") and because I had some eggwhites (due to icercream-making for TWD), I tried my luck with Cardinal Slices (possibly the correct translation is Viennese Cardinal). I used to like this cake when I was a child very, very much. I mostly go for the classic version. The ones with chocolate, heavy raspberry-cream or cappucino or not my cup of tea.

To me, despite most recipes are classfied as "easy" the procedure sounds difficult: Pipe alternating stripes of beaten egg whites and an egg-sugar-flour-mix, bake for about 20 minutes, cut in half, so you get six stripes, spread jam on the top of two stripes, then put some whipped cream (I mixed mine with some strawberries) on the layers, again the same with the second layer, and top it with the third one. Nevertheless, what I got is anything but Cardinal Slices. I will have a look if I can rescue them. Maybe with white chocolate ganache.

The "merengue" did not turn out fluffy and light as it should, but chewy, dense and sunken. The egg-mix was much too liquid. I alreday thought so when I poured it in between the eggwhite stripes. The two textures suddenly mixed, what should definitely not happen.

Lucky me, most of the few people possibly reading this have never been to Austria, so I guess they don't know what Cardinal Slices should look like.
But, as I am an honest person, this is the original, and a picture of a variation with raspberries and I guess coffee:

TWD: Chockablock Cookies

2010-04-27T00:37:00.007+02:00

This last TWD-month was a month of incredible simpliness and fastness. All the recipe where to be completed in less time than the one the week before. "Comes together in a snap" must have been one of the most often cited phrases by TWD'ers. Some even reported that their ovens had not even finished preheating by the time the dough was ready to be baked. But when I learnt anything about baking in the last months since I stepped into the big gloomy world of pastry, cakes and brownies, it is that the simpliest things never are that simple. Easiness also shows your limits, as with these recipes it is not so much the mere procedure itself that is challenging, but perfecting it.

And I'm lousy when it comes to perfection. Maybe that's one reason why I have "chosen" baking as a new hobby - I need this challenge. I need a task that is a bit demanding.

In this respect, the Chockablock Cookies, chosen by Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet where you can also find the recipe (or, even better, buy the book and have a look at page 86) are a perfect April-recipe.
The real question for these cookies is: What did you use? It is not exactly like with Composte/Amnesty Cookies, that are made of almost anything you can find in your kitchen. But even though mostly more than 100 people are participating in TWD weekly, I guess we won't see many identical cookies. There is the nut-question (you are free to use any sort - me, I took the easy way with a nut mix), and the dried-fruit-question (again: anything possible; I decided on dried apricots). I thought about including raisins and figues, because I ADORE figues, but ended up with the decision that it's better not to overload them in taste.

But: I heavily doubted the amount of chocolate. I used less (100g/3 ounces of 86% chocolate and 30g/1 ounce milk chocolate - instead of 180 g/6 ounces in total, as I made only half the recipe). And I'm glad I did, because there was much too much chocolate even with the cut back .

I don't know what went wrong. I read and re-read the recipe, but the chocolate amount was rigth. My cookies just ran out. They didn't really firm. The chocolate ran to the bottom of the cookies, where it almost burnt. Transferring them to a cooling rack was a complete mess.

Sure, taste beats looks. And my colleagues didn't seem to mind at all. But they didn't look a tad as cookies should.

I am obviously physically not able to produce proper specimens of cookies. Project Perfection goes on...
Sigh.

(And now - up to a new TWD-month full of less-fast recipes, where my unableness to perfection doesn't stand out that much ;o])

TWD: Sweet Cream Biscuits

2010-04-20T09:17:00.002+02:00

During Lenten Season I became almost an expert for baking scones and biscuits, as they can mostly be made without sugar. So when I read that Melissa of Love At First Bite chose Sweet Cream Biscuits (p. 23 in Dories book) for this weeks TWD-session, I was excited on the one side ("Juhu, something I CAN do! Something I am not a complete novice about!"), but a bit dissappointed on the other side ("Oh no, not biscuits - again. I made soooo many of them the weeks between Mardi Gras and Easter").
After considering all the ups and downs I decided that in the end I do love baking savory things, I do love eating biscuits, and I enjoyed the routine I was going through during Lenten Season (waking up, jogging for 50-60 mins, bathroom, baking, having a big, big breakfast/brunch with fresh baked quick breads). So - hooray for this pick!!

