TWiB #44 – Rocky Road Cookies

I had some marshmallows to use up, so this looked like a quick, easy recipe. The finished product, though, not so good. The marshmallows melted and made the cookies either stick or crumble. The edges were too dry and crispy and the walnuts added almost zero flavor. I guess I will have to find some other way to use up marshmallows.

Rocky Road Cookies

Recipe
Rocky Road Cookies

Modifications
I didn’t have quite enough cocoa powder, maybe only 1/2 cup.  I also baked the cookies for 14 minutes because I was using AirBake cookie sheets.

Rating
Major suckage.  1 star out of 5.

Daring Bakers October – Pizza Dough

My friend SS looooooves pizza, so as soon as I saw the challenge for this month, I knew he would want to be a part of it.

The dough itself was BEAUTIFUL.  It was easily the best dough I’ve ever worked with before.  It was soft, pliable, smooth, and wonderful.  I just wanted to keep touching it!

Tossing it was a lot of fun.  Some people found the dough to be too soft, but I didn’t really have that problem. I did manage to get a video of SS tossing the dough. =)

Click the image to go to the video.

Basic Pizza Dough

Recipe
“Basic Pizza Dough” from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

Modifications
I cut the dough into 4 pieces instead of 6.

Toppings

• Imo’s sauce
• turkey pepperoni
• sausage
• frozen veggie mix – onions, green/red peppers
• Imo’s provel cheese (can’t you tell I’m from St. Louis?)

Rating
Awesome!  4.5 stars out of 5.  We all wished the crust was a little crispier, but I think that would have been accomplished if I had a baking stone, which is hardly the dough’s fault.

TWiB #43 – Rye Bread

Rye bread is GiR’s favorite bread, so I knew I had to try it out. There are a lot of different recipes out there, but the one I picked seemed simple and straightforward. I thought the cocoa powder was an interesting addition, but GiR didn’t like it. Still, it was a soft bread with a nice chewy crust.

Rye Bread

Recipe
George’s Light Rye Bread

Modifications
I made a half recipe, ending up with one loaf.

Rating
Not “rye” enough.  3 stars out of 5.

TWiB #42 – Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I’ve had this on my “to-bake” list for a long time and finally gathered up all the ingredients. They turned out pretty messy, but tasted awesome!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Recipe
Bill’s Big Carrot Cake from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (pg. 254)

Modifications
Instead of 2 tsp cinnamon, I used 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cardamom, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.  I left out the coconut and increased the raisins to 1 cup.  And of course, I baked it in muffin tins (it made 24 cupcakes).

Rating
Very delicious.  4 stars out of 5.

TWiB #41 – Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies

This seemed like an interesting way to use up some pumpkin.  GiR thinks there’s too many things going on in this, but I like the flavor mix.  I will, however, claim that it feels more like a cake rather than brownies.  Maybe I baked it too long?

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies

Recipe
Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
cream cheese topping

Modifications
I left out the cayenne like the OP of the brownies did.  I layered my brownies as such from bottom to top:  chocolate, pumpkin, chocolate, pumpkin, cream cheese.

Rating
3 stars out of 5.

TWiB #40 – Tres Leches Cake

I asked my friend RS for an idea for TWiB and he suggested 3 milk cake.  It’s his favorite cake, and I can see why.

Tres Leches Cake
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Recipe
Tres Leches Cake

Modifications
I made homemade whipped cream and left off the coconut.

Rating
Soooooo good.  4.5 stars out of 5.