TWD: Applesauce Spice Bars

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Karen of Something Sweet by Karen. She chose for us to bake the Applesauce Spice Bars from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You can find the recipe here. It is a simple recipe, and the perfect snack to get ready for Fall. I could smell the cinnamon throughout the house while the bars were baking. The only substitutions I made to the recipe is that I used nutmeg and ginger instead of the allspice, since I didn't have any on hand at the time. Also, I left out the raisins because I didn't have them as well. I wouldn't recommend making this recipe all the time because it does have a lot of butter and sugar in it, but every once in a while, it makes a nice treat.

TWD: Brownie Buttons

So after a long hiatus, I am finally back to being able to post another Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. This week's recipe is from Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen. She chose for us to bake the Brownie Buttons from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You can find the recipe here. This recipe is very simple to put together. You simply melt the chocolate with the butter and sugar, than once it is cool, you stir in the vanilla, egg, and flour. Everything is done in one pot. I didn't have any white chocolate on hand to dip the brownie buttons in like the recipe suggests, but just a sprinkling of powdered sugar worked as well. A nice, tasty, little treat. Too bad I keep wanting to pop a few in my mouth every time I walk in the kitchen.

TWD: Parisian Apple Tartlets

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Jessica of My Baking Heart. She chose for us to bake the Parisian Apple Tartlets from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You can find the recipe here. I knew that when this recipe was picked that I was going to participate this week. This recipe couldn't be simpler. It only contains four ingredients, puff pastry, apples, brown sugar, and butter. All you do is place the apples on the puff pastry, sprinkle brown sugar on top, dot with butter, and pop in the oven. I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top to give it a little spice, but other than that, I didn't make any other substitutions. My pastry took a bit longer than the recipe called for, about 30 minutes, but it was well worth the wait. These pastries are tart and sweet (I used Gala apples), and very buttery. I think this would be an elegant but easy dessert to serve to guests. I definitely will be making this again, I would love to try it with pears, plums, or peaches.

TWD: Cinnamon Squares

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures. She chose for us to bake the Cinnamon Squares from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe can be found here. I was excited to try these. The recipe is extremely easy to put together, and I really like the combination of chocolate and cinnamon. Usually I make quite few substitutions to these recipes to put my own spin on them, but this one I kept simple. The only think I changed was substitute skim milk for the whole milk because that is all I had on hand. I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference given all the butter that was in the recipe. The whole house filled up with the smell of cinnamon. The cake took about 50 minutes to bake.

I halved the recipe for the icing and only spread a thin layer of it over the cake, because I didn't want the cake to be too sweet or the chocolate to be the dominating flavor. I think this cake tasted great. I might reduce some of the sugar in the batter next time because it still was rather sweet, but not too bad. This cake goes great with coffee or milk. Another great recipe from Dorie! Be sure to check out the blogroll to see what other bloggers did.

TWD: Fresh Mango Bread

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Kelly of Baking with the Boys . She chose for us to bake the Fresh Mango Bread from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe can be found here. I have never been a huge fan of mangoes. Either I get one, and it's not ripe enough and too sour, or it just seems to have an "off" flavor for me. Nevertheless, I still keep tasting them, hoping that one day I will find that "magic" mango that will turn things around for me. So I was excited to try the Fresh Mango Bread. It's a pretty simple recipe, you don't even have to use a mixer, just a whisk and a wooden spoon. The dough is a little thick, but it eventually came together.

I made a few substitutions/alterations to the original recipe.

• I decreased the amount of white sugar from 1 cup to 1/2 cup. It just seemed like too much for me, and it would make the bread too sweet.
• I decreased the amount of ginger from 1 1/2 teaspoons to 1 teaspoon.
• I didn't have any golden raisins so I chopped up 1/2 cup of dried apricots and used them instead.
  
• I didn't use one loaf pan, I used 4 mini-loaf pans.
• I used the leftover lime zest and lime juice and made a glaze with powdered sugar to spread over the bread.
  
• Since I used mini-loaf pans, I decreased the baking time to 40 minutes.
  

The bread was really tasty. The bread was sweet and the apricots went well with the mangos, which have a really nice flavor when baked in the bread. The glaze was a great addition. The tartness of the glaze balanced out the sweetness of the bread. The Black and White Banana Loaf is still my favorite quick bread we have made so far though, but if I had some mangoes on hand, I would definitely make it again. Be sure the check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll to see what other members did with their recipes.

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Sihan of Befuddlement. She chose for us to bake the Blueberry Crumb Cake from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe can be found here. It's a simple cake to put together. I made a few substitutions, first, I used plain nonfat yogurt instead of buttermilk because I had that on hand. I substituted one of the cups of flour in the cake with whole wheat pastry flour. Also, I used cinnamon almonds in the crumb mixture instead of walnuts.