The category "quick breads" is more than appropriate. Because you use heavy cream instead of butter, you don't even have to think about cutting and freezing the fat (what I usually would do for about half an hour to make sure the butter is really, really cold). Just mix the few ingredienst, and you are ready to go!

As I made so many breakfast treats recently, I was in the mood for playing around. I have a lot of ramson because it is the season for it and whole Vienna (or at least its parks and gardens) smells for it. And the restaurants will use it in the weeks to come in so many variants, that in the end, no matter how much you like it, we will all be completely fed up with it and glad the season is over, so we get a whole year to recover. For sure, before next February ends, most Viennese will crave for their ramson risotto, ramson sauces of all kinds, ramson patties ...
I really love it, and as I am allergic to garlic, this is a perfect substitute. (For the allergy: Very long, very sad story... I used to like garlic a lot and didn't find out until some years ago. Well, let's face it, there are worse allergies than this. It's in my own hands to avoid it. But I very often forget to ask in restaurants, and sometimes don't recognize it, when it is not too dominant. And then the rest of the day/evening is to be forgotten, and it's best to go home....)
(Btw.: Is ramson really the right word? It is a herb that smells like garlic, but is botanically something completely different. I also found the translation "bears garlic" or "wild garlic", what might be wrong because what I am talking about has nothing do to with garlic?)

Since I made my first biscuits I found out what biscuit cutters are, but as they are not to be found round here, I just used high cookie cutters shaped like stars.
Additionally to some finely chopped ramson I mixed in a tiny little bit of Parmesan. I have no idea how much I used, I just went with my intuition.

For the ramson - I am a big fan! The parmesan would maybe not have been necessary, but after all I didn't really taste it anyways.
The ramson makes the biscuits look very pretty on the plate (on the pictures below you can indeed only see the little test piece with ramson and one of the plain Sweet Cream Biscuits), and the taste is wonderful.

Sure, this only works if you don't eat your biscuits with jam or other sweet spreads :o]

(Breakfast as I like it most - mixed vegetable salad, ham, some excellent cheese (buffalo brie), the newspaper - and homemade, still slightly warm biscuits)

TWD rewind and May preview - Dulche de Leche Duos

2010-04-18T19:59:00.020+02:00

I still have to catch up with some of the group's recipes I tweaked during Lenten season. As everybody was so excited about the Dulche de Leche Duos and I was so excited about the possibility of making it yourself I went for it some weeks ago. I didn't find enough time to bake the cookies themselves, but the DDLcan be stored for up to two month. Well, I didn't wait that long. But recently I got fed up with having a bowl of DDL in my fridge. I need the space. I need the bowl. I don't like to have left-overs for a long time. (I am still kind of in "lenten-mode": Before Easter, I start cleaning my stocks and cupboards).

So. Dulche de Leche Duos. Honestly, during making them I constantly thought "Never. Again. Ne-ver".

My kitchen was a mess. I had a hard time measuring the needed amount of DDL. Additionally, I was not well prepared. When I was ready to measure out the needed flour, I already had the DDL in my cup-measure, so I couldn't use it anymore. When I was ready to toss in the baking soda, I found out that I ran out of it. When I had mixed the dry ingredients in the only bowl actually available in my kitchen, I saw that I would have needed this one for beating the butter. I needed three tours for baking away all the batter (and I even made only the half amount), because I have only one baking sheet. So it took much longer to make the cookies than planed. And I thought about the long, long time for baking the DDL. I have no quick or rice cooker, condensed milk doesn't come in cans in Austria, and I know only one store where they sell DDL. An extremely, extremely high-end pricey shop. So, doing it myself the David-Labovitz-way was the only option.

