Double Apple Bundt Cake

 
I love Fall. It is most certainly my favorite season. I've always loved everything associated with autumn and this hasn't changed over the years. The smells of cinnamon, and other spices, lighting candles, being able to wear jeans and boots, all those things are special to me. I had to give up a few things that I always enjoyed during this time of year by living in Arizona, like the changing of the leaves or dark, rainy days, but even here fall has it's benefits and there is certainly something to be said about sitting around a fire pit on cooler (like 70 degrees F) evenings and finally being able to enjoy the outdoors without melting.

One of the things I think of immediately when it comes to fall are apple desserts. I love, any and everything apple and always look forward to being able to come up with new recipes and ideas to incorporate them. Since apples harmonize so incredibly well with all of my favorite spices, you will be seeing quite a few apple recipes over the next few weeks. One of the challenges I face when it comes to apple desserts is that my two older ones don't care for the texture of traditional apple pie. With this in mind, I tend to look for recipes that incorporate the apples in a way so that my kids don't complain. 

Dorie Greenspan once again to the rescue. This recipe caught me eye right away because it was a pretty economic cake that only required what I already had in my fridge and pantry. The cake gets double the apple flavor by incorporating not only grated apples, but also apple butter into the batter. Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger only enhance the cake without being overpowering. I left most of the cake as written but made a few tiny adjustments by dusting my Bundt cake pan with sugar instead of flour, soaking my raisins for about 30 minutes in a couple tablespoons of brandy before adding them to the batter, and last but not least, adding a couple of shakes of cinnamon to my glaze.

This cake ended up being the epitome of fall and everyone in the family loved it, even my "cooked apple challenged" kids. Most of all, I was impressed by my "I hate raisins" teenager who exclaimed that by soaking the raisins prior to baking they weren't half bad and she wasn't forced to pick them out of the cake before eating. Now that is what I call success! One small change that I would add the next time (and there will be a next time) is to reduce the sugar by about one third. I thought the cake almost bordered on being too sweet, but that's certainly nothing that can't be fixed. Great cake that will certainly make any cup of tea or coffee just a little bit better during autumn!

Double Apple Bundt Cake
(adapted from Dorie Greenspan)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup store-bought apple butter, spiced or plain (I used spiced)
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and grated (I used Granny Smith Apples)
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (I used pecans)
1/2 cup plump, moist raisins (dark or golden), soaked in 2 tablespoons brandy for 30 min.

For the icing:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. Dust the interior of the pan with sugar, then tap out the excess. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour; baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.

Working with a stand mixer; preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping the bowl as needed, for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth, thick and pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minutes after each addition; you'll have a light, fluffy batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the apple butter  don't' worry if it curdles the batter. Still on low, add the grated apples and mix to completely blend. Add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the nuts and brandy soaked raisins. Turn the batter into the Bundt pan and smooth the top of the batter with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding and cooling the cake to room temperature. If possible, once the cake completely cool, wrap well in plastic and let it stand overnight at room temperature to ripen the flavors. Ice the cake just before serving.

To make the optional icing: Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and stir in a squirt or two of orange juice. Keep adding the juice a little at a time until you have an icing that falls easily from the tip of a spoon. Stir in the ground cinnamon. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cake, letting it slide down the curves of the cake in whatever pattern it makes. Let the cake stand until the icing dries, a matter of minutes, before serving.

Savory Cheese and Chive Bread

A couple of weeks ago I found out on Twitter that Dorie Greenspan's brand new book "Around My French Table" had been released earlier than expected and since I had pre-ordered it a long time ago I received my copy a couple of days later. As I opened the cardboard box I could barely contain my excitement. This was like birthday and Christmas rolled into one. I have been a huge fan of Dorie's ever since I first received my copy of "Baking: From my home to yours", and holding her new book in my hands was so much fun. I started flipping through the substantial book, and almost immediately felt overwhelmed. There are so many incredible looking recipes in this book; anything from hors d'oeuvres, to soups, salads, meats and best of all, desserts.

I really had a very difficult time to decide which recipe to make first. I mean do you start in the front and work your way through? Do you randomly pick a recipe by closing your eyes and poking your finger on a recipe in the index? I just didn't know which direction to go. Then my youngest son decided to take the book and started flipping through the pages and found this recipe for cheese and chive bread. I guess the picture "did him in" and I don't blame him, it looked scrumptious. After looking over the recipe I knew I had my first recipe to try out. This bread is about as easy as it gets. A two bowl recipe that is literally put together in 10 minutes flat.

