Tuesdays With Dorie: Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte October 27, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie is brought to you by April of Short + Rose.  She chose Dorie’s Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte which is located on pages 284-285 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  I have been very intrigued by this recipe because Dorie based it off of a Black Forest Cake with a TWIST. For this recipe, I decided to divide it in half and bake it in a 6 x 2 inch round pan.  It baked up perfectly, and then I discovered (after it was almost cool) that the inside wasn’t completely done so I had to put it back in the oven for 15 more minutes.

I decided to use rum instead of kirsch since I had rum on hand and didn’t feel like buying a 750 ml of Kirsch because the liquor store didn’t carry airplane bottles of it   I was hoping to finish this recipe in time to take it to my Nanny and PaPa’s but with having to bake it again it threw off my whole planning schedule.  While I was making this I was also putting together a birthday cake and doing my Daring Bakers’ Challenge.  Can you say procrastinator?

This turned out pretty good.  I liked the flavor, however, it is rich so I can only have it is small doses.  I have no idea what to do with it now because I currently have no one to give it away to now.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Souffle September 8, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie is brought to you by the letter S.

As in Susan of She’s Becoming DoughMessTic.

She chose Dorie’s Chocolate Soufflé, which is located on page 406 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

It has been awhile since I have made a chocolate soufflé or just a soufflé in general.  I actually remember the first time that I ever had a soufflé, it was at Carmelo’s back home in Houston, TX.  Since they make this to order you always had to order it before the meal so that they could time it to be finished baking right at the end of the meal.  We only would get it every once in a while because it is kind of a pain in the ass to get right.  As all of us have experience one time or another.  If I am remembering correctly it was a Vanilla Soufflé and it had a white dessert sauce with it.  It has been over 15 years, but I remember it being white in color   I do remember once that we ordered it and it fell before it got to the table so we were given it for free.  Which was nice and it still tasted fantastic.

The soufflé came together without too much incident.  I did have one problem.  I ended up wasting 3 egg whites because I was separating them and the yolk fell into the whites and I couldn’t remove it all.  Instead of saving the contaminated whites and making eggs later, I wasn’t thinking and threw them away :/  Oh well.

The soufflé ended up baking up perfectly and actually tasted very good.  It wasn’t too sweet and had the flavor of the chocolate.  I ended up serving it straight out of the oven with cool whip on top.  It was very yummy

Tuesdays With Dorie: Cinnamon Squares FAIL June 2, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. She chose dorie’s Cinnamon Squares which are located on pages 210-211 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.  I was really looking forward to this recipe because I LOVE cinnamon and coffeecake.

I had no issues with making the coffeecake or it baking up.  My problem came when I tried to take it out of the pan and it was stuck to the bottom.  Once I got it out of the pan, it looked horrible.  All of the filling sunk to the bottom and it was a cinnamon chocolate mess.  I tasted the coffeecake and it tasted fantastic, it was soft and moist and had a great cinnamon flavor.  I even used my really good cinnamon from Penzeys Spices, Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon.  It tasted great, but looks horrible and I have no clue why everything sunk

Enjoy the coffeecake carnage from the bottom

Tuesdays With Dorie: Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding April 21, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle.  She selected Dorie’s Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding located on pages 410-411 in Baking: From My Home to Yours. For this weeks recipe I decided that I would only make one-third of the recipe.  Of course I did this because bread pudding is my downfall, especially with raisins and a whiskey sauce

For this recipe I actually modified the recipe and the instructions a little.  I soaked the raisins in Cointreau for 30 minutes to an hour to give them a slight orange flavor and who doesn’t like oranges and chocolate together.  Also, any bread pudding that I have ever made I mixed everything together in a bowl and then let the bread soaked in it for 30 minutes.  After the thirty minutes the mixtures is then poured into a buttered casserole dish and baked without a water bath.

The final product actually turned out really good.  The bread pudding actually reminded me of the flavor of chocolate pudding.  I served it with whiskey sauce and whipped cream.

