TWD: Midnight Crackles

Hello there! It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry - I had a show closing (Much Ado About Nothing, if you're wondering), and then I went away for Christmas and New Year's, which was a lot of fun. But now I'm back and just starting rehearsal for You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (I'm Lucy), so I have a little bit more time. Yesterday I didn't have rehearsal, so I came home right after school to bake this week's Tuesdays with Dorie! Yesterday was the group's third anniversary! I have loved being a part of the group, even if I'm not always one of the more... um.... participating members.
This week's recipe was chosen by Laurie of Slush and Jules of Someone's in the Kitchen. The dough for these was quick and easy to whip up. After reading the P&Q on the TWD website, I decided to only chill it for 20 minutes before baking. Ten minutes ended up being the perfect baking time for these.
From the title, I was thinking these were going to be really light and airy. They certainly weren't! That said, they were very good cookies. I didn't love them, but I liked them just fine and thought they were a nice easy, quick recipe to start off 2011. You can find the recipe on the hosts' blogs. Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Pies

Hello there! Again, I'm so sorry I haven't been posting - now that all the high school stuff is over, I'm in my school's play (Much Ado About Nothing), which opens this week, so I've been in rehearsal every day after school. I just wanted to write a little about the Thanksgiving TWD, where we got to do a rewind of our choice.
At my school, all of the 8th graders have to do a community service project. I decided to make mine be working with the soup kitchen down the street. They always have a big meal on Thanksgiving, and love it when people bring in pies. I decided to combine that week's TWD and my community service project and make a whole bunch of pies.
About two weeks before Thanksgiving, I decided to make all of the crusts. For all of the soup kitchen pies, plus the three we were having for ourselves, that meant fourteen crusts.
A few days before the due date, I set about making the pies. First, I made all the pumpkin pies. Five for the soup kitchen, one for us. Those were easy - I rolled out the dough, whisked together the filling, and baked them all. Okay, not so easy - I did manage to slightly burn a few of them. I used Libby's classic pumpkin pie for those. Since my pans were a little smaller than those the recipe called for, I made four times the filling instead of six. I still had way too much, and ended up making a few mini pies in a muffin tin (some with crust, some without). They were as delicious as the pumpkin pies themselves (which were quite delicious).
Then I made the pecan pies. I used Dorie's recipe, but since I wanted a classic pie, left out the chocolate, espresso powder, and cinnamon. This time, I made five times the filling (haha, don't ask me why), which ended up being the perfect amount (???). Those baked up nicer-looking than the pumpkin, and the one we had was also quite tasty.
On Wednesday, I took the five of each kind of pie to the soup kitchen. They were so grateful to have ten homemade pies!
Wednesday afternoon, I used the remaining two crusts (and scraps from the others) to make two of Dorie's apple pies with my friend, one for my family and one for hers. Those were delicious as well!
All in all, it was quite stressful to make thirteen pies, but it was a lot of fun and I loved getting to take them to the soup kitchen. Who knows - maybe I'll even do it again next year :)

PS - I know I haven't done a Daring Bakers in several months, and I probably won't be able to do this month's either. Hopefully I'll be back to normal in January! (That includes weekly TWD!)

TWD: Peanuttiest Blondies and Cranberry Upside-Downer

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Nicole of Bakeology. She chose the Peanuttiest Blondies.
These blondies are fairly simple to make, and the part that takes the longest is just chopping up the peanuts.
I began making these thinking that they were going to be just a basic blondie, nothing to get too excited over. I think it's safe to say I was wrong! We loved these so much. They are kind of like a peanut butter cookie, due to the peanut butter in the batter, only thick and with peanut chunks and chocolate chips. I couldn't resist trying one right out of the oven, and they were yummy, but they were better once they cooled. If you want to try the recipe, you can find it in Dorie's book or here.



This week, I had some free time and also made a rewind for brunch on Saturday. I decided on the Cranberry Upside-Downer. This is made by boiling a whole lot of butter and sugar, pouring that in to a cake pan, and sprinkling on fresh cranberries and pecans. Then a simple cake batter is made (with plenty of cinnamon!), and it is poured over the cranberry/pecan/buttery-sugary-goodness layer. Forty minutes later, you take it out of the oven, flip it over, and are faced with a plate of deliciousness. Yum..... You can find the recipe in the book or here, because I know you're going to make it tonight.

Enjoy!

Oh Wow.

Oh my gosh. I haven't posted in a really long time, and I'm SO sorry. But this time I do have an excuse.
If anybody reading this has ever been in 8th grade in New York City, you know what I'm talking about. I think this past month has been the craziest in my life. Why? I'm dealing with applications to NYC Public High Schools. Admissions to the really good schools is very competitive, and I have spent all of my free time studying for tests, practicing for auditions, going to open houses and tours, and sleeping. :)
Now all of the tests are over, and I seem to have a bit more time on my hands (although I'm still super busy). Also, I was recently on Tuesdays with Dorie's website and read about how anybody who doesn't post by today is getting kicked out. SO.... I decided it was time I put up a post :)
I'm just going to talk about a jumble of TWD recipes I've made over the past few months (no pictures today, because I'm too tired and busy to find them).
Peanut Butter Crisscrosses - I actually made these way back in February, before they were chosen. I believe I doubled the recipe, because I was making them for a big party. They were pretty simple to make and delicious. A hit!
Peach Ice Cream - Oh my goodness, this stuff is amazing and SO addictive. In August, we went peach picking and I had to find something to do with all the quickly ripening peaches, so I went with this. It's actually very easy to make (although a bit time-consuming). The next time you have some extra peaches, go make it!
Crunchy Custardy Peach Tart - This was also a hit. The crust was same as usual, and the thin layer of custard was delicious. My only complaint was that the peaches were baked for so long, they seemed to lose a bit of their flavor. But all in all, a yummy dessert.
Mango Bread - I made this one because I was bored over the summer and wanted to cross something off the old rewind list. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this spicy bread, and I will make it again sometime!

