Once Upon a Table

Last TWD Post in DC

Well, this is it ... my last TWD recipe baked in my Washington DC kitchen.  I'm in the thick of packing for our move to San Francisco, but took time to bake this week's recipe, Dulce De Leche Duos and boy was it worth it.  I love dulce de leche and often make Alfajores, the Latin dulce de leche sandwich cookie.  They are yummy, but I was excited when I saw that this recipe actually uses dulce de leche in the cookie dough. 

The cookies are soft and chewy and loaded with caramel flavor.  They're great on their own, but sandwiching them with a bit of dulce de leche puts them over the top. Fantastic!  The recipe is a definite keeper.  I think next time I make them I might try sprinkling the dough with a little sea salt before I bake the cookies ... I love, love, love salted caramel and think this would be a delicious addition.

 

A Happy Mess

 

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Tiramisu ... what fun, right?  Basically there were three parts to this challenge:

1. Make homemade mascarpone cheese:  Yikes, kind of scary, but oh how I do love the stuff.  I was up to the challenge.
2. Make lady fingers or savoiardi: Easy enough ... basically genoise, which I have made umpteen times in various shapes and sizes.
3. Put parts 1 and 2 together to make tiramisu: A little pastry cream, some zabaglione, espresso (my preference to marsala) and you're in business.

Suffice it to say, my end result didn't exactly turn out as planned.  

I tackled the mascarpone first.  Actually pretty straightforward ... heat heavy cream with lemon juice until it begins to curdle, drain through cheesecloth, let cool. Mascarpone, check.

The lady fingers were next. I thought they would be a piece of cake, ha, ha, but I must have had some kind of baking malfunction because they turned out flat as pancakes. They tasted delicious, but looked like hell.

I was totally irked (and still can't quite figure out what went wrong), but given that I had that beautiful mascarpone I decided I should forage ahead with something. Tiramisu didn't seem right given the sad state of my lady fingers ... what to do? How could I turn lemons into lemon aid? My solution was tiramisu into trifle, or something in the trifle family.

I lined bowls with the flat and funky looking but tasty lady fingers (kind of like zucatto).

Then used the mascarpone to make a yummy white chocolate cream.

I had some fantastic strawberries from Trader Joes (these things are just as good as strawberries in June ... not sure what gives, but I'm not complaining) so I chopped them up and layered them in with the cream ...

and voila. Hardly tiramisu and hardly a successful Daring Baker challenge, but delicious nonetheless. Back to the drawing board on the lady fingers ... I will conquer the little suckers!!   

TWD: Honey-Wheat Cookies

When I first read it, I was intrigued by this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Honey-Wheat cookies. Lots of honey, lemon ... two things I love, but wheat germ?  And in a cookie?  I'm all for whole grains, but typically not in my cookies. So needless to say I was a little trepidatious, but OMG, these were SOOOOOOOO good.  Absolutely the biggest positive baking surprise I've had in a long time.

The cookies are soft, almost cakey in texture, but the wheat germ adds this really interesting texture. I really do love honey and I've made many, many recipes in the hope that the honey taste would be at the forefront.  For the most part I've been disappointed, but these little puppies have the most wonderful honey flavor and the zesty lemon is the perfect compliment.

The cookies come together in a jiffy, but have to be refrigerated for at least two hours and up to two days.  I made my dough in the evening and chilled overnight and I think the longer rest time improved the flavor.  There's wheat germ in the dough and you also roll the cookies in extra wheat germ.

Love, love, love these cookies ... now the issue is not to snarf down the whole batch as I rationalize that they are practically health food.

 

TWD: My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dorie's title for this recipe 'My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies' was aptly chosen.  I have made these cookies countless times - I try to keep a batch in the freezer at all times - and they are so, so good.  The flavor is absolutely the best I've tasted ... a buttery, caramely cookie background with chunks of chocolate and nuts (pecans are my favorite, but the cookies are delicious without nuts too).  I've tried lots of different kinds of chocolate and obviously the better the chocolate, the better the cookie, but in truth I think there's some kind of magic to hand-chopping it, whatever the brand.

These cookies tend to be more on crispy side than chewy side, so you have to watch the baking time carefully or you get overly-crispy cookies.  With careful attention though, you get a nice crisp cookie with a slightly chewy center.   

Don't have any pictures to share because this batch got gobbled up so quickly, but they are delicious!

TWD: Cocoa-Nanna Bread

 

I'm afraid it's another short post, but at least this time I had time to take a picture!  This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Cocoa-Nanna Bread. Imagine moist banana bread, but with a deep chocolate background studded with chunks of chocolate. I was really excited when I saw the recipe, but I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, it was really good, but I think I like good old-fashioned banana bread (always with nuts and maybe the addition of little chocolate chunks if I'm feeling crazy). Having said all of that, the bread was moist and flavorful and went down pretty darn easy with a big glass of cold milk.

