Tuesdays with Dorie 2.0

Guess what time it is... it's time for Tuesdays with Dorie, Act 2. Hard to believe we took 4 years baking through Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours". Now a bunch of us crazy bakers and bloggers have signed up to bake through another of Dorie's books "Baking with Julia".

The inaugural recipe was a humble one, "White Loaves". Yep, plain white bread.


It was my first time baking a loaf of yeast bread. I decided to bake half as a loaf and half as cinnamon rolls. I wish I'd gone with two loaves because a) this bread was a little heavy for cinnamon rolls and b) it was perfect for a wonderfully hearty piece of bread. Perfect with a slathering of butter and maybe a little better as toast... slathered with butter.

Great first recipe! I'm definitely a fan and will make this again.

If you'd like to join the fun, be sure to stop by the Tuesdays with Dorie blog and check out "The Rules". For the recipe, click on the link in the second paragraph. See you in two weeks!

TWD: Kid's Thumbprints & TWD Top 10

Wow, here it is. Finally. The L.A.S.T. recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie. After four years of baking along, week by week, here we are. I'm not going to go on and on here, because I'm sure everyone feels the same way. I just want to say thanks so much to Laurie of Slush for starting and maintining this group, along with all of the great helpers, and mostly to Dorie Greenspan for writing this most-excellent baking book from which I've learned so much and grown so much as a baker. I now feel like I could tackle most any baking recipe without getting too worked up. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

OK, for this last recipe, Dorie chose Kids Thumbprints. What a great recipe to end with. These were fantastic - slightly peanuty cookies wrapped in crushed peanuts and with a little dab of jam (or chocolate) on top. Perfect! I underbaked just a tad to keep them soft.


I'm going to share my favorite recipes from the book. Interestingly, I never knew I was such a big fan of fruit desserts before. Who knew?

My Top 10 Tuesdays with Dorie Recipes

- Coconut Butter Thins


- Blueberry Pie


- Banana Cream Pie


- Blanc-Manger


- Lenox Almond Biscotti


- Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops


- Real Butterscotch Pudding


- French Pear Tart plus I'm going to add the Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart.


Brioche Raisin Snails


- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp


OK, that's all folks. You can find all of these recipes in Dorie's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

TWD: A Fig Cake for Fall

In October, Ursula of Cookie Rookie chose A Fig Cake for Fall. Alas, no figs were to be found in October. But low and behold, I found some at my local Meijer the other day and I knew exactly what I was going to make for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, where we got to chose a rewind.

This little cake featured a cornmeal based cake with poached figs. I used red wine for the poaching liquid since that was all I had. Interestingly, my first impression when I tasted the cake was of peanut butter and jelly, of all things. Somehow the cake was nutty tasting with the cornmeal and the wine flavored figs reminded me of jelly (grape, I suppose).

It's hard to believe next week is THE. LAST. WEEK. of baking through Tuesdays with Dorie. Wow, so many recipe. I guess a "top ten" will be in order.

Anyway, If you'd like to see the recipe for the fig cake, check out Ursula's blog, or find yourself a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking, From my Home to Yours... seriously, one of the best baking books EVER.

TWD: Puffed Double Plum Tart

Since we're on the homestretch with Tuesdays with Dorie, we're doubling up on recipes to get them all done by the end of the month. This week, Laurie of Slush chose Unbelievably Good Chocolate Blueberry Ice Cream and Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen chose Puffed Double Plum Tart.

As you can see, I went with the tart. It was beyond simple thanks to the shell being made with pre-made puff pastry. You almost don't need a recipe for this type of tart. That's one great thing I've learned over the past four years, baking with the TWD gang. Desserts don't have to be hard. Heck, I'll bet if you just roasted the plums by themselves in ramekins with a little sprinkle of sugar on top, they'd be awesome.

OK, that's it for this week. We've only got TWO more weeks and this project will be a wrap. TWD will be done, finished, no more. Stay tuned!

TWD: Two Tarts - Honey Almond Fig and Normandy Apple

Wow, so many tart recipes as we come down the home stretch with Tuesdays with Dorie. Does that mean folks are scared of tarts? With their sugar cookie-like shell, I've found tarts to be much easier than pie.

Anyway, this week Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table chose Honey Almond Fig Tart. In addition, Nicole of Bakeologie chose Earl Grey Madeleines, which I didn't make but I'm sure were terrific.

I opted for canned peaches in my tart rather than figs, since figs are not to be found in stores right now.



