Daring Bakers April - Apple Crumble Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Mmmmmm cheesecake! I'm kind of known as the cheesecake girl and am inclined to make one whenever I'm asked to bring dessert. I made this for Easter Sunday and it was the perfect finish to a lunch of gorgeous roast lamb.

Apple Crumble Cheesecake ~
Modified from Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust:
250g shredded wheat biscuits
125g melted butter
1 ts cinnamon

apple filling:
3 medium sized apples, peeled, cored and finely sliced
2 tbs butter
2 tbs brown sugar

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp apple juice concentrate
2 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts ground cloves
1/4 ts ground nutmeg

crumb topping:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped roughly
1/2 cup brown sugar
100g melted butter
2 ts cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Boil a large jug of water ready to use when baking.

2. Combine crust ingredients in a food processor and process and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Saute the apples, butter and brown sugar together over medium heat until tender and caramelised, approx 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

4. Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. It should be rough and lumpy. If it is too smooth leave in the fridge until you are ready to use and then roughly break up the pieces.

5. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, spices and apple juice concentrate and blend until smooth and creamy.

5. Pour half the batter into prepared crust and top with the apple slices. Pour over the remaining cheesecake batter and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

6. Bake for 20 minutes then remove from the oven and sprinkle over the crumble topping. Return to the oven and bake for a further 25-35 minutes until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge. The crumble topping will be firm and golden brown but there will still be a jiggle in the cheesecake underneath. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

The taste test ...

YUM!!! This was a near perfect cheesecake experience. My only gripe would be that the ratio of creamy cheesecakey goodness to crust/topping was a little off. Next time I would make this in a smaller, deeper pan so each piece was a little more balanced.

Thanks to Jenny for a fun and easy bake this month!

Tuesdays with Dorie: 4 Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

This week's pick made me very happy as I love bread pudding! I hadn't tried a chocolate version before so was curious to taste the results.

As it was around Easter I decided to replace the challah/brioche with leftover hot cross buns. I made a smaller version than the recipe using 4 buns each sliced into 9 rough cubes which fit perfectly into the dish. I also figured this would add enough dried fruit and spice so I left out the raisins.

The taste test ...

I think I must be a bread & butter pudding purist, because while I liked this I didn't love it. We actually had a little piece leftover that ended up in the rubbish. That NEVER happens in this house! I think the chocolate flavour overwhelmed it. Maybe it was using hot cross buns rather than plain brioche. But then chocolate hot cross buns are fabulous. I just don't know!

Thanks to Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle for this week's pick. You can find the recipe on her blog!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Banana Cream Pie

As an Aussie, to me a Banana Cream Pie conjures images of 1950s America. However like lots of recipes while it may be retro, it is definitely delicious!

I decided to make minis using my brand new baby tart tins purchased on a whim a few weeks ago. Because they are so shallow, I knew I wouldn't be able to layer the pastry cream and banana and decided instead to combine the two. By mashing the banana and folding it through I ended up with the most luscious banana custard you can imagine. Sure it looks like baby food but I would eat this straight out of the bowl any day!

I'm sure you can guess what happened though - the mashed banana really affected the consistency of the pastry cream and it oozed everywhere when I cut it. Bummer.

I then simply piped the whipped cream on top (I actually forgot I needed sour cream for this so mine was plain cream). I really need to work on my piping skills but a sprinkle of cinnamon and a banana slice for decoration makes all the difference!

The taste test ...

Fabulous! I loved the contrast between the crisp buttery crust, sweet spiced custard and smooth cream. Even a mini was a bit too much for one serve but I gave it a good go. These were pure comfort food and incredibly easy to make. I can see this becoming a real family favourite.

Thank you to Amy of Sing for Your Supper for this week's pick. We loved it! You can find the recipe on Amy's blog.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry Crumb Cake

Sihan of Befudlement chose Dorie's Blueberry Crumb Cake this week and I could not be happier with this pick! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Like lots of others I had a few problems baking this one. It took closer to 75 minutes to be cooked by which stage the edges were getting pretty dark and I had a big pool of butter in the middle until the 70 minute mark. It also seemed to sink a little where the butter pool was but it was definitely cooked through.

