Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie: Applesauce Spice Bars

This week's TWD was picked by one of my favourite bloggers, Karen of Something Sweet by Karen. She chose Applesauce Spice Bars and I really loved the sound of them - fruity, spicy and with a caramel topping. Luckily I wasn't disappointed in the taste either.

I think I underbaked these slightly but it didn't do any harm other than make them really hard to cut. I think I also under-did the topping as it never really firmed up (which would make it absolutely delicious on vanilla icecream!).

The taste test ...

De-lic-ious. I wasn't expecting it to be so cakey but I guess these are cake bars rather than a slice which would tend to have a crunchier base. Next time I would chop up the raisins and add a bit more spice. I probably would still double the topping (as I did this time) but would only use half on the bars and save the other half for dessert. Definitely a winner!

Make sure you visit Karen's blog for the recipe and no doubt some gorgeous photos as well.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Cappuccino Brownie Bites

Oh brownies, you have completely sucked me in with your dense, fudgy texture and amazing chocolately taste. One bite and I am immediately thinking of other flavour combinations to make you even more mind-blowingly delicious.

Although you are all gone now, we shall be meeting again soon little cappuccino brownie bites. Indeed we shall ...

Cappuccino Brownie Bites
Adapted from Brownie Buttons on p106 of Baking from My Home to Yours

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain flour
Pinch of salt
60g butter
60g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 heaped teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 1-2ts boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly butter a miniature muffin pan. Whisk together the flour and salt. Melt the butter, chocolate and brown sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over very low heat, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula and keeping an eye on the pan so nothing overheats or burns. When the mixture is smooth, remove from the heat and cool for a minute or two.

Stir in the vanilla, egg and coffee into the chocolate mixture. When the mixture is well blended, add the flour and stir only until it is incorporated. You should have a smooth, glossy batter.

Spoon the batter equally into the muffin cups (they will be almost full). Bake for approx 14 minutes or until the tops of the buttons spring back when touched. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 3 minutes before carefully releasing the buttons. Cool to room temperature on the racks.

Topping - whip 1/2 cup pure cream with 1 tbs icing sugar until peaks form. Use a piping bag to pipe onto the top of each brownie bit. Sprinkle the tops with cocoa.

Enjoy!

Daring Cooks August - Rice with Prawns, Mushrooms and Artichokes

It's Daring Cooks time again! Actually it was Daring Cooks time 2 days ago and I am only just getting around to posting.

This month the lovely Olga from Olga's Recipes chose a Spanish dish by José Andrés of rice with cuttlefish, mushrooms and artichokes. I am a little squeamish about some seafood so went with prawns instead of the cuttlefish.

This was an interesting dish to make but unfortunately we didn't love it. We even ended up with a huge dish of leftovers in the fridge that just never got eaten (a rarity in this house).

The flavour was to come mainly from the sofregit, a thick sauce made from simmering tomatoes, onion, garlic, capsicum and spices for an hour or so. The recipe called for just 2 to 3 tablespoons of this sauce to be added to the dish. Well, we did that and our rice was almost completely flavourless. I mean if I had closed my eyes I could have been eating almost anything. So I added in the entire batch of sofregit (a good 2 cups worth) which did help. The $7 of saffron we added was indetectable. Our allioli was also a disaster, turning into garlic flavoured oil rather than the thick greeny-golden sauce it was meant to be. Hmmm.

Maybe I missed something? Maybe there was some vital ingredient or process that I completely overlooked? Otherwise this really was a bit of a dud for us. Sorry Olga!

Make sure you visit Olga's blog for the recipe and to see how this dish should be made!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie: Brownie Buttons


How is it that some things just taste so much better in miniature form? This week Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen selected Brownie Buttons, and what fabulous little bites of deliciousness they are!

I've had my issues with brownies over the years and quite honestly they would be the last thing I would choose to make and eat. It's not that I dislike them exactly - they just don't excite me. Unlike Megan for example! When Dorie's book arrived, I wondered why there were so many brownie recipes taking up space.

However, I have finally seen the light! These cute as a button brownies were rich, fudgy and subtly flavoured by orange zest. I had zero issues with them. They even came out of the pan perfectly. The only problem was they disappeared too quickly so I need to make some more!

Because I only have 1 mini muffin pan I made just 12 brownies and baked them for 14 minutes.

The taste test ...

YUM!

Thanks Jayma, I will definitely be making these again.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie: Banana Bundt Cake

This week Mary of The Food Librarian chose the Classic Banana Bundt Cake. If you've read Mary's blog you'll know this wasn't a huge surprise - she is the queen of the bundt!

After reading the P&Q for this recipe I decided my current bundt pan wouldn't be big enough (and I was right, this cake was huge!) so we went on the hunt for a new one at Kitchenware Plus down at Loganholme. For a kitchen gadget junkie like myself this place is nirvana! I found a Wilton bundt pan within a few minutes. Perfect. Then I checked the price ... $84.95!! For a cake pan?? Granted it's a great brand and clearly great quality too but that is just ridiculous. I ended up going with a 12 cup silicone pan for just $27.95 instead.

This was a breeze to whip up but I was really annoyed with myself for not buying bananas ahead of time and letting them ripen up. All the bananas I found were a little green and even after a night sealed in a paper bag there were still no where near what I would have liked.

I made the recipe exactly as stated except for using half regular and half gluten free flour. I also accidentally added baking powder instead of baking soda but that didn't seem to do any harm!

The taste test ...

This is one moist cake! I was a little worried as it took FOREVER to cook (about 90 minutes instead 65-75). It just didn't have quite the banana hit I was hoping for but that will be easy fixed for next time. The lemon glaze was delicious too.

Thanks Mary, great pick!
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