Oatmeal Breakfast Bread - Oh, what we did for this bread. We were in Rome when we decided we wanted this bread. So we looked up the ingredients, got the people at the supermarket annoyed with our hand gestures as we tried to communicate what we were looking for, and went back to the house where we were staying. When we got there, we realized we had forgotten the applesauce. Back to the store we went. And who would have known? Apparently Italians don't believe in applesauce :) So we went back to the apartment, cut up and cooked some apples, and mashed them in a ricer. And you know what? That applesauce was pretty good. The bread, on the other hand, was just okay. This might have been a result of our not really knowing what baking powder/baking soda we were dealing with, and our measurements having been slightly off. We also didn't make the crumble, just sprinkled some spices and sugar on top. I guess I'll just have to make it again!
Raspberry Blanc Manger - When I went peach picking, I also went raspberry picking. When I got home, I decided to make this cold dessert. It was actually a bit of a let-down for me. The agar-agar (vegetarian substitute for gelatin) sort of clumped, making weird lumps in the custard. However, the taste was good, and everyone else liked it.
Blueberry Pie - I had never made a blueberry pie before, although I had always wanted to. I loved seeing the blueberries and sugar become a syrupy, yummy mess. I'll definitely make this one again.

Coffee Break Muffins - It's coffee in a muffin. What's not to love? Mmm, I want one right now.....
Tarte Fine - This was one of the easiest recipes in Dorie's book that I have made. It consists of a thin layer of puff pastry, some apples and sugar, and jam brushed on top. I didn't have high hopes for it, but it was really, really good. And so easy! (Especially when you used frozen homemade puff pastry, because you get the flavor of the homemade in a few minutes.)
Apple Pie - I loved loved loved this pie! It was a simple filling, but the best I've made. Definitely one I'll make again.

So those are the recipes I've made recently. Hopefully I'll be back next week with a more detailed post!

Whoops...

Well, guess what? I'm away again. In Rome! I'm enjoying lots of delicious pasta, pizza, gelato, and diet coke. Yes, diet coke - it's different here and SO amazing. Don't ask me why :)
Anyways, I wasn't able to make last week's Carrot Cookies or today's Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream, so I'm adding those to my list of rewinds. I'll try to make next week's bread here - does anyone know where I can find applesauce / what I can substitute for it? Oh, and I have a few rewinds that will be up this week. Come back soon!

Daring Bakers: Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-

So, a swiss swirl ice cream cake. This was the most time consuming challenge. EVER. It starts off with a swiss roll. It's kind of like a jelly roll - it's a thin sponge-type cake, which is rolled up with sweetened whipped cream inside. Even on its own, the swiss roll was delicious! It got sliced and I lined a bowl with it. In to the freezer for some firming up!



Then came a layer of white chocolate ice cream. Instead of using a the vanilla ice cream recipe from the challenge, I used David Lebovitz's recipe (I just got his ice cream book, which I am loving). It got spread up the sides of the cake-lined bowl. It was really great on its own - I thought it was the yummiest part of the whole challenge.



After that, came a layer of raspberry ice cream, also from David's book. It was also so yummy - it had a bit of a sweet+sour taste that was so addictive.



Wait - I forgot! Between the layers of ice cream came a layer of homemade hot fudge sauce! This was quick and easy to make. I thought that it was going to become hard as a rock in the freezer, but it stayed nice and smooth - almost like another layer of ice cream!

Once the dessert was assembled, I let it stay in the freezer for the day. Once I got home at night, I flipped it on to a plate and found....



THIS! I was so happy with how it looked - I thought it was going to look really messy. Ten minutes later, we cut into it.



It was SO GOOD. I loved it - and how it looked. I would love to say that I'll make this again and again, but it's simply too time consuming. Maybe once in a while, because the taste was worth the effort. If you want the recipe, you can find it on the Sunita's blog (link at the beginning of this post). Enjoy!

TWD: Lots of Ways Banana Cake and Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Sorry for not being here so much anymore. Hopefully when school starts again I can get back to posting on time! Anyways, I did make the last two Tuesdays With Dorie recipes, which were both hits here at home!



Last week's recipe was chosen by Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities. She chose the Lots of Ways Banana Cake. This recipe has lots of flavor possibilities. I ended up not using the coconut milk, and I substituted white sugar in place of brown. As my add-in, I chose raisins. Also, instead of baking the cakes in round pans, I decided to make muffins. I got 28 good-sized ones. They were so yummy, and they got eaten quickly! If you want to try it for yourself, you can find the recipe here or in the book.



This week's recipe was chosen by Nicole of Cookies on Friday. She chose the Chewy, Chunky Blondies. I have made these SO many times, because they are my mom's absolute favorite thing I make. I decided that I had to make them again, for photography purposes ;)
Substitutions for the add-ins are fine for these - as long as you have 4 cups. I love love love these blondies, and you absolutely HAVE to make them. You can find the recipe here or in the book.

Enjoy! (P.S. - DB post up soon). :D