All these were minor issues though and the end result was absolutely worth it.

The taste test ...

In a word ... divine. During baking this cake smelt like Christmas to me - cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest and walnuts. It was wonderful straight out of the oven, albeit incredibly difficult to cut because of the crunchy streusel topping! I had a second piece a few hours later which was moist and even more flavoursome. It would also make a wonderful dessert served warm with custard or cream. This would have to be in my top 5!

You can find the recipe at Befuddlement.

Tuesdays with Dorie: French Yoghurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze

A big thank you to Liliana from My Cookbook Addiction because I've had my eye on this recipe since day one! Now I know it's not the flashiest sounding cake and there isn't even a photo but I'm a sucker for anything French and I eat marmalade out of the jar by the spoonful. Yum!

I thought there were some interesting techniques in this cake, from rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar which produced the most magical fragrance to stirring the oil through the batter rather than simply combining with the other wet ingredients. I also loved the fact there was no creaming of butter or sugar involved (which appeals to my lazy side which would prefer not to have to wash the mixer).

I used a thick greek yoghurt and light olive oil in the cake, and a classic breakfast marmalade for the glaze. I've never actually seen lemon marmalade though I will certainly keep my eye out for it now. I thought about using lime marmalade (Rose's makes a brilliant one) but I thought it might overpower the lemon in the cake too much.

I know Dorie said to strain the marmalade but the fruit is the best bit so I piled it all on top. Look at that drizzle!

The taste test ...

Ummm, did you read what I wrote up top? There was no way I wouldn't like this cake! It didn't disappoint. I cut one slice the same day as baking (just for the photos) but saved the rest for a morning tea the next day by which time the flavours had really come out. Yoghurt really does amazing things for cakes as this was incredibly moist. It was fabulous.

You can find the recipe at My Cookbook Addiction.

Walnut & Cinnamon Sticky Buns

I realised today that I am over my yeast phobia, because on a whim I decided to make sticky buns. Actually I think it is less of a phobia and more of an aversion because with most yeasty things it takes forever before you get to enjoy them! My first thought was to do hot cross buns but Easter is still a month away and anyway I've been buying them since Christmas!

I've had my eye on Dorie's Pecan Sticky Buns for ages but being based on a brioche dough they need an overnight rest in the fridge. I whipped out my version in just a couple of hours. These are my own adaptation.

Walnut & Cinnamon Sticky Buns
Makes 16 buns

For the buns:
4 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups milk
2 x 7g sachets of instant yeast
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/4 ts salt
100g butter, melted and cooled

For the glaze and filling:
125g butter
1/2 cup golden syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1 tbs cinnamon

For the buns:

Grease a square baking pan, approximately 10 x 10, generously with butter and set aside.

In a small heavy based saucepan combine the milk and sugar and stir over low heat until warm (I always aim for blood temperature) and the sugar is dissolved. Switch off the heat. Stir in the yeast and leave for around 10 minutes. It should become thick and foamy which means your milk was warm enough and your yeast is active (if it does nothing take my advice and just start over again with fresh ingredients).

Sift the flour and salt together into the bowl of your mixer. Add the melted butter and yeast mixture and give a quick stir to combine. Using a dough hook attachment work the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, approximately 5-8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

For the glaze and filling:

In a small saucepan combine the butter, golden syrup and brown sugar. Bring to the boil over medium heat, keeping a close eye and stirring occasionally.

Pour the mixture into your prepared baking pan, reserving around 4 tbs in the saucepan. Tilt the pan to coat the surface evenly. Sprinkle over the walnuts then set aside.

To the reserved mixture add the cinnamon and stir well to combine. This forms the filling of the buns. You will need to reheat the mix over low heat to make it a spreadable consistency when you are ready to assemble the buns.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Turn out the dough onto a floured board and roll out into a large square, approx 16 x 16. Spread the filling mixture over the top as evenly as possible. Starting with the edge nearest you, roll the dough up into a cylinder.