Whiskey Sauce

Source: Debra F. Weber, Your Guide to French Cuisine

8 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup whiskey  I used 1/4 cup

Melt the butter over low heat.  When it is hot, but not colored, add the confectioners’ sugar and whisk constantly until thick.  When it is very thick and hot, remove from the heat and whisk in the beaten egg until emulsified, about 2 minutes.  Whisk in the bourbon and serve warm.

Tuesdays with Dorie: 15 Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte April 14, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon.  She chose Dorie’s 15 Minutes Magic Chocolate Amaretti Torte which is located on pages 276-277 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  As soon as I saw this recipe, the first thought that went through my head was where was I going to get my Amaretti from.  I didn’t really have the time to make my own, but I guess I could :/  However, I haven’t been able to find the Amaretti that I grew up with, Lazzaroni Amaretti Di Saronno.  When I was in college there was a specialty food store that actually carried them but since I moved I couldn’t find them.  Those are the amaretti that made me want to learn how to make them, and the recipe I have actually is very close to the same flavor.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Caramel Crunch Bars February 24, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Whitney of What’s left on the table?.  She chose Dorie’s Caramel Crunch Bars which are located on pages 112-113 in Baking: From My Home to Yours. This recipe always threw me off when I looked at the picture because the picture is one of Dorie’s varations, an ice cream sandwich.

YUM!!!

This week I decided that I was going to half the recipe because there is no way that I could keep these in my apartment without eating them.  Why you ask.  Because they have espresso, chocolate, and Heath Toffee Bits.

I LOVE Heath Bars.  LOVE!!!

I knew when I was making them that they were not going to look like the picture because the Heath Toffee Bits that I bought also have bits of milk chocolate in them too.  So I guess mine are extra chocolately from the bittersweet chocolate in the crust to the bittersweet melted chocolate on top and the milk chocolate sprinkled on top.

My bars really didn’t turn out like the picture.  I halved the recipe and baked it in a 8 x 8 baking dish and I think I might have baked it a little too long (12 minutes).  But the bars tasted GREAT.  I cut them into small squares and I have been snacking on the left over bits.  If I had some ice cream I would totally make some mini ice cream sandwich

Tuesdays With Dorie: World Peace Cookies February 3, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Jessica of cookbookhabit.  She chose Dorie’s World Peace Cookies which are located on pages 138-139 in Baking: From My Home to Yours. I have seen these cookies floating around the blogosphere for awhile now, and have always wondered what they tasted like.  For some reason I didn’t think they were chocolate.  Don’t ask me why it just didn’t occur to me until I started reading the recipe.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread January 27, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Heather of Sherry Trifle, she chose Dorie’s Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread which is located on page 212 of Baking: From My Home to Yours. This weeks recipe actually intrigued me.  I don’t think that I have ever had chocolate and ginger together in one dessert, but I might be mistaken.

Making this recipe was super easy and I actually didn’t have any problems.  I ended up baking the gingerbread in an 8×8x3 baking pan and it turned out fantastic.  I love the way my apartment smelled when it was baking.  While baking this I was also making three different types of Italian Buttercream for my Wilton Course 3 Final cake.  Which is also the reason why I haven’t been posting that much this past week.  I have been trying to get all of the flowers, fondant, cake, and buttercream made that I haven’t had any real blogging time.  Sorry :/

Back to the ginger cake, I loved the cake portion but I wasn’t thrilled when the chocolate icing on top.  It was okay.  Maybe I already sugared myself out by making sure the flavors were right in the different buttercreams by the time I tried the ginger cake.  I will give it another try soon to see if I was just having an off chocolate day

Cruise on over to Heather’s site to pick up the recipe.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Chunkers September 16, 2008

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food and she chose Chocolate Chunkers on page 70 in Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.  When I read this recipe all I could think was this is going to be expensive.  Then I thought, “Crap, I have no money.”  I gathered up the ingredients in my apartment and I could make a 1/2 batch.  That is what I set out to do with a few modifications. 

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops September 9, 2008

This weeks Tuesday with Dorie was chosen by Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart. She chose Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops on page 85 in Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours. As soon as I saw this recipe I was EXCITED. I love Whoppers aka Chocolate Cover Malt Balls. YAY!!!