Baking With Dorie – Miso-Maple Loaf

October 19, 2021October 19, 2021 ~ Teresa ~ 17 Comments

Like many of the Around My French Table blogging alumni, I only dip into our group posts occasionally these days, but I thought I’d join in to celebrate the release of Dorie’s new cookbook. It’s a baking book, which makes me happy, as baking has always been my favourite thing to do in the kitchen. The excellent folks at Pulpfiction Books made sure I’d have my copy right on time, but if you haven’t picked yours up yet, you can find the recipe at NYT Cooking.

The inaugural recipe for this round of Tuesdays with Dorie was included with the pre-order sampler I received, along with three other recipes to get us excited about the new book, so I’ve been able to make this recipe twice (along with some lovely chocolate chip cookies). For my first run through this recipe, I made it as a 9″ cake for a family dinner. The second time I made mini-loaves to share. It’s an easy recipe to put together, as most loaves are, using ingredients I always have around the kitchen.

It’s not the method that you’ll be thinking about when you’ve made this (especially since Dorie’s instructions are so good that you’ll barely be aware of being guided through the recipe). It’s the aroma of this loaf that will haunt you. The mix of bright citrus, floral vanilla, earthy miso, and sweet maple was wholly surprising and delightful.

I have to say that at least one of my family members was a little hesitant to try this, but they changed their minds when they took a bite. It’s a satisfying dessert – not too sweet, with an subtle undercurrent of earthiness from the miso and just enough citrus and salt to bring all the elements together. I glazed mine with apricot jam for a little dinner party shine, but it would be just as nice without, with butter, or with a swipe of jam after toasting.

The very first group link for Baking With Dorie can be found here at Tuesdays with Dorie

And if I’ve piqued your interest about Dorie’s latest book, you can read all about it here: Baking with Dorie, Sweet, Salty & Simple

Baking Chez Moi – Double Chocolate Marble Cake

April 9, 2019April 10, 2019 ~ Teresa ~ 8 Comments

A simple midweek cake that’s made elegant with white and dark chocolate and spiked with vanilla and almond.

I made them in mini pans, which is what I always seem to do with quick breads these days. My larger pans are used for loaves of bread, not cake. The minis are great for sharing, or freezing and saving for later.

These ones disappeared too fast for freezing.

You can find the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie crew’s entries on this month’s recipes from Baking Chez Moi here.

Dorie’s Cookies – Cranberry Five-Spice Cookies

November 20, 2018November 20, 2018 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

I baked up a storm the last two weekends, helping stock the bake sale table at the craft fair my mother organizes every year. I made three selections from Dorie’s Cookies this year, including the Cranberry Spice Cookies that were one of this month’s selections. I took out some squash that I’d frozen to make the variation of the Sweet Potato Pie Bars, but my mother got hold of it and turned it into several delicious creations of her own, instead. Luckily, I’ve got a really big squash ready to roast, so I’ll make those bars some time before the holidays.

I also made the Peanut Brownie Sablés and the Melody Cookies (in snowflake form!), along with several batches of cookies from other cookbooks and recipe cards. I managed to taste a couple of cookies along the way (thank goodness for broken cookies!), but I was in production mode, so didn’t take great photos of any of them.

I am going to have to make all of these again, at a time when they’re not earmarked for sale – they were all so delicious that I was sorry all I got was a share of the very few broken bits when they were unpacked. The Cranberry Five-Spice Cookies were especially lovely, because they’re not sweet – amongst all the sugar bombs on the table, they made a nice contrast. I loved the way the butter and cranberries played against the spices. It’s a perfect cookie for a grown up dessert tray or a grown up cocktail nibble.

I may not have gotten to eat many cookies this weekend, but I’m going to steal one of their ideas for my next cookie swap – the mix and match table was a huge hit!

