TWD: Brown Butter and Vanilla Bean Weekend Cake - and a lot of catching up

I don't post, I don't post, I don't post... bad me :-(
I try to catch up...

Let's start whit the most recent one, the Brown Butter and Vanilla Bean Weekend Cake. The probably longest name of a cake I made up to now :-)

I used a special sugar I have from a friend, a "seasoned sugar". What I did not think about was, that the spice-mix included also rosemary and mint, what was not too bad for the cake but for sure dominated the vanilla... and made the cake green. Funnily, I did not even think about that as a possibility until I mixed the sugar into the butter. Big surprise, haha!
The recipe can be found in Dorie Greenspans book Baking Chez Moi, p. 6. For the results of the whole group, head over to TWD! (this is true also for the ther recipes mentioned here except the Amnesty Cookies and the Eiffel-Towers!)

As the cake was not quite like the recipe wanted it to be anyways, I decided to top the cake with a creamcheese frosting (from Dorie Greenspans "Big Bill's Carrot Cake" from Baking, from my home to yours). To avoid the cake to loose its flufiness, I split the cake and added some Black Butter, a speciality from Jersey/Channel Islands - a spread made from apple cider, licquorice and spices. That worked very well with the spices from the sugar!

I like this cake very much because it is very easy made and very very moist. Next time I'll try the classic version :-)

What I made some way back are the Granola Energy Bars (Baking Chez Moi, p. 328). I had to use maple syrup and gold syrup so they went dark brown, but the taste was good and I think only the looks differ from the recipe.

Then I made back in December the annual Amnesty Cookies, As usual, they turned out great in taste, as usual, they turned out ugly in looks. But why change a winning team ;-) The recipe can be found at David Lebovitz' page.

And I made "Rugelachs that won over France" (recipe on p. 301 in Baking chez Moi). For the Rugelachs I have to say, that they turned out really really ugly. I don't know why exactly. Rugelachs are a bit finickey to make, but  I made them several times, with different recepies from the other TWD-books, and they turned out better. But in the end Rugelachs are always great, whatever they look like. This is one of the treats I am happy to got to know trough TWD because in Vienna I never saw Rugelachs before.

As I go on writing I see that I actually made a lot the last weeks... I really forgot about it! How good to catch up!

One of my colleagues leaves us and heads over to Paris to start a great job there. She is goint to spend t least two years there with her partner and their adopted child. I am a bit jealous but most of all very happy for them!
For their farewell-party I made plain Sugar Cookies with a bit of lemon taste and used Eiffel-Tower cookie cutters. I glazed some of them and sprinkled them in red, blue, whit, the colours of the french flag. Unfortunately; I have no picture of the sprinkled ones.

Uh, and then there was the Vanilla Hazelnut Cheesecake as a rewind. (Baking with Julia, p.) Very good. Maybe not my all-time favourite cheesecake recipe, as I prefer more cheesecakes with mostly creamcheese and not so much cottage cheese. Unfortunately I used a too big form so it went very flat.  But it was very good - how can a cheesecake not be very good?

Done! Yay!

TWD: Vanilla Chiffon Roll

I like chiffon rolls, I like vanilla - I like these Vanilla Chiffon Rolls.
Usually, I guess I would do them with a jam-layer instead of a chocolate-nut-mousse, but why not try something else?

I had so much dough, my cake turned out too high. So I cut the cake in two layers and made two rolls. Like that, I had enough mousse for my taste but less than in the picture in the book.

Baking time was much longer but maybe I used a too small baking pan and the longer baking time was due to the height of the cake. Anyhow, I had no troubles handling the cake.

It is a bit time-consuming, but you can prepare the mousse and cake in advance.

I can imagine to use the cake dough for other variations as well. The mousse might not be my favourite, but I am no chocolate fan in general, so I don't blame the mousse. :-)

For the recipe have a look at Dorie Greenspans book on pp. 277-279 - and to see how beautiful this recipe can turn out when more experienced and better bakers do it, have a look at the TWD-group-page!

TWD: Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf

Bread-baking is great! Usually I'm more on the quick-bread side, but because I am ill I had some time to do this. I stretched the procedure over three days but you could do it in two.
This was the first time my dough did really rise. Maybe because it reckognized that I have time, too :o]
I read that for many other TWD-ers it dind't work and some didn't especially like the recipe - well, I'm one of the lovers! But I have to admit, that on the one side I am tempted to do this again and again, and on the other side I guess the Cranberry Walnut Pumpik Loaf is just too time consuming.

I made the pumpkin-puree myself as it is almost impossible to get canned one in Austria. But that's fine, because it's easy in the making anyways.

I quite like how it turned out. I made half the recipe and ended up with a mini and one normal loaf. Huge amount, for half the recipe... Besides the time-factor it is easy in the making  and the taste-combo of pumpkin (only slightly), nuts and cranberries (more dominant) is convincing. If you like bread-baking, try this perfect autumn-recipe!

For the recipe, head over to the blog by this weeks host Rebecca: This Bountiful Backyard.
Or have a look to the wonderful book "Baking with Julia" by Dorie Greenspan on pp. 108/109.

TWD: Honey Nut Scones and Far Breton

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: Apple-Nut Muffin Cake

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: Classic Brownies

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: Date-Nut Loaf

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

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

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

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

TWD rewind: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

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

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

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: Nutty Chocolatey Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

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: Chockablock Cookies

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: Cafe Volcano Cookies

As I was travelling the whole last week I had to skip the Sablés for  TWD. But I am definitely going to catch-up soon, because I love, love, love Sablés! So, even if I didn't make them (yet) thanks in advance to Bungalow Barbara who had the nice idea to choose them! It's not only that I like the taste of Sablés, but it is so easy to play around and try some variations. I have not decided yet, but I somehow often go for the classics, so maybe I will choose the basic type. But as December is not necessarily green and red for me, I will definitely not use coloured sugar!

So - so much for last week. I just finished to unpack my rucksack, it's 0:01 AM, , therefore it is Tuesday - so why not blog straight away...

This week, Cafe Volcano Cookies, chosen by MacDuff of The lonely Sidecar, where pending on the queue!

Preparations

I am pretty sure that what I got out of the oven is not what it should be. Anyways, they tasted wonderful. Very sweet, even though I took a bit less sugar, but still wonderful.

And I can't wait to see all the other's pictures and find out, what they really should turn out! : o]
(What a pitty my time zones forces me to post earlier than most of the others...)

As I bake now with TWD for some weeks I really have to say that all the recipes I tried so far turned out more than fine. And I guess, the same is true for the other recipes. When I arrive to bake wonderfully looking tartes and cookies, tasting incredibly good, a great deal of the credits go to Dorie and her book.
It's no miracle to make good sweets when you can rely on a good recipe!