Internet troubles

February 9, 2010 at 3:49 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Trouble with the internet at home yesterday (nothing like waiting until the last minute).  Will Post TWD later today.

TWD: Milk Chocolate (not)Mini-(not)Bundt Cakes

February 2, 2010 at 2:17 pm | In Tuesdays with Dorie, Uncategorized | 12 Comments
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  • When I was a kid I loved milk chocolate (Milky Way!).
  • When I was a pre-teen I loved milk chocolate (Twix!).
  • When I was a college kid I loved milk chocolate (Chocolate Malts at Ben & Jerry’s).
  • When I was a stressed out young lawyer I loved milk chocolate (Chocolate covered caramels!).
  • When I was a married lady I loved milk chocolate (Karamel sutra) .
  • When I was an old married lady with two kids I loved milk chocolate (double dipped malted milk balls).**

I thought we were destined to be BFFs.  Patty (my mom) and I always happily split the Russel Stover’s boxes that always found their way to our house at every holiday.  Don’t be fooled, I would not turn down dark but milk chocolate was my one true love.  And then…and then…

I fell in love with dark chocolate long past the age when I thought I was open to new love.  I don’t know how or why it happened, but sometime in the last couple of years my allegiance switched.  Oh sure, I felt a pang of guilt as my hand passed over the luscious milk chocolate and landed on the oh-so seductive dark side.  But I had moved on.

This week, I was brought back to my milk chocolate roots so to speak and….happily so.  I was pleasantly surprised by this cake.  It was very moist and flavorful.  I decided to go full boar with the milk chocolate and used the milk chocolate sauce from the back of the book.  The sauce was grainy and too thin.  I added more chocolate to little improvement.  I saw later that it was supposed to produce ¾ cup of sauce but you add ¾ cup of milk and 4 oz of chocolate.  Huh? Next time, I would try a lot less milk.

very runny sauce

My Variations:

  • Clearly, I didn’t make mini bundts. I baked this as a loaf for 45 minutes.
  • No swirl of any kind.  I thought about subbing for the nuts but…

Bottom line:  Good moist cake.  The kids loved it.  A repeat.

For the recipe visit: Kristin at I’m Right About Everything

Next week: BROWNIES!

TWD: Cocoa-Nana Cake

January 26, 2010 at 9:09 am | In Tuesdays with Dorie | 14 Comments
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After last week’s hullabaloo over the Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars, I am finding myself with a little writer’s block this week.  It isn’t that I am not enthused by the idea of chocolate and banana together.  One of my favorite on-the-fly desserts is to melt a tablespoon or so of chocolate chips which I then lovingly dip my banana into.  It’s just that I am crashing from my high.

So, I made this.  And I included the banana.  I only made 1/3 of the recipe (see last week’s overindulgence; see also Wii Fit which says, “Oh!” every time I step on the balance board.  I curse you, Nintendo).  Will ate most of it.  He gave it a thumbs up.  I do, too.  Frankly, as opposed to many on the P&Q, I could taste the banana.  And that was fine with me.

Next week: more chocolate!

Star Wars Treats: Bossk Brownies and Yoda Soda

January 21, 2010 at 10:40 pm | In recipes | 3 Comments
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A couple of years ago, we gave Will the Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking Book for Christmas.  GREAT book.  We have made over 75% of the recipes and have loved almost every single one.

This year, we gave Colin Wookie Cookies.  The boy is obsessed with Star Wars.  This week we broke it out and tried two of the recipes:

Bossk Brownies.

these were taken with iPhone (camera battery went dead immediately).  colin had been sampling batter…

It was the boys’ idea to decorate the top with the Star Wars figures.  These were very simple (no melting chocolate or other complicated steps) but very good.  The original recipe calls for white chocolate chips.  We didn’t have those and I doubt Colin would have Ok’d those anyway.  We used milk chocolate chips instead.

Bossk Brownies

  • 2/3 c. all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 c. cocoa powder
  • 1/2 c. butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/2 c. white chocolate chips (we used milk)

Preheat oven to 350 and butter 8 in. square pan.  Stir flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together.  Mix butter and both sugars until well blended and creamy (about 3 minutes).  Add eggs and vanilla extract.   On low, add flour mixture until just combined.  Stir in chips.  Pour batter into pan and smooth top.  Bake about 25 minutes.

Yoda Soda.

Good this is.  We made these at the same time that I was making the Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars.  (awesome).  These are really cute and would probably be even better in the summer.  But we had them on a day that the temperature was above freezing which is – sadly – starting to feel pretty warm after 3 weeks of ridiculous cold and blizzard.