But once they cooled down, and I tried a cookie, I was taken. Still, I am not sure if I will do them again because I know me - I am a lazy little person. But I hope when Christmas time comes, I remember how tasty these little caramel cookies are, and that they are a welcome change to all the chocolate and gingerbread. I can also imagine them to be a wonderful base for icecream-sandwich. Mabye with some caramel icecream?

(You know what I like most about these pictures? It's not that you can follow the DDL running down. It's the twin that is mirrored in the plate :o])

And that brings me to the other topic today - the May-TWD-preview is here!!

Four great bakers have opted for four great recipes with icecream and fresh fruits:

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream chosen by Becky of Project Domestication

Quick Classic Berry Tart May picked by Cristine of Cooking with Cristine

Apple-Apple Bread Pudding elected by Elizabeth of Cake or Death?, and finally

Spike of spikebakes decided on the Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie.

I am excited about the Icecream. I love doing icecream since I got "The perfect scoop". I have no machine, but David Lebovitz gives great directions about how to make icrecream by hand. I just decided to fridge some of the Dulche de Leche Duos-cookies and make DDL/Caramel Icecream Sandwiches with them!

The Berry Tarte is perfect for the season and I am so much looking forward to buying fresh berries on the market that week.

I have some brioche left from the Easter brunch, and planned to used it for a recipe proposed by Isa of Les Gourmandises d'Isa (Apple and Pear Brioche Pudding), but in the very last moment I saw the May preview and the apple-bread pudding is a welcome use for the brioche.

The only thing troubling me is the Pie. Don't get me wrong - this sounds great. This sounds terrific. This sounds like a Pie I could slurp in one piece. But how the heck can I bring that to work? How can I store it there until afternoon? Usually, my co-workers scuff by the kitchen whenever during the day they feel like needing some sugar. I don't see how the icecream could survive that...
But lets see. Maybe I will have a better idea than bringing it to work, because - let's get serious. Icecream, coconut, bananas - I HAVE to try that!

TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake

2010-04-13T08:05:00.007+02:00

When I was at university I took a swedish class for a year. I was interested in the language because I generally think of Sweden as a very interesting country. I mostly like how things are run there, and always thought that we can learn a lot from them. I like that politicians and top-managers are never seen as irreplaceable and VIPs. You can bump into them on Friday evening when they are at the movies with their friends and family. (Unfortunately, this also leeds to unwanted consequences, as things like this or that would not be possible in most other countries, due to big security entourages.) like their way dealing with female participation in the workforce and the involvement of fathers in child-raising and homework-duties. And I am convinced that their open-mindness towards income and wealth transparency is a role-model.

And I think that it sounds funny when Swedish people speak. :o]

So I learned Swedish, but by chance, after the summer-holidays that year I went to Strasbourg, France, for an exchange semester, that ultimately became an exchange year and the basis of my love of France (which was the complete opposite before - my mother's a french teacher. You can imagine all the rest about teenage rebellion against parents...).

But the topic here is Sweden. So, to make it short, I forgot all my Swedish (read: the little bit Swedish I lernt in this one year), and almost all I can say is "min mor är en kassörska", what means "my mother is a till girl" - what is not even true (I seriously have no idea why I did remind that!), and the most simple things like hello, good bye and thanks.

Nevertheless, I still have very positive feelings towards Sweden, and plan to go there since ages. I love the food corner at Ikea, half of my furniture comes from there, and H&M is, despite my advanced age, a place I often shop.

The Swedish Visiting Cake is very swedish. It is clear and sophisticated at the same time, as a swedish designer lamp; easy and quick to put together as an Ikea cupboard; and tasty, tasty, tasty, like Kalles, the caviar-spread, and Marabou chocolate.

I made the whole recipe, but used only half the batter for the original recipe, that can be found in Dorie's book on p. 197. For the other half, I made the recipe with apples that Dorie proposes here. Thanks to Nancy of The dog eats the crumbs, who has chosen this wonderful recipe for us and also linked to the apple-variant! (the recipe can also be found at her page)

The procedure is so easy, not even I could go wrong. I made a test piece with both, almonds and apples, and can't decide which one I like better. The cake tastes as if almond paste or marzipan would be included. I LOVE marzipan! The lemons make a great supplement for that it doesn't become too sweet. As often, the edges were already dark brown despite the batter was still very humid. I put aluminium foil over the cake after about 20 mins, and at least the cake didn't get darker.

The other problem I had was that, well... have a look yourself:

I have no idea what happened. I used a tiny little bit of baking poweder, because the apple-recipe forsees some. But even if you use rasing agent, I do not think that the idea is, that the cake builds a mountain...

o:]
Maybe the apples are heavy enough to hold the batter down, but the almonds aren't.

But in the end, I do not think that it disturbs the delight when eating. This is definitely a do-it-again recipe!

Amnesty Cookies a.k.a. Compost Cookies

2010-04-10T23:46:00.024+02:00

There are these projects, I am sure everybody knows them, that pend above your head since ages. This is one of mine. The idea sounds too tempting not to make them:

Take 1,5 cups of all the baking rest that did amass over time in your cupboard. If you have more (I bet you do!), just take your favourites.
Then, take 1,5 cups of savory snacks, preferably also rests and leftovers you want to get rid of.
Mix a very simple cookie dough (butter, sugar, eggs - the classics), chop the mentioned leftovers in. Cool the dough, put them in the oven and that's it.
The recipe can be found here. Originally, they are Momofuku's Compost Cookies. David L. calls them Amnesty Cookies - and idea I find hilarious.

I halfed the recipe, and found out that I had to limit myself indeed. 3/4 leftovers are not that much at all. In the end, I mixed up some chocolates (a very small piece milk chocolate, a very small piece white lemon chocolate, some pure white chocolate, some mini milk-chocolate-nougat easter eggs, a bit of dark ginger chocolate), mascarpone nougat, shredded coconut, and a little piece of merengue that was left from icecream-making last week. I didn't really have savory snacks at home, so I tricked a bit and took cookie crumbles from various projects (at least I can claim that some of them came from vary salty batches...), which I filled up with pumkin seeds and sesame, and I was very liberal with the amount of salt.

I reduced the sugar because when I thought about all the chocolate in the dough I felt there is no need for 7/8cup sugar. I took something between 1/2 and 3/4cup. (and in the end I am glad, glad, glad I did so, because the cookies are sweet!!)
I exchanged some flour (only 1/8c) for grounded hazelnuts, which I think was a good idea, and more exchange would not have been a big deal.
The real deal is to chill the dough thoroughly on the baking sheet you want to bake with (otherwise they would loose their shape), and after baking to cool them down, still on the rack or at least on the baking sheet (because they need some time for post-baking-congealing).

After fridging for about two hours and a very limited baking time (9 mins), and then waiting for cooling down, I eagerly tastes and found them... well, ok. Interestingly, I am not overwhelmed. Maybe because I was too timid with the ingredients. I guess it is really worth trying them with pretzels, and chips and other strange ingredients. Maybe pumpkin seeds are not that a good idea. Maybe.... I don't know. I like all the ingredients a lot, but the combination doesn't work for me. It's not that I don't like these cookies at all. But compared with my expectations (maybe that's the ultimate problem), they stayed far behind.

Nevertheless - they are just a perfect opportunity to get rid of your leftovers, so I guess I should give them a second try!

TWD: Coconut Tea Cake

2010-04-06T08:28:00.007+02:00

After many, many weeks, Lenten season has come to an end and so here comes an almost-in-time "Tuesdays with Dorie"-post! (Actually, this tea cake was due last week, but we were allowed to switch weeks.)

