TWD: A Tourtley Apple Tart

For this week's TWD assignment, Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake chose the Tourtely Apple Tart from pages 306-307 of Baking from my Home to Yours.

I was really excited to make this one--it was one that I had actually considered for my choice last week.

This was a bit more involved than I had originally thought when I glanced at it, what with the multiple chilling times, but it was worth it!

I made this between appointments and served it at Bible study tonight and the girls really liked it!  I always enjoy the desserts that aren't too sweet.

Thanks so much to Jeannette for the pick, be sure to check out her blog for the recipe and the TWD LYL post to see who baked along this week!

TWD: Strawberry-Rhubarb Double Crisp--my pick!

I have been baking with the Tuesdays with Dorie group since shortly after I began blogging in 2009--my first post was on the delicious classic banana bundt cake, and I was immediately hooked!  I have absolutely loved baking along with such an amazing group of people from all over the world and through this group I have greatly improved my own baking confidence and skills.  Thanks so much to Dorie & all my fellow TWD bakers!  I can't believe it's finally time for me to choose the recipe!

When I looked through the recipes to make my choice I immediately was drawn to this strawberry-rhubarb double crisp.  I knew nothing at all about rhubarb until March of 2009 when it was the birthday of one of the doctors at my former office.  I always made birthday desserts for my coworkers but when I found out that his favorite dessert was rhubarb pie I was clueless.  I didn't know how to pick it out at the store, had no idea how it would taste...but I forged ahead anyway!  I made the pies, he loved them, and I have made him rhubarb pies for his birthday since! (the office even ordered some this year from me even though I'm not working there anymore. )  I grew to love them so much that I make them fairly regularly for my family, especially around Easter.

So, I was excited to pick a recipe using this under-appreciated ingredient that is in season this time of year.  Or so I thought...  Apparently rhubarb season differs across the country and has a very small window of time.  Though I bought fresh rhubarb to make the doctor's pies just a few weeks ago on March 24th, now fresh rhubarb is nowhere to be found in my town!  Then I saw on the TWD P&Q page that it is not yet even available in most areas.  Thankfully I found some frozen rhubarb at Kroger so I could make this (how awful would it be to finally choose your recipe and be unable to make it?!?) but I'm sorry to any of you who haven't been able to find the required ingredients!


(I wish I had gotten some lovely natural light pictures but it has been gloomy & rainy all day & of course I procrastinate and don't make it until the last minute ;) )

 frozen thawed rhubarb--it works pretty well & is less messy than fresh!

 making the smushed strawberry filling

Yum!

I made my crisp(s) as written and baked them in a 11x7 pan & a tiny oval casserole.  I served them to my Bible study girls who very bravely tried this new ingredient, but honestly none of us ate much because we were so stuffed from dinner!  Most of them did like it and I was proud of them for trying :).  I had planned to bake the crisps for my mom over the weekend and will send the rest to her tomorrow because she loves rhubarb (when I told her my choice she said "who is going to eat it?" and I knew that was a hint).

And now, I can't believe it but I finally get to include the recipe!!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Double Crisp
p. 420-421

For the Crisp mix:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of salt
tiny pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup very finely chopped crystallized ginger (*soften in a strainer over simmering water if too hard)
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Filling:
1 pound (4-5 medium stalks) rhubarb, trimmed and peeled
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
3 cups (about 12 ounces) strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Put a nonreactive 9-inch square baking pan (Dorie likes Pyrex or porcelain)  on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

To make the crisp mix:
Put the flour, brown sugar, oats, ground ginger, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl and sift the ingredients through your fingers to blend them--be on the loookout for lumps in the brown sugar.  Mix in the nuts and crystallized ginger, then pour over the melted butter.  Using a fork, stir the ingredients until they are thoroughly moistened.
   Spoon half the mixture into the pan and pat it down lightly to form a thick crust; set aside the remainder for the topping.