Cut the dough into 16 pieces and place cut side up into the baking pan on top of the glaze.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for around 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size, rising up to the top of the pan.

Bake at 200 degrees celsius for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 180 and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until the buns are golden brown.

Turn out onto a platter or bread board covered in baking paper as soon as possible after removing the buns from the oven. Be very careful as the glaze will be scalding hot.

Try to hold out for a few minutes at least before digging in as you will most definitely burn your fingers and your mouth. But it's totally worth it!

Delicious!!!

Belated Chocolate Armagnac Cake

So clearly my tastes are fickle at the moment. Not 5 days ago I swore I was totally over chocolate cake and couldn't face making another one.

My reasons for relenting were threefold, firstly everyone else's cakes looked so fudgy and fantastic that I was already regretting my decision by last Tuesday night, secondly N's mum was coming over for lunch and we wanted something drool-worthy for dessert and thirdly, well, I'm pregnant dammit and if I want chocolate cake I want it now!

I subbed cranberry juice for the alcohol and let the prunes steep overnight. I also used ground almonds because it was easier though I imagine walnuts and pecans would complement the Armagnac (or regular brandy or scotch) perfectly.

How did it go? Actually it was the first unmitigated Dorie disaster I've ever had. It was a breeze to whip up and I even floured the tin (which I never do) just to make sure it would all work out. I gave it 35 minutes in the oven by which time it was puffed almost to the top of the tin, cracking on top, coming away from the sides and looking done for all intents and purposes. A skewer came out clean and I even used my snazzy new digital thermometer to check the internal temp (I stopped looking when it reached about 75 deg C).

The problems started when I went to lift it from the cooling rack onto a plate and it started to separate in the middle. I then realised just how underdone it was when I plonked the glaze in the middle and it started to sink. Seriously. There was a crackly topped cake tsunami effect going on with the glaze getting lower and lower in the centre and the cake being pushed out towards the edges. I persevered and spread it out anyway.

By this stage I knew it was rubbish so I cut a piece anyway and yep, it was liquid in the middle. Not chocolate lava cake but actual liquid cake mixture exactly like when it went in the oven. Ewww!

So it went back in the oven, glaze and all, for another 40 MINUTES! before it actually started to firm up. No photos of that, it would put you all off your food.

I have no idea what is going on. I haven't had any problems like this with our oven before. If anything it tends to cook faster because it is a convection oven.

I imagine if it had worked as intended it would have been fantastic. What we ended up with was 'meh'. While I am curious to see what would happen next time I can't see myself making this again.

Particularly when after one bite I decided I really am over chocolate cake. *sigh*

Daring Bakers February - Chocolate Valentino

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I have to say I wasn't hugely excited about this challenge. I mean I love chocolate, don't get me wrong, but I'm kinda over all those chocolate lava style desserts and this seemed a little too similar to things I have made before. That being said, my husband was thrilled! And seeing it was Valentine's I made it in a mini heart pan just for him :)

I am a little off my game at the moment. I think I've mentioned before how I have been misreading recipes a bit lately. This time I read everything correctly but I went ahead and stuffed up anyway!

I ended up with far too much batter for my little pan and clearly remember saying to N "the recipe says to fill the pan 3/4 full" as I blithely went on and scraped every last bit of batter into the pan so it was practically overflowing. I'm sure you can guess what happened. We had a chocolate volcano explode in the oven. I would show you the photo but I'm too embarrassed about our dirty oven.

So my cake is not the prettiest (it honestly never occurred to me until a week later that I should have just pulled off the lumpy lava edges and turned it upside down for the photos) but my husband assured me it was absolutely sublime and suggested several times that if I really wasn't happy I should just make it again. Isn't that sweet? He's always thinking of his stomach me.

Chocolate Valentino
from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.


Easiest Creamiest Ice Cream Ever

600ml pure heavy cream
1 can condensed milk
vanilla extract to taste

Whip cream until it just starts to thicken then while still beating, drizzle in the condensed milk followed by the vanilla. Whip until it has at least doubled in volume. Freeze. Eat. Swoon.