Yoda Soda

  • 1/2 c. fresh lime juice (took us 4 limes)
  • 6 tbsp. sugar
  • 2 c. sparkling water
  • 2 scoops lime sherbet

Squeeze the limes until you get 1/2 c. of juice.  Pour it into larger container and stir in the sugar until dissolved.  Add the sparkling water and taste.  It may need a little more sugar.  Add one scoop of lime sherbet to two glasses.  Pour over the sparkling water mixture.  Your drink is to enjoy.

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Almost (Nirvana) Candy Bars

January 19, 2010 at 9:43 am | In Tuesdays with Dorie | 19 Comments
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20 months of regular baking.  Over 70 recipes tested.  Countless pounds of butter, cups of sugar, vats of flour and we come to this.

THIS.  The somewhat humble Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bar.

Let me tell you a little story.  For four years my office was next to a little lunch place in Downtown Kansas City.  This little place served a heavenly confection called the Chocolate Oat Caramel Bar.  They were so good but so rich.  My co-worker and I split one after lunch at least two days a week.  Then my office moved and I had to learn to live with (sub par) lunch hour that didn’t include my beloved bar.  BUT as luck would have it, one year later my husband took a job in the building next door to my old building.  One day I found an excuse to visit him but, let’s be honest, I was after that bar.

HORROR.  Apparently, the woman who made them had the nerve to quit and…take the recipe with her.  People, I searched.  I googled.  I perused countless blogs.  Every chocolate caramel bar out there looked nothing like that bar.

Until.  Until this week.  Now, this is not an exact replica.  But it is close.  So close I could probably get 99.999% of the way there on my own.  I started by splitting the batch and making half without peanuts and raisins.  I preferred that one.  Next time, I will make the oatmeal part thinner and omit the peanuts from that part.  Caramel was in the name of the other bar but it wasn’t a discernible layer.  Probably mixed into the chocolate.  I just may have to quit TWD to perfect this….

NIRVANA.

Oh, the family loved it as well.  Will said it was the best bar ever and Jamie gave an intentionally over the top response after I outed him for his “fine” responses.

Next week:  something about bananas…assuming I able to move forward with other recipes.   HUGE thanks to Lillian of Confectiona’s Realm for choosing this.  The full recipe is there.

TWD: Farvigscherben

January 13, 2010 at 1:15 am | In Tuesdays with Dorie | 9 Comments
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When my grandma was growing up poor in the 1910s and 1920s, her family ate a lot of what they called “roll-ups.”  They used inexpensive ingredients and were amazingly adaptable.   She was amazed to find out decades later that her humble roll-ups were known to the rest of the Western world as crepes.  Growing up, we still called them roll-ups and filled them with PB & J.

The moral of the story:  sometimes humble ingredients meld together beautifully into something you will choose to eat long after you can afford to stop eating it.  And, then, sometimes they don’t.  And that is where I found myself with the scherben.  I made a full batch (the ingredient list was too small to even bother with the reduction math) but baked half and fried half.  I was feeling strangely motivated on Friday…Could be because we are covered in snow and it was a whopping 3 degrees that day.*

I didn’t get finished pictures of the baked but you can see how much flatter they are.

Small disclaimer:  My thermometer is obviously not worth the space it takes up in my catch-all kitchen drawer.  It wasn’t even close to 350 degrees when I decided to test one.  The first poor little scherben practically burned up on the spot.  Needless to say, I had difficulty finding the perfect temperature to get them crisp but not black.  Anyhoooo, I doused both batches with cinnamon sugar and then completely covered them with powdered sugar.

And you know what?  They tasted like something you would make if you were desperate for something sweet, not like something you would make for its particular enjoyment.  I was reminded of those diet soda/box mix cupcakes.  You know, the ones people make when they are counting calories but need a sweets fix.  As a substitute, they are just fine.  As a stand alone cupcake: no thanks.  Somehow, I doubt the scherben lovers will gladly adopt the slogan:  Scherben – fine for when you can’t afford anything else.  But that is the way I will think of them.

Visit Teanna at Spork or Foon for the recipe.  Her blog is very funny.

Next week:  Chocolate oatmeal almost candy bars.  I am looking forward to these…

You would stay in and bake too…

Coming soon…

January 12, 2010 at 3:56 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I made the scherben last week.  Then we misplaced our laptop.  No, really, we did.  We are barely fit to be homeowners.  But, we found it!  I will load the pictures and post later today!  Happy browsing…

TWD: Happy Birthday Cake

January 5, 2010 at 8:36 pm | In Tuesdays with Dorie | 9 Comments
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Do you know what stinks?  Having your birthday on December 26th (unless, of course, it is on the 24th or 25th then the 26th might look good).  You know what stinks more?  A snowstorm on your birthday that cancels your already modest plans.  This is where my sweet just-turned-8 yr. old found himself this year.  We try to make sure his birthday doesn’t get lost in the holiday excesses but it was tough this year. 