To Make the Filling:
Slice the rhubarb into 1/2 inch wide pieces and scatter them over the pressed-in base.  Dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water; set aside.
Put the strawberries, sugar and ginger in a medium saucepan and, with a fork, pastry blender, or potato masher, crush the berries (I had trouble with this and gave it a few whirrs with my immersion blender).  Place the pan over medium heat and, stirring occasionally, bring th emixture to a full boil.  Pour the dissolved cornstach into the pan and, striffing with a whisk, bring everything back to a boil.  Keep cooking and stirring until the strawberry filling is thick and no longer cloudy, about 3 minutes.  Pull the pan from the heat, stir in the vanilla and pour the filling over the rhubarb.  Scatter the remaining crisp mix over the filling, breaking it up with your fingers so you can scatter it evenly.

Slide the crisp into the oven and bake for 60 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the strawberry jam is bubbling up all around the edges (in my smaller pan this was 45 minutes).  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool until only just warm or at room temperature.

Thanks to everyone who baked along with me this week!  I hope that you didn't have too much trouble finding the rhubarb if you used it!

TWD pecan powder puffs

I was really excited to see this recipe that Tia of Buttercream Barbie chose for TWD this week!  My mom used to make a version of these every Christmas and we called them "snowballs."  They are one of my dad's favorite cookies so I was excited to get to make some for him since he has been working so hard to take care of mom since she broke her ankle. 

Well, this recipe was another example of me not reading through the instructions and just charging on...I processed the pecans with ALL of the sugar instead of saving some to process with the butter...and I used my mini-chopper to just process the pecans before I read that we were supposed to do the whole thing in the food processor.  Oops!  So they were done in the kitchenaid. But I don't think it turned out to be too much of a problem.  Then in the crazyness of the day I also think I underbakeed them a bit so they weren't quite as crisp as I would like.

However....they are delicious!  I actually really enjoyed them without even the powdered sugar.  The girls in my Bible study ate up a bunch of them & I'm taking the rest to my dad today.  Thanks so much to Tia for choosing the cookies!  Visit her blog for the recipe & the TWD site to see who baked along.

TWD: Corniest Corn Muffins

Sorry for my horribly inconsistent posting over here!  I have a few things up

my sleeves so hopefully soon I will get here w/some non-TWD recipes and life updates :)

In the meantime, I give you Dorie's Corniest Corn Muffins!  These were chosen from page 4 of BFMHTY by Jill of My Next Life.

I was really excited to make these b/c I have not done much cornmeal baking and hubs LOVES cornbread and corn muffins.  I made these while he was out filming a game and was so excited to share them w/him!  And then he didn't get home until 11 and wasn't hungry.  And then he ate cereal for breakfast.  So sadly, I've yet to hear hubs' opinion of these, but I sure do love them!

Mine didn't puff up as much as the book, and the only plain corn (not creamed or in butter sauce) that I had was a frozen steamer pouch that was a bit past it's prime, so I may have to try these again w/fresh corn. 

Thanks to Jill for picking the recipe, and head over to the TWD leave your link post to see who baked along this week!

TWD: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Short post today--things have been crazy over the past few weeks.  My poor dear Mom broke her ankle in 3 places and has been in a wheelchair and had surgery on it yesterday, so I'm kinda running between her house & mine.  Thankfully, this is just the kind of thing that she loves so I was excited to make them for us to share!

I was super thrilled as well to find meyer lemons at Walmart last week, so I used those for these instead of regular lemons.  I also reduced the poppyseeds by half b/c 2 tablespoons just seemed like a ton to me.

These were great--thanks so much to Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness for choosing this week's recipe.  Check out her blog or page 10 of Dorie's Baking from My Home to Yours for the recipe, and check out the TWD leave your link post to see who baked along!

TWD: Midnight Crackles

Woohoo!  Starting off on the right foot this year by baking and posting in time for the round up! 

