Tuesday, November 28, 2017

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.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

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.