TWD: X-Cookies

I'm not a native english speaker, so the recipes we bake are sometimes challenging for me. Although I learned a lot during these past years of baking I still have troubles sometimes figuring out what the author wants to tell me. And while I claim to be as good a non-native can be when it comes to speak about politics, economy or football - I still have serious troubles in understanding the directions for shaping a dough. In this respect, while the recipe itself for the X-Cookies was no that difficult, this recipe was not made for me. Seriously, up to now I have no idea what I should have done with the dough and the filling.

Therefore (and because I am kind of clumsy anyways and shaping a dough nicely is not one of my strenght), at some point I decided to forget about X-es and do what I can: shape filled logs and cut them in rugelach-style.

I'm sorry I didn't even nearly do what I should have done, but I really didn't get it.

So, see here my version of X-cookies, the rugelach-way.

Oh, before I forget it: cookies and filling are excellent! A bit christmas-ish, already, with the figs, nuts, cinnamon and chocolate, but really excellent!

For the recipe, have a look at p. 318 in Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking with Julia". And to find out, what X-Cookies really should look like, turn to the other bakers blogs!

TWD: Espresso Profiteroles

I was not convinced about doing this recipe, as I really do not like Profiteroles or anything alike. There are some other german names for sweets made of the same batter: Windbeutel, Brandteigkrapfen or Liebesknochen (the latter have a different form but the same batter and filling) - and I like none of them. But one of my colleagues occassionally mentioned the she loves profiteroles, even the more when they are plain, unfilled and already one day old.

Well, I might not like profiteroles but I like experiments, so I made the recipe.

Doing it was a mess. I had the feeling the batter was way too liquid. I was not able to place it on the baking sheet as I thought I should. The batter made small "lakes" on the sheet. Unfortunately, I put the first sheet in the oven and decided to make some modification before waiting how this first sheet turned out. And while there was already almost one cup more flour included in the batter, the "lakes" started to firm and puff...

Anyhow, the second and third sheet were much easier to handel. I was able to make small "mountains" that did hold. But in the end, the profiteroles tunred out more in the shape of cookies and did not really puff or fall down again when I took them out the oven. I guess the excessive flour made the dough too heavy.

However, I brought them to work and my profiteroles-loving colleague enjoyed them. As most of them did not puff (in the pictures you see the only three or four that turned out fine) I did not cut and fill them but put some chocolate and vanilla pudding besides.

If you like profiteroles in general then for sure these Espresso Profiteroles are an excellent option. And - in the end they are easy and fast in the making, once you find out how it works and as long as you trust the recipe :-]
Therefore, have a look at p. 411 in Dorie Greenspan's book and/or see how the recipe turned out for the other bakers of the TWD-group!

TWD: Sweet Berry (and Plum) Fougasse

I really love fougasse - although up to now I only knew the original version, mostly with olives. The original is a very common bread in France, baked in a stone baking oven, coming originally from southern France. I ate about 3 tons when I lived in Paris for some months. Ok, slight exaggeration. Slight.

I made only quarter a recipe and as I hace now idea what pattern the recipe speaks about I should shape, I just made rounds and cut triangles. For half the dough I used raspberries and for the other half I used plums as the berry season is already almost over in Austria and plums are everywhere.

I made a bit more of the Streusel just because I like it but the amount in the recipe would be just as well.

In the end, you need some preparation as the dough has tweo (short) rising periods but needs at least 24 hours of chilling. But besides that, the Sweet Berry Fougasse is easy and made fast.

I can also imagine other fruits very well, as maybe a strawberry/rhubarb combo, because I know a very similar recipe (sometimes completed with a bit of vanilla pudding between the dough and the fruit), called Datschi.

For the recipe, buy Dorie Greenspans book and have a look at p. 194.





PS.: This week, we had the choice between this recipe and Blueberry Muffins. As I made the Blueberry Orange Muffins from our first TWD-book "Baking: From my home to yours" just a few weeks ago, and the recipe was more than great, I opted for the Fougasse because seriously, no Blueberry Muffin can be better then these: 

TWD: Johnny Cake Cobbler

I like Cobblers of any style. Despite I have no idea, why this one is called "Johnny Cake" Cobbler (is a Johnny Cake something I should know? As so often I am just desperate when it comes to american baking knowledge) - in the end i don't mind because I liked it.

It is easy in the making, as all cobblers, and great in taste, just the right mix between fruit and dough. I went almost exactly with the recipe (used only peaches, no plums) and made four individual cobblers in soufflé molds. They were served with some mango sorbet leftovers (not in the pictures, sorry).

Do it! It's great!
For the recipe, have a look at p. 389 in Dorie Greenspans book.

TWD: Eastern Mediterranean Pizza

 Great Pizza, easy dough!

The base for this pizza is a pita bread. For a yeasted bread I thought it's relatively easy to handle, two rising/resting periods not more. That's ok.

The Eastern Mediterranean Pizza comes with a tomato topping, some pine nuts and a lot of spices. I added some goat cheese, omitted the lamb (no meat in this house) and gave it some zucchini instead.


I made half the recipe and ended up with for smaller pizzas, just enough for four people for a soccer-
watching-snack. I had some dough-leftovers which I mixed up wit fresh spices and made plain mini-pitas from it (sorry, no pictures). Both - the pizza and the pitas - were really great in taste, even the day after.

Baking time was a bit longer than in the recipe, but maybe the 7,8 mins in the recipe would have even been enough.

To find out about the reciep, have a look at Dorie Greenspans book on p. 156!

TWD: Summer Vegetable Tart

I'm not sure if this counts as a TWD-post because I made so many changes to this "tart", it actually turned out another recipe.