This week for the TWD 3-year anniversary, the founder of our fabulous baking group: Laurie of Slush and her amazing helper Julie of Someone's in the Kitchen chose the Midnight crackles from p 74 of Baking from My Home to Yours. 

With the new weight loss goals, I halved the recipe, and only baked 2 cookies to try for some built-in portion control.  I think I'm going to go ahead  and roll out the rest of the dough into balls and freeze them so I can have a cookie or two when "needed" but not worry about a huge plate of cookies tempting me!

These cookies are really quite easy to whip up--I always like anything that doesn't require waiting for butter to soften (I always go too far when trying to do it in the microwave).  But I had a bit of a goof when adding the dry ingredients to my mixer, I accidentally turned it to high rather than low and had a flour/cocoa/spice explosion all over the place!

Oh well, it's not like the kitchen was super clean so it just inspired me to get to cleaning a bit faster!!

I baked up my 2 cookies this morning, and either did not let the dough soften enough or baked them for too short a time b/c they were not exactly crackly...  Oh well.  They were still good.  I don't know how I feel about the chocolate/spice combination either.  It confuses my mouth I think but I really enjoyed my 2 cookies warm from the oven :). 

Happy anniversary to all my fellow TWD bakers, and thanks so much to Laurie & Julie for all your hard work managing this book, and of course to the incomparable Dorie Greenspan who has made all of us better bakers!

(go here for the recipe)

TWD peanuttiest blondies

This week Nicole of Bakeologie chose the Peanuttiest Blondies f/m page 119 of BFMHTY.

Well, sadly these are kindof a fail for me.  I baked them for the suggested minimum 40 minutes and the edge pieces are like rocks!!  my teeth hurt from trying to eat one :(

The batter was fabulous, so I think if I bake them less they will be perfect--and I may try that very soon!  Kinda bummed about this big plate of blondies that are too hard to eat, but I'm thinking that would be fabulous ground up in the food processor and used as a cookie crust for something delicious...

Thanks for the pick Nicole (check her blog for the recipe), and everyone be sure to check the TWD lyl post to see if they didn't become rocks for someone else!

TWD: double apple bundt cake

 For this week's TWD challenge, Lynne of Honey Muffin chose the Double Apple Bundt Cake from pp. 184-184 of BFMHTY. 

With shredded apples and apple butter in the mix, this really is a perfect (and perfectly moist!) cake to celebrate actual fall weather!

I left out the nuts & raisins this time b/c some of the girls in the Bible study aren't huge fans, plus it means that I actually have a chance that hubs will try it!

I also didn't make the glaze...a lemon glaze w/this doesn't sound appetizing to me, but I'm contemplating adding a caramel glaze before Bible study tonight.

 Dorie says that the grated apples melt into the batter and it is so true!  You don't get the texture from them, just a pure fresh apple flavor as well as the lovely spices and moistness from the apple butter.  Fabulous!

Thanks so much to Lynne for this pick, and be sure to check out her blog for the recipe and the TWD leave your link post to see who baked along this week!

TWD: Tarte Fine

After a few weeks of skipping out on the TWD posts I'm back!  and what a fabulous and easy recipe to come back with!  Seriously, it took about 5 minutes to put together, much thanks to my handy-dandy apple peeler and corer:

 

I don't know if you've ever seen or used one of these things before, but it is fabulous!  It cuts all the apple peel off in one long curly string,  removes the core, and also spiral slices it!  That made this recipe super easy b/c instead of having to slice the apple I just had to do one quick swipe of the knife down the center of the apple and voila!  Perfectly even half slices!

 

going into the oven

the finished tart--so delicious!

 

Hubs & I each had a slice out of the oven and he loved it!  I offered to send some to his best friend who he was going to see that evening and suggested sending half the tart but he wanted to keep more for himself!  It is VERY rare that he gets so excited about anything I make so I happily obliged.  

