TWD: Toasted Almond Scones

Mike of Living Out West chose Toasted Almond Scones for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.


Wow, I really can't say enough about these scones. They were easy to make, they were soooo light and fluffy and they rose nicely. The taste was delicious(although I did add another couple tablespoons of sugar) and the toasted almonds added a nice crunch.

I will definitely make these again. Next time I'd love to try some dried cherries.

Thanks so much to Mike for a great pick and Dorie for a great recipe. If you'd like to see the recipe you can visit Mike's blog (link above) or Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

Caroline and Claire of Bake With Us chose Chocolate Oatmeal Drops for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

As you can see, I decided against making these in their intended form... drops, or cookies. After hearing about spreading, thin, greasy cookies, I thought "uh, no, not on my watch".


Since I've cut way back on sweets, I definitely don't want to waste my sweet tooth on thin cookies. Ewww!

Anyway, this is what I did: I made 1/2 batch and baked them as you would with bars or brownies, in a round 8″ pan (ungreased). I added about 2 tablespoons extra flour. I also used a hand mixer to mix in the eggs and the flour somewhat. And as usual, I left out the cinnamon since I'm not a fan of the cinnamon-chocolate combo.

And were they as good as they look? Oh yea, even better. They were AWESOME! I could have easily eaten the whole pan (had to quickly push them on the kids and their friends instead). I didn't know what to expect from the oatmeal, but it wasn't really noticeable. It made for just a slight crunch, though.

Thanks so much, Caroline and Claire! Great pick! If you'd like to see the recipe, visit Caroline and Claire's blog (link above) or check out Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

Bourbon Bread Pudding

Sharon from Simply Southern chose Bourbon Bread Pudding for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe.

I love bread pudding, but I've never been able to get it quite right when I try to make it myself. This recipe was probably the closest I've gotten to a good bread pudding. I did underbake it a little so the bottom was a tad "squishy".

If I make this again, I will make sure to bake it long enough and maybe use a shallower pan, which I think would help.

I thought the little bottle of bourbon was cute. I guess I can make all the bourbon bread pudding I want now, seeing how we don't actually drink the stuff. (Maybe there are other bourbon recipes? Hmmm.... )


OK, I guess that's it... short and sweet, like this dessert. If you'd like to see the recipe, please stop by Sharon's blog (link can be found above), or find a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

TWD: Great Grains Muffins

Christine of Happy Tummy chose Great Grains Muffins for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

These are supposed to be half-way healthy, what with the whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, and cornmeal in the mix. Healthy... unless you go renegade and add chocolate chips instead of dried fruit.


D'oh!

Yea, about that. I knew my kids would NO WAY eat these with raisins or other dried fruit. And I thought they might be a tad, well, dull without any chewies in there.

Besides, I'm on my annual health and fitness kick and I've been doing really well in the exercise and kicking-the-bad-eating-habit, so I figured, what they hay. (I've decided to try to kick, and I mean, for good, some of the worst offenders from my bad eating habits, tackling one per month. This month, I started with the worst of my worst, which is my SUGAR habit. I decided to go cold turkey and stop eating processed sugar all but one day a week. On that day, I let myself have a few of whatever I've baked for the week and maybe some M&M's at the movies. And shock of shockers, I've actually stuck with it! And even more shocking, it wasn't that BAD!! AND delightfully shocking, along with exercising regularly, I've lost about 7 pounds so far! (Who knew that not eating sugar would actually help you lose weight?! (she says sarcastically). I'm going to call the newspapers and alert everyone! (even more sarcasm)). Funny thing, putting my mind to something... somehow it worked. )

Anyway, where was I? The muffins. The muffins were decent. The taste was nice and they were moist, but there was something about the cornmeal... you either need to go all out with cornmeal, like with cornbread, or leave it out, in my opinion. Adding just a small amount to otherwise soft treats makes it kinda gritty. But I'm glad I tried them. I'm sure there were plenty of folks who liked them. I'm probably the oddball.

OK, that's that. I'll let you know how I'm doing with my February Bad Habit... cutting back on Diet Mountain Dew.

If you'd like to check out the muffins, visit Christine's blog, or Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking, "From my Home to Yours".