TWD: Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

Rachel of sweet tarte decided on Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

This tart was straightforward enough... sliced peaches are layered in a tart shell and simple, sweet custard is poured over, then it's topped with a layer of struesel.

I made half of the recipe, which was perfect for two mini tart shells. I used canned peaches since the peaches available at the time I made this were hard as rocks.


This was light and tasty and perfect for the dog days of summer. I have to say that if I made it again I would cram more peaches in... I didn't really think the custard brought a lot to the party. The peaches were the star of this show.

If you'd like to see the recipes, please pick up a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours", or stop by Rachel's blog.
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I wanted to share a few pictures from one part of our vacation a few weeks ago... our visit to Cedar Point, a fantastic amusement park that is a must for serious roller coaster fans.


The highlight of the park was the Top Thrill Dragster, a beast of a coaster that is so fast that you almost don't have time to be scared. Seriously, it shoots you down the track from zero to 120 miles an hour in 4 seconds. And tall... it's the second tallest coaster in the world at 420feet tall... the first over 400 feet and the first of this kind.

Pictures don't do justice to how tall it is. It is *massive*. You can see the dark blue train on the right side of the hill going up... it looks small but it probably seats 20 people.


Check out the "POV" or "point of view" video. In the aeriel view at the beginning you can see it towers over everything else in the park.



I know, I need to stop gushing. It was just so thrilling to go that FAST.

Here's a view from the gondola ride looking to the back half of the park. One thing about this park, it is long and skinny so you'll put in some serious miles. Gym shoes are a must!


The Power Tower has two sides that shoot you up and two sides that drop you down from the top. My opinion... the side that launches you up = fun. There's a moment at the top where you feel like you're floating. The side that drops you down = scary as hell! If you've ever had a dream (make that nightmare) where you're falling... yea, this is it. In real life.



If you've been there, you probably know the Raptor, it's my favorite ride anywhere... but the Maxair is my new close second. At the top all you see is your feet and blue sky. Awesome!



I could go on, but I'll stop here. I highly recommend a trip to northern Ohio if you like roller coasters. My kids love it!

TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread and Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

Oh holy cow! Am I a slacker or what? Please bear with me, it's getting to the make-or-break part of summer... the part where I question whether I am truly cut out for motherhood. Or at least summer break.

Yea, yea, enough whining, you say. We're all in the same boat here, right? So let's get on with it... last week for Tuesdays with Dorie, Natalie of Oven Love selected Oatmeal Breakfast Bread.

The week before, Katrina of Baking and Boys picked Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream.


Both recipes were fantastic! Thanks so much to Natalie and Katrina for the excellent picks.

You want to hear what a knucklehead I am? I actually left the oatmeal out of the the Oatmeal Breakfast Bread. Derrrrrr! Totally spaced it out... as in, I didn't even measure it out and forget it on the counter this time... I totally missed it as a component of this recipe.

Somehow it still came out awesome... moist and spicy and totally addictive.

And the chocolate ice cream... so tasty! The caramel and mini M&M's made for a serious sugar rush.

OK, that's it for now. I'm going to try to get some pics posted next week of our vacation to Northern Ohio and (according to my kids) the most awesome amusement park EVER!



Please visit the awesome ladies' websites for the recipes, or find yourself a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

Daring Bakers: Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.


You can see from Sunita's how-to and recipe (on her blog) that this is a thin chocolate cake first layered with cream filling and then rolled jelly-roll style. The cake is sliced and then used to line a bowl. The "bowl" of cake is then filled with ice cream and fudge. The cake is inverted and voila! An extra fancy ice cream cake.


I decided to forgo the fudge filling and do a Neapolitan theme instead. For the strawberry ice cream I blended some vanilla ice cream with strawberries in the food processor... so easy!

This was a great dessert! I loved the cake and whipped cream layer, I might have to make that by itself next time.

I can't help but thinking my cake kind of looked like a mutant-cake-monkey.



If you'd like the recipe, please visit Sunita's blog. She has a most-excellent pictorial how-to as well.

OK, can't wait to see what next month's Daring Bakers Challenge is. Hopefully it will be as fun and tasty as this one.

TWD: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Nicole of Cookies on Friday picked Chewy, Chunky Blondies for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.


What's a chewy, chunky blondie, you ask? Imagine a chocolate cookie dough with heaping piles of coconut, chopped pecans, and toffee bits thrown in and baked in bar form. Yeah, um, it was pretty much a given that these would be awesome. I loved them, the folks at the cook-out I took them to loved them.

All in all, these blondies were a grand-slam home run, I'd say.

The only issue I ran into with these lovelies is that they seemed underbaked, even with 15-20 minutes extra time in the oven. But that wasn't a problem, they were still fantastic.

Thanks Nicole for a great pick! You can stop by Nicole's blog if you'd like to see the recipe. Or, of course, getting ahold of a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours" is an option too.

OK, see you a little later on today with my Daring Baker's post. (So much baking, so little time.)

TWD: Lot’s of Ways of Banana Cake

Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities decided on Lots of Ways of Banana Cake for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe.

Thanks, Kimberly! I just happened to need to bake a cake this week because it just happened to be my birthday (which happens to be Bastille Day, the French national holiday, by the way). Maybe only we bakers understand that it's perfectly OK to make your own birthday cake. Maybe even preferred.


I just happen to love banana cake layered with chocolatey icing and smothered in cream cheese icing. It's da bomb!


Plus I just happen to love sprinkles.


And swirls of icing.

Sigh. Such a perfect birthday cake.

This was an delicious, moist cake. Even though I forgot the coconut and was too lazy to open a can of coconut milk. I'm sure those would have been welcome additions.

If you'd like to see the recipe, please visit Kimberly's blog or find yourself a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

TWD: Brrrr-ownies

Hey folks! More chocolate on the menu this week... Karen of Welcome to Our Crazy Blessed Life chose Brrrr-ownies for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe.

Brrrr-ownies are a moist, fudgey, peppermint patty filled brownie, named after Dorie's son's affinity for frozen peppermint patties.

I know, I know, you can't see any peppermint patties, can you? Well, they're there, I promise! You can't see them, but you can sure taste them. Mmmm, nice minty chocolate... these would be perfect at Christmas time.


The only downside? They majorly stuck to the buttered foil. I had to patiently scrape each and every brownie off the foil using my trusty plastic knife. I'm not sure if there's a fix for the sticking or not. If so, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

OK, signing off for now! If you'd like to find the recipe, please check out Karen's blog or find a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

TWD: Tart Noire

For this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life chose Tarte Noire. Which is to say, a tart filled with silky chocolate ganache.


It doesn't get much easier than pouring ganache into a prebaked tart shell. Ganache, just three ingredients... chocolate, cream, and butter.

It's too darn bad I'm not a big fan of ganache, LOL. I don't know what it is... maybe because it leans a little too far into the dark chocolate realm for my tastes. (Milk chocolate wimp here, waving hand, fessing up.)


Oh well, my son didn't mind eating most of the four-inch tart I made. (1/8 of the ganache recipe makes the perfect amount.)

And it gets points for being so smooth and fantastic looking.

If you'd like to try one yourself, please stop by dharmagirl's blog, or check out Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking, From my Home to Yours".