I had a coconut in my bio-basket the other week, so I decided to use it. Mary of Mary Mary Culinary gave me some hints how to transfer it into something I could bake with. And she was caring enough to take the time to have a look how it turned out. Thanks so much! (Btw.: What a great blog name! Is it just me or are there also other people who love blogs just for their name? Don't get me wrong - Mary's blog is also a delight for her pictures and all the wonderful stuff she creates in the kitchen. But I like words (does this sound odd?) and playing with language. So this is one of my absolute favourite TWD-blogs!)

I am not 100% convinced that that's what the shredded, toasted coconut should look like. Turning from white to brown just went in a second, so I missed the point when I should have taken them out. But they still didn't taste bad, so I used them nevertheless.

I opted for including some lime juice. The bio farmers at the market didn't have lime or lemons so I only used the juice from a store-bought, don't-use-the-zest-lime. I decided to take a bit more, to guarantee for the taste, because other bloggers wrote about a not very strong taste. And I decided to frost the cake with some white lime chocolate. I also opted for the rum, took a bit less sugar, and included a bit more of the shredded coconuts, not at least because my batter seemed to be very, very liquid. The recipe calls for 3/4 cups, and although I made only half the batter, I used the whole amount of coconut.
I made a small bundt and six minis. It would not have mattered to have a bit more batter, but it was ok like that, too.

The minis took about 15 mins, the small bundt about 7 mins more. One of the minis broke up in the middle, so I had a perfect test piece for tasting and playing around with the glazé/frosting. (For a non-native speaker it is really difficult for me to grasp the difference. I also do not really understand the difference between batter and dough - I guess dough is thicker, more for breads or so. And what's the difference between molds, pans, forms etc.?)

For the frosting/glazé I took a spanish organic white chocolate infused with lime and littlle sprinkles of red pepper (which I could spot in the chocolate but dissappeared somehow in the end-result). I spread some shredded coconut over the glazé, but had the feeling that it looks better without.
I LOVE this cake! This is just my cup of tea. It wasn't dry at all. The subtile coconut taste was just perfect and matched perfectly with the very subtile lime flavour. Both taste weren't too dominant, but that's how it should be (according to my preferences). I love how the minis look like, I love the texture of the cake, I love the not-too-sweet-sweetness. I could do this again and again and again.

Maybe it's because I am Austrian, and as I am Viennese, I guess I am just the perfect Austrian-Hungarian combination Dorie mentions in the prelude to the recipe, that has these kind of cakes in its genes :o]

Find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking" on p. 194-195, or on Carmen's blog!

Easter Menu (the sweet part) and TWD catch-up: Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart

2010-04-04T18:54:00.010+02:00

Like on Christmas I opted for bringing the sweets for the Easter Brunch. (As in the meantime desserts became the only course I might manage to make not too bad, this was an easy decision for everybody involved. What is, like me and my mom.) And, contrary to Christmas, when I made the Christmas Muffins I found at Laws of the Kitchen , David Lebovitz' Roquefort Icecream with a Shiraz poached pear and goat cheese custards - and forgot to picture them!!, this time I took pictures...

On the menu we had brioche because my mother made some wonderful fingerfood that did perfectly match with the brioche: coloured and filled palatschinken, which are very common in Austria (they are comparable to pancakes or crèpes, and most typically filled with apricot jam, but millions of variations, sweet and savory, gratinée, rolled or flambée exist and I like them all!), and filled eggs (salmon, crabs, red caviar, egg salad, cream cheese). They were so good we even decided not to open the paté-jar. This time I made the brioche with the quantities recommended in Ginette Mathiots book (edited by the wonderful Clotilde Dusoulier of Chocolate&Zucchini), but according to Dorie's method.

For the really sweet part we had the chocolate berry tarte that was due for TWD three weeks ago (I opted for making half with blueberries and dark/milk chocolate and half with raspberries and white chocolate as seen here on Tia's great blog Buttercream Barbie). For the original recipe of the Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart, have a look at the book (p.354) or head over to Rachel's blog Mommy? I'm hungry! (what a nice name...)).
(in the picture: the little "test"-piece on which I used all the remaining berries, so the berry-chocolate relation is much more on the fruity-side than in the "main" piece)
And because all the easter eggs, chocolate bunnies and edible grass wasn't enough to accompany it, I brought some Crème Fraiche Icecream, partially marbled with berrie sauce, too. The recipe comes from David Lebovitz' Perfect Scoop, who I always trust when it comes to frozen desserts in any variation).