Make sure you check out the other DBs posts for cakes far prettier than mine!

Tuesdays with Dorie: (Crunchless) Caramel Bars

Mmmmmm ... was anyone else drooling at the mere thought of these?!

You will notice there is no 'crunch' with these bars. We can't get toffee bits in Australia and although I could have made my own English Toffee as someone suggested I decided to make a more traditional caramel slice instead. Purely because condensed milk caramel is one of my favourite things EVER.

I used Dorie's base (minus coffee and chocolate pieces) with caramel filling and melted chocolate on top. Recipe below!

Caramel Bars

Base-
1 ½ cup plain flour
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
240g unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Condensed Milk Caramel-
60g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 can condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius fan-forced. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and line the base with baking paper. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the base, whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon. Using a stand mixer beat the butter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for another three minutes or until the mixture is light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and turn off the mixer. Add all the dry ingredients, cover the stand mixer with a kitchen towel and pulse the mixer on and off at low speed about 5 times. Remove the towel, turn the mixer to low and mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated and you have a very heavy, sticky dough. Scrape the dough into the buttered pan and smooth it into a thin, even layer.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the base is bubbly and just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the pan to a rack.

To make the caramel, place all ingredients in a heavy based saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to the boil, whisking continuously for approx 8 minutes or until the mixture is thick, bubbling and a deep golden brown. Don't stop whisking for even a second or you will end up with a lumpy, black mess (my first batch ended up this way but steel wool works wonders).

Pour over the cooked base and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely. When cool top with melted chocolate. Once set, slice into bars and devour.



This is a great alternative to the traditional boiled-in-the-can condensed milk caramel which I am still too afraid to try!

The taste test ...

Oh. My. God. This slice is sinfully rich. Make sure you cut into bite sized pieces! There is no way this could be made into icecream sandwiches although ... maybe chopped up and stirred through vanilla icecream? Yum!

Big thanks to Whitney of What’s Left on the Table for this week's awesome pick.

On another note, we did a little shopping over the weekend.

"Awww, sock!"
(a reference to How I Met Your Mother from last night if you saw it)

So "little" obviously refers to the size of each piece rather than quantity because check out that stash! We went a bit crazy but I don't think we bought a single thing that wasn't on a great special. There was one little jacket in particular which was $50 full price and we got it for $12.50 (and seriously $50 for that? I don't think so)

Baby stuff is just so cute!!!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Devil's Food White Out Cake

This week's TWD pick is definitely worthy of being the cover girl. It was gorgeous!

The cake itself was sensational. Really rich and chocolatey. I made minis and didn't have any problems with flat cakes, just the opposite in fact, these rose up into domes and didn't sink at all. I did forget to add the boiling water though. Maybe that had something to do with it?

I also decided not to make the frosting, instead using sweetened whipped cream. I haven't really got my head around the cooked frosting thing yet and am still on the anti-uncooked-egg bandwagon at the moment.

On that note, it seems I can't be trusted reading recipes at the moment. At least 3 times over the past week or so I have either misread something or completely overlooked a vital ingredient or process. I blame pregnancy brain! At least leaving out the water wasn't a problem, the results speak for themselves!

The taste test ...

Yum! I really loved this cake. The only problem I had was when it came to slicing it up. The cake wanted to slide all over the place on its pillows of whipped cream and the whole thing turned into a gooey delicious mess pretty quickly!

I'm really glad I made a mini version though because this would have been really dangerous to eat just between 3 of us! Thanks to Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater for this week's pick.

Classic Custard Tart

I've had custard on my mind ever since I decided not to make last week's TWD selection of Floating Islands. I absolutely adore custard and while I wholeheartedly avoid the bright yellow goop that passes for custard at the supermarket, strangely I don't make it very often at home.

I decided it would have to be baked to pass my food safety limitations at the moment, so custard tart it was!

What elevated this from the mundane was the fact I used whole fresh nutmeg for the first time. I know, where have I been?? Just like when first I tried a fresh vanilla bean, this was spectacular.