The World's Shortest TWD Post

I'm on the road for work, so this is going to be quick and unfortunately without pictures. Funny too, because this week's recipe, Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars is sooooooo good it deserves at least a couple of paragraphs. Chocolate-peanut fudge on top of a brown sugar/oatmeal/peanut crust ... YUM! All I can say is you should make them immediately!

Christmas Cookie Bake-athon

Between the holidays, travel for work and an impending move to San Francisco I have a huge back log of things that I haven't found the time to post.  As I was downloading pictures from Christmas I came across some shots of our Christmas cookies and decided I had to make time to honor one of my favorite family traditions. Each year my mom, sisters and I get together for a day of marathon holiday baking. We start early in the morning and go into the wee hours of the night ... and let me tell you, it's serious business. The list of recipes is always long and requires hang-wringing - how do you choose between favorite classics and exciting new recipes? - editing to get it down to a reasonable number. This year we ended up with a dozen varieties.

Pictured above from left to right: eggnog sandwich cookies, candy cane drops, butter cookies, chocolate-butterscotch sandwich cookies, cornmeal and cherry refrigerator cookies, surprise cookies (chocolate cakey cookies with a marshmallow "surprise" inside) 

 

 Pictured above from left to right: butter rum meltaways, chocolate fudge, lime meltaways

Pictured above: peppermint patty brownies, magic bars

Pictured above: lemon glazed ginger shortbread and more fudge  

All of the cookies were delicious, but my two favorites this year were the eggonog sandwich cookies (sandy nutmeg flavored cookie filled with rum buttercream) and the ginger/lemon shortbread (crystallized ginger and tart lemon ... what's not to like?). We pull recipes from all sorts of different sources, but coincidentally these both came from one of my favorite cookie cookbooks The Good Cookie by Trish Boyle.

You would think after a day of crazy-intense cookie baking we'd be glad for the year-long hiatus, but it's such special day with such fantastic results we can't wait for next year. Maybe we'll start doing Christmas Cookies in July!

TWD: Cafe Volcano Cookies

Sometimes you read a recipe and think, no way is this ever going to work. That was my initial impression about this week's Tuesdays with Dorie. Cafe Volcano Cookies are essentially eggs whites, sugar, nuts and espresso powder. You toast the nuts and then throw everything in a sauce pan and heat it until warm. You make runny little mounds on your baking sheets, pop them in the oven and voila, cookies. I wondered how you could possibly get puffed cookies as a result, but since my track record of results with Dorie's recipes is close to perfect, I suspended disbelief and baked on.

 

After 20ish minutes in the oven, what do you know? Lovely puffed, crispy, nutty meringues. The espresso powder gives them a nice subtle coffee flavor and between the nuts and meringue, the texture is lovely and crunchy. I have to say these were actually pretty addictive and go down much too easily ... I'd eat one and then find myself back in the kitchen for another. Suffice it to say I'm a believer and I have a feeling this recipe will see a lot of use.

TWD: Sables

 

What's not to love about sables? Like a little black dress, they are the height of a sophisticated simplicity. The tender and buttery dough is delightful just as it is, but it also is an ideal backdrop for a multitude of flavorings, both savory and sweet. Sables are special enough to stand on their own, but also pair beautifully with ice cream, custards, mousses ... anything that calls for a little bit of crumble.

Dorie's recipe for sables is pretty basic, but in the best sense of the word. The cookies turned out beautifully with the characteristic sandy texture. Because butter is the star of the show with these cookies, it's worth spending a little extra on high-quality butter if you can find it ... it makes a huge difference! 

With just a handful of ingredients from the pantry, sables are a cinch to make and undecorated, the dough freezes beautifully. Just the thing to have on hand when a cookie craving calls.

TWD: All in One Holiday Cake

 

If you're like me and you can't choose between pumpkin, pecan or apple pie (actually, it's not a problem because I usually have a little of all!) then this cake is for you. One of the November Tuesdays with Dorie recipes was the All in One Holiday Cake and the timing couldn't be more perfect. This cake truly covers the gamut of holiday, particularly Thanksgiving, baked goods. It's essentially a super-moist pumpkin spice cake loaded with cranberries and pecans. And I love that Dorie uses fresh grated ginger to flavor the batter. Oh yeah, did I mention it was moist? 

 Like all of Dorie's recipes, this one came out perfectly. It's essentially a one bowl cake that comes together in a jiffy. I chose to keep it simple and dust it with powdered sugar, but Dorie includes a quickie recipe for a maple glaze that would be fantastic. Or maybe a little maple flavored whipped cream or mascarpone? Or to get even crazier maple flavored whipped cream or mascarpone with a little bit of crystalized ginger mixed in? YUM!