Category: tuesdays with dorie

twd: hungarian shortbread with rose hip jam

Published on by alisahuntsman5 Comments

 and with the blink of an eye, it is tuesday with dorie time again.  this weeks adventure, hungarian shortbread, is hosted by lynette of 1 small kitchen and cher of the not so exciting adventures of a dabbler.  shortbread, seems easy enough, right.  not according to the recipe.  the headnote warns us that shortbread can be tough to work with and that luckily for us, this easy recipe will save us.  well, i have made many batches of shortbread and while it can be tricky in a warm kitchen, i would not say it is tough to work with.  this recipe is unusual in that the dough is frozen and then grated into the pan.  hard to believe, but true.

i made my dough the night before and froze it.  then i cut it in half and grated half into my baking pan.  since there is just the two of us, i opted to just make a half batch and i baked it in a pie plate.

 looks like grated cheese-nachos anyone???

 i sneaked a peak at the chatter page and the consensus seemed to be that baking the bottom crust was necessary.  i trooped on in full force and pre baked the bottom.


 the recipe called for making a rhubarb jam or using something store bought-i opted for store bought and used a jar of rose hip jam that has been in the fridge for a while.

next up, the rest of the dough is grated over the jam

into the oven it went.  over all, the bottom needs to be pre baked and the top takes a while to get nice and golden brown.

 dressed up with powdered sugar and ready for tea.  my opinion-a lot of work for something that wasn’t very much like short bread to me.  i did not get any of the sandy-flaky texture that i like in a shortbread.  it was very buttery and the bottom just did not want to bake; it stayed a little doughy even though it was much darker than the top layer.  would i make it again?  maybe but i would definitely skip the grating and just spread it into a pan.  as for the top-i say crumb topping!!!  see you in two weeks with our next baking adventure.  if you would like the recipe, visit the blog pages of our hosts, lynette and cher, or better yet, buy the book!

twd: clementine loaf cake

Published on by alisahuntsman6 Comments
and so comes along another baking with julia adventure!  today’s challenge is hosted by truc of treats and michelle of the beauty of life.  this was by far one of the easiest cakes to make.  the headnote to the recipe states it can be made in 5 minutes, 5 football minutes perhaps, but from start to finish, it will take longer than just 5 minutes.  found on page 252 of the Baking with Julia book, the recipe calls for lemon zest and as a result, it is titled “Lemon Loaf Cake” but i had a bowl of clementines that needed a purpose in this life-they became the key ingredient for this cake.

 clementines are a favorite snack around here.  we have a holiday tradition of keeping a box of them for all of the kids to snack on and i have many memories of family members lingering at the breakfast table with coffee cups and pieces of the rind stacked in little piles.  long after the holidays are done, boxes of these tasty treats still find the way to my dining room to tempt me.

 zesting the little fruits is almost tedious but well worth the effort.
 eggs are whipped with sugar and salt until foamy and blended-a quick process

 zest is whisked in and dry ingredients are sifted over the batter and whisked in gently

 some heavy cream is whisked in
 followed by melted butter and that is it!

 into the pan and into the oven-it’s so easy!!!

the fininshed cake, looks like a pound cake doesn’t it?  the comment i heard the most-it’s so light and delicate.  personally, i thought it could have had a little more heft to it, a little more fat since it seemed a tiny bit dry to me.  anyway, it didn’t last long around here.  a big round of applause goes out to truc and michelle for a job well done!

twd: irish soda bread

Published on by alisahuntsman1 Comment

every march, i make at least one batch of irish soda bread with my aunt’s recipe; it is a bittersweet ritual that usually causes me to tear up at least once.  i have blogged about it before, and if you follow that link, you will see why it can bring me to tears.  baking irish soda bread is a tradition that has been part of my life-my aunt made it every year and so did an elderly neighbor.  one thing about coming from the new york city area-there are lots of irish neighborhoods and lots of irish families and plenty of soda bread to go around.  my mother (who is irish) also has a thing for soda bread and although she does not bake it, she will send me recipes for the true bread-without the raisins and caraway, because that is how they make it in ireland.  the addition of currants and caraway is an american tradition.
for this weeks challenge, we turn to hosts cathy of my culinary mission and carla of chocolate moosey and they have posted the recipe on their blogs if you would like to try baking a loaf.  better yet, buy a copy of the book or borrow it from the library and try baking along with us some time.

 this simple bread consists of 4 ingredients; flour, buttermilk, salt and baking soda.  it mixes up easily and quickly.

 a minute of kneading will give the bread just enough structure to retain its shape and rise a little.

 a simple x on top is all that it needed
 fresh from the oven-it smells heavenly and rather like a biscuit and it tasted like a buttermilk biscuit to me

 the crumb is on the small side with a few holes so that it mimics a loaf of yeasted bread

along side a loaf of american soda bread using my aunt’s recipe-twice the joy!  thanks to our hosts cathy and carla for a lovely start to my week!  to see what everyone came up with, check the leave your link page on the tuesdays with dorie blogpage

twd: rugelach

Published on by alisahuntsman8 Comments

 well, it’s another twd/baking with julia tuesday.  this week, it’s rugelach and the festivities are hosted by margaret of the urban hiker and jessica of my baking heart and by visiting their sites, you should find the recipe but i strongly suggest you buy a copy of the book instead.  i knew that this would be an easy recipe to work with-i’ve made rugelach by the thousands over the years.  the only thing i wasn’t sure about-the lekvar filling.  when i couldn’t find it in the store, i should have made my own but ran short of time and had to substitute jam.  to anyone contemplating that idea-think twice!  jam melts and runs all over the tray leaving your rugelach to simmer in a puddle of liquid fruit.  this is especially true if you use the amount called for in the recipe-so heed the warning, if you use jam, cut back on the amount, cut way back!