We loved this tart. So simple and elegant and not too sweet. You can find the recipe I used here. The only change I made was to the pastry - leaving out the egg yolk and water, replacing them with just enough apricot juice to bring it together. This added a lovely subtle flavour and most importantly, meant I could eat some uncooked. I love pastry!!!

Tuesdays with Dorie: World Peace Cookies and 2 Awards!

I'm so happy someone chose Dorie's World Peace Cookies. I've seen them floating around the blogosphere for probably 12 months but have never gotten around to making them. Thank you Jessica of Cookbookhabit!

As with most slice and bake cookies these were a breeze to whip up. And even better without any egg in the mix I could eat the cookie dough! So I did ... lots!

I know many people found them very crumbly to slice. I had the same problem but they did squeeze back together pretty well. Any bits leftover, well, I ate them!


The taste test ...

Sensational. What else can I say? I really loved these and can see them becoming a regular. I ended up using salted butter (because that's all I had left) and added a few grinds of salt from the grinder so I have no way of knowing how close to the required amount I actually got. Next time I'll make them exactly as is.

All my taste testers agreed these were probably the best chocolate chip cookies they'd eaten! Although my husband still prefers the Whopper Drops - in his mind that is now the standard against which all Dorie's cookies are measured! :)

UPDATE - they taste great frozen ... so much for hiding them in the freezer!

It makes me so happy that other people do actually read and enjoy my blog. Over the past few weeks I have received 3 awards from 2 lovely bloggers - the Lemonade Award from Cakelaw and My Baking Heart and the Fabulous Blog Award also from My Baking Heart.

Thanks ladies, you made my day! If you haven't already checked out their blogs make sure you do!

The rule of the awards are:
1. Put the logo on your blog/post.
2. Nominate other fabulous blogs which show great attitude
3. Link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let your nominees know that they have received the award by commenting on their blog.
5. Link this post to the person who gave you this award.

I am passing both awards on to the following bloggers:

Annie of Annie's Eats
Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies
Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes
Heather of Sherry Trifle
Mary of The Food Librarian
Prudy of Prudence Pennywise
Wendy of Pink Stripes

Daring Bakers January - Tuiles

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

What a lovely simply recipe! I was delighted to have something light to make this time around. And yet again this is something that I probably would never have gotten around to making on my own.

The recipe calls for the mixture to be either piped or stenciled. Having not solved the mystery of our missing piping bag I went for the stencil option. There was only one problem. I failed cutting in kindergarten (seriously!) and my skills haven't improved much since then!

I had managed to save an ice cream container from a week ago and decided to make a simple circle. Unfortunately I forgot that I was not actually after a perfect circle cutout, but rather the circular shape left behind and I butchered it. Bugger.

Then I went freehand to create some faintly circular shapes. These actually worked really well but the humidity was a killer. Within about 10 minutes my beautifully firmed up tuile bowls were as flat as pancakes (I managed to perk one up for the photos).

I also dug out some stencils I have which are designed to make pretty cocoa shapes on top of a cappuccino.



I made half the recipe because I only had 1 egg left when I started and got what you see in the above photo.

Tuiles
Yield: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)
Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams sifted confectioner’s sugar
a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams sifted all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not over mix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week; take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter / spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly coloured. Use this coloured batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. Or: place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

I paired them with a gorgeous mango sorbet but the possibilities are endless.

My husband didn't bother with any niceties and ate his like a taco!

I think mine was prettier :)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

This week we made a gorgeous gingerbread thanks to Heather of Sherry Trifle. I made this to feed the troops on our moving day yesterday. Nothing like a chocolate fix in the midst of a hard morning's work!

It was an absolute breeze to whip up but I ended up with a slightly different result than intended because I misread the recipe! I was most of the way through when the recipe said to stir through the chopped chocolate. Woops! I melted all the chocolate instead of just 2 ounces. I added it all anyway and hoped for the best.

I also changed the icing, just melting the chocolate and butter together and adding enough icing sugar to get the consistency right.

The taste test ...