My mom and me, we are still no chefs, but we give our best, and I think the fingerfood my mother made is extremely good looking, so - I don't no what you think, but I definitely liked our Easter table!

(Well, I still prefere taste over beauty, so ten minutes later this perfect picture was a mere mess. But a delightful one :o])

And for the TWD catch-up: I don't know what's wrong with me, but this tart is not an all-time favourite. I like berries. I like chocolate. I love tarts. But, first, as much as I love tarts, I am just physically unable to make a correct, good looking tart shell. Doesn't work . It's either too dark, or not completely baked trough. It's always, always too crumbly. I never arrive filling in the right amount - it's either getting too thick or too thin. Hmpf.

And secondly, I did not particularily like the consistence of the chocolate filling. I liked the little "test"-piece I made better, which was full of mixed berries and had only a little amount of chocolate sauce. It's not that I completely disliked it. I am more like indifferent to it.

But as chocolate and berries are usually a winner, and tarts are wonderful, especially as the weather is getting better (I don't go for very rich cream cakes at any time of the year, but the warmer it gets the more I crave for slighter, lighter, more fruity sweets), I am sure I am the problem, and not the tart itself.

Nevertheless, it feels good to be (almost) back on track with TWD and to have had a new possibility to practice tart-doughs. I try to view it as a yoga position. Just work on it, no matter how long it takes - one day you will arrive at mastering it. Be it two weeks, or two years. Or two decades. And what is hardest for you, you have to work most on :o]

alternative TWD: Toasted Almond Scones

2010-03-30T11:18:00.032+02:00

(Last weekend without the actual TWD-recipe. Im am so much looking forward to baking along with the others again! I love scones and biscuits and savory treats. But there comes the day when you really have had enough of it. Next Weekend it's Easter and I am "allowed" to eat sweets again. I thought about doin the Coconut Tea Cake, chosen by Carmen of Carmen Cooksand I was almost ready to go for it. I even started shredding and toasting the coco. Because I started to feel like betraying. I was so happy when I finally made it to the blogroll, and for the last weeks I did just not participate. We have a new "tool", the "Leave your link"-list, which is actually a pretty good idea by Clara from I heart food4thought. And I feel bad about not beeing able to leave my weekly link there. But when I made the Scones this morning I realised I will never, never ever be able to not taste what I made and lick off the spoons. No way. So I better stay away from the TWD-selection for this final week, even if it makes be feel bad. But breaking the Lenten promise in the very last week would make me feel even worse.)

This is it. This is the last recipe I found in Dorie's book where leaving out the sugar shouldn't make a big difference. I like almost all kinds of nuts (hazelnuts are not my favourite), so scones with a lot of almond taste are perfect for my last Lenten week.
I exchanged the cream for lactose free yoghurt and the whole milk for soy-rice-milk, and it was fine. I took a tad less baking powder, and the scones did not spread a lot - maybe they would have otherwise. As usual, baking time was far less for my oven (about 12 mins for the first, and 10 mins for the second batch).

Funnily, I forgot to toast the almond slices. And that's funny, because I did not find out before I was looking up the accurate name of the scones to put it in this blog-entry :o] So, I guess it would have put the almond taste even more forward, but obviously it didn't matter too much.

I will definitely, definitely do them again, even if I look at all the recipes I first have to catch up with. But from all the Scones/Biscuit-recipes I made recently (Basic Biscuits, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Apple Cheddar Scones), this is definitely the one I like most and up to now my favourite scones recipe!

(In the bowl they look flatter as they had been. The bowl, by the way, is a bol, a mega-cup without handle for Café au lait, very common in France - and at my house :o] My friend J. made it. She is an awesome comic drawer. Well, not only comics, but comics are definitely her specialisation!)