Desert Roses

Desert Roses, unbaked candies, are like many other melt and stir recipes that I used to make in December with my children.

The main ingredients are butter, chocolate, and cornflakes, with various add-ins (coconut, dried fruit, nuts).

These candies have a more sophisticated taste than those confections from the past because the chocolate is bittersweet.  Though the recipe calls for sweetened coconut I used unsweetened because that is what I had, and I regretted that.  My candies could have been a little sweeter.

Unable to find dried cherries I used dried cranberries, which I was unable to taste in the finished candy.  The dried apricots were lovely.  I wished I had left the walnuts in larger pieces so that I could taste them.

I brought the Desert Roses to a gathering where they were all eaten and the recipe requested.  This is a recipe I will make again.

Kerrin's Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies made with oatmeal, nuts, and other interesting additions are one of my favorite things to bake and to eat.  I was keen to try Kerrin's Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies from Dorie Greenspan's Dorie's Cookies.

These cookies use a mixture of white, whole wheat, and buckwheat flour, as well as kasha.  Dorie specifies Wolff's granulated kasha, which I was unable to find.  I substituted finely chopped walnuts, which seemed to disappear on the dough.  The baked cookies were missing the crunchy, satisfying texture that I was anticipating.

I've never baked with buckwheat flour before and look forward to trying other recipes to use up what I bought for the cookies.  I will try this recipe again if I am able to find the kasha.

Classic Jammers

Jammers, cookies that Dorie dreamed of and then baked when she awoke, are indeed special.

The cookies have a shortbread base and a jam center surrounded by streusel.  They are baked in muffin tins which give them a nicely finished round shape.  I was impressed at how good they looked and tasted. 

Unfortunately all the cookies were eaten before I grabbed a photo.  This is a recipe I will make again when I want something that looks like it came from a bakery.

Moka Dupont

"An icebox cake constructed of store-bought cookies, dunked in sweetened espresso and layered with a quickly made buttercream."  That's how Dorie Greenspan describes Moka Dupont.

This easy to make treat is an icebox cake, something I've never eaten or made before.

I was surprised and pleased to find the Petit Beurre cookies at my supermarket.  I soaked the cookies quickly in hot coffee and laid them two by four on the serving plate.

The buttercream recipe includes a raw egg which I left out, adding a bit of extra butter and chocolate in an effort to add volume.

As described in the recipe I built the cake with three layers of cookies with buttercream in between.

The cake was not very tall but looked festive and tasted great.

Crumb-Topped Apple Bars

Dorie's recipe for apple bars topped with crumbs is a great one to throw together with what you've got in your kitchen.  The crust and crumbs are a buttery sugar cookie dough, with cut up apples in between.  I'd like to try repeating this recipe with other fruit like peaches or blueberries.

Next time I will use the mixer instead of the food processor, shorten the baking time on the crust, and add more fruit.

French Snacklettes

French Snacklettes, from the every day section of Dorie's Cookies, are a plain chocolate cookie with ground almonds and cinnamon.  Not finding any almonds in my freezer I made these with almond flour.

The dough was very crumbly.  I kept mixing and mixing and finally it sort of stuck together when I pinched a piece.  I didn't add the chopped chocolate because I thought the dough would not hold it.

I wanted to shape the dough into pyramids as illustrated in Dorie's Cookies but it was so crumbly and difficult to press together that I abandoned that idea.

The cookies don't look like much but the taste is chocolatey and rich.  These will be great for anyone who loves chocolate.

Two-Bite One-Chip Cookies

These are tiny little cookies made from a chocolate chip cookie dough, shaped around a single chocolate chip.  Each cookie uses one teaspoon of dough.  It takes some time to scoop the dough, roll it into a ball, press the chocolate chip into the dough, and then reshape the dough.  Baking time is only 6-7 minutes.  The end result is a whole bunch of cute cookies, perfect for a potluck.  I was glad I added the optional cinnamon.  It made the cookies taste special.

Crash-O-Cookies

These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are named for a family friend of Dorie Greenspan.  An unusual ingredient is raisins soaked in hot water, red wine, brandy, cognac, rum, or black tea.  I kept it simple and used hot water but I would like to try tea.  One of my favourite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipes is from an old edition of The Joy of Cooking and contains orange peel.  I wonder what the raisins would taste like after a soaking in Constant Comment tea?

Anytime Tarragon-Apricot Cookies

These Tarragon-Apricot Cookies are the second cookie we've baked from the Cocktail Cookies section of Dorie's Cookies.

I just love them.  A shortbread cookie with dried apricots, fresh tarragon, olive oil, and salt - it sounds strange but tastes so good.

