almond – will garden for cake

Moroccan Semolina and Almond Cookies; a Tuesdays with Dorie post

Published on March 27, 2019 by alisahuntsman5 Comments

It has been a while since I have had the time to join in with the TWD members. There are so many reasons that I haven’t participated, from the fact that I am not happy with my tiny oven (so tiny that I can only bake 2 quarter sized sheet pans at a time and they do not bake evenly), to the complete lack of light in my house (natural light that flows in, not actual lights), so let’s just say that I haven’t really felt like joining in on the fun. After fighting with it all for 2 years, I have figured a few things out and I finally found my spot in the house for photos; of course, this could all change if I make the changes here that I am hoping to make.

So how do they taste? The flavor is slightly floral from the use of vanilla and orange blossom extract but while the lemon zest still stands out, it is a bit more subtle than I expected. Semolina is the key to the sandy texture but not quite as obvious flavor wise, just be sure to use the right one! The almond flour is used raw rather than toasted and while it added a bit of texture and a slightly nutty flavor, it really wasn’t very obvious so I might try toasting it a bit first next time, and there will be a next time! Overall, this would not be my first choice but I was surprised and I can see making these again.

But enough about me, let’s talk about these cookies! What I love most about the book Dorie’s Cookies is the size of the recipes. It may sound like an odd thing to say but large recipes are really inconvenient in my kitchen. My oven is so small that I cannot put anything larger than 15 inches in it; 15 inches wide or 15 inches deep. This means that most standard sized cookie sheets will not fit and that leaves me with few options. What does fit is quarter sized sheet pans and then, only 2 at a time with about a dozen cookies on each pan. If I make a large number of cookies, I can spend an hour or more just baking them. This book eliminates that problem since most of the recipes are so small that I find I can usually get them baked in only two batches.

There is another advantage to small recipes, and not just the eating them all part; ingredients. It is a relatively small investment in the ingredients if the recipe is small and the ingredients are expensive. A huge plus in the “make these” column for me. It can also leave room for experimentation, something I think this particular recipe would be perfect for.

First, let’s talk about semolina. This flour is usually found in pasta and bread recipes and there are different types available. The one I keep in my freezer is a finely ground semola, imported from Italy and perfect for making semolina bread. It is not perfect for these cookies, it is so fine that it made the cookies a little denser than I would have liked. Purchase the semolina found in the imported food section or in a Middle Eastern market; it is slightly coarser and perfect for this recipe because it is a large part of the sandy texture that the cookies have.

Next, use a scoop to portion the dough; it will save you a bunch of time. The scoop I used was a #50 and it made 48 cookies which were slightly smaller than the recipe called for but I wanted them small. A #40 scoop would probably be the perfect size to reach the yield listed in the recipe.

Lastly, this recipe is one I like to call a blank slate or a jumping point. It is wonderful as is but easy to change. Not a lemon fan, use orange zest. Don’t have orange flower water, use vanilla or even rosewater. Want a different flavor altogether, sub hazelnut meal for the almond meal. The combinations go on and on. The point here, do not be afraid to make these with the ingredients that the recipe calls for but if you need to substitute ingredients, it will work-with the exception of the semolina; that goes a long way towards the final texture of the cookie and should not be changed.

The bottom line, buy the book and make the cookies, seriously, you won’t regret it. And if you are wondering, we never publish the recipes out of respect for the author, so you will need to buy or borrow the book to get it!

matcha financiers; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on March 21, 2016March 7, 2016 by alisahuntsman13 Comments

A while back, I picked up a little tin of matcha tea so that I could try baking with it. Needless to say, it has been living on the spice rack in the pantry and would probably still be there, unopened, if the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers had not chosen to make matcha financiers this week!

Since we are trying to lose a little weight here, I only made a third of the recipe which gave me 10 little cakes. My new pan, one I found on my last trip to Pennsylvania, is actually for popovers and for some reason, it only has 7 cups in it which meant I had to use 2 pans. The ones I baked in the muffin pan, a black-nonstick pan, are on the right side of the photo. The look very different from the ones baked in my aluminum popover pan.

Not only did they look different, they also came out shorter and much darker. Beleive it or not, I used a portion scoop and each one is the same amount of batter-the pans were just so different that it really shows in the baked cakes above.

Matcha tea is not easy to find and I picked mine up in a spice shop that also sells teas. The tin is so cute but if you notice the size of my measuring spoons next to it, you should see that it is also tiny; it holds barely 2 tablespoons!

My new, old pan. It is a fairly heavy gauge, aluminum popover pan and the cups are nice and deep. Best part, I think I spent $3.00 for it!

A side view of the cups-nice and deep

The photo in the book has very bright green cakes but the recipe tells you that the batter will be a pea green. Mine are definitely pea green which makes me wonder about the photo in the book. The day these were baked, the flavor was a little grassy and I did not care for them but as they aged for a day or two, the flavor improved, a lot. These may make another appearance in our kitchen, but not for a while-we really need to get back on track with the diet!