 this is where the work was-gathering the ingredients and preparing them for filling the rolls of dough.  i used walnuts, figs and cherries.

 the dough was so easy to work with.  i may have an advantage with that since this is the sort of stuff i do for a living and must roll large pieces of dough out by hand regularly.

 red plum jam and apricot-all fruit jam, my suggestion-make the lekvar if you can’t find it in the store!

 topped with sugar and nuts
 here come the dried figs
 all rolled up-almost like they were folded in half; they were so fat and hard to roll nicely

 when cutting slices, i always mark the dough with a ruler and a knife first to make it easier and more consistent in size

 i had a lot of that sugar mix left over and i am sure it will end up in a coffee cake.

 out of the oven, you can see the puddle of jam and melted sugar in the middle

 so, i took the left over dough and made a round patty with it.  i rolled it out into a large circle and cut it into 12 wedges.

 brushed with a little melted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, walnuts and figs

 rolled into crescents
now, that’s what i’m talkin about!!!
many thanks to margaret and jessica.  and to all of you, bake it and send me a photo, i will post it here.  bake on my friends, bake on…

twd: chocolate truffle tartlettes

Published on by alisahuntsman10 Comments

are you ready for another tuesday with dorie?  this week’s challenge is being hosted by 4 different participants; steph, spike, jaime and jessica.  i know i was raring to go-how could you not be ready for chocolate?  since this was a chocolate challenge, i decided to make them for valentines day with my husband and one of our daughters.   both of them are fans of chocolate, especially dark chocolate but being a pastry chef, i decided to customize my tart for them.  what that means is rather than dark and white chocolate chunks and chopped biscotti being added to the tart, i opted to use dark chocolate, peanut butter cups and peanut brittle.

 first, the dough mixes up incredibly fast in the food processor.
 rather than 6 small tartlettes, i made one 9″ tart
 as always, the marbles came out of the closet with a coffee filter to serve as pie weights
 perfectly baked!
 for the filling-egg yolks are whipped with sugar to the ribbon stage

 the booty-peanut brittle, mini peanut butter cups and bittersweet chocolate were folded into the mousse filling.

 the filling in the prepared tart shell before going into the oven
 after baking-the large tart took about 25 minutes at 350 to bake
fudgy perfection!  it was a huge hit with the husband and daughter-me too!!!
many thanks to this weeks hosts-looking forward to the next challenge.  bake on friends and if you dare, bake one and send me a photo-i will post it here!  see the tarts from all of the participants here

baking with julia: white loaves

Published on by alisahuntsman7 Comments

way back when, at the beginning of my blogging days, i discovered the tuesdays with dorie group.  they were hard at work on their mission to bake every recipe from baking: from my home to yours and they did.  just before christmas, they posted their final challenge.  and then the whole bunch of them found themselves with a little time on their hands-whatever would they do with tuesdays?  luckily for everyone, and folks like me who missed out on the first run, the decision was made to do it again but this time with julia child too.

in 1996, dorie greenspan wrote the companion book to the julia child pbs series, baking with julia.  it is a large book with wonderful photos, many of which are step by step process shots, that give the user a complete idea of what things should look like as you prepare the recipe.  as a cookbook author, and more importantly a cookbook user, those are the most important parts of a recipe.  nothing is worse than choosing a recipe that is new to you, it includes unfamiliar techniques and absolutely no photos.  frustrating!!!

having borrowed the book from a friend long ago, it was always on my wish list but as a mom (with 2 kids) the priority list always placed the book way down near the bottom.  then, several years ago, my mom and i were wandering through a flea market in saylorsburg, pa and i happened to see it lying on a blanket with several other cookbooks.  i immediately snatched it and when i saw the $3 price tag, yes $3, i nearly yelled out and did a stupid fist pump.  however, i contained myself and just paid the nice lady and quickly wandered off before she realized what she just sold me and how much she should have asked me to pay.  needless to say, i have enjoyed using the book.  and now, i get to use every recipe in it, something i have never done with a cookbook before.

so, the way this works, we will post the results on tuesdays, every other tuesday to be exact but in respect for cookbook authors, the members will not post the recipes-only the host will do that.  we want you to buy a book and keep cookbook authors and publishers working.  you can check the tuesdays with dorie website to see what the next challenge is and follow the links to see the results of all of the participants.

with my baking assistant, twitch, i got to work on my bread loaves
white loaves
allowing the yeast to activate in warm water with sugar
 the kneaded dough rising in my kitchen
 after shaping the loaves, they rise until they are just above the tops of the pans
 warm from the oven….nothing comes close to the aroma of bread, warm from the oven

quite possibly the best loaf of white bread i have ever made.  it made incredible sandwiches and toast too.

what a great way to start the challenge.  the technique of adding soft butter to a dough that is already mixed is a little different but experienced bakers will recall that brioche is mixed in the same manner.  this step makes  the mixing process a little nervewracking but the results are amazing.  so follow the links and see the results of all the participants then buy the book and make some bread!

what are we baking next???  i has cookbook, i will bake kitty treats…