TWD: Honey Nut Brownies & Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins

Ruh roh! Somehow two Tuesdays have gone by without me posting my Tuesdays with Dorie treats. I baked them... just didn't post them!

Anyway, this week, Suzy of Suzy Homemaker chose Honey Nut Brownies and last week, Lauryn of Bella Baker chose Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins.


First up, the brownies... from the discussion forum I heard that these "brownies" tasted more of honey than chocolate. Those that baked early advised using a honey you really like because the honey flavor was front and center. Sadly, I'm not in love with the honey I have on hand, so I used Lyle's Golden Syrup instead. Lyle's is, I believe, a British product and tastes of caramel and has a consistency much like honey. I figured it would be a perfect match. I also increased the chocolate by half again, and used cashews to add another level of tastiness.


I must say... boy, were these ever good! Wow! I couldn't stop myself from cutting off a hunk every time I walked by. I'm glad I only made 1/2 batch! Now I need to find a good honey and try them as intended.

Moving on to the Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins, they were aptly named because the day I made them the sun came out after what has seemed like forever! I get so tired of these grey, gloomy, Ohio winter skies, I just crave sunshine so badly this time of year.

Enter the muffins...


I even took them outside, risking a too-bright picture because it was so nice to see some sun.

These tasted lightly of orange and lemon and were nice and soft.


Next time I let the clouds get to me, I'm going to bake another batch of these and see if they will work their magic again on those nasty clouds.

OK, that's all folks. If you'd like to see the recipes, please check out Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, from My Home to Yours", or click on the links in the second paragraph for Suzy and Lauryn's web sites.

Daring Bakers: Orange Tian

It's Daring Bakers time again! I'm sure you can tell by this fancy-shmancy little gem of a dessert.

This is no ordinary, everyday dessert people.


From the bottom up this dessert starts with a pate sablee base (think tart crust) which is given a healthy schmear of home-made orange marmalade. Next comes the marmalade spiked whipped cream (could eat that by itself with a spoon, thank you very much). It's all topped by a layer of orange segments that have been soaked in, then sprinkled with orange caramel.



It sounds like a really complicated dessert. Fortunately it doesn't taste complicated. It tastes sweet and citrusy and light as air. Perfect for spring.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Thanks, Jennifer! I really enjoyed this one.

You can find the recipe ---> HERE.

TWD: Banana Cream Pie & Orange Cream Tart

Many thanks to Amy of Sing for Your Supper, who chose Banana Cream Pie for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe. Who doesn't love banana cream pie? (All of you banana cream pie haters, just shush ;-) )

I've made enough pie now that it doesn't strike fear in my heart like it used to. Still, I'm far from an expert.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I need to try a different pie crust recipe (sorry, Dorie! it's me, not you!). I simply can not get the edge of the crust to hold it's shape and not shrink. Following the advice of long-time pie bakers, I made sure to have plenty of dough at the edge. I chilled the dough after rolling it out and before placing it in the pan. I took extreme care not to stretch the dough while I was putting it in the pan. I chilled the crusts in their pans for over an hour before popping them in the oven.

And yet, I got shrunken, shriveled crusts...


Fortunately, the crust isn't the star of this show, the filling is. This is not your typical creamy vanilla-flavored banana cream pie filling. It's more the exotic cousin of your standard filling, with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It was the color of pale peanut butter.


It thought it tasted fantastic. I could have been easily satisfied naming it cinnamon pudding and calling it a day.

But, with the pie shells already made, it wasn't much more effort to transform it into pie...








I guess it's time for a confession. I really don't like making whipped cream. It's just sooooo much easier to grab mother's little helper out of the freezer...


Don't hate me!


I also made the Orange Cream Tart this week. I made a quarter of the recipe and it fit perfectly into a mini pie shell.


This was almost the same dessert as The Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart, with the juice being different, of course, as well as the addition of gelatin.


It was fabulous and tasted like a pie version of a Creamsicle. You can find the recipe HERE at the Brown-Eyed Baker's blog.

I really enjoyed both of these pies and would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. All in all, they made for a good baking week.

OK, see you next week, when we start a chocolate triple header.

Cake Slice: Triple Orange Chiffon Cake

I'm one of those oddballs that doesn't mind cold, blustery winters. The idea of the outside world falling dormant and hibernating for part of the year is comforting to me.


Winter is a time of quiet hibernation for people too. Gone are the evenings spent chatting with neighbors on the sidewalk and the shouts of children playing baseball in the street. In their place is a quietness, a withdrawing to the comfort and warmth of home.

Winter is special, because without it, spring would not be that magical time of re-awakening.

Sprigs of green seem to defy the odds and poke their little heads out of the cold, dark earth. Likewise, neighbors emerge from their houses, anxious for fresh air and a chance to see old friends.


This month's Cake Slice recipe was Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake, a perfect excuse to sit on the porch and catch up with neighbors.


I opted for a triple orange chiffon cake, rather than lemon. The last four desserts I've made have been lemon flavored and I was ready for a change.

I decided to kick it up a notch by using the juice from a blood orange, a mineola orange, and a regular orange. (I wish I would have taken a picture of the combined orange juice, it was a gorgeous orangish-fuschia color.) I also subbed orange juice for the water called for in the cake.


In spite of all of that orange-ness, the cake still had only a slight orange hue. But it tasted delicious, the orange cream filling was light and lovely, as was the orange spiked whipped cream icing. I personally thought the cake was a little too spongy-textured, but it tasted wonderful. (Find the recipe ----> here.)


I quartered the recipe and baked in 4" pans.


Since this cake rose nicely, it made for quite the tall and skinny cake.


OK, that's it for this month. I'll catch up with you next month for the next fabulous recipe from "Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes" by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Please be sure stop by the Cake Slice blogroll and check out how the rest of the bakers fared.

P.S. the neighbors loved this cake!