 

The only change I made to the recipe was to use apple jelly for the glaze rather than apricot jam--We're not big apricot fans and I just felt that it would complement the tart better :)

Much thanks to Leslie of Lethally Delicious for this awesome pick! (and be sure to check her blog or p. 315 of Baking from my Home to Yours for the recipe).  Also be sure to check out the TWD leave your link post to see who baked along this week!

TWD: chocolate espresso shortbread cookies

For this week's TWD assignment Donna of Life's too Short not to Eat Dessert First chose the espresso chocolate shortbread from page 125 of Baking from My Home to Yours.

I am not a coffee person.  I just don't like it.  But for some reason I decided to make this recipe as is rather than making the variation of oatmeal spice shortbread.  Maybe b/c I have some friends who like coffee...maybe b/c I've been running so hard lately that I can't think! 

I do keep some instant coffee on hand for baking and such, so I used that rather than espresso, but the coffee flavor was still too strong for me.  I LOVE Dorie's method for rolling out the dough though--stick it in a plastic bag, roll it out and then cut the bag off and you get nice little squares!  Mine had some wrinkles from the bag and don't look perfect, but that's fine w/me!  The new bible study girls seemed to enjoy these alright, but I think I'm gonna send the rest to my parent's house b/c my mom loves shortbread :).

Check out Donna's blog for the recipe!

TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

I have been M.I.A with the TWD posts lately--sorry!  You would think that since I'm no longer at the office I would have so much free time to bake, but between time with the newborn twins and trying to get my house clean I have not been good at keeping everything going!  Definitely gonna have to work on the time management...(oh yeah, the blogs don't help....)

Well, I couldn't skip this one.  Any time that I see a baking group recipe that seems like it may be a hit w/hubs I have to make it--b/c it's so rare!  Also, I have been itching for fall to start and this recipe made me feel like it's at least a little closer.  Come on cool weather--I'm ready!!!

Also, this recipe is super quick to put together--no softening butter, no mixers.  Just pour, whisk, combine and done!  Gotta love that! I thought I was out of applesauce and was about to sub some apple butter left from the apple bread pudding but then I found a new jar in the back of the fridge!  Score!  I didn't even know I had it! (though I may have to try the recipe w/apple butter still...it intrigues me...)  I did leave out the dried fruit b/c hubs isn't a fan, and this is something I want him to try.  I also baked a full recipe in mini-loaf pans for 25 minutes and got 5 mini loaves--perfect for portioning out and freezing! 

 So how is it?  YUM!!  I love the crumble topping and the spice.  Thanks so much to Natalie of Oven Love for this easy yummy intro to fall, and check out her blog for the recipe.  Also be sure to check the Leave you Link post on the TWD blog to see who baked along this week.

TWD: chewy chunky blondies

I LOVE blondies!  When I was a kid I didn't really like chocolate (shocking!) but was thrilled at bake sales & lunch time when the school would have blondies for dessert.  yum!

I went to make these last night and was asking hubs if he likes blondies so I would know whether to adapt the recipe to his (picky) tastes or just leave it as is.  Well...silly boy just pouted and asked why I couldn't make brownies or cookies instead.  No blondies for him!

I must say that I was excited to make this recipe as written because I adore walnuts & coconut, and also had some butterscotch chips that needed to be used up.  I used some toasted coconut that I had left over, and though I thought that it didn't impart much coconut flavor, the chewiness that it added was lovely!  The only change I made was to halve the recipe and bake it in a 8x8 pan.

The recipe came together very quickly, but I don't think mine were quite done at the recommended baking time of 40 minutes--the toothpick still came out wet.  However, since I love gooey cookies & brownies, I decided to go ahead and take them out anyway (a little underdone blondie never hurt me!). 

These are amazing!  I love the chewiness from all the mix-ins, the caramelly flavor, and the richness (one is definitely enough!).  I think that some of these will also be individually wrapped and frozen for treats later :).  Thanks so much to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for this pick (found on p. 108-109 of Baking From My Home to Yours) and check out the leave-your-link post from the TWD website to see who baked along this week.

