Dorie may have gotten it right this time.  I’m willing to consider changing my opinions.  These pumpkin muffins were everything she promised.  They were fantastic.  I had hoped these would be sweet – but not too sweet; perfect for breakfast with a little butter and maybe a dab of honey.  I couldn’t trust myself with these, so I decided to make them as a thank you gift for my neighbors for dog-sitting.

Kelly of Sounding my barbaric gulp picked these for our weekly TWD recipe, and I’m so glad she did.  You can find the recipe at her blog.  I made only a few minor adjustments to the original recipe – I had no ground allspice on hand, so I withheld it.  Also, instead of using pecans I used candied walnuts, and lastly, instead of raisins, I used dried cranberries (I’m sorry – I’m just really head over heels for fall right now – sue me.) I also had leftover pumpkin puree that I had prepared from scratch when making my pumpkin cake, so it was nice to throw that in instead of the canned stuff that I’ve relied upon so heavily the last few years.

I was also impressed with the fact that I need not alter the baking time or temperature ONE bit!  It was dead on and I was dead shocked.  They were perfect just as the timer went off and they were just stunning.  Beautiful golden crown with a crackly surface, just like I like ‘em! And they popped right out of the muffin tin – I didn’t want to use paper liners – I liked they way they looked in Dorie’s picture, just as they were.

And much to my surprise, the sunflower seeds added a really nice touch flavor-wise.  They give you a very unexpect saltiness that seems to pair so nicely with the subtle sweetness. Be sure to head over to TWD headquarters to check out the other fancy-pants muffins.  And Kelly, nice pick.  Very very nice pick.

My experience with biscotti is limited at best.  I was never turned on by the whole idea of biscotti because to me it appeared to have the same texture as (very) stale bread sticks.  That and they’re not overly sweet and not overly savory, so their function seemed rather limited as well.  <enter complete and pure love for cappuccinos> What was I saying about biscotti? Oh yes – how perfect they are as dunkers for coffee and chocolately drinks alike.  I think what truly turned me off to biscotti in the past was that where its usually sold, its just plain old.  Fresh biscotti seems totally unheard of.  Its usually individually wrapped, loaded with preservatives, and sold months years past its expiration date. Luckily Gretchen of Canela & Comino gave me the chance to whip up some fresh biscotti, which I haven’t done in quite some time.

I really wanted to spruce these up.  I love almond, but I love it more as the accent rather than the star of the show.  To the basic recipe I added the zest of one orange (large clementine, actually) at the same time as creaming the butter and sugar, 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries, and replaced the slivered almonds with chopped pistachios. Oh*My*Goodness good! The aroma of the kitchen was so intoxicating. The cranberries and pistachios were both added at the very end of mixing.   Lastly, I was short on cornmeal, so I substitute masa harina, which did well in a pinch.  Masa Harina is made by cooking dried corn kernals in lime water, and then finely ground.  It is often the base for tortillas and tamales. I wasn’t able to detect any lime flavor (I could barely smell it in the masa harina bag) and I thought that if I was able to detect it, it would only enhance the orange flavor that I did want to shine.

At this point I am totally convinced that Dorie does all of her baking at atleast 10000 feet above sea level (maybe even Mt. Everest???)I am having very (in)consistent issues with baking temps and times when following her recipes.  Things shouldn’t still be RAW when they should be “browned”.  These biscotti were no different.  The initial bake is supposed to be for 15 minutes – other biscotti recipes suggest 25-30 at the same temp, which was what I needed in order for this recipe to work.  For the 2nd bake I dropped the temp to 300 so as not to darken them anymore, and I let them bake for 25 more minutes.  They definitely needed this.

I was thinking of other appealing flavor combinations – maybe pumpkin and white chocolate; dark chocolate and cherry; lime and coconut.  I have already consumed two of these addictive sticks.  So, beware! Be sure to check out Gretchen’s site for the recipe and TWD headquarters to see what everyone else has baked up!

SIGH! I don’t know where to start! I’m underwhelmed and disappointed! Sigh! I had such high hopes!  I was so excited when Tammy of Wee Treats selected the Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake! It had all the right components. Brownies. Caramel. Peanuts AND Cake! How on earth could this go wrong? In more ways then one!

So I made the cake to bring to a birthday party.  In the oven it rose up so high and beautfully – it really looked amazing.  Towards the end of the baking time, I noticed that it had sunken some.  “All is good” I tell myself, Dorie warned us against this.  Then came time to pull it out of the oven.  It looked like a dog’s water bowl.  The crater is HUGE.  Dorie DOESN’T warn us against this.  She said “small crater”; nothing about black hole!  Luckily the caramel and peanut sauce was going to cover this up.  My thoughts on the caramel were okay – nothing wildly good, but definitely decent.  I have had a good amount of experience with melting sugar, so I was comfortable with where to draw the line of “really amber meets burned to bits”.