Oh. My. God. This was incredible! If this was a mistake I want to make many, many more of them! The end result was moist, rich and almost fudgy right in the middle and the fresh ginger gave it a wonderful depth of flavour (dark chocolate covered ginger is one of my favourite treats!).

This is probably in my top 3 Dorie recipes so far. Thanks Heather!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Berry Surprise Cake

This week Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen chose Dorie's Berry Surprise Cake. This was a fun project and really anything with strawberries and cream is a winner to me!

I decided to be brave and quarter the recipe so I could use my little 10cm springform pan. I was really worried when I spooned in the batter because it looked like a pancake, coming maybe 1/2 cm up the sides of the pan! It did rise though and all went well until I touched the top very lightly with my fingertip to see how firm it was getting and of course it instantly deflated! Oh well.

I was never going to be able to create a 'nest' in something maybe so small so I split it, smeared each half with raspberry jam (there was no point making the sugar syrup without the alcohol) and piped on the filling to form a hollow in the centre for the fruit. I used fresh strawberries with maybe 6 frozen raspberries.

The taste test ...

Fabulous! Like I said, I think anything with strawberries and cream is perfect! To me it was a bit of a twist on a strawberry shortcake, scones with jam and cream or even trifle. All of which I love. I will definitely try this again full-size, maybe for a special afternoon tea. Thanks Mary Ann!

A Confession

My name is Susan, and I am a bakeaholic. Big shock considering I have a food blog and bake for both Tuesdays with Dorie and Daring Bakers!

I don't really do the whole New Years' Resolution thing but seeing my thighs have been expanding along with my pregnant belly I though I would take the first week of January off.

No baking at all.

I lasted 3 days.

It wasn't even that I wanted to eat something I made, I actually really missed the process of baking - playing with butter and flour, getting my hands dirty, having the kitchen smell homey.

So I bring you Dorie's Peanut Butter Crisscrosses (or what you bake when you shouldn't be baking and don't really have any ingredients). I ate 2 of these and the rest are in the freezer for later when the mood to eat but not bake strikes me.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses
From Baking - pp78-79

2 1.3 c plain flour
1 ts baking soda
1/2 ts baking powder
1/4 ts salt
Pinch nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c chopped salted peanuts (I left these out because we didn't have any)
About 1/2 c sugar extra for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with paper.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
Beat the butter in a mixer on medium until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat for another minute. Add the sugars and beat for 3 minutes more. Ad the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then on low speed add the dry ingredients mixing until only just combined. The dough should be soft and mushy. Mix in the chopped peanuts.

Pour the extra sugar into a small bowl. Using a level tablespoonful of dough, roll into a ball in your hands then drop in the sugar, rolling it around to coat. Place on a baking sheet leaving 2 inches between them. Dip a fork in the sugar and press into each ball of dough to make crisscrosses.

Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets if you need to. When done the cookies with be lightly coloured and still soft. Cool for a few minutes before moving them to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Makes about 40 (I did half the recipe and got 15 big cookies)

Dorie's Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf

Sticking with the cornbread theme I decided to make this loaf to use up the rest of my buttermilk and cornmeal. It came together ridiculously quickly (just like yesterday's muffins) and smelt amazing in the oven!

I went with fresh granny smith apple and dried apricots for both the colour and sweetness.

Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf
From Baking - p43

1 cup buttermilk
5 tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 1/4 c plain flour
3/4 c cornmeal
1/2 c sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts nutmeg
1/4 ts salt
1 apple or pear, peeled cored and cut in a small dice
1/2 cup diced dried apple or pear (or apricot in my case)

Centre a rack in the oven and preheat to 180 degrees. Butter and line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (i never place cake pans on a rack as Dorie suggest because everything burns that way).

Whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter and eggs.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Fold in the liquid ingredients using a large rubber spatula until everything is just moistened. Stir in the fruits and scrape batter into prepared tin.

Bake for about 1hr (or 45 minutes in my case) or until a thin knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a rack and cool right side up.

Delicious warm out of the oven or freeze in slices for making great toast the next day!