The recipe starts by measuring flour, baking powder, salt and pepper into a big bowl and whisking them together. In a second bowl, your wet ingredients of eggs, milk and olive oil get a good whisking as well. The wet mix gets quickly incorporated into the dry ingredients before adding in the grated and cubed cheese along with chopped chives and toasted walnuts. The finished batter gets spread into a greased loaf pan and is then ready for the oven. Now this is where this recipe gets tough. I had every single person in our house come into the kitchen during the baking of the bread with their mouth watering and wondering what smelled so incredible. I wish I could bottle this smell, which is simply drool inducing and makes the waiting time for the bread to cool very, very cruel.

This bread is so simple, yet absolutely amazing and flavorful. Ms. Greenspan did not disappoint with this recipe either, and I'm excited to be introducing my family to more french inspired dishes.  Best of all, in true Dorie fashion many of her recipes have side notes or what she likes to call "Bonne Idee" that will give you further options of how to change up already wonderful recipes. This bread was gone so quickly in our house that the next time I'm making it (and there will be a next time) I'm doubling the recipe! This is a great dish to serve along side a hearty stew or soup, and I hope you'll be giving this one a try and adding some "French flair" to your dinner table as well.

Savory Cheese and Chive Bread
(adapted from "Around my French Table" by Dorie Greenspan)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt (depending on what cheese you're using)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (or more to taste)
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 generous cup (about 4 ounces) coarsely grated Gruyere, Emmenthal, or Cheddar (I used Emmenthal)
2 ounces Gruyere, Emmenthal, or cheddar cut into very small cubes (I used Emmenthal)
1/2 cup minced fresh chives or other herbs (or thinly sliced scallions)
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped (optional)


Preparation:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and 8 -x- 4 1/2 -x- 2 3/4 -inch loaf pan. If your pan is slightly larger, go ahead and use it, but your loaf will be lower and you'll have to check it for doneness a little earlier.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and white pepper together in a large bowl.

Put the eggs in a medium bowl and whisk for about 1 minute, until they're foamy and blended. Whisk in the milk and olive oil.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and, using a sturdy rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, gently mix until the dough comes together. There's no need to be energetic - in fact, beating the dough toughens it - nor do you need to be very thorough: just stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the cheese, graded and cubed, the herbs, and the walnuts, if you're using them. You'll have a thick dough. Turn the dough into the buttered pan and even the top with the back of the spatula or spoon.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden and a slender knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and wait for about 3 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pan and turn the loaf over onto the rack; invert and cool right side up.

Ice Cream Fridays: Honey Peach Ice Cream

Welcome to another edition of Ice Cream Fridays. Every Friday you can look forward to a new ice cream recipe which will hopefully inspire you to break out your old dust covered ice cream maker that is hiding somewhere in a closet (yes, I'm talking about you). Since I'm always looking for inspiration and ideas, feel free to leave me a comment here on my blog or on my facebook page, and let me know what ice cream flavor you would like to see. Who knows, you might just get lucky and it will be featured the following week. 

With only a couple more Fridays left after today's featured post I will be retiring the Ice Cream series for the year. I'm still left with a list a mile long of different ice creams yet to try. So, picking and choosing which one to make should have been hard, but I was getting a little help in the form of a gentle nudge from my friend Sharon and facebook follower Christy. Both of them named Peach Ice Cream as their favorite flavor when I had asked a while back. I love a good peach ice cream as well, but there was only one problem with the execution, the peaches. For the life of it, I could not get my hands on decent tasting peaches. I was looking for bright red peaches, the same ones that as you bit into them the juices are running everywhere and you'd better have a napkin handy. Nope, all I could find for weeks and weeks were great looking peaches on the outside but they were hard as rocks and flavorless on the inside. My husband (the official taste tester and critic for this blog), took it upon himself to try peach after peach in search of the perfect one. Did he ever find it? Unfortunately not, so I ended up having to use some mediocre ones that "worked" since I really wanted to make this ice cream. 