I really loved how it looked with the peaches and the shiny nougaty-looking filling.


Sadly, my tart wasn't baked through in the middle, even after 40 minutes in the oven. We managed to munch around the outer circle, though. The overwhelming flavor in this tart was honey, with the peaches and almond taking a supporting role. If I were to bake this again, I might cut the honey by half, only because I'm a huge fan of peaches.

I'm also playing catchup from last week. I made both the Sour Cream Pumpkin Tart and the Normandy Apple Tart that Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats and Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures chose. As you can see, I only managed to photograph the apple tart.


This was a really tasty tart, with a homemade applesauce making up the bulk of the filling. The rosy color came from cooking the apple peels with the filling before straining them out. This was a big hit with the family.

I served the pumpkin tart at Thanksgiving and it was a bit hit too. The filling was a perfectly textured pumpkin flavor, just what you'd expect for the star of the Thanksgiving dessert table.

As a side note, I thought I'd mention that I didn't prebake any of the shells and they came out fine. I find that the edges of the shells come out too dark for my tastes if I prebake.

OK, that's it for now. The next few weeks will highlight the final recipes from Dorie Greenspan's outstanding book "Baking, From my Home to Yours". You can find the tart recipes in her book or at the recipe links above.

TWD: Alsatian Apple Tart

Jessica of Cookbook Habit chose Alsatian Apple Tart for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. I'm so happy this recipe was finally chosen. I came so close (twice!) to choosing this but I got lazy both times and opted for cookies instead. So, thanks Jessica!


This tart was really simple to make. Sliced apples were placed in an unbaked tart shell and a custard mixture was poured over top. Then bake and eat! I had to add a couple of shakes of cinnamon to the custard first though (apples without cinnamon is grounds for a flogging in my book).

Anyway, it was fantastic! Seriously loved it.

OK, that's it for this week. If you'd like to see the recipe, checkout the link in the first paragraph or Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

TWD: Mini Madeleines plus some Catch Up

Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook chose Mini Madeleines for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. (Valerie of Une Gamine dans la Cuisine also chose Fall Butternut Squash Pie, but it seems my childhood experiences of being made to "clean my plate" have scarred me for life when it comes to squash. Needless to say, I didn't make the pie.)

Madeleines are a cake-like cookie, baked in a special pan. They are famous for sticking to the pan and for being prized for the little hump formed on the tops if you "do it right". Sadly, mine were hump-less, but happily they didn't stick to the pan.


I'm also going to share some recipes I've made but haven't blogged about over the past few months.

Last week, Nicole of Cookies on Friday chose Far Breton. A French dessert, it's 80% custard, 20% cake. I used dried cranberries and cherries rather than the prunes and raisins called for in the recipe. I thought it looked like bacon-covered quiche.


It was definitely eggy! I liked it but then, I like eggs.


In mid-October, Hindy of Bubie’s Little Baker chose Ginger Jazzed Brownies.

These spicy little guys had both ground ginger and fresh ginger for a double whammy of ginger. As usual, when mixing spices with chocolate, I couldn't decide if I liked them or not. But they were interesting and something different.


Going all the way back to August, Margie of Tea and Scones chose Golden Brioche Loaves.

I actually made this a loooong time ago when we made one of the bread puddings (can't remember which, though). The brioche by itself was really nice. Come to think of it, I should make it again.


Also in August, Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen chose Tropical Crumble.

This was an unusual crumble made with bananas and mango. I wasn't really sure I would like it, but with the first bite... true love!! It was kind of weird, but the taste reminded me a lot of banana baby food. I remember when my kids were babies, when banana baby food was on the menu it would be - a bite for you, a bite for me, a bite for you, a bite for me... (gee, that sounds terrible, doesn't it?) I love that stuff!


I made 1/2 recipe and it fit in two mini pie pans.

Too bad I didn't have this recipe before. My poor kids would have been better fed!


Another August recipe, Caitlin of Engineer Baker chose Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf.

For me, this was just OK. One by-product of baking EVERY single recipe in a baking book is that you find out what you like and what you don't. I've found out that I'm not a huge fan of muffins, biscuits, or quickbreads. I mean, they're OK and I'm not likely to turn down banana bread, but you won't find me chosing them over cookies and pie.


Whew! That's about it. If you'd like to see the recipes, check out Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, from my Home to Yours", or click on the links (i.e. click on the names of the desserts) above.