TWD: Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

It isn't the prettiest cheesecake I've made but it is one of the most tastiest, crrreeeeaaamiest I have ever devoured.  I love, LOVE, love cheesecake, and this recipe has instantly become a favorite.

Despite the bain marie, it cracked on the top as well as the edges.  The way it ballooned up, I would have been very surprised if it turned out with a pristine surface.  Makes me laugh whenever I see this picture of the lopsided cake.

I don't particularly like graham cracker crusts so I usually add ground pecans (like I did to this one) to the crumbs which comes out tasting like pralines.  Yum! 

Thank you to Anne of Anne Strawberry for this selection.

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

Whew! What month it has been! I just barely got couple of entries in for TWD.  So, here goes...

Buttery Jam Cookies.  Hmmm.  Well, it fell a bit flat with me.  It smelled great baking in the oven but it didn't have that buttery goodness I thought I would taste.  I used a peach and apricot preserve that is one of my favorites but I couldn't taste it at all.  Perhaps, I should try it again with strawberry or raspberry jam.  I doubt I'd make it again if I end up with the same results using those.  Also, my cookies stayed as little lumps even after baking. Looked cute though. 

Thank you to Heather of Randomosity and the Girl for this selection.

TWD: Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

I apologize for the late posting.  I've been KO'd by a stomach virus and have lost all sense of direction and time.  Luckily, I got my baking done before I went out for the count.

I had tried this recipe some time before I joined TWD, and it was not one that I thought I would make again.  I didn't like how the cookies tasted.  I thought it was rather, well, blah.  So when it came up as one of December's recipes, I decided to tweak just a tiny bit.

I followed the recipe but just substituted 1/2 teaspoon of orange oil* for the vanilla and added a generous 1/2 cup of chopped dried cranberries.  Oh, and I didn't roll it out. I really, really do not like rolling out dough.  Maybe that's part of why I don't like making pie crusts. All that sticking to the rolling pin and board.  No matter how well I flour the rolling pin and board, it ends up being a frustrating experience. It's a mess.

* I used Boyajian orange oil.

Anyway, I knew rolling was out of the question so I scooped out little balls of dough with my handy dandy teaspoon sized scoop, placed them on the cookie sheet then pressed down with the bottom of a glass so that each cookie was about 1/4 inch thick (approx 1-1/2 inch in diameter). I also dipped the bottom of the glass into a bowl of sugar so that the dough wouldn't stick, just like when you make ginger cookies. 

This dough is very soft and this pressing method works best when it's been refrigerated so that it's somewhat firm.  I scooped out the dough all at once and placed them in the freezer between baking each batch.

The end result was just what I imagined it would be.  The amount of the orange oil was just enough and was absolutely lovely.  The little bits of cranberry gave it an additional layer of pizzazz and texture. I'd like to thank Ulrike of Küchenlatein for this week's selection, thereby, giving me a second chance with Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies. 

TWD Update: Kugelhopf

I was planning to lug the kugelhopf with me on my business trip since I made it the day before I was to leave.  My tasting panel from work were traveling with me so I knew it wouldn't go to waste.  However, it wouldn't fit in my bag, and I didn't want another bag to carry on board.  With the way the airlines are going, they probably would have charged me $25 to take it on board.  I put the slices in a ziploc airtight container and threw in the fridge knowing it would be stale when I got back. What else could I do?

When I got back a week later, I was pleasantly surprised that it had kept pretty well.  In fact, I had to leave it out all day and overnight for it to go somewhat stale so that I could satisfy my craving for french toast.  Which, by the way, were out of this world if I may say so myself.  I didn't need any maple syrup.  It was perfect.

It's worth making the kugelhopf just so that I can make french toast again.  I made the whole batch and froze it so that I could have them at the ready whenever I had a french toast craving...at least until it runs out. 

French Toast

(enough for one 9-10 inch kugelhopf or about 12 slices of stale bread)

5 large eggs

2 cups milk

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 to 1 tsp salt

Slice the bread (kugelhopf, challah, Hawaiian sweet bread, baguette) into 1 inch slices and leave out so they dry out.  The drier the bread slices, the better they will soak up the egg/milk mixture.

Mix the eggs, salt, sugar and milk in a shallow dish. Soak the stale bread slices in the mixture until the bread slices are soaked through with the mixture, turning once. Cook on a hot, greased skillet or frying pan.

You can also add cinnamon, vanilla, and/or orange zest to the mixture.

Enjoy!

TWD: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

First.  This was the easiest and quickest recipe I have ever put together.

Second.  When will I learn that appearances can be deceiving? Very deceiving.

This recipe was so quick and easy that by the time I put it together (which took all of five minutes), I was feeling preeetty confident. That lasted until I started filling the pie crust with the filling.  I used a frozen pie crust (don't own a food processor and didn't feel up to making it by hand) and it ended up being too shallow so I had some filling left over.