While I was looking for the perfect peach ice cream, I had a couple of criteria in mind. One, it had to be full of peach flavor (this would have been achieved with better peaches) and two, it couldn't just be a vanilla base with peach chunks mixed in. So, after looking at different recipes I had narrowed it down to one from David Lebovitz and one from Dorie Greenspan. I really liked David's concept (he adds sour cream to the mix) but ended up choosing Dorie's version since I had already made a Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream earlier in the year. Dorie's version was different by including honey and I thought it sounded heavenly in combination with the peaches.
Peeled peaches are chopped and cooked with honey until soft, then the mixture is pureed. Meanwhile a basic egg custard is cooked and the peach puree is added to the finished base along with vanilla extract. I went a step further and added ground up vanilla bean to my custard for additional flavor. After a good chilling in the refrigerator, the custard is churned in the ice cream maker, and right before finishing, more diced peaches are added.

This ice cream turned out very well, despite the sub-par peaches, so I can only imagine how incredibly tasty it would be with ripe, juicy ones. I loved the subtle honey flavor that infused the ice cream throughout. My kids were not sure about this flavor when I set out to make it, but every single one of them happily emptied their bowls. I will stay on the hunt for decent peaches, and will definitely make this flavor again. Maybe next year I'll have to have a peach ice cream throw-down between Dorie and David!

Honey-Peach Ice Cream
(adapted from "Baking: From my home to yours")
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

4 large ripe peaches (about 2 pounds), peeled and pitted
1/4 cup honey
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground vanilla beans

Preparation:

Coarsely chop half the peaches into 1/2-inch chunks and toss them into a small saucepan. Add the honey and bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peaches are soft abut not mushy, about 10 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a  blender or food processor and whir to puree. Set the peach puree aside while you make the custard.

Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until very well blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid - this will temper or warm, the eggs so they don't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon; if you run your finger down the back of the spoon, the custard should not run into the track. The custard should reach at least 170 degrees F, but no more than 180 degrees F, on an instant-read thermometer. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and our the custard into a 2-quart glass measuring cup or clean heatproof bowl. Stir in the vanilla and the peach puree.

Refrigerate the custard until chilled before churning it into ice cream.

Scrape the chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. While the ice cream is churning, finely dice the remaining 2 peaches, then, just before the ice cream is thickened and ready, add the peaches and churn to blend. Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze it for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

 

My teenage daughter is a self-proclaimed chocoholic. She loves any and everything chocolate, and it usually must be included in her desserts. She will eat other desserts I make as well, but the groaning and grumbling that comes along with anything that doesn't include chocolate is quite humorous. She is the total opposite of my husband who loathes everything chocolate and loves anything made with fruit. As you can see, it can get quite difficult to accommodate both of them while keeping the peace.

A couple of weeks ago when I featured the Orange Raspberry Muffins, I first got dirty looks from my daughter, then lots of begging to find a recipe for a chocolate muffin as well. She was lucky that day and I complied. The recipe comes from one of my favorite and probably most utilized cook books "Baking: From my home to yours" by Dorie Greenspan. Her instructions are always precise and result in great baked goods that are consistent every time. This is a quickly made recipe that doesn't require much more than a bowl, a measuring cup, a whisk, and a spatula.  Chocolate is melted along with butter in a double boiler, and then added to a big bowl which includes all the measured dry ingredients along with buttermilk (which ensures a tender crumb), eggs, and vanilla. More chopped chocolate is added to the mixed batter before dividing it into muffin cups for baking.

This is a terrific chocolaty recipe that satisfied my teens craving. I really enjoyed them as well since I loved the fact that they weren't overly sweet. They also freeze wonderful and still taste great, especially if being nuked in the microwave for a few seconds. They are a great muffin that could almost be classified as a cupcake, but if you stick with the former, there won't be as much guilt attached if you have them for breakfast! So, if you love chocolate, feel free to make this recipe, and remember by adding bittersweet chocolate, one might argue the "health benefits" of this delight!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Melt the butter and half of the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; or do this in a microwave. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a  rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being through - a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffins cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a think knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Adapted from: Baking: From my home to yours

Orange Raspberry Muffins

If you've been following my blog for a bit, you know how important a good breakfast is in our house. I have a few things that I make over and over like the Morning Glory Muffins, the Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie (especially in the summer), and my freezer always has Breakfast Burritos in it. For me, it is important that my family always has the opportunity to grab something on the run that is made with wholesome, fresh, and most importantly, natural ingredients.

