TWD: A Tale of Two Tortes
May 6, 2008
Peanut butter and chocolate…mmm….I am old enough to remember the old Reeses commercials. Two great tastes that taste great together! This week’s recipe was Peanut Butter Torte chosen by Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food. I love peanut butter and chocolate together. Well, I love chocolate and a lot of flavors together. When I was pondering what to do with my cream cheese and cream left overs I started to think of my other favorite chocolate flavor combos….so many, chocolate + mint, chocolate + coffee, chocolate + vanilla…then I saw the oranges sitting innocently on the counter and a second torte was born.
I only made half of the peanut butter torte. I figured my little family of four (plus grandma who comes over for dinner and dessert on Sunday nights) didn’t need 86 lbs of peanut buttery creamy goodness, especially after Ulrike of Kuchenlatein posted the WW points. OUCH! Of course, none of this stopped me from taking what little cream cheese (2 oz!) and whipped cream was leftover and making three little orange chocolate mini-tortes.
The only real change I made to the peanut butter torte was to skip most of the chopped peanuts. I like peanut butter but regular peanuts? not so much. Instead of the nuts, I made a little peanut butter ganache for the final topping.
When I saw the oranges I thought of swiss orange chip ice cream. When I was a kid my mom always took me to Swensens ice cream parlor and swiss orange chip was her favorite. I subbed in semi-sweet chocolate for the peanut butter, used a little less powdered sugar and added some orange zest and orange extract. Fabulous. Although, if I made it again, I would probably use bittersweet chocolate instead.
We all tried dibs and dabs of both until we were STUFFED. This one got rave reviews. Too bad there wasn’t enough left to share with the co-workers. Maybe next time folks.
To see if everyone else stuffed themselves silly, check out Tuesdays With Dorie here.
I cannot compete with the many gorgeous food photos on the blogs. So, I am going in the opposite direction with some realism. Here’s what cooking in my kitchen really looks like.
Helper (with crazy hair) showing off the splash of sugar when the cream cheese tumbled into the bowl. He may have enjoyed a few “sample” oreos during crust construction.
Mom hoping entire contents of torte don’t soon spray all over kitchen. Counter is cluttered enough.
Finally, washing up or flooding the counter. Depends on your perspective.
Entry Filed under: May 2008, Tuesdays with Dorie. Tags: baking, Recipe, torte, Tuesdays with Dorie.
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1.
andreainthekitchen | May 6, 2008 at 9:30 am
Love the peanut butter ganache. Of course, I also don’t know what is in it but I am just learning about ‘mix- ins in icings and ganache. But it sounds great.
It looks like your boys are the same age (and level of help as mine). I got a stand mixer and as long as I keep fingers clear that makes it much easier. When I make sugar syrups it always coincides with nap time for Patrick (almost 2).
Well done.
2.
noskos | May 6, 2008 at 10:19 am
Nice looking pies!!
3.
Lindsey (Cafe Johnsonia) | May 6, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I was going to take pictures of my kitchen, too. I thought that might scare too many people though. It was really that bad.
I like the addition of orange. The torte was a little too rich for my tastes. I was fine with a paper-thin slice.
It looks lovely!
4.
Caitlin | May 6, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Ooo… peanut butter ganache sounds fabulous!
5.
smallbutfeisty | May 6, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I love your pictures! How fun; I can’t wait to start baking with my son, although I have a while to wait.
Your modifications sound delish too!
6.
Marie | May 6, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Your tortes are soooo cute and so are the boys! Well done!
7.
Ulrike aka ostwestwind | May 6, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Your helpers are so cute! They grow up so fast.
Glad you made it although I posted the WWs. Your modifications sound very good
8.
Annemarie | May 6, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Good job! I am very afraid of finding out the WW points…
9.
Melissa | May 7, 2008 at 12:48 am
My kitchen always looks too messy to take pictures!
10.
Heather | May 7, 2008 at 2:42 am
Great job! Looks delicious! Love the pb ganache!
11.
Erin | May 7, 2008 at 4:07 am
I love the peanut butter ganache! I bet that was delicious!
12.
Megan | May 7, 2008 at 4:41 am
How clever of you to make ANOTHER torte - if I don’t follow a recipe disaster strikes. I am also conquering my fear of yeast this year - pizza, yeast cakes, etc. I’ll be watching for your recipe on the two-tone bread. I saw it the other day and thought, that looks really neat! And besides, everything is better when it’s homemade!
PS - anyone who has a super-clean kitchen doesn’t have children running around
13.
Mara | May 7, 2008 at 6:04 am
i love that fluffy side view!!! actually, i was just telling my husband (who is coincidentally eating the torte right now) that i think that making the mousse more like a real mousse next time would make it even better. allow you to really ‘appreciate’ the flavor a bit. so your photo made me think…YES! like that! lovely.
14.
rebekka | May 7, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Wow…peanut butter ganache? I’ve never made that, it sounds incredible! And your orange torte sounds awesome too…I’d probably prefer that one. Great creativity!
15.
Gretchen Noelle | May 7, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Great idea to create your own! Lovely “real life” shots!
16.
lemontartlet | May 7, 2008 at 4:53 pm
They are so cute! Both your tortes and your boys, lol. Love your idea for the leftover whipped cream, i wish I could have done something with mine but I… ahem… kinda used the cake scraps to scoop up all the left overs cream and ate them.
17.
Sharon - Butcher, Baker...... | May 7, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Looks great. Cute kids!
18.
Dianne | May 7, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Peanut butter ganache…What a great idea!
19.
Shari | May 7, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Peanut butter ganache sounds great!
20.
Cheryl | May 8, 2008 at 1:44 am
Cute kids! Cute torte! Way to go on both counts! ; )
21.
Jaime | May 17, 2008 at 2:31 am
your mini tortes are adorable! it’s so cute that your kids help out
22.
TWD: MMMM…(Quintupl&hellip | May 20, 2008 at 4:21 am
[...] know from sweet but I know better. Seriously…when Dorie created the serving size for the peanut butter torte a few weeks back (that was universally agreed to be for giants) she was speaking directly to mom. [...]