November’s Dorie’s Cookies goodness can be found here and here at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Baking Chez Moi – Bettelman

October 9, 2018October 9, 2018 ~ Teresa ~ 7 Comments

The hardest part about this recipe for me was refraining from eating half the loaf of brioche I’d baked with this week’s recipe in mind. I used Dorie’s recipe from the back of Baking Chez Moi for the bread, which always works perfectly. I enjoyed several mornings (and evenings, if I’m being honest) of toast and jam before reserving the rest for this bread pudding.

The Bettelman itself is a breeze to make. My favourite part was pouring the hot milk over the bits of brioche in the bowl. The kitchen filled with the most amazing aroma – think freshly baked brioche mingled with custard. This is further enriched with vanilla, cinnamon, apples, and rum. I skipped the raisins, being me. When it’s baked, just as Dorie said, the Bettelman is more cake-like than conventional bread pudding, but it still retains the comforting softness and richness of its plainer cousin.

Bettelman was once thought of as economical food, saving scraps and turning them into something new. These days, it comes across more as a decadent treat. For me, it was a wonderful way to kick off a holiday long weekend with family, providing us with a comforting treat before the serious feasting began.

You can find the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie crew’s entries on this month’s recipes from Baking Chez Moi here.

Tuesdays with Dorie – September Omnibus Edition

September 19, 2018September 25, 2018 ~ Teresa ~ 12 Comments

Summer is fading quickly, but I’m trying to enjoy the last of the flowers before turning my attention to the changing leaves.

For the first time in forever, it seems, I’ve managed to bake all the selections for this month’s Tuesdays with Dorie. Strange that it happened in a month in I was too busy to blog. So, I’m treating (?) you to an omnibus post of all September’s Baking Chez Moi and Dorie’s Cookies treats.

Smoothest, Silkiest, Creamiest, Tartest Lime Tart

I made a full-sized version of this tart for my parents to take to one of their semi-annual get-togethers with some of their oldest friends. I held aside a bit of dough and a bit of filling to make a cook’s treat version for myself and it’s almost prettier than the larger version. To be fair, the one my parents got was whisked off before I could get a very good photo of it, but you can get a sense of how pretty it was even from this shot:

There isn’t much to say about this tart that isn’t expressed in its name, but I’ll add that it was a hit with my parents and their friends. I was left wishing I’d made a full-sized tart to keep on hand for myself. 😉

Basque Macarons

These are delicious in an entirely different way than their more famous (here, at least) cousins. They are crispy around the edges and chewy in the centre, with a caramel note that I can’t resist. Mine aren’t quite what they should be. I got carried away when spooning them out (they’re huge!) and I think I overworked the batter a touch (a byproduct of feeling a little overworked myself, perhaps). They were still delicious, just lacking the shape and crackled texture they should have had.

You can find the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie crew’s entries on this month’s recipes from Baking Chez Moi here and here.

Double-Buckwheat Double-Chocolate Cookies

I split this dough into two logs, leaving one in my mother’s freezer with baking directions attached. I’m now sorry I did, because I baked these before a meeting and almost missed my chance to try them. My very generous meeting mates saved two for me, though, so I can attest these are delicious. I snuck a spoonful of cocoa nibs into the batter, after A Whisk & A Spoon‘s example, and they added yet another delicious element. Buckwheat on buckwheat with chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, topped with a little sugar and Maldon salt – don’t you wish you had a plateful of that? I do.

Devil’s Food Wafflets with Chocolate Sauce

These are just made for a Sunday brunch potluck. They’d disappear as soon as they came off the iron and the only danger would be streaks of chocolate across your counter as your guests dipped them into the chocolate sauce. I made a half-portion of the chocolate sauce, as I froze most of these, half for my parents and half for my uncle (there are perks to being seniors now, they’ve told me). There was sauce left over after we snacked on about a quarter of the batch, which I’m told made a nice accompaniment for my parents’ ice cream dessert. The waffles are light, rich, and not too sweet – a perfect foil for the chocolate sauce, but I suspect they’d be just as welcome with a dusting of icing sugar.

July’s Dorie’s Cookies goodness can be found here and here at Tuesdays with Dorie.

A whirlwind round up of a month of baking. I may not have had the time to post about them, but I’m glad I made the time to make these recipes. Baking is my most reliable salve for hectic times.

Tuesdays With Dorie – Cold Chocolate Crémeux, Wine-Poached Cherries and Lots of Crumbs & Rosemary-Parm Cookies

August 28, 2018August 28, 2018 ~ Teresa ~ 7 Comments

It’s one of those rare months when I’ve had the opportunity to make everything on the schedule for this month’s Tuesdays with Dorie picks. I even managed to post about them, twice!

Cold Chocolate Crémeux, Wine-Poached Cherries and Lots of Crumbs

The first dessert is one I’ve been meaning to try since I got the book. Cherry season is fleeting, though, and I’ve never managed to get ’round to this one until I had the extra prompting of having it on the Baking Chez Moi schedule. I’ve been missing out. All the components of this dessert are delicious in their own right and together they make a beautiful and delicious treat. I made this dessert on the same day as I made the Babas with Pineapple for Cook the Book Fridays. I gave some of each to my parents, with the following instructions:

Baba + pineapple + whipped cream.

Crémeux + cherries + cocoa crumbs.

They quite happily followed (then flouted) my instructions and loved every bit of them.

As did I. The crémeux was a joy to make and managed to be perfectly smooth and creamy without straining. I love the texture that gelatin gave the pudding, which was so rich and chocolatey that it could pass for ganache. The cherries were wonderful poached in wine and I made extra, which gave my morning yogurt a little sophistication once the crémeux was gone.

The crumbs, though. I’m not sure how happy I am to know how easy it is to make them. They were incredible in the dessert and could easily be added to, well, almost everything. It reminds me of whenever I’ve made the caramelized Rice Krispies for Dorie’s Crispy-Topped Brown Sugar Bars. Everyone wants them in everything.

The best part of this week’s dessert is how easy it was to schedule and make an impressive multi-part dessert. I’m considering organizing a neighbourhood dessert party this winter, mostly because it helps me distribute my baked goods. I’d love to have a dessert bar loaded with components of desserts that people can mix and match, as my parents did with the desserts I left for them.

Rosemary-Parm Cookies

I’ve been procrastinating about this one, even though I was the one who suggested it for the schedule. My rosemary plant is prolific, I’ve got all the ingredients on hand, and I can’t wait to try them. What I haven’t had is a good occasion for them. These are cookies I want to pass around, seeing what everyone thinks. So, I’m making them as I write this post – something I do quite a lot, come to think of it. My compromise was to divide the dough into three, one small one to bake off tonight and two larger disks for when the occasion calls for some adventurous cookies.

The dough itself comes together beautifully and my hands and my kitchen are still fragrant with rosemary-sugar. I love Dorie’s trick of rubbing aromatics into sugar more than just for its effectiveness at distributing flavour. It’s a soothing process that engages the senses, making me more attuned to the texture and fragrance of the dough as I work it in turn. The perfume it leaves behind makes its hour-long rest in the refrigerator seem longer, though.

My impatience was warranted, by the way. These cookies are sandy in the best sablé cookie manner, they’re flavour is both delicate and earthy, barely sweet and just a touch salty. The rosemary and Parmesan don’t overwhelm, while the pecans give a nutty undertone rather than taking centre stage.

It’s a balanced, pretty, delicious little cookie and I’m looking forward to taking out the remaining discs of dough when it’s time to share.

You can find the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie crew’s entries on this month’s recipes from Baking Chez Moi here and here.

AND

August’s Dorie’s Cookies goodness can be found here and here at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Baking Chez Moi – Almond, Ginger, and Olive Oil Cake

August 14, 2018August 14, 2018 ~ Teresa ~ 6 Comments

People are hard, including me. Even the simplest interactions can so easily go awry and the work that it takes to negotiate one another is life-long. I mean, it’s worth it when we forge friendships that can withstand misunderstandings and differences, when we accomplish things despite the obstacles that are so often one another, when we love the imperfection in ourselves and others.

And on those days when those things are hard to envision, I will show you I care by baking way too much, way too often. It’s also how I show a little care for myself, because the challenges of the kitchen may also be life-long, but they are manageable, predictable, and measurable mostly against my last effort. I am kind to myself in the kitchen, in a way that I am not often in other spheres of endeavour. I’ll never win any prizes for icing work, but you’ll enjoy every last bite and that’s enough for me.

So, in the middle of a difficult day, in the middle of a difficult week, I took the time to bake these cakes. I made them in mini-loaf pans so that I can freeze some to share later, in gestures that are equally for my own pleasure and that of the recipients. I also made them to share with you, in a probably mostly selfish act of connection which may (I hope) bring some pleasure to you, too.

Especially if you go ahead and make some for yourselves. I used almond flour in place of hazelnut, because it’s not the sort of week that I’m looking for any ingredients I don’t already have on hand. But ginger and olive oil taste just as good against a background of almond and polenta, I suspect. These cakes are moist and dense in the best possible way and I’m almost sad to put the rest away in the freezer. I won’t be any longer, though, when I have the opportunity to share them.

You can find the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie crew’s entries on this month’s recipes from Baking Chez Moi here.

Dorie’s Cookies – Chocolate-Raspberry Thumbprints

August 7, 2018August 7, 2018 ~ Teresa ~ 11 Comments

I’ve been working a lot in the vegetable garden lately: moving my decade-old thyme from a pot that it literally burst out of to a bed near my fig tree; repotting the miraculously long-lived oregano that was the thyme’s companion; training my squash and mouse melon vines along their trellises; harvesting whatever’s been ripening along the way (quite a lot of kale this year). But, I’ve also been planting more pollinator-friendly perennials and leaving a lot of my plants to the bees this year. I’m grateful for all the goodness pollinators give us and I want to nourish them as long as I can before this neighbourhood is converted to a tower-filled concrete heat island.

I’ve not harvested many squash blossoms this year and I’ve let more of my herbs go to seed than is prudent for human purposes. In return, my fruits and vegetables have been plentiful (though I didn’t plant as much as I would have liked this year). I’ve also worked my way through loads of berries, cherries (sour and sweet), figs (from my own tree), and am deep into stone fruit now. I just picked a tromboncino squash that barely fits into my refrigerator and I have almost more green beans than I know what to do with. That’s a lie, there are never enough freshly picked green beans.

I’ve managed to do a bit of baking, too. This week’s cookie might not include anything from my own garden, but its ingredients are pollinators’ gifts that I’m grateful for. The combination of raspberry and chocolate is a classic and irresistible one and these cookies showcase that beautifully.

Dorie’s Do-Almost-Anything doughs are ones to keep in mind any time you’ve got a lot of cookie-baking in mind. Both the vanilla and chocolate produce quadruple batches of cookie dough and Dorie provides four recipes for each in Dorie’s Cookies.

At this time of year, my freezer is a little full, so I only made a half batch of the chocolate dough. I only baked 15 cookies, though, so I still have a bag bursting full of the prepared balls for future cookies. I’ll make more of these, for certain, but I may also experiment with fillings and toppings, too.

I sent a dozen of the cookies home with my parents, who have reported that they love them, and kept three for myself to enjoy. Normally, I would not be so abstemious, but I have at least a pound of cherries in the fridge, a fig version of Feast’s lunar cake just baked, and a tiny apple pie, too. So, I’m going to wait to bake more of these cookies, even though I wish I hadn’t sent so many of them out of the house!

I’ve made rolled out cookies with this dough in the past and have found it very easy to work with. It’s even easier to form into balls and press the indentation for the jam with a knuckle. I used a raspberry jam that only ran a little, firming up nicely once the cookies had cooled. After drizzling a bit of melted chocolate on each, they were done and delicious.

I can’t promise I’ll make it all the way to fall without making some more of these, even if it’s high stone fruit season and I really should be making some pies…

July’s Dorie’s Cookies goodness can be found here at Tuesdays with Dorie.