TWD: another two-fer!

I was on vacation last week and was unable to make the Brrr-ownies chosen by Karen of Welcome to Our Crazy Blessed Life, but I wanted to try them b/c I knew that super-picky hubs loves brownies and York peppermint patties, so may love these as well.  I had planned to just bake that recipe for this week, but when I saw that Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities chose the Lot's of Ways Banana Cake for this week I decided to make them both--I'm always looking for a reason to use up those bananas in my freezer!
After a week with my parents and sister (and without hubs) and then a kinda weird day at the office where I am only helping to train instead of doing "my job" (and i don't have a desk or computer anymore!) I was ready to get some baking therapy.

The Brrr-ownies came first so I could let the ingredients for the banana cake come to room temp.  I had read lots about peppermint patty craters in the tops and brownies sticking to the foil, so to remedy those issues, I popped the peppermint patties in the freezer for about 15 minutes before chopping and adding them to the mix so they wouldn't become overly melty, and I was extra careful to super-grease my foil.  I really think these came out perfectly!  Super fudgy and rich but with a lovely cool sensation.  joy in my heart!  Hubs isn't home yet, but I think he will love these :)

Then came the banana cake.  I had some toasted coconut in the freezer as well as some dried cherries, so I used those, and I was out of light brown sugar (gasp!) so I subbed white sugar and substituted 1/4 cup of it with dark brown sugar.  Other than that, I made the recipe as is--from the first ingredients listed.

first picture--once again full of fog!  stupid southern humidity

I really think that banana cake/bread is one of the best smells you can have in your home!  I decided to make it easy and bake it as a bundt, which would also make it easier to transport to my mom's house (I'm gonna share it w/her and my sister--I think they will be happy (:  )  I pulled it out of the oven, let it cool for a bit, and then scraped some of the bits that had stuck to the pan to try a taste.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Seriously, my eyes rolled back in my head.  This is heavenly!  I am so glad that I made it and I think my family will love it!  I'm gonna take them at least half the cake (sliced up on a platter) and will wrap & freeze some pieces for myself for those days when only banana cake can make the world right again ; ).

I hope you all enjoyed these recipes as much as I did!  Thanks so much to Karen & Kimberly for these wonderful picks, and visit their respective blogs for the recipes, as well as the TWD leave-you-link post to see who else baked along this week.

didn't get to it...

in case you are curiously searching for the Tart Noir chosen by Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life for this week's TWD assignment...

Well.  I didn't do it. 

Because until this afternoon we had NO FOOD.

No bread.

No meat.

No cheese.

No eggs.

And...

Horror of Horrors!!

NO BUTTER!!!!

Seriously.  How could I have possibly run out of butter?  Well, it is mostly b/c I left 3 (or more?) boxes in my best friend's refrigerator in Nashville.  (you can see here why it was there) But also b/c I hadn't been to the grocery in a long time.

So I didn't get to bake along.  And I probably won't get to next week either b/c I will be out of the state :(. 

I miss baking w/Dorie, but I bet my waistline will be glad for a break!

Instead I spent my day in my water aerobics class w/the elderly ladies and then shopping at 4 different stores: 2 for clothes, 2 for groceries.  And now my feetsies are tired (but less tired than normal b/c I had to get the dreaded cortisone injections again last week.  at least it helps in the long run!)

So that is the news for today.  I will update soon w/more things and hopefully a recap of my wonderful weekend w/my friend which has now been too long ago!

TWD: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

For this week's Tuesday with Dorie assignment, Amy Ruth of Amy Ruth Bakes chose the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake from p. 286-287. 

Once again, I contemplated skipping out b/c the cake didn't sound fabulous to me, but I forged ahead and made it very last minute...to the point where I had to stick the cake in the fridge and cut and frost it while it was still pretty warm in order to have it done by 10 pm!