I took this cake to the party and definitely got the “oohs” and “aahs” and people dove in – but not before I could snag a picture with my camera phone.  I only took one because I was sure enough that the picture was fine.  My hubby and I got in the car to head home and when I finally looked at the picture – “GASP!!!!” See below:

So what’s a girl to do?  I baked up a batch of brownies and put the left over caramel sauce to good use – and all was well with the world    And always ALWAYS double check your photos – especially on the camera phones!

Head on over to TWD headquarters to check out the other members’ treats!

PS – Charity, the brownies were just so-so.  harumph!

There’s always desserts that linger in the back of our minds as “ones I’d like to make someday” but am too chicken to do it. Why? I don’t know. Just am was. Not anymore! Tuesdays with Dorie member Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake has selected this weeks bake off and creme brulee was it! Off to the races I was.. I couldn’t wait to make it.  I had a girls-night-in with my sweet friends Karen Rose and Stephanie, and thought this would be an appropriate dessert.

So since this was one of the recipes that I had just kind of avoided for some time, I had just intuitively thought that the ingredients list and/or technique would be cumbersome.  Neither was the case, and within about 15 – 20 minutes these little gems were baking away in the oven.  Here’s the only place that I had some difference with the recipe.  I baked it at the correct temperature, but I had to bake it for over 20 minutes longer to get that “uniformly giggly” quality that Dorie describes in her book.  I compared the baking temperature of this recipe to that of others, and this was definitely on the lower side, at 200F.  Other recipes called for 250-275F.

I had baked these a day in advance with the expectation that I could just slip into the kitchen and torch the tops while Karen Rose and Stephanie consumed more wine.  This was so that I could be the gracious host and if they had enough to drink then it may cover up the taste had these not turned out well.  When I finally figured out how to use the dainty blow torch I carmelized the tops of all of them, waited for the ramikens to cool and then brought them out to my guests.  Since every ounce was eaten, I’ll assume that they were, in fact, pleasing to the palate. I have to admit that I really the creme brulee myself.  I wouldn’t say that I’m a connoisseur of creme brulee, but I really enjoy it.  This didn’t seem as thick or as pale as I was expecting, but I was overly pleased with my first attempt.  I plan on trying a few different recipes out to see if what I was expecting was just a myth.

Okay, I’ll be blunt. This dimply plum cake was fantastic! The recipe had very few ingredients for a cake.. and I just wasn’t expecting much.  IMO, what really does this cake in is the orange zest.  Its SO flavorful, and the smell is out of this world.  Because of this recipe and my Greek Celebration bread, I’ve realized just how much I love orange zest.  The two items both smelled so divine.

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie bake-off is for the Dimply Plum Cake, chosen by Michelle of Bake-En.

I brought this to an evening barbecue as the dessert, and most people were just intrigued that there were plums in it.  Everyone agreed that it tasted fantastic.  I served it with cool-whip because I didn’t have time to make whipped cream from scratch.  The BBQ that I thought started at 6pm actually started at 5pm. OOPS! So hubby and I stopped off at the local grocer on our way there.

When I bought the plums and orange at the store, I also picked up some baking powder.  Mine was juuuust over the year mark and I didn’t want this cute cake to fail because my wimpy baking powder would make these heavy, dense plumies rise.   Why risk it?!  The new baking powder did just the trick and the plums rose up beautifully with the honey colored cake poking up from all around them.

I have a kitchen aid 600 mixer and the first step of the recipe is to cream the 5 tablespoons of butter.  The mixing bowl was so large compared to the piddly butter that I wasn’t sure it’d actually cream.  It did just enough of a job to pull of the cake, but next time I’d definitely use my smaller attachment bowl.  When I was buying the ingredients I also planned on picking up the ground cardamom.  No one warns you in childhood that you need to set aside a small dowry for this stuff.  ITS SO EXPENSIVE. I know that saffron ain’t cheap, but I never knew that this stuff was sooooo pricey.  I’ve bought cardamom in the pods plenty of times, but never pre-ground.  I was waaaay to cheap to spend over $15 on a dimply plum cake that I wasn’t even sure would be worth $5, so I decided to grind some cardamom up at home.  This made the cake totally distinctive.  You could tell there was this other flavor looming around and no one that ate the cake could guess what it was. Its subtle yet bold – oxymoron much?  Meaning, it doesn’t smack you in the face until you’ve been chewing for a few seconds, and then its impossible to miss.

