TWD: All in One Holiday Bundt Cake

This was a pretty good one. My family liked it and so did all my neighbors. I LOVED the fresh cranberries. I of course added some things. If it was all in one I might as well really make it all. The girls begged me to use their ideas of marshmallows and m&m's, but I did refrain. I ended up adding orange zest to the sugar which livened up the whole thing. I also added chocolate chips and they made it oh so yummy! I thought white chips would be good, but I did not have any on hand. All in all I liked it. I also loved that it was easy enough for my kiddos to sit and stir and stir and it did not ruin the treat.



For the recipe visit The Nitty Britty

TWD: Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

I was excited to see that Pamela from Cookies with Boys (a blog name I love and completely identify with) chose Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice cookies. Molasses cookies are some of our favorite and it was fun to try a new recipe.

First of all, the dough was amazing! I feel like I would eaten all the dough if I didn't have to post pics of the cookies! It was buttery and yummy and had the perfect amount of spice. I debated whether or not I would add the black pepper, but in the end I did it and my husband loved it! It wasn't too much for the boys and I took the cookies to book club where they were loved by all.

If I could change one thing about this recipe, I really love a cookie that has a chewy texture to it. This seemed to be a little more crunch for my preference, although the great flavor made up for the crunch. This is a recipe that will definitely be made again in our house, especially during the holidays! Check out Pamela's blog for the full recipe!

TWD-Cran-Apple Crisