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.