Tuesdays With Dorie: Cran-Apple Crisps November 3, 2009

For this month, we have been given an option to post about any of the November Recipes as long as it is on a Tuesday.  Since I was having issues finding all the ingredients for the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake, I decided to make the Cran-Apple Crips instead.  Fear not, I will be making the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake after I order the Chestnut Spread.  Believe me I checked everywhere: Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and local grocery stories

Todays  Tuesdays With Dorie was chosen by Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef.  She chose Dorie’s Cran-Apple Crisps which are located on page 422 in Baking: From My Home to Yours. I was very happy when this recipe popped up because my parents just came to visit and brought me Granny Smith Apples from a local orchard and who doesn’t like apples and cranberries together

For this recipe, I decided to bake it in my large Souffle dish.  Probably wasn’t the best idea, but I did it anyway.  It turned out pretty good except I think it need to cook little longer but the top was starting to darken.  I did cover it in foil and wait until the juices start to bubble. I think next time I will definitely go with a pie pan   I thought that the crisp was fantastic.  I loved the cinnamon and coconut in the crust.  I actually got someone that doesn’t like coconut at all to eat this and he loved it.  I will definitely be making this again.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Flaky Apple Turnovers September 15, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was selected by Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen.  She chose Dorie’s Flaky Apply Turnovers which are located on pages 316-317 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Apples, Cinnamon….what else in this world pairs perfectly together?

Yes, I know a lot of stuff.  But just let me imagine nothing else does

When I made the dough this afternoon, I thought wow this is easy.  While the dough had its rest time in the fridge I watched Buffy and had my rest time on the couch.  I got everything put together and the turnovers looked great before going into the oven.

AND THEN…

I was brushing them with egg wash and a seam starts to come apart and leak yummy apple juice everywhere.  I reseal it and place them in the oven.  I checked the oven a minute later and all of the seams are opening and juice is everywhere.

GRRRR!!!

Now I realize that there is nothing wrong with an ugly apple turnover.  As long as it tastes good, I am a happy camper.  But all of the thick apply goodness is leaking out and that is my favorite part.  While I waited for these to come out of the oven, I was dreading the sticky mess that was leaking all over the sheet pan that I would have to clean later :/ Thank God for Silpat

I ended up baking these bad boys for 25 minutes and they actually look pretty decent and all the filling didn’t completely come out.  I only made 1/3 of the recipe and I ended up with 6 turnovers.  Out of the six, one turned out beautiful it that “I am kinda messy but you can still see the beauty in me” way.  You can actually see the layers in the bottom half of the pastry and it puffed up beautifully.

The results, YUMMY!!!!!

FYI I wrote the end of this post 4 times and the first two times I loved what I wrote and wordpress didn’t save it right.  I swear it wasn’t user error.  I keep having to try to remember what witty comment I made and of course when you try to think back it never comes out as good as it did the first time.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Applesauce Spice Bars August 18, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Karen of Something Sweet by Karen.  She chose Dorie’s Applesauce Spice Bars, which are located on pages 117-118 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

It is on the counter.

I swear.  I have been waiting for the glaze to dry.

I will write a review as soon as I put one of those yummy applesauce spice bars in my mouth

Okay, I finally tried the applesauce spice bars this morning.  They were very yummy.  I decided to omit the nuts because I knew that I would be able to get more people the eat them :couch: without the nuts in them   I also ended up doubling the glaze because it seemed like a lot of members thought that there wasn’t enough to spread on the bars.  I thought the bars were nice and moist and the glaze added a punch of sweetness to it.  I love the glaze, don’t get me wrong.  But next time I might just dust them with some confectioners’ sugar because at times the glaze was a little too sweet for me

Tuesdays With Dorie: Parisian Apple Tartlet June 9, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Jessica of My Baking Heart.  She picked Dorie’s Parisian Apple Tartlet which is located on page 319 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  I was very happy when I saw this recipe because it is simple and currently I could take all the simplicity that I can get.  When I went to make this on monday, I realized that I had just ran out of brown sugar.  I decided to use the old standby substitution of granulated sugar and molasses.

The Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Apple Strudel May 28, 2009

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Yes, I know I am a day late.  But better late then never.

I don’t know why I kept putting off making this challenge.  I wrote it in my calendar to make it on my day off and I just flaked on it.  I guess the dough part is what was putting me off.  Funny thing is the dough was actually really easy to make and I didn’t have any trouble with anything.

The Daring Bakers’: Pizza and Toppings Challenge October 29, 2008

This months Daring Bakers’ Challenge was chosen by Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums, Sher of What Did You Eat?, and Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food.  Sher tragicly passed away in July, and Glenna, a close friend, decided to not partake in the challenge to have time to heal.  This months challenge for the Daring Bakers’ is dedicated to Sher.

This months challenge was to make a pizza crust (recipe given) and it had to have a sauce and topping.  We were given the opportunity to be as creative as we wanted to be.  When I first saw the challenge the first thing I read was that we were going to have to take a picture of ourselves throwing the pizza