To see how the other bakers did, visit the website. Feel like baking along with us? Pick up a copy of the book and head to the kitchen!

pear-almond baby loaves; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on November 3, 2015 by alisahuntsman10 Comments

Now that I am home full-time, not only do I plan to work on my book, I also plan to participate with the Tuesdays with Dorie group more. This week, we are working from the book Baking with Julia and the chosen recipe is for Hazelnut baby loaves. The recipe is actually for a small loaf cake and requires an unusual pan size. Most mini loaf pans are 5″ x 3″ x 2″ or a close approximation to that but the recipe calls for eight 4″ x 2″ x 2″ pans and I only have three-hard to believe. After looking in a couple of shops, I could only find the 5″ pans and had no desire to buy a big baking plaque for loaves in that size (think rectangular cupcake pan) so I did the next best thing; I used a muffin pan.

My tale of woe does not end here. When one isn’t working, one watches spending and I could not bring myself to spend $6 on hazelnuts when I only needed 1/3 cup so I used 1/4 cup of almond flour, something I am apparently hoarding in my freezer.

When my husband and I went to the not so local International market on Sunday, I stocked up on tiny pears. They had both Fourelle and Seckel pears and I chose a half-dozen of each. What can I say, I happen to love pears and was thinking of something I saw on Pinterest recently and thought I would give it a try. First I poached the pears. To do this, I placed the peeled pears-stems and cores left in place, into a saucepan with 1/2 cup ruby port, 1/2 cup apple cider, 2 cups water, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1 cardamom pod, 1 star anise pod, a 1″ piece of vanilla bean, 3 whole allspice and 5 whole black pepper corns. With the heat at medium-low, I allowed the pears to simmer gently, turning them occasionally so they would color evenly until they were tender when a knife tip was inserted. The pears were allowed to sit in the liquid until mostly cooled and then were carefully lifted out and placed in a dish lined with a paper towel and placed in the fridge over night.

The recipe also called for creme fraiche and since I had some heavy cream and cultured buttermilk, I made my own by pouring 1 cup of cream into a glass measuring cup, then I stirred in a tablespoon of buttermilk and let it sit out overnight. It was pretty thick-I may have added a bit more than a tablespoon of buttermilk.

Having toasted the almond flour, I proceeded with the recipe but doubled the almond extract to give it a bit of a frangipan flavor. The batter was divided between the pans and the pears were pressed into the batter. A little of sprinkle of Demerara sugar over the top and into the oven they went.

They baked up beautifully; the pears only added about 5 extra minutes of baking time. They needed to cool in the pans so that the cake could set and support the pears. However, the greasing/flouring of the pans allowed them to slip out undamaged.

To get an idea of what the pears were like, the front left is a Seckel pear, the front right is a Fourelle pear and in the rear is a fully ripened Comice pear. Can you see the difference in size? The Comice pear was easily twice the size of the others but all were ripe and juicy and when poached, they held their shape without falling to pieces.
The syrup on the plate is actually the poaching liquid. After I removed the pears, I had about 2 cups of liquid and using the same sauce pan over medium-low heat, it was reduced down to slightly less than a cup. It is flavorful and a beautiful ruby color and I am thinking it will make some wonderful cocktails…My only thought on this, the cake was not very sweet. While my first impulse is to add more sugar next time, I think in this case, more syrup and possibly a scoop of ice cream would do the trick nicely.

Until next week, bake on friends. To see how the other participants made out with this recipe, check the website and consider joining in on the fun!

tiger cakes; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on October 13, 2015October 13, 2015 by alisahuntsman24 Comments

It was a tough decision but I had to do it. Last week, I gave notice to my employer that I would be leaving. For the last two years, I have wanted to write another book. A while back, I did co-write a proposal and unfortunately, it flopped. The publishers that read it ultimately chose to pass on it and after all was said and done, I was done with it too. The whole process led me on a journey to figure out what I want to do and what I want to write about and after some major soul-searching and more than a couple of pity parties, I finally figured it all out. Well, most of it anyway, and thanks to a consultation with a literary agent, an even better and more focused plan is beginning to emerge. This proposal will focus on things I love so you know it will involve baking. But for now, I will leave it at that; you will just have to wait to hear more about it…

While I work on that proposal, I am trying to get back to things I love doing and Tuesdays with Dorie is one of those things that I have truly missed. If things go as planned, I will get caught up and make all of the recipes I missed over the last 6 months. This week, we are baking from Baking Chez Moi and our chosen recipe is for Tiger Cakes.

Can you say “easy peasy” because that is what this recipe was-easy; crazy easy and quick and topped with ganache. The batter mixes up quicker than you think, it actually takes longer to measure out the ingredients than it does to whisk them together! The main ingredient is almond flour and it is whisked into egg whites and sugar with a bit of flour and a generous helping of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate. These decadent little cakes are moist and chewy and as if that wasn’t enough, they get dressed up with a bittersweet chocolate ganache.

Join us, bake from Dorie Greenspan’s books, Baking Chez Moi and Baking with Julia; to see how the other bakers made out with the recipes, check the website, Tuesdays with Dorie.