I noticed that the pumpkin filling seemed very watery and when I sprinkled the pecans, half of them just sunk to the bottom as did the pecan filling.  I started to have doubts and carefully reread the ingredients list and the instruction.  For the first time I had followed everything exactly as directed but the pie did not look like it should - or at least the way I thought it should look.  I was convinced something was wrong and was resigned to having it be a total flop.  

I decided to continue as directed and not make any changes to the oven temperature or baking time. I was skeptical and did not expect the pie to be done after the allotted 45 minutes. But lo and behold...when I poked at the center, it wasn't jiggly! It had actually firmed up.  Time for a happy dance!

I couldn't wait to taste it but decided to leave it alone until the next day and share it with my gang at the office. This was all that was left less than one hour after I placed it on the table. 

Lesson learned:  Never doubt Dorie Greenspan's recipes.

TWD: Kugelhopf

Woohoo!  I am now a proud mama of a KitchenAid stand mixer! And it arrived earlier than expected and just in time for me to christen it with this week's selection (thank you to Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl for this week's choice).  This has been an eagerly awaited gift to myself and I couldn't wait to get started.

But, oh no, my bubble of giddy happiness was threatening to burst when the dough did not behave as it should. At one point in the recipe, it says the dough will climb up the dough hook. Whenever I anxiously peeked into the bowl, the dough (batter really) had absolutely no inclination to climb up anything.  In fact, the batter was so flat the end of the dough hook barely sunk low enough to do much to the dough other than to stir the surface.  When it came to adding the butter, I started to get really worried.  

The pats of butter I dutifully squeezed before adding as specified in the recipe just sat on top the batter. I had no choice.  I had to help my baby along.  I felt so bad, I couldn't help but give comforting pats while stirring the dough with my rubber spatula. I also added a spoonful of flour because the dough looked so wet...it looked like thick pancake batter.  Is that how it's supposed to be?

Once the dough was left to rise, it behaved more like it should.  And voilà! Here is the finished product.  Turned out better than I expected, but I haven't tasted it yet so we'll see if it really turned out okay.  I'm off to California early tomorrow morning (which is why I'm posting this tonight) on a business trip and will be lugging this baby along with me so that my co-workers (aka my tasting panel) can give it their usual taste test.  I'll give you an update when I get back in couple of weeks.

Operation Baking GALS: Round 4

When baking things to give away I always have a hard time trying to decide what to make. This was no exception. For couple weeks I've been jotting down things I wanted to make and send to the two recipients of  Round 4.  Brownies, pecan shortbread, Austrian shortbread, mango bread, homemade granola, blondies, pumpkin chocolate bars...the list went on and on...and on...and on.  Making a list might have been good idea at first, but in the end all it achieved was an overwhelming list that gave me a headache whenever I looked at it.  I gave up on the list and ended up choosing two favorites and something that reminded me of my carefree days in kindergarten: oatmeal cookies, molasses ginger cookies and rice krispies.

Oatmeal cookies are one of my all-time favorites but I have yet to find a recipe that I love as much. Sometime ago, I came across a recipe on David Lebovitz's website. It's a recipe he adapted from Nick Malgieri's book, Perfect Light Desserts: Fabulous Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More Made with Real Butter, Sugar, Flour, and Eggs (HarperCollins). They are very chewy and moist (due to the applesauce, I guess) and yummy but, to me, they seemed more like vanilla raisin cookies that happened to have oatmeal in them. It's a bit bread-y but settles down a bit after it cools completely. Can't say it'll be my favorite. Still, the recipe (see below) is a keeper.

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (from David Lebovitz's website)
About 36 cookies

• 1 cup flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
  
• 1 large egg
  
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 1/3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
  
• 1/2 cup dark raisins (or dried cranberries)
• 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, foil, or silicone mats
  

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and set the rack on the lower and upper thirds of the oven.
   
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
   
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar until smooth. Mix in the brown sugar, then the egg, applesauce, and vanilla.
   
4. Stir in the dry ingredients, then the oats and raisins.
   
5. Drop the batter by rounded teaspoons 2-inches apart on the baking sheets and use a fork to gently flatten the dough.
   
6. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they "look dull on the surface but are moist and soft", according to Nick. Rotate baking sheets during baking for even heating.
   

