TWiB #31 – Dorie cookies

I was pretty busy this weekend getting ready for a road trip to Ohio, so I didn’t have much time to make anything special.  So, as a minor cop-out, I made 2 kinds of cookies from Dorie’s wonderful book.

Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies (pg. 127)

Modifications
I used dark brown sugar and my nuts weren’t ground as finely.  I really need to get a new food processor.

Rating
They didn’t really turn out anything like the picture.  3 stars out of 5.

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (pg. 73)

Modifications
I used about 2/3 cup smooth peanut butter and a whole bag (12 oz) of chocolate chips.

Rating
Very flavorful and easy to make.  4 stars out of 5.

Muffin cups of doom

You know those cute muffin cups that everyone seems to be using? You know, the ones that look like this:

Everyone talks about how cute they are and how easy they are to fill. But what no one mentions is how it is to eat the muffin/cupcake. You know why?

THAT’S BECAUSE IT SUCKS.

Getting a cupcake out of this blasted thing is IMPOSSIBLE. I crushed so many cupcakes that I had to give up and eat my cupcake straight out of the paper with a SPOON. This is no way to eat a cupcake, people!

In summary, just say no to Wilton Nut & Party Cups.

Daring Bakers July – Filbert Gateau

This month’s challenge was a very complicated, multi-step layered cake. You had to roast, skin, and grind your own hazelnut meal. You had to make your own hazelnut brittle, which promptly got ground into a hazelnut paste. You had to clarify your own butter. You had to make your own whipped cream, apricot glaze, and ganache. Phew!

From a technical standpoint, though, everything came together pretty nice. My cake baked beautifully, my buttercream was delicious (a little chunky, but I didn’t care), my glaze was easily spreadable. I did think the ganache was a little runny, so I put it in the fridge for a few minutes before glazing and it went reasonably well.

I just have to say: NOT WORTH IT! This cake took 5 hours and it wasn’t even that good. I did learn a few things about roasting nuts, clarifying butter, and making hazelnut paste, but you know what? I don’t even like nuts that much. Not to mention the ridiculous cost of supplies. I hope the next challenge is a throwback to Julia Child’s bread: only 4 ingredients which I already have in stock. That would be very kind to my budget.

Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

Recipe
“Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream” from Great Cakes by Carol Walter

Modifications
I didn’t get enough hazelnuts, so I made an almond paste instead of a hazelnut paste for the buttercream. I also omitted the rum in most of the steps.

Rating
Mediocre taste and a bitch to make. 2.5 stars out of 5.

TWiB #30 – Hummingbird Cake

Hummingbird Cake

Recipe
Hummingbird Cake from Cooking: A Commonsense Guide

Modifications
Only baked for 48 min and cut into 12 pieces.

Rating
Good, but I was hoping it would taste more like pineapple. 3.5 stars out of 5.

My Dorie Days

After reading so much about Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours, I decided to pick it up from the library to try the recipes out before shelling out the cash for my own book. Here’s everything that I made in the 3 weeks or so I had the book. Needless to say, I ordered my own copy. =)

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns (pg. 51)

Rating
Absolutely fantastic. 4.5 stars out of 5.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (pg. 10)

Rating
4.5 stars out of 5.

Fresh Mango Bread (pg. 45)

Modifications
I used craisins instead of raisins, resulting in a beautiful mango cranberry bread.

Rating
4 stars out of 5.

Oatmeal Breakfast Bread (pg. 44)

Modifications
At the last minute, I realized I didn’t have any applesauce. I used mashed banana instead, which substituted perfectly. And again, I used craisins instead of raisins.

Rating
4 stars out of 5.

Honey-Nut Brownies (pg. 102)

Modifications
I chose to use almonds as my nut.

Rating
Not enough of a chocolaty taste. 2.5 stars out of 5.

Great Grains Muffins

Modifications
I finally used the last of my craisins in this recipe. Can you tell I got them on sale?

Rating
3.5 stars out of 5.

TWiB #29 – Mango Cardamom Bread Pudding

I had all the ingredients on hand for this that I needed to use up anyway, so this seemed like the perfect recipe.

Mango Cardamom Bread Pudding

Recipe
Mango Cardamom Bread Pudding

Modifications
I made only about a 2/3 or 3/4 recipe based on the amount of ingredients I had.  Also, I used wheat bread instead of white.

Rating
I’m not a fan of bread pudding, but this was pretty tasty.  3 stars out of 5.

TWiB #28 – Blueberry Lemon Pavlova

I’ve never done much with meringue, so this looked like an easy recipe to try.  Plus it used up my lemon curd and some of my fresh blueberries.

Blueberry Lemon Pavlova

Recipe
Pavlova

Modifications
I only made a 1/3 recipe, but I still ended up with 8 palvovas.  Maybe I made mine much smaller?  Also, I chose to use cream of tartar where there was the option.

Rating
Tastes like a toasted marshmallow, but way too sweet and too tricky to make. 2.5 stars out of 5.

TWiB #27 – Pecan Pie Bars

What’s more American than pecan pie? I made these for 4th of July, and they are much more BBQ-friendly than traditional pecan pie. They were a HUGE hit.

Pecan Pie Bars

Recipe
Pecan Pie Bars

Modifications
The original called for an odd-shaped pan and nowhere near enough pecans.  I made enough changes that I decided to post my version of the recipe here:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup butter

3 eggs
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup pecan halves (or more to taste)
3/4 cup light corn syrup
4 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Follow the recipe as directed except use a 9″x13″ pan and cut into 36 bars.

Rating
Strong 4.5 stars out of 5.  The crust could use a slight improvement.