I really liked this one. The crumb topping forms a nice crust on top of the cake, and the cake underneath is light and moist. The cake is chock full of berries, and I bet that it will taste even better tomorrow. I will definitely make this again. I think that this cake would also taste great with cranberries, huckleberries, or cherries.

TWD: Lemon Cup Custard

It has been awhile since I have posted a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. There has been a few that I've wanted to make in the past month or so, but I have been very busy, and some of February's recipes were a bit involved. Fortunately the lineup for March looks great, so I hope to make most of the recipes this month. This week's selection is from Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles. She chose for us to bake the Lemon Cup Custard from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It is a very simple recipe that involves infusing milk with lemon zest then mixing it with eggs and sugar to form the custard. You can find the original recipe here. Many of the bloggers over at Tuesdays with Dorie said that the custard was too "eggy" and that it didn't have enough lemon flavor. I was planning on halving the recipe this time, so to enhance the lemon flavor, I kept the lemon zest and the lemon extract at the original amounts in order to double the lemon flavor. My custards took about 50 minutes to bake, and they had a really beautiful yellow color due to the egg yolks. I think that doubling the zest, and the extract really enhanced the lemon flavor, and it was eggy, but it is a custard, so I expected that. If I were to make it again, I would try infusing some fresh ginger in the milk as well to give it an extra kick.

TWD: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Heather of Sherry Trifle She chose for us to bake the Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe can be found here. I made a few substitutions to the recipe. I used whole wheat pastry flour for half of the flour called for in the recipe. Also, instead of using the stem ginger in syrup (I couldn't find any), I used crystallized ginger. I didn't make the chocolate glaze for the top of the gingerbread, because when I tried a piece without it, I thought that the gingerbread was sweet enough and the chocolate in the bread was very pronounced, so I didn't want to overpower the ginger flavor. The gingerbread took about 55 minutes to fully bake, about 15 minutes longer than the recipe states. I really liked this gingerbread, it had a subtle but pronounced ginger flavor, and the spices are just right. The chocolate is a nice addition, and it is a nice change to traditional gingerbreads. I will be making it again.

TWD: French Pear Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie is celebrating its one year anniversary. I have been lucky enough to have been a participant since July. For the anniversary, Dorie herself was gracious enough to choose this week's recipe. She chose for us to bake the French Pear Tart from her book Baking: From My Home to Yours. Dorie has posted the recipe on her website. I made a few substitutions for this recipe. I had a leftover frozen pie crust from the holidays, so I used that instead of the recipe for the tart dough. For the almond cream, I substituted 8 ounces of almond paste for the ground almonds and the sugar called for in the recipe. I used a stand mixer instead of a food processor, and the cream came together just fine.


I liked this tart a lot. I thought that the pears and the almonds went well together. I used canned pears, but next time I would like to try the poached pears. I think that it would be a better texture to contrast with the texture of the almond cream. I will definitely try this recipe again, but next time I will try the original recipe with the tart crust and the poached pears. I might also add a bit of spice to the recipe as well, maybe cinnamon or ginger.

TWD: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Vibi of La Casserole Carrée She chose for us to bake the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe can be found here. The Thanksgiving Twofer has a layer of pumpkin pie topped with a layer of pecan pie. I followed the recipe exactly, and it was fairly easy to make. The only thing I would do differently next time would make the crust hang over the edge a bit more next time. It really shrunk up during the initial baking time.

This was a big hit at Thanksgiving dinner. My dad, who doesn't like pumpkin pie, liked this one, and my mom said it was the best pie crust she had ever had. I would definitely make this again. Be sure to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll to see what other bloggers did with their pies.

TWD: Chocolate and Vanilla Arborio Rice Pudding

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa. She chose for us to cook the Arborio Rice Pudding from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I love rice pudding, so I was excited when I heard we were going to make this. This recipe is very simple. You simply parboil the rice, then simmer it with whole milk and sugar until the mixture is thick and creamy. Dorie had an option of making half the rice pudding chocolate and half of the rice pudding vanilla, which is what I did. You simply divide the mixture once it is cooked and add vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste) to one half, and chopped bittersweet chocolate to the other half. I topped my vanilla pudding with whipped cream and cinnamon, and my chocolate pudding with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. This pudding tasted good. It was a bit too sweet (especially the chocolate half), so I would probably cut back on the sugar a bit, but it was still tasty. The recipe in the book states that you should let the rice and milk simmer for 35 minutes, but Dorie herself posted over at Tuesdays with Dorie, and said that there was a typo, and the actual cooking time is 55 minutes. Fortunately, I caught that message in time, unfortunately, my pudding was still a bit runny. I let mine cook for a bit over an hour, and it still never thickened up the way it was supposed to. However, that didn't stop me from eating it. I think next time, I would probably cut back on the parboiling time, so that the rice releases more starch into the milk mixture to help it thicken better, similar to risotto.

TWD: Rugelach (Pictures coming soon)

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Grace of Piggy's Cooking Journal. She chose for us to bake Rugelach from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Rugelach is a cream cheese dough-based crescent roll filled with jam, dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate. Dorie's recipe offers a lot of combinations of fruit and nuts to be used in the filling. I made a few changes that really made for a delicious Rugelach.

• I used apricot jam to spread on the dough.
• I used chopped almonds for the nuts in the filling.
• I used dried cranberries instead of dried currants in the filling.
• I added one tablespoon of orange zest to the filling.
• I used white chocolate instead of bittersweet chocolate in the filling.

I really liked this Rugelach, and I will definitely make it again. The reason I don't have any pictures for this recipe is that I made the Rugelach a few weeks back, and the pictures are currently on my old computer, which is broken. Just a tip for everyone, make sure not trip on your powercord and break it off in the computer because Apple will want $400 to fix it. My computer was kind of old anyways, so instead of fixing it, I decided to buy a new MacBook, which I am loving. So until I am able to transfer all of my stuff off the old computer, I won't be able to post pictures. I will as soon as I can though! Either that, or I will just have to make them again. Be sure to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll to see what all the other blogger's Rugelach recipes.

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

It's October! So it's time for another pumpkin recipe. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Kelly at Sounding My Barbaric Gulp. She chose for us to make the Pumpkin Muffins from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. These muffins are very tender and moist with a cake-like texture. You can find the original recipe here. I made the following changes to the recipe to mix it up a bit (and also because I had these ingredients on hand).

• I omitted the salt in the recipe and used salted butter instead.
• I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins in the recipe.
• I omitted the pecans.
• I added the zest of one orange to the batter.
• I made a simple glaze of orange juice and powder sugar for the top of the muffins (1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon orange juice).
• I substituted the sunflower seed topping with sliced almonds, which I sprinkled on top of the orange glaze.
• The baking time in the book says approximately 25 minutes.  My muffins were done in about 18 minutes, so be sure to watch them closely.

Notes: I really liked the flavor of these muffins. The pumpkin flavor isn't very prominent, but it is definitely there. The cranberries add a tart contrast to the sweet muffins, and the orange zest in the batter smells and tastes great. The muffins are definitely sweet enough on their own, and the glaze is not needed, but it is a nice touch. I only used a small amount of glaze on each muffin, spread in a thin layer, as to not make the muffins too sweet. I will definitely make these again. I would like to make a couple of different versions of this muffins. The original recipe calls for raisins, which would be nice, but I would also like to try dried cherries or chocolate chips as well.

TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is from Michelle at Bake-En. She chose for us to make the Dimply Plum Cake from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It is a simple orange scented coffee cake batter with plum halves nestled into the batter. You can find the exact recipe here.


The substitutions I made were as followed:

• I used salted butter instead of unsalted butter and just omitted the salt that was called for in the recipe
• I omitted the cardamom and instead added 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the batter
• The original recipe indicates to use 8 plums and to place them 4x4 in the square pan. I guess I had large plums because I could only fit 3 plums in my pan, 2x3.

Notes:

The cake smelled wonderful while baking, my whole house filled with the smell of cinnamon. I baked my cake for 38 minutes even though the recipe calls for 40 minutes, and it seemed a bit over done, so you might want to check on the cake about 35 minutes into baking. The batter is very thick, and I had a hard time spreading the batter into the pan, so I coated a spatula with non-stick spray, and it seemed to make it easier.

This cake was very simple to make, and I really liked it. The cinnamon and ginger tasted great in the batter and went well with the plums. I would make this again with other fruits like peaches, pears, or apples. Next time I would probably slice the fruit and place it on top the batter instead of just placing the halves of the fruit into the batter. It is difficult to take a bite of the cake without taking the whole half of the fruit with you.

TWD: Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection is from Stephany of Proceed with Caution. She chose for us to bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters. You can find the complete recipe here. This a very simple oatmeal cookie recipe with peanut butter and chocolate chips added to the batter. The original recipe states that it will make 60 cookies, I definitely don't need that many cookies around the house, so I halved the recipe.

The main problems I read that other people were having with the recipe was that the peanut butter flavor was too subtle, the cinnamon flavor was too prominent, and the cookies spread out too much while baking. These were the substitutions I made to the halved recipe.

-I reduced the butter amount by 2 tablespoons and added 2 extra tablespoons of peanut butter.
-I halved the amount of white sugar in the recipe, because with the extra peanut butter I did not want the cookies to be too sweet.
-I also eliminated the nutmeg and reduced the amount of cinnamon the recipe called for by half.
-The halved recipe makes about 25 cookies.


Notes: These cookies turned out great. The cookies took about 15 minutes total to bake, and they didn't spread out too much while baking. The peanut butter flavor in the cookie was just the right amount, not too much at all. These cookies are very dense and rich. You can't eat more than one or two at a time. I think this particular recipe is a good twist on the chocolate chip cookie.

TWD: Granola Grabbers

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection is from Michelle of Bad Girl Baking. She chose for us to bake these chewy little cookies called Granola Grabbers from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.. These cookies are a mix of granola, dried fruit and nuts. I made numerous substitutions because I had a lot of similar ingredients at home, therefore I wanted to those ingredients up before buying new ones, and besides, granola, dried fruit, and nuts can be quite expensive. I have listed the substitutions below, but I encourage you to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll to see what other bloggers did with their cookies.

I made the following substitutions to my cookies

-I omitted the coconut because, well...I hate coconut
-I substituted dried tart cherries for the raisins and cashews for the peanuts because I had these ingredients on hand.
-I reduced the sugar in the recipe to 1/2 cup brown sugar and 3 Tablespoons white sugar because the granola I used was initially quite sweet.
-I also added 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract to the cookie mix.


Notes: The cookies are cruchy and chewy at the same time. They go great with a glass of milk, and I would definitely make them again. I liked the substitutions I made, but I am sure they would be great with raisins and peanuts as well. I am glad that I reduced the amount of sugar that was called for in the original recipe because the cookies were just sweet enough.

TWD: Black-and-White Banana Loaf

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection is from Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen. She chose for us to bake the Black-and-White Banana Loaf from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You can find the complete recipe here. The changes I made were omitting the lemon juice, lemon zest, and dark rum, as well as using 2 ripe bananas instead of 1 1/2 bananas called for in the original recipe . Ashlee used 2 oz. of chocolate in her recipe. The original recipe calls for 3 oz. of chocolate, which is what I used.


Notes: This was a good selection for me this week because I always have extra ripe bananas on hand for making bread. If I have extra bananas that I don't eat before they become overripe, I simply pop them in the freezer and thaw just before I am about to use them. I baked my bread for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. I had to cover the bread with foil about an hour and ten minutes into baking because it was starting to turn too brown. This bread was very dense and moist and the chocolate and banana flavor wasn't one I expected to like, but it is really good. I used 70% cacao Godiva chocolate, and it works well. This is definitely one I will make again. It goes perfectly with a cup of coffee, so I know what I am having for breakfast tomorrow!

TWD: Summer Fruit Galette

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection is from Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs. She chose for us to bake the Summer Fruit Galette from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You can find the recipe here. For my galette I decided to use some nectarines that were on sale at my local market. I used apricot preserves and gingersnaps instead of graham crackers as well.



Notes: I found this recipe to be fairly simple. I used my food processor to make the pie crust, which is, in my opinion, the easiest way to make a pie crust from scratch. I wasn't able to fit near as much fruit as the recipe calls for. I only used about 5 nectarines for my galette, and it seemed like enough. Additionally, I was only able to get about 4 tablespoons of the custard mixture into the fruit. Nice, simple summer dessert that I am sure I will try again with many different combinations of fruit.

TWD: Cherry Apple Cobbler

This is my first Tuesday with Dorie. I joined the group this week, and I am very excited about it. Basically, each week, a different member from the group picks a recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, and all the members participate in baking that particular recipe. This week's selection was chosen by Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake. Here you can find the original recipe for the Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler. I really haven't eaten a lot of rhubarb, so I was excited to try this, but I went to 3 stores looking for it, and I had no luck. I decided to go with 3 large Granny Smith apples instead, since they, like rhubarb, are quite tart. The only other substitution I made to the recipe was to add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the fruit mixture to prevent the apples from turning brown.

Notes: As far as cobblers go, this is a pretty good one. I liked the different type of biscuit topping. The whole wheat flour gives the topping a denser, nuttier flavor that goes well with the fruit. I think the recipe might have a bit too much butter in it because the next day it looked as if some of the butter from the biscuit topping had seeped down into the filling and solidified. Other than than, good flavors all around. Can't wait to post another Tuesdays with Dorie selection.