Storage: Once cool, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

I hadn't planned on making two different oatmeal recipes but when putting away the carton of oatmeal, I saw the recipe printed on the lid. I decide to give it a try - I was planning to make several batches anyway. This tastes more like the oatmeal cookies from my childhood (probably because it most likely was the same recipe used back then) but is also a bit too sweet for me. I usually cut the sugar by half or a third in my recipes but since this was my first time trying out this one, I followed it to the letter...sort of. I ran out of brown sugar and was too lazy to run out to the store so I substituted the brown sugar with regular sugar and added couple of tablespoons of molasses. This is also a chewy cookie and does not have the bread-y-ness as the previous recipe. I think I like it best out the two but my search continues.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (recipe printed on the lid of Quaker Oats)

Makes about 4 dozen

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 1-1/2 all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 3 cups uncooked oats (quick or old-fashioned)
  
• 1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
   
2. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
   
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
   
4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
   
5. Stir in raisins and oats; mix well.
   
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
   
7. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
   
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.
   

Making rice krispies is quick and easy.  It's so easy to make that one would think nothing can go wrong.  Well, not when I'm the one making it.  The first batch of marshmallows did not quite melt.  It puffed up then turned into a plastic looking ball of stickiness.  I have no idea what happened but I think something was wrong with the marshmallows.  That's my story, and I sticking to it.  The second and third bag melted without any strange mishaps. 

I had some green and red sprinkles so I added a spoonful to the first batch.  It looked so cheerful and pretty...until they started to melt and smears of green and red appeared.  Not pretty, but when I cut it up into squares, they had a charming homemade look to them.  For the second batch, I just sprinkled the top and that had a much cleaner look.  Kind of made me want to smear the colors at bit.  LOL.  You can see how different the two batches look in the picture above.

I also wanted to make some flavored nuts (I have a lovely recipe for rosemary spiced almonds) and trail mix but ran out of time so this time I'll make do with store bought ones from Trader Joe's.  I'll have to make them for Round 5.

TWD: I'm Late, I'm Late for a Very Important Date!

I'm doing something I promised I would not do...I'm posting my entry past the deadline, and I feel terrible.

But I have to say the Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes are doing very well at easing my guilt!  I only had to look at them to feel a BIG grin coming on.  Boy, are they gooood.  

They were so good I didn't want to take them to work!  But they were really too scrumptious to keep to myself.  I ended up sharing...my kindergarten teacher would have been proud.  LOL.

This cupcake is what all chocolate cakes should strive for.  It is moist and sinfully chocolaty without being too sweet.  It's was very quick and easy to make (and yes, with my usual mishaps).  I plan on making couple more batches this weekend.

Thank you to Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought for choosing this week's recipe!

"Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup."

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

This time, I was determined to follow the recipe exactly as it was written.  I carefully measured each ingredient and organized them according to the order they went into the bowl.  I knew I nailed it...or so I thought.

Of course, this is me we're talking about.  So, something either had to be missing, in the wrong quantity or the oven temperature was too low or too high, right? Right.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself when I noticed that I seemed to have quite a bit of the batter left and the muffin cups were already pretty full. It turns out I completely overlooked the fact that the recipe did not require a full can of pumpkin puree.  

That's right.  I dumped the entire can of the puree into the batter.  No wonder I had so much batter! LOL!!

I guess I shouldn't have gone straight into kitchen to bake after a very stressful day at work.  I probably should have meditated or done some breathing exercises before jumping into this. But funnily enough, the stress I still felt when I got home melted away as I measured, stirred, laughed at myself and sampled the results of my culinary misadventure.

By the way, the muffins turned out fine.  A little moist perhaps but you'd never know it had more than double the amount of the puree.  Another forgiving recipe.  Dorie...thank you, thank you, thank you.  

And thank you, Kelly of Sounding my Barbaric Gulp for choosing this week's recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie.

I can't wait for next week! Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes!  Woohoo! 

Or perhaps I should say, Om.

Operation Baking GALS: Round 3

This week was Round 3 of Operation Baking GALS.  I was part of Team Baking for Our Troops which was hosted by Lyndsay (who deserves a BIG thank you).  I must have deliberated over what kinds of cookies to make for about 2 weeks.  I finally decide to make...

Ginger Molasses

Peanut Butter

Chocolate Walnut

The Chocolate Walnut is actually Chocolate Chip but ended up being more like Chocolate Dust cookies which didn't sound very appetizing.  Somehow I pulverized the chocolate when chopping the chocolate.  I don't know how that happened.  Things like this happen to me when I bake.  Anyway, when the cookies  came out of the oven, they did not look like chocolate chip anything. Faaaaar from it.  So, I renamed it Chocolate Walnut.  Chocolate Chip or Dust, I hope the cookies make my team's soldier smile.  I hope he gets great enjoyment from them.

The recipes for these cookies can be found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours. 

The Sweet 100 from Cakespy

Just like the Omnivore's Hundred, this list surveys what food items you've had but this list is directed toward your sweet tooth.  The original list can be found at Cakespy.

Instructions:

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten!
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat.
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!

1. Red Velvet Cake
   
2. Princess Torte
   
3. Whoopie Pie
   
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
   
5. Beignet
   
6. Baklava
   
7. Black and white cookie
   
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
   
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
   
10. Kringle
    
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
    
12. Scone with clotted cream
    
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
    
14. Halvah
    
15. Macarons
    
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
    
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls")
    
18. Dixie Cup
    
19. Rice Krispie treats
    
20. Alfajores
    
21. Blondies
    
22. Croquembouche
    
23. Girl Scout cookies
    
24. Moon cake
    
25. Candy Apple
    
26. Baked Alaska
    
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
    
28. Nanaimo bar
    
29. Baba au rhum
    
30. King Cake
    
31. Sachertorte
    
32. Pavlova
    
33. Tres Leches Cake
    
34. Trifle
    
35. Shoofly Pie
    
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
    
37. Panna Cotta
    
38. New York Cheesecake
    
39. Napoleon / mille-fueille
    
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
    
41. Anzac biscuits
    
42. Pizzelle
    
43. Kolache
    
44. Buckeyes
    
45. Malasadas
    
46. Moon Pie
    
47. Dutch baby
    
48. Boston Cream Pie
    
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
    
50. Pralines
    
51. Gooey butter cake
    
52. Rusks
    
53. Daifuku
    
54. Green tea cake or cookies
    
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
    
56. Crème brûlée
    
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
    
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
    
59. Jelly Roll
    
60. Pop Tarts
    
61. Charlotte Russe
    
62. An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
    
63. Hummingbird Cake
    
64. Jell-O from a mold
    
65. Black forest cake
    
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
    
67. Kulfi
    
68. Linzer torte
    
69. Churro
    
70. Stollen
    
71. Angel Food Cake
    
72. Mincemeat pie
    
73. Concha
    
74. Opera Cake
    
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
    
76. Pain au chocolat
    
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
    
78. Cassata
    
79. Cannoli
    
80. Rainbow cookies
    
81. Religieuse
    
82. Petits fours
    
83. Chocolate Souffle
    
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
    
85. Rugelach
    
86. Hamenstashen
    
87. Homemade marshmallows
    
88. Rigo Janci
    
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
    
90. Divinity
    
91. Coke or Cola cake
    
92. Gateau Basque
    
93. S'mores
    
94. Figgy Pudding
    
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
    
96. Joe Froggers
    
97. Sables
    
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
    
99. Animal crackers
    
100. Basbousa
     

TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

Boy, is this recipe forgiving!

It was a Murphy's Law kind of day.  My brain decided to take a holiday that day and did not return until the next morning.  I don't know why I thought it would be a good time to bake. I think I did everything I could to sabotage this recipe.

First, I decided that seeing double when reading was normal and ended up reading "2 eggs" instead of "3 eggs."  Well, I did not have 3 eggs, only 2.  But I did have egg whites so I added 3 tablespoons of the egg whites. I was sooo pleased with myself. Only after having thoroughly beaten in the eggs and the egg whites, I decided I should break out the reading glasses (which I don't need often...yet) and perched them on the tip of my nose. 

Surprise, surprise.  Imagine my disbelief at seeing "2 eggs."  Still I persevered and continued on. When the batter was ready, I happily placed the cake into the preheated oven then set the timer.  

Ding! DIng! The timer went off, and I eagerly went to take the cake out of the oven. The cake looked weird.  It looked raw.  Well, probably because it was.  It was only half done. I stood there in front of the open oven gaping and scratching my head in puzzlement when I noticed the oven thermometer.

Don't ask me how it happened.  I set it at the correct temperature, 350.  Truly, I did.  Really. I cross my heart.  The little spindle thingy in the thermometer pointed toward 300.  

Well, at this point, I decided I really had nothing to lose so I cranked up the oven to 375 and left it in the oven for another 20 minutes.

And voilà!

The edges weren't burnt, just a bit over-caramelized.  I left it alone until the next morning and dug in.  The verdict?  I have just one thing to say...Dorie, I love you.  You are a genius.

This is a scrumptious cake no matter what you try to do to it.  It's moist, not too sweet and very, very tasty.  I will definitely make this again and again and again. But next time I'll have my reading glasses on and triple-check the oven temperature.

Thank you to Michelle of Bake-en for choosing this recipe for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Chunkers

Today is my first Tuesday with Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD)! Woohoo!  For those of you who are wondering, "What is Tuesdays with Dorie?"...TWD is an online baking club where each week a member selects a new recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From My Home To Yours for all the members to bake.  The results (and pictures) are posted on each members website on Tuesdays. 

This week's recipe, Chocolate Chunkers was chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food.  

I love chocolate and boy, is this packed with chocolate! Four kinds of chocolate! The cookies were too sweet for me, but it was very good with a glass of ice cold milk. Next time, I'll cut the amount of sugar, replace semisweet with bittersweet chocolate, use dried cherries and macadamia nuts.  Yum.  

I'll have to see what my tasting panel at work says.