We had to postpone a trip to Nebraska and dinner at his favorite restaurant with his cousins.  Even his local grandparents couldn’t make it over for various weather related reasons.  At the last minute, the four of us decided we would go to our favorite neighborhood joint that is 2 blocks away.  We considered pulling the kids on the sled but the wind was not a gentle blowing breeze if you know what I mean.  It wasn’t quite what we expected but we told him it will be a birthday he will remember.

All celebrating was done in the evening of a rather dark and dreary day…feel free to snicker at the awesomeness of my decorating skills.

What we did have was a big ol’ Chocolate Birthday Cake, courtesy of TWD.  It is our second anniversary!  It is hard to believe this baking madness started two years ago.  Harder still to believe that I have been in the fray since April 2008.  Amazingly, since I am firm believer in multiple taste tests, my pants still fit.

We had a choice of recipes:  Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake or Tarte Tatin.  Honestly, the tarte tatin sounded great but the timing of the birthday cake was too convenient to pass up.  If I weren’t still reeling from the devouring of the chocolate cheesecake, I probably would have made both.

This cake was actually the second recipe I made from the book back in April 2008 and I had kind of forgotten about it.  I remember I didn’t love it.  I assumed at the time it was my lack of skill.  Almost two years later and I still have the same opinion.  It is very similar to the chocolate cupcakes.  I think this style of cake is just not my favorite.   But the kids ate it and ate it and ate it…

 Please ignore the broken window shade.  Some mystery child tampered with it right before Christmas.  Replacing it hasn’t been a priority on the to-do list.

Visit Laurie, the one who started it all, for the recipe.  Thanks Laurie!

Next week:  we break out the oil for some fried dough.

TWD: Low and lush….

January 3, 2010 at 12:25 am | In Tuesdays with Dorie | 4 Comments
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Barely got this posted this week…

The good news:  I was a big fan of the low and lush chocolate cheesecake (in my mind I hear Barry White every time the name of this TWD pick comes up).

The bad news:  We liked it so much two of us almost polished off the whole dang thing.  Had it not been for Will’s rather unfortunate decision to dig a hole into a moderate sized piece of the cheesecake to “taste” it, we would have finished it all.  But, let’s face it, even I can resist gouged out cheesecake.

We didn’t plan to keep this low and lush baby (thanks, Barry) all to ourselves.  It was intended as one of several desserts at a big family Christmas Eve party.  The big family Christmas Eve party that we had to miss because of weather.  The first big family Christmas Eve party that one of my favorite cousins was attending in five years.  To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  I consoled myself with two pieces of cheesecake.  And another one on Christmas and maybe another on Christmas night.  You get the idea…

Thanks to the Tea Lady of Tea and Scones for a fabulously awesome dessert that will definite be a repeat for me.

Next week:  Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake for a rapidly growing boy…

TWD: Fine Pecan Pie

December 23, 2009 at 1:14 am | In Tuesdays with Dorie | 9 Comments
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If you are reading this, you probably know that I don’t like nuts.  So, maybe you are surprised I bothered to make this at all.  I am.  But, I decided to leave my slacker ways behind for the moment and, besides, at this point what is one more little pie on top of the cookies, brownies and cheesecakes I am churning out?

My lovely spouse informed me last week when I was debating the pecan pie that he actually likes pecan pie.  I guess I should have guessed that since he is one of the 2.3 people out there who look forward to Christmas fruitcake – that stuff is always chock full of pecans.  So, I forged ahead with a little 6 in. pie made in my springform.  Then I stared at him while he ate it.  He started laughing and said he knew what I was waiting for – a reaction for the blog.  Yup.  His words that he insist I translate precisely, “a little dessicated but still a symphony o’ flavor.”  (he was very specific on the “o”).  If you can’t hear the sarcastic tone, then you don’t know him well.

In reality, he said it was fine.  Fine is his response to pretty much everything I make.  So, there you go.  Fine could be fine or fine could be good.  Probably doesn’t mean great but, frankly, I never know.  I know fine doesn’t mean ick cuz we have been down that road before.  There is the legendary carrot pancake of ’96 that was not fine.

For the full recipe, check out someone’s in the kitchen with brina.

Next week:  lush chocolate cheesecake.  Let’s hope so!

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