School is starting up again, so I was busy this weekend baking a couple of different muffins for breakfast variety. I always bake my muffins and then end up freezing most them. This way, they can either be taken out the night before to thaw on the counter, or the kids can "nuke" them for a few seconds in the microwave and are good to go. Freezing them works out perfect for us since there always seems to be something available to eat, and I don't run into the problem of food spoiling or getting stale before it can be eaten up.

Both of the muffins I chose were out of Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From my home to yours, and they are simply wonderful. The first one, which I'm featuring today, is an Orange Berry Muffin. Dorie's original recipe called for blueberries, but since I had just purchased fresh raspberries, I decided to go that route.

The muffin is made quickly and without dirtying a stand mixer. All you need is a couple of bowls, a whisk, and a spatula. The recipe has you using orange zest, which gets rubbed into the sugar (one of Dorie's trademark moves), along with the juice of the orange. Buttermilk, with the acidity of the orange makes these muffins very tender. A little bit of honey, and a very small amount of sugar (only 1/3 cup) make these muffins perfect for breakfast and let the fruit be the real star of this recipe.

These muffins were hands down one of the best fruit muffins I have ever made. I loved that they were tender, and juicy, but not too sweet. In fact, they were perfect, especially when enjoyed with a cup of coffee in the morning. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I can't wait to try these muffins again with blueberries, blackberries, or even cherries.

Orange Raspberry Muffins

(adapted from Baking: From my home to yours)

(Makes about 16 muffins)

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

About 3/4 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons honey

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups raspberries - fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)

Decorating sugar, for topping (optional)

Preparation:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Butter or spray the molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance or orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that's just the way it  should be. Stir in the raspberries. Dived the batter evenly among the muffins cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Tender Shortcakes with Chambord Raspberries

For this weeks BWD: Baking with Dorie Challenge, it was my turn again and I chose Tender Shortcakes on Page 423 and 424 in Dorie Greenspan's book

Baking: From my home to yours.

Choosing a recipe from this amazing cook book is a much harder task than one might think. For one, it has a lot of recipes and for two, every single one of them looks and sounds like it would be amazing. So in order to come up with some kind of selection process, I try to at least go with something seasonal, which eliminates about half of the recipes. This is how I decided on the shortcakes. I figured everyone in our blogroll would be able to find some kind of fresh fruit that would complete these little biscuits.

The dough is quickly made in one bowl without dirtying a lot of dishes. You have to be careful not to overwork the shortcakes, but again Dorie's instructions are always wonderful and easy to follow. Baking time is a short 15 - 18 minutes, and after briefly cooling the shortcakes you are ready to use the filling. I wasn't sure which route I was going to go since all the berries in the store looked delicious, but ultimately decided to make the recipe a little different from the traditional strawberry and used raspberries instead. To further enhance the raspberry flavor, I macerated them not only in sugar, but also in a tablespoon of Chambord which really heightened their flavor. Since the berries turned out quite sweet, I didn't think the cream needed further sugar, so I just whipped it to soft peaks and left it "au naturale".

The recipe makes about 10 shortcakes, but I went ahead and halved it with fantastic results. My alterations netted me 6 shortcakes which was perfect for my family.

These were probably the best shortcakes I have ever had and everyone in my house was in agreement. The cake part was unbelievably tender and tasty, with the raspberries and cream being a wonderful accompaniment. Dorie Greenspan definitely hit a home run with this recipe and it will go into my permanent recipe file and will be the only shortcake recipe I will use from now on.

Please go and check out the other Baking With Dorie participants blogs (which you can find on the bottom of the BWD page) and find out what they decided to do with this weeks recipe.

For our next BWD in two weeks (the 7th of June) it is Grapefruits turn with Lemon Cup Custard on Page 387.

If any of this has peeked your interest and you want to join the fun with us next time, then shoot me or Grapefruit an email and we'd be more than happy to have you.

Tender Shortcakes

~makes about 10 Shortcakes~

(Print this Recipe)

For the Biscuits:

4 cups  all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream

For the Filling:

Berries (about 1/2 cup per shortcake), hulled and slice if using strawberries (I used raspberries)

Sugar

Chambord (optional)

Lightly sweetened softly whipped cream

Directions:

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

To make the biscuits: Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces in between - and that's just right.

Pour the cream over the dry ingredients and toss and gently turn the ingredients with a fork until you've got a very soft dough. When the dough comes together, you'll probably still have dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl - just use a spatula or your hands to mix and knead the dough until it's evenly blended. Don't overdo it; it's better to have a few dry spots than an overworked dough. Even with all the flour mixed in, the dough will be soft and sticky.

Spoon out about 1/3 cup of dough for each shortcake onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between the mounts of dough. Pat each mound down until is is between 3/4 and 1 inch high. (The shortcakes can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake with out defrosting - just add at least 5 more minutes to the oven time.)

If you have more dough, repeat, cooling the baking sheet first.

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back at the midway point, until the shortcakes are puffed and give just a bit when prodded. Pull the sheet from the oven and transfer the shortcakes to a cooling rack.

To make the filling: Put the berries in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar to taste and add Chambord if desired. Let them sit for about 10 minutes , until they are juicy.

The cakes are tender and really pretty fragile, so go easy with them. Use a serrated knife and not much pressure to cut each cake in half horizontally. (Alternatively, you can use the tines of a fork to prick a ring around the middle of the shortcake, then use your fingers to gently pry the halves apart.) Put the bottom halves on plates, top with the berries - make sure to include some of the sweet juices - and spoon over some whipped cream. Put the tops on the shortcakes or lean them against the cream, my preference. If you decide to go for the open-faced shortcakes, you'll get two textures - moist and moister.

Adapted from: Baking: From my home to yours

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte

 

For this weeks BWD: Baking with Dorie Challenge, it was Elizabeth's pick again and she decided on Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte on Pages 240 - 242 in Dorie Greenspan's book

Baking: From my home to yours.

When Elizabeth emailed me her second pick I was very happy since everyone in my house loves a good cheesecake. In fact, I have so many collected cheesecake recipes that I still want to try out. I could probably blog for  a whole month straight about this topic. I mean, what is not to love about cheesecake? Usually, you have slightly sweet crust, and then the creamy, delicious, melt in your mouth ever so scrumptious cheesecake filling.

This cake is pretty easy as far as cakes go. It is made entirely in a food processor and comes together quite quickly, minus the time for chilling the crust and baking.

The crust is almost like Dorie's sweet tart crust, but instead of powdered sugar, the recipe calls for regular sugar and then some. Again, you have to be careful not to overwork the dough, but as usual, Dorie's instruction are precise, and easy to follow. The dough is pressed in a springform pan, then chilled for about 30 minutes before being baked. After baking, a berry jam is spread onto the still warm crust. I decided to go with black currant fruit spread, and I loved how it turned out.

The filling on the other hand is a departure from regular cream cheese cakes. It uses a mixture of cottage cheese, cream cheese, and a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. I have to say that I truly prefer this over an all cream cheese filling. For me, it cut some of the richness that traditional cheesecakes have, and since I was raised on Quark cheesecakes, it reminded me of my mom and childhood.

My whole family loved this cake, and even though I had intended to send some of it with my husband to work, it never happened. It was gone before I could blink an eye, which in my house means it was delicious.

For our next BWD in two weeks (the 24th of May) it is my pick with Tender Shortcakes on Page 423 and 424.

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte

(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the filling:

1/3 cup thick berry or cherry jam (I used 1/2 cup black currant fruit spread)

9 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

8 ounces (1 cup) cottage cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions:

Getting Ready: Butter a 9-inch springform pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

To Make The Crust: Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse just to blend. Toss in the pieces of butter and pulse until the mixtures resembles coarse meal. Stir the egg yolks and vanilla together with a fork, and, still pulsing the machine, add them and continue to pulse until the dough comes together in clumps and curds - restrain yourself, and don't allow the dough to form a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface. If you want to roll the dough, gather it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about 20 minutes before rolling. (I like to roll this, and all sweet crusts, between sheets of plastic wrap.) Or simply press the dough into the pan. The dough should come about 1 1/2 inches up the sides of the springform. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Fit a piece of buttered aluminum foil against the crust, covering it completely. Fill the crust lightly with rice, dried beans or pie weights and slide the sheet into the oven. Bake the crust for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5 minutes or so - you don't want the crust to get too brown. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the filling. Lower the over temperature to 350 degrees F.

To Make The Filling: Stir the jam, and spread it over the bottom of the crust - it's okay to do this while the crust is still warm.

Put the cream cheese and cottage cheese into the food processor and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times, for 2 minutes, until you've got a smooth, satiny mix. Add the sugar, salt and spices and process for another 20 seconds. With the machine running, add the eggs and process, scraping the bowl as needed, fin a final minute. Pour the filling over the jam.

Bake the cake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the filling is uniformly puffed and no longer jiggly. Gently transfer the springform pan to a cooling rack and allow the torte to cool to room temperature, during which time the filling will collapse into a think, elegant layer.

Run a blunt knife between the crust and the sides of the pan, then open and remove the sides of the springform. If the sides of the crust extended about the filing and you don't like this look, very gently saw off the excess crust using a serrated knife. Chill the torte slightly or thoroughly before serving and, if you'd like, dust the top with confectioners' sugar. 

Adapted from: Dorie Greenspan

The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

For this weeks BWD: Baking with Dorie Challenge, it was Elizabeth's first pick and she decided on The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart on Page 331 and 332 in Dorie Greenspan's book

Baking: From my home to yours.

Since I've proclaimed my love for anything citrus a few times already on this blog, I was certainly excited about making it again, yes again. When I first ordered this book and it arrived over a year ago this was one of the first recipes I made. At that time I made a few notes about the tart and stuck it next to the recipe for future use.

This tart is certainly not for the faint of heart. Between the tart crust and the lemon filling, the recipe calls for a whopping 30 tablespoons of butter!!! So most definitely not a diet food, but like everything in life, if you make it only once or twice a year and have a small piece it will fit into any lifestyle.

The Lemon Cream Tart is what lemon dreams are made out of. It has crunch from the crust, tartness from the lemon and is beyond creamy from all that butter.

I started making this tart by baking the crust. Dorie suggest either her regular sweet tart dough or any variation of it. I decided to add pistachios to mine since it sounded good in combination with the lemon. In true fashion, this tart wasn't going to be my friend either. For some reason it browned quicker than my last few and almost burned. But since at this point the crust was still intact I wasn't going to bake it again. I should have known better since as soon as I placed my filling into this wonderful light and crumbly tart shell two pieces broke of the sides.

Secondly, I started working on my lemon curd. It starts by rubbing sugar with lemon zest until moist and fragrant. Into this you whisk eggs and the lemon juice. The mixture is then put over a double boiler. No matter how hard I tried the first time I made this, or even the second time, I could not get the curd to read 180 degrees F on my instant read thermometer as Dorie's recipe recommends. 160 degrees was as high as it would go and since my curd was thick and leaving tracks (another sign), I called it a day yet again and took it off the stove. Her next step is to strain the curd through a strainer and into your blender bowl, discarding the remaining lemon zest. This was another step I skipped. I love the way lemon zest adds little specks of color in a food plus my curd was nice and smooth so I figured no straining required to dirty another dish.

After letting the lemon mixture cool for a bit, you start blending in the pieces of butter. The first time I made it I used all the butter called for in the recipe, and while the flavor was OK, the family agreed the butter was too overwhelming. So this time I kept tasting after every 5 pieces and stopped at 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) of butter. Much better flavor, and the lemon was still the star in this dish.

I mentioned my crust started breaking as soon as the filling went in. I knew I had to do something to save this tart, at least for a picture opportunity. Looking through my fridge I found some cream cheese and thought that some cream cheese frosting should do the trick. So a quick frosting was whipped up and piped along the sides to contain the "leaks" and then I decided to add a quick little piping around the edges which helped disguise some of the darker edges of the crust.

I really liked this tart since it was mighty tasty and I will probably make it again sometime if I have guests, but for casual get togethers or family occasions, I will probably stick with simple lemon bars or lemon meringue pie since I really can't justify eating this much butter all the time.

Check out Elizabeth's blog and Grapefruit's blog for the recipe and to see what they thought about this Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart.

For our next BWD in two weeks (the 10th of May) it is Elizabeth's pick again with Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte on Page 240-242. So if any of this has peeked your interest and you want to join the fun with us next time, just shoot me or Grapefruit an email and we'd be more than happy to have you.

Lots-Of-Ways Banana Cake

For this weeks BWD: Baking with Dorie Challenge, it was Grapefruit's pick once again and she decided on Lots-Of-Ways Banana Cake on Page 204 and 205 in Dorie Greenspan's book

Baking: From my home to yours.

I was ecstatic when I heard about this pick since I really love banana cake, as does the rest of my family. I've been making a great chocolaty banana cake for a long time so this recipe had to measure up to this old family favorite.

The recipe itself is more of a guide line. Dorie gives a lot of suggestions as to what ingredients you can use but ultimately with this recipe the sky is the limit since there are so many flavor combinations possible. Practically, besides the flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and bananas, nothing is written in stone, and it is up to the individual baker as to where to go from there.

I had a hard time trying to decide which direction I wanted to take with this cake since all the combinations sounded so delicious, but I finally settled on a tropical version. In addition to coconut rum, unsweetened coconut milk and sweetened coconut flakes, I added chopped dried mango and dried pineapple to the batter.

Since I had just made a two layer cake for Easter I did not want to go this route again so I decided to just use my Wilton 17 by 11 inch cookie sheet that I lined with parchment paper. I baked the cake for  25 minutes and it came out perfect. I let it cool and then proceeded to frost it with a simple sweetened whipped cream. I sprinkled some more of the dried pineapple and mango on top and cut it into bars.

The cake itself was moist right out of the oven, but the magic happened over night. The dried fruit had absorbed some of the cakes moisture and plumped up inside the cake as well as on top of the frosting. The flavors worked wonderful together and considering my husband brought home an empty cake carrier, I'm thinking his colleagues at work liked it as well.

Did it measure up to my recipe of chocolate banana cake? It did but differently, I still like the chocolate banana version better, but will add this tropical kind into my recipe files for future baking adventures. I think this is a wonderful cake that screams sunshine. As always, Dorie Greenspan and her phenomenal recipes do not disappoint.  

Check out Grapefruit's page for the recipe and Elizabeth's page to see what they thought about this cake and what twist on this recipe they came up with.

For our next BWD in two weeks (the 26th of April) it is Elizabeth's pick with The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart  on Page 331 and 332. So if any of this has peeked your interest and you want to join the fun with us next time, just shoot me or Grapefruit an email and we'd be more than happy to have you.

Toasted Coconut Custard Tart

This is the story of the  Tart that was almost not meant to be. It certainly cost me a few more gray hairs, that's for sure. I wanted to make this Coconut Custard Tart for our 18th wedding anniversary since my husband loves desserts with coconut (hence the Perfect Party Cake he chose for his birthday). I picked this dessert out of Dorie Greenspan's book; Baking: From My Home to Yours since none of her recipes have disappointed me so far. Plus, when I saw sweet tart crust filled with a smooth coconut studded pastry cream and topped with a rum infused whipped cream I was pretty much in love.

The day started out well and I was cruising along with my sweet tart dough. It's practically flour, powdered sugar, butter and one egg yolk, pulsed in a food processor until it all comes together. The dough is then pressed into a tart pan with a removable bottom, which is then put in the freezer for a bit before baking. Once my dough went into the freezer I started on the custard. It is pretty much a standard custard with milk, egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch with the only exception being a pinch of coriander. The mix gets cooked until thick, then you add butter, dark rum and vanilla. Toasted coconut gets folded in and the custard gets chilled until ready for filling.

This is when my perfect baking process started to go awry. I put the pastry lined tart pan in the oven and set my timer for 25 minutes. I guess I had forgotten to press start after I had set my timer and didn't realize my mistake until I smelled something burning. Yes, you guessed it, the sweet tart dough was a loss.

Since I was determined to make my husband this dessert I set out to re-make my tart crust. Everything came together perfect, just like the first time. This time though I didn't mess up my timer and the crust was baked to perfection. I took it out and set it on a rack to cool. After about half an hour when I returned to un-mold the crust, the sides came out off the tart pan great but when I tried to slide it off the removable bottom tray the whole crust crumbled apart on me. There was no saving this one. At this point I was ready to just call it a day and admit defeat when my middle child told me that I could get it done and "3rd times a charm".

So for the third time in one day I made the sweet tart dough. From now on I can most certainly bake this tart dough in my sleep. Finally I had reached success. Everything came together at last. The crust was beautiful, the filling delicious and the topping of whipped cream along with a little more rum, vanilla and powdered sugar plus more toasted coconut turned this into anything but your grandma's coconut cream pie. Success after all and at least my husband is certainly worth the effort after 18 years. Happy Anniversary Honey!!!