This cake also took longer to bake than Ms. Dorie had suggested.  I think that my oven must be cooler than hers because most of her recipes require a little extra baking time to be just right.  Lastly, like many others that made this cake, I just couldn’t fit 8 halved plums on the surface. I could only fit 4.5.  Too bad I had already halved and pitted those other 3.5 plums… It was a good snack

Because I live for key lime pie, I had marked this recipe when I first bought this book. I was *so* glad that it had finally come up in the rotation! Dianne of Diannes Dishes chose our recipe and I had plans to starting baking as soon as I saw it posted. Of course the weekend came (and went) and that’s why I’m a total slacker posting it now, almost midnight on the day of submission!! Not to mention that I cheated some – I bought a pre-made crust. Go on, send me the mean remarks – I can take it. Its the first time I’ve done that in about 6 years. I have a good excuse! I’m taking a cake-decorating class, and I’m not getting home until almost 10:30pm…

The pie part was out of this world. I LOVE coconut, and I LOVE key lime pie. I’m not a huge fan of meringue, I swear that it tastes like scrambled eggs to me, and unfortunately, this was no different. I’ll forgo the meringue next time, and do real whipped cream instead. I’m bringing the remainder to work tomorrow to share in the wealth. I’d write more, but I’m so sleepy – please forgive!

And now for the fabulous recipe!

Florida Pie by Dorie Greenspan

1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you’ve got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Its Tuesday, and that means that the TWD’ers are back at it again. This time it was carrot cake! I’ve been wanting to make carrot cake for a while, but I’ve got so much going on it the kitchen, it had just taken a number and was waiting at the back of the line. So, luckily for it, its number was called this week, and I got to play around with one of the tastiest recipes I’ve made in a while.

This recipe was very straight forward to make. The only thing that wasn’t ‘by the book’ was that when I creamed the oil and the sugar, it never became “smooth” so I just went ahead and added the eggs, and viola! Smoothness achieved! I decided to make mini cakes (actually decapitated cupcakes) and stacked those for a little layer cake that resembled the one in Dorie’s book. Both hubbs and I loved this recipe, and I will definitely make this again.

Here’s the recipe (thanks to Chelle and LW for typing it up!)

Bill’s Big Carrot Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

½ cup shredded coconut (optional)

Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.

If you’d like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:

Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.

Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:

This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it’s good plain, it’s even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:

The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it’s firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Okay, so not really, but it was fun to make these little bites of chocolatey goodness. Dorie’s recipe for Gooey Chocolate Cakes were what was on this weeks TWD agenda. I had opted to make miniature versions, simply because I wanted to bring all of the left overs to work (especially since hubbs is out of town) and I thought that it would be nice to have more to share – 15 in fact. Dorie says that you definitely need to serve this with something – its too rich to stand on its own, and I’d have to agree. I plated it with some fresh cut strawberries and some seedless raspberry preserves (that I used yesterday in Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake, no less!) and those flavors balanced the richness nicely. I just wish I had thought ahead enough to pour a glass of milk, but I was too focused on eating chocolate.
I’ve only made this type of cake once before, and I served it with vanilla ice cream – I think the contrast of cold to warm was especially nice at that time, and would do that again with these little yums.  I do have to admit, however, that this is not my favorite dessert.  I’m not sure why – maybe the contrast of textures? The taste was good, but as with the other time that I made a lava sort of cake, I wasn’t dying for another one when I was done with mine.  But, I do think that this turned out incredibly well, and would be proud to serve it.  And, it was rather easy to make – which is a plus!

And for the recipe (Thanks, Michelle, for typing this up!):

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon salt

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate,

4 ounces coarsely chopped,

1 ounce very finely chopped

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates.  Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous.  Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes.  Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs.  Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes.  Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board.  Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

I’m back, TWD‘er’s, I’m back! The kitchen remodel took two weeks more than I thought it would, and now the kitchen is finally done (and clean!). I made this flan on Tuesday, but didn’t realize that it not only had to cool to room temp AND chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. That was going to be around 11pm, and I had to get to bed.

I opened up the Book, and looked over the recipe. I saw in the “playing around” blurb that you can turn this caramel flan into a coconut-caramel flan simply by exchanging the heavy cream for coconut milk. I just happened to have a can on hand, and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it! I brought the flan to work this morning (after I took out a tiny wedge to taste test) and EVERY last bite was gone. They loved it. Did I mention that this was my first flan? I was so excited to try this, and that’s why I’m posting this – better late than never! I thought this was so easy to make, and was dumbfounded at how easy it came out of the pan. I’ll definitely make this again – and look forward to playing around with different flavors. Thanks, Dorie, for another great recipe!

For the Caramel
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp water
squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan
1-1/2 cups heavy cream (or 1 13-15oz can unsweetened coconut milk)
1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.

Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.

Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.

Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don’t worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

I won’t be baking next week either (about 90% sure) because I’ll be in San Francisco (!!!!!) for a 5-day bread making class!!!!! I’m so excited – it was an awesome birthday present from my hubby. I’ll be staying in a hotel and won’t have any great cooking stuff with me – I will definitely be back “on” for the March 11th challenge!

So Please, TWD crew, don’t think I’ve forgotten you – or left the group – I can’t wait to start looking at all the pics of the wonderful biscuits you’ve created! (me and my kleenex box…)

I’ll post pics of all the yummy bread that I make!