Despite my procrastination, I thought it was a pretty quick and easy cake to throw together.  I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand: I ran out of regular cocoa powder halfway through so I used half regular, and half hershey's special dark.  I also didn't have enough sour cream so I used half sour cream and half vanilla yogurt.  I was kinda worried b/c both my yogurt and sour cream were low fat and I was afraid that it might make the cake less moist, but I was wrong!  (and seriously, how can you be worried about not having enough fat when there are 2 sticks of butter?!?)  I also really think that the dark cocoa  was a change for the better--I ADORE dark chocolate w/raspberry and that's what it tasted like :).  Oh yeah, and I used raspberry rhubarb jam for the filling, but I told my coworkers it was just raspberry...ooops!  I also was using a slightly smaller pan than specified so I only filled it just over halfway full and baked the remainder in my freestanding heartshaped silicon cupcake liners.

Well, I sure am glad that I made this b/c it was amazing!  The cake was extremely moist with an almost velvety texture, and though I had slight reservations about the fruit filling I thought it definitely brightened the taste.  And the frosting!  How amazing is that!?!?  All you had to do was melt some semisweet chocolate and stir in sour cream!  Amazing!  Even though I had to slice and fill the cake while it was still slightly warm, I had no trouble at all cutting the layers and stacking them.

With my cupcakes I sliced each one in half and tried a few different fillings: nutella, chocolate peanut butter, and one with the jam.  As much as I love those chocolate spreads, the jam was definitely my favorite.  I don't know why, but the one I filled with nutella tasted very cinnamonny--and of course there was no cinnamon in the cake...weird.

Sadly, I did not get good pictures.  I waited until right before leaving for work this morning to try and get a good natural light shot, but it is so miserably hot and humid that this is what I got:

 It fogged my lens up! 

The first one up towards the top is somewhat clear, but it did not take any time at all to feel like I was photographing a fog, and by the time I got home from work, this is all that was left:

The cake was a hit at the office, except for sweet Larissa (though she still ate two pieces I think...).  She took a bite before I told her there was a fruit filling and just looked at me weird. Then she asked it it was orange or pineapple!  heehee--silly friend.  Hubs was also intrigued by the cake--he saw it on the counter and said "Cool! It looks like a meatloaf!"  which I don't understand b/c he HATES meatloaf and usually refers to it as gross.  But he didn't try it due to the jam.  Silly boy.

Thanks so much to Amy Ruth for this pick, and be sure to visit the TWD LYL post to see who baked along this week!

TWD: Raisin(less) swirl bread

I am one of those bakers who has been afraid of yeast for some reason.  I know why:  early in my marriage to hubs, I had just gotten some cookbooks and decided to make some homemade yeast bread.  I had never done it before, but was not afraid.  I got my ingredients out, mixed everything together...and it didn't really rise.  But I was (as I regularly am) confused...I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me and that it really did rise and I just didn't realize it...so I went ahead and baked it.  And it was hard as a rock.  Turned out that my yeast had expired. 

I didn't try yeast again (though I regularly bake sourdough bread) until I made this bread earlier in the year.  It was wonderful, so when I saw that Susan of food.baby chose the (yeasted) raisin swirl bread from pp. 59-60 of Baking from My Home to Yours, I was excited to try again. 

I'm a big fan of cinnamon raisin swirl bread, but after scanning the ingredient list I realized that if I left out the raisins, it would be a big hit w/hubs, so I thoughtfully made a raisinless bread and doubled the cinnamon & sugar in the swirl. 

right out of the oven 

It is SO GOOD!!!  As soon as it came out of the oven we were tearing off bits and yumming it up.  There is still some left b/c it has been a whirlwind few days and I spend yesterday in Louisville and he is in Lexington today, but I enjoyed a slice toasted and buttered today and fell in love!

Thanks to Susan for your pick, and check at the LYL post on the TWD site to see who baked along this week!