TWiB – Third trimester and 2008 round-up

Here’s a round-up of all the recipes I’ve made for This Week in Baking during September, October, November and December of 2008.

36.  Pita Bread – 3.5 stars
37.  Pear Cheesecake – 3.5 stars
38.  Dense Chocolate Loaf  Cake – 4 stars
39.  Strawberry Pecan Bread – 2.5 stars
40.  Tres Leches Cake – 4.5 stars
41.  Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies – 3 stars
42.  Carrot Cake Cupcakes – 4 stars
43.  Rye Bread – 3 stars
44.  Rocky Road Cookies – 1 stars
45.  Jalepeno Cake – 3 stars
46.  Paczki – 3 stars
47.  Caramel Pumpkin Pie – 1.5 stars
48.  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – 3.5 stars
49.  Big Bad Chocolate Muffins – 4.5 stars
50.  Blueberry Coffee Cake – 4 stars
51.  Cornbread – 3 stars
52.  Peanut Butter Torte – 3.5 stars

Again, no 5 star recipes, but here are the best of this trimester:

1. Big Bad Chocolate Muffins – 4.5 stars
2. Tres Leches Cake – 4.5 stars
3. Blueberry Coffee Cake – 4 stars
4. Dense Chocolate Loaf  Cake – 4 stars

And the list you’ve been waiting for, the top 9 recipes of 2008!

1. Brownie Tart – 5 stars
2. Big Bad Chocolate Muffins – 4.5 stars
3. Chocolate Creme Brulee – 4.5 stars
4. Cinnamon Pie – 4.5 stars
5. Cottage Dill Bread – 4.5 stars
6. Eclairs – 4.5 stars
7. Gingerbread Cookies – 4.5 stars
8. Pecan Pie Bars – 4.5 stars
9. Tres Leches Cake – 4.5 stars

There will be no regular TWiB in 2009.  Instead, I will revisit some of the less-than-excellent recipes and see what I can do to improve them.  Happy New Year and see you in 2009!

TWiB #52 – Peanut Butter Torte

For Christmas at GiR’s house, I decided to make something fancy.  Dorie’s Peanut Butter Torte looks fantastic, but I didn’t know if I could pull it off.  In actuality, it’s very easy and I did great!

Peanut Butter Torte

Recipe
Peanut Butter Torte from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (pg. 282)

Modifications
I’m not a coffee fan, so I left out the espresso powder.  I also used Double Stuff Oreos, which made the crust more sticky and less crumbly.

Rating
Very good, but also very rich.  3.5 stars out of 5.

TWiB #51 – Cornbread

I’m sure everyone has made cornbread from the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.  But you know what?  That’s just cheating.  I decided to make some homemade cornbread and it was delicious.  My husband GiR prefers his cornbread with real corn kernels, but these were still good.

Cornbread

Recipe
Grandmother’s Buttermilk Cornbread

Modifications
None really, other than making my own buttermilk with lemon juice and milk.

Rating
Too sweet and lacks oomph.  3 stars out of 5.

TWiB #50 – Blueberry Coffee Cake

I needed a quick breakfast cake for a Christmas brunch and this hit the spot exactly.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Recipe
Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Modifications
I used a 9×9 square pan instead of a bundt pan. Instead of the struesel topping listed, I used the struesel from Dorie’s Allspice Crumb Muffins (pg. 16). Although instead of allspice, I used cinnamon.

Rating
Very moist and delicious. 4 stars out of 5.

TWiB #49 – Big Bad Chocolate Muffins

My friend NL sent me a recipe for these chocolate muffins and I just had to try them out.  I felt like a little bit of a cheater because it uses a devil’s food cake mix, but the results are just soooo good.

Big Bad Chocolate Muffins

Recipe
Private recipe of NL’s

Modifications
None

Rating
Delicious and chocolately.  Especially gooey when warm.  4.5 stars out of 5.

TWiB #48 – Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

While visiting relatives in Indiana, I came across a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. As soon as they heard about it, they requested I make them immediately.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Modifications
I split the dough in half.  One half had 1/2 cup pecans and the other half had 1/2 cup extra chocolate chips.  My relatives didn’t have any pumpkin pie spice (or any nutmeg), so I used 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/8 tsp cloves, and 1/8 tsp ginger.

Rating
Too much chocolate; you couldn’t taste the pumpkin at all.  Too gooey.  3 1/2 stars out of 5.

TWiB #47 – Caramel Pumpkin Pie

I was making a pie for a potluck at work and I had a small amount of leftover dough. I baked up a mini pie crust and decided to try out Dorie’s Caramel Pumpkin Pie. I ended up over-darkening my caramel (and slightly overbaking the crust) so it didn’t taste very good, but I say that this recipe definitely has potential.

Caramel Pumpkin Pie

Recipe
Caramel Pumpkin Pie from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Modifications
I made a 1/4 recipe to fit my tiny pie crust.

Rating

This batch was pretty bad, only 1.5 stars out of 5, but I definitely want to try it again.

TWiB #46 – Paczki

My mom’s side of the family is all Polish, so Paczki are a pretty traditional sweet. They are also known as Bismarcks or Berliners in other parts of the world. For my fillings, I chose strawberry jam, lemon curd, and bavarian cream.

Paczki

Recipe
Authentic Polish Paczki

Modifications
I did not fry the filling in with dough. I also had to add a LOT more flour to get the dough to come together properly.

Rating
Good, but not fantastic. Gets dry if you want too long to eat them after making them. 3 stars out of 5.

TWiB #45 – Jalapeno Cake

In looking for interesting flavor combinations, I came across this jalapeno cake.  It’s a very complex recipe, with a lot of different flavors going on – chocolate, almonds, jalapeno, coffee, cinnamon – but it turned out pretty good.

Mexican Jalapeno Chocolate Cream Cake

Recipe
Mexican Jalapeno Chocolate Cream Cake

Modifications
None.  Served with coffee liqueur flavored whipped cream.

Rating
Good, but not jalapeno-y enough.  3 stars out of 5.

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.