My cookies are more rustic in appearance than Dorie's because I rolled the dough into a log and sliced it into cookies.  The dough was in the fridge for several days before I baked it.  I wondered if that would make the cookies taste strongly of tarragon, but no, they have a delicate flavor.

I am looking forward to baking more interesting and unusual cocktail cookies in the coming months.

Lavender Galettes

A galette can be a lot of different things.  Lavender Galettes, from Baking Chez Moi, are a thin, not too sweet, irregularly shaped cookie.

I found these cookies to be a delightful surprise.  Lavender doesn't usually hold much appeal to me.  Certainly baking cookies with lavender was not high on my list of things to do in the midst of summer.  But I was intrigued by Dorie's recipe, and stopped in at the spice merchant to buy a small amount of lavender buds.

I liked the technique of rolling out each cookie on a small piece of parchment paper.  Cutting out cookies is tedious.  This method gives a lovely thin and crisp cookie without all the fuss.

The cookies have an intriguing flavor or lavender, orange, olive oil, and vanilla.  The texture and the taste is very special.

Coffee Malteds

In her recipe for Coffee Malteds cookies Dorie Greenspan explains that she remembers drinking coffee malteds as a child.  When I was young I loved the flavor of coffee, especially coffee ice cream which remains my favorite.

We couldn't find a key ingredient in this recipe, unflavored malted milk powder.  Instead I baked these cookies using Ovaltine, a chocolate malted milk powder.  For the coffee flavor I used instant coffee.

The cookies turned out small and chewy, with a good mocha flavor.  The malt is a tiny hint in the background.  I think they'd be great topped with a bit of melted chocolate.

Blueberry-Buttermilk Pie Bars

Blueberry-Buttermilk Pie Bars from Dorie's Cookies are an easy to make two layer square.

The crust is unusual in that it has cornmeal and cornstarch in addition to the usual butter, sugar, and flour.  The topping is a custard made with buttermilk, eggs, butter, and sugar, plus blueberries.

The people I shared this treat with wondered if it was cheesecake.  It tastes great and is something I will plan to bake again.

Streusel-Topped Rhubarb Lime Tart

Most of the time for these Tuesdays With Dorie baking projects I stick fairly closely to the recipe.  This week with the rhubarb lime tart I had to make a change because I really don't like lime.  I substituted orange zest and juice.  Also I left out the tart shell, making this a crisp rather than a tart.  And then I didn't have heavy cream and substituted plain Greek yogurt mixed with milk.

The dessert turned out well, though the orange flavor does over power the tartness of the rhubarb.  Dorie mentions this issue in her introduction to the recipe on page 160 of Baking Chez Moi.  "Rhubarb's tricky:  Mix it with too much sugar, and you mask its character; mix it with too little, and you risk letting its acidity run roughshod over your dessert."  More rhubarb, less orange zest, and a little less sugar might have given me the right taste balance.

I used 4 cups of rhubarb, just over 1 lb. in weight. The custard is light and holds the rhubarb nicely.  The streusel is delicious.  I wonder if cinnamon would be a nice addition.  All in all, a fun experiment.

Dorie's Newest Chocolate Chip Cookies

This chocolate chip recipe, from Dorie Greenspan's Dorie's Cookies, uses white and whole wheat flours and white and brown sugar, with the interesting addition of nutmeg and coriander.  Other spice variations are suggested (instant espresso, cinnamon, or Chinese five-spice powder) but I wanted to try the recipe as written.

The dough is very stiff and I wished I had used the stand mixer instead of the hand mixer.  Dorie recommends refrigerating the dough for at least a day before baking, which I did.  I found the cold dough very difficult to scoop.

I baked the cookies for 10 minutes.  They were puffed, set around the edges but still soft in the middle.  As the cookies cooled they firmed up to a nice, chewy texture.  I can't really taste the spices, there is just a tiny trace of special flavor.

I like heavier chocolate chip cookies made with oatmeal, wheat germ, and coconut.  While this recipe is not my new favorite it certainly was fun to try.

Pistachio and Berry Gratins

This baked fruit dessert is a combination of berries, lemon zest and sugar with nut cream.  Previously in Tuesdays with Dorie we've seen almond cream in tarts.  In this berry gratin there is no tart shell, only the berries and the cream.  Pistachios are used instead of almonds, with wonderful results.

It won't be berry season where I live for a couple of months, so I used frozen blueberries.  The dessert would have tasted better with fresh berries.  Lemon, blueberry, and pistachio are three flavours that I love, the the combination was delightful.

Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies

Dorie Greenspan's latest cookbook, Dorie's Cookies, includes 25 savory recipes in a section entitled Cocktail Cookies.  All the recipes are intriguing and I've been looking forward to trying them.  This week for Tuesdays with Dorie I baked Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies.

I have chives growing outside.  It was satisfying to add the freshly cut chives to the dough.



I used a plain black pepper.  The only thing I would change would be using a different, more interesting kind of pepper next time.



As one of my tasters commented, anything with lots of butter and cheese is going to taste good.  We all loved the richness of these cookies.

Plain and Simple Almond Cake

I baked this plain and simple almond cake for a potluck on the weekend.

Made with eggs, sugar, and almond flour with vanilla and a pinch of salt, it is a modest, tan cake.

It is gluten-free.

I dusted the top with confectioners' sugar and served it with Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce, another recipe from Baking Chez Moi.

Everyone at the dinner liked this cake.  So much so that I was left with an empty plate.  No photo today.

Chocolate-Cornflake Haystacks

Haystacks are usually not baked.  Dorie Greenspan's recipe adds eggs and some time in the oven at a low heat.  The result is a sweet, chewy treat.

The recipe is very easy to mix up, no mixer required.  I used all the ingredients listed:  eggs, agave nectar, salt, coconut, pecans, raisins, cornflakes, and milk chocolate.  I wondered about substituting honey or corn syrup for the agave nectar, but after some research decided to make the effort to acquire the agave nectar.

To use up the rest of the agave nectar I will plan to make these again soon.  Next time I will use a different, richer milk chocolate.   This is an appealing recipe.

Laurent's Slow-Roasted Spiced Pineapple

One pineapple, skinned and quartered. Roast at 300 degrees with a mixture of orange juice, apricot jam, and whole star anise, a cinnamon stick, and black peppercorns.  Baste periodically during the 2 to 2 1/2 hours roasting time.  Result - delicious soft, sweet, mildly spiced pineapple.  Wonderful with plain yogurt.
For the recipe see pages 333-334 of Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan.
Next time I will try it with orange marmalade, vanilla bean, and no other added flavors.  It is fun to have so many choices with jam and spices.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Dorie Greenspan's Lemon Sugar Cookies are an easy to make sugar cookie, flavored with lemon juice, lemon rind, and vanilla.

Dorie gives a variety of baking times, depending on your desired texture.  8-10 minutes should result in pale, chewy cookies; 12-14 minutes should give you cookies with chewy centers and crisp edges.  I baked my batch for 12 minutes and got crisp cookies.  Next time I will try reducing the baking time slightly for a slightly softer cookie.

I contributed most of these cookies to a funeral reception where they languished amidst more showy baked goods.  Perhaps some colored sprinkles would have made them more attractive.  I thought the cookies were very good.  Next time I'll add more grated lemon rind or perhaps lemon extract.

Anzac Biscuits

Coconut oatmeal cookies are the thing that I bake the most often.  The Anzac biscuits for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie are a version of coconut oatmeal cookies that uses Lyle's Golden Syrup plus sugar for sweetening and does not include eggs.

I was unable to find Lyle's Golden Syrup at the grocery store.  I researched substitutes and went with light corn syrup and molasses in a 2:1 ratio.

My other deviation from the recipe was to use unsweetened coconut.

Dorie says the dough will be soft and a tad crumbly.  My dough was very crumbly.  I used my new cookie scoop which was great for even portions of dough.  I pushed the dough crumbs together and assumed that they would bake up fine into cookies and they did.

Pithiviers

Participating in the Tuesdays with Dorie online baking group means learning new things as well as being introduced to unfamiliar desserts.  Pithivers is in north central France, the location of a Nazi internment camp.  A pithivier is a pie made with puff pastry and almond cream (frangipane).

Having little previous experience with puff pastry I was unprepared for how easy and impressive Dorie's Pithiviers recipe is.

The version in Baking Chez Moi calls for a home made prune jam.  I used a chunky plum ginger jam made by local culinary students.  The almond cream is simply a mixture of butter, sugar, optional lemon or orange zest, almond flour, all purpose flour, cornstarch, egg white, and rum or vanilla.  This plus store bought puff pastry is all you need to make this wonderful dessert.

Salted Chocolate-Caramel Bars

Salted Chocolate-Caramel Bars from Dorie's Cookies have a chocolate shortbread base with a salted chocolate caramel topping sprinkled with toasted chopped pecans.

My caramel had lumps, which I removed with a spoon.  After refrigerating the bars overnight I was disappointed to see that the caramel did not set.  Perhaps I should have reviewed how to make caramel before starting, used a heavier pan, swirled the pan less as the sugar mixture was cooking, let it get a little darker before I took it off the stove, warmed the cream before adding, who knows what went wrong.

Perhaps some time in the freezer will improve the texture.

Black-and-White Marbled Madeleines

Two years ago we made Lemon Madeleines from Baking Chez Moi.  It is one of my favourite baked goods from the book so far.  I was happy to get out my madeleine pan to try Black-and-White Marbled Madeleines this week.

I followed the recipe exactly except I left out the grated lime zest because I really don't like lime.  If I make these again I would like to try adding cinnamon to the chocolate portion of the dough.  Also I'll use a different chocolate as I found the bar I used was very sweet without much chocolate flavour.

The madeleines came out of the pan without a hitch.  They look lovely and taste pretty good, but lemon is still the best.

"Corked" Breton Galettes

Breton galettes, from Dories Cookies, are thick, round buttery cookies.  The dough is shaped into a roll, chilled, sliced, and baked in a muffin tin. The recipe instructs us to press a cork or the end of a wooden spoon into the cookies when they come out of the oven.  I added jam to the holes, and can see it will be fun to experiment with other fillings.

Rose-Hibiscus Shortbread Fans

Rose - Hibiscus Shortbread from Dorie's Cookies was my project for this week's Tuesdays With Dorie.

My hibiscus tea also contains organic peel, cinnamon, cranberries, lemon verbena, and rosehips with natural organic flavour.  I decided to leave out the rose extract or rose water called for in the recipe.  It seemed like there would be a lot happening flavour wise just with the tea.

I didn't have rice flour on hand and made the All-Purpose Shortbread variation with all-purpose white flour.

The recipe has a short ingredient list and was easy to put together.  I wondered as I patted the dough into the round cake pan, pricked it and crimped it as instructed, if it would break after baking.  I baked the shortbread for 23 minutes and followed the cutting and pan removal directions exactly as written.  I'm happy to say nothing crumbled and we ended up with 16 slim wedges of delicately flavoured shortbread.

Sunday in Paris Chocolate Cake

I made Sunday in Paris Chocolate Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie posting.
Inspired by a Paris pastry shop, Dorie's recipe uses an ingredient which is unusual in France - peanut butter.
The batter features both bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and cocoa along with peanut butter and chopped peanuts.
I chose to bake the cake in a square pan so that I could decorate it for Valentines Day.  To amp up the peanut butter flavour I replaced the heavy cream in the ganache with peanut butter.  The cake looks rustic and not at all Parisian, perfect for an at home celebration.

Valentine's Day Share-a-Heart

Valentine's Day Share a Heart is a roll and cut chocolate cookie made with cocoa powder in the food processor.
Rather than doing a giant heart I chose to have some fun and cut out medium big hearts free hand.
The cookies have a nice brownie flavour and will be great for sharing with neighbours.

Breakfast Biscotti

Breakfast Biscotti is the recipe I baked this week from Dorie Greenspan's newest cookbook Dorie's Cookies.

I've made biscotti and mandelbrot many times before and was very familiar with the two baking periods for these cookies. First they are baked in long logs, cooled slightly, sliced, and baked again.

The dough came together easily and quickly.  Cinnamon and grated orange peel are listed as optional and I was glad that I added both.  Next time I'd like even more orange flavor.

I used a maple home made granola, chopped almonds and a mixture of dried cranberries and raisins.  The almonds at the surface of the biscotti had a lovely toasted flavor in the finished cookies.

These are great as a not too sweet snack.

Granola Cake

I made Granola Cake from Baking Chez Moi along with Dorie Greenspan's famous World Peace Cookies for our New Years Eve dinner.

I used home made granola, Dorie's recipe, and white chocolate.

The batter was delicious, but I found the baked cake to be too sweet for my taste.  I am about to bake the cake again using a less sweet home made granola and bittersweet chocolate.  This time I will shorten the baking time slightly as my first cake was a tiny bit dry, but still very edible.

This cake is very easy to make and I will enjoy tinkering with the ingredients until I find the perfect version for my household's taste.

World Peace Cookies

I baked Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies to eat at our New Year's Eve dinner.

These very chocolatey cookies rely on good quality cocoa and chopped bittersweet chocolate for their flavor.

The batter comes together quickly, is rolled into logs, and then is refrigerated or frozen before it is sliced and baked.  During mixing my dough did not reach the big, moist curd stage recommended by Dorie.  I kneaded it together as I was rolling it into logs, but found that it tended to break into crumbs when I was slicing the cookies for baking.  Perhaps next time I will use a bit less flour.

The baked cookies have a wonderful, deep chocolate flavor with a sandy texture.

This photo does not do these delicious cookies justice.