Two problems arose: First, you can't keep this tart. I always bake Sunday and bring my baking goods to work Monday, so this was a problem. And it seemed to be very difficult to make smaller tartes as the dough is not that easy to handle.
Secondly, for me the vegetables in the recipe are no summer vegetables in any way. Maybe I am living in the wrong part of the world, but peppersweets are never in season round here and mushrooms are more associated with autumn in Vienna.

Oh, and a third problem: I really had no idea what the directions for dough treatment ment. As there is no picture of the tart I was absolutely  blank what the recipe wanted me to do. So I had to do a lot of improvisation.

I decided to make nests - my first try. I took smaller pieces of the dough and arranged them randomly in muffin pans. Next time, I learned, I would reverse the pans and put the dough around the "outside" to make sure it is through all the way and not only at the edges.

I filled the nests with a zucchini-tomato mix with a lot of fresh spices and "braid cheese", a very salted version of goat cheese (think dense salted haloumi in very small strips, arranged to a braid).

Like that, I liked it a lot. I served it with some spinach salad (with green beans and dried tomatoes), what made it a perfect summer dinner.

But, as I said at the beginning, I am really not sure this counts as TWD...

If you want to find out what the other bakers did (I do! I am really curiuos what it SHOULD have looked like!) go to the TWD-page. And if you are interested in the original recipe of the Summer Vegetable Tart, just have a look in the book by Dorie Greenspan on  page 436.

TWD: Baked Yogurt Tart

I am late, sooo late. It's Sunday and the tart was due on Tuesday. Honestly, as I always bake on Sundays, I am late one week. Sorry for that.
But here it is. One ordinary tart and some tartelettes, one in a heart-shaped mold. Like that, I culd use all the filling.

The filling is a yogurt mix, what means it has a comparatively low calories level. The recipe asks for non-fat yogurt what did surprise me, because usually dessert recipes ask for fat as a taste-means. And there is no butter in it. So, except for the sugar (with 3/4 c also not too much), there are no calories or fat in it.

If you are looking for a recipe that does not interfere with your bikini-figure this ia a perfect option!

I gave some lemon zest to the filling, but it made no difference in the end. I used blueberries because I really think they are best for all things baked, and gave some toasted coconut shreddes instead of the nuts on the tart. For decoration i Used red currants and made little starts from left-over tart dough.

The filling is really easy, easy, easier. If you have a pre-baked crust in the freezer or at least a ready made dough the tart itself will be ready very quickly!

For my part, I like the taste. But I have to say that I am a big yogurt lover! I prefer frozen yogurt over icecram not for diet-reasons but for the taste. And in summer I could live from yogurt and berries. But I am not sure of other people like the taste just like me. Additionally, the look tricks  you a bit because you might think it's a cheesecake . but it is totally not. And it is nor a very sweet tart. So - as much as I love this tart and yould do it ever and ever again, I can imagine other people wouldn't.

TWD: Cheese&Tomato (and Asparagus) Galette

Cheese and Tomato are fine, but asparagus is (still) in season and during this time of the year I could live from just asparagus and strawberries! So I made some changes and turned this galette into a cheese-tomato-aparagus galette.

Honestly, I did not only make some small changes but many bigger ones. But I think it still counts as a TWD-baking :o]

First, I made mini-galettes. I ended up with 5 pieces. Then I left out the Monterey Jack and spread the galettes with some buffallo ricotta I had left. Instead of fresh tomatos I used dried ones (the soft version), gave some leek and aparagus in small pieces on the dough, spiced it with lemon pepper and tarragon, and finished them with a thin aspargus head.
But hey - that's still a galette with cheese and tomato!!

I liked the dough already very much when we made the berry galette because it's a bit like a tart without tart-problems (like a dough getting to burnt or not enough brown). Here I used polenta, what is more or less the same as cornmeal in the end, but chrunchier.

The taste was just great, even the next day when I brought them to office and me and my colleagues nibbled them away. And I really like recipes that allow a lot of variations.

Try this recipe! It's fast, easy and tasty!

TWD: Savarin

Oh my, I'm definitely loosing track with the group. I'm a bad team-member. In the last weeks I either was on holiday, forgot to bake, forgot to take pics, forgot to blog (or to publish the text...) - or forgot to leave my link. But here we are - hooray!

The Savarin is relatively simple and done quickly. Just two short rising periods. Nevertheless I don't become good friends with this cake. I had to read and re-read and read again how it is assembled. Can it be you more or less just put the "filling" beside the cake? - Yes, it can.

Making the batter is also a bit unconventional for me, as you do not cream butter and sugar at first, but put in the butter last.

I had no ring-mold so I made some improvisation and used a usual spring form and put a small soufflée-form in the middle. That worked pretty well. But the dough did rise quite abit during baking and so I ended up with a too high cake. I split it in the middle, but that neither didn't look right. So I brought the two halves together again, spreading some orange jam inbetween the 'layers' to make them stick together. I am pretty convinced that my cake does not look like a Savarin at all.

The taste is ok, but not special and it was ok to try it, but next time I would prefer to do the Babas, which sound much more interesting! But what do I know. And I am sure the other bakers found wonderful ways to dress this cake up a bit more and turn it into something special!

For the recipe have a look at Dorie Greenspan's book at pp 415-416.

TWD: Rhubarb Upside Down Babycakes

To make it short: It's not that I didn't bake in the last weeks. I just either had no time to post or forgot to take pictures. But here we are with 12 very small babycakes and an individual sized cake without the caramel. Both versions turned out great as the cake is very very moisty (I like!) and rhubarb is always a winner when it is in season.

I am just at the airpor, waiting for my flight to NYC, so writing is a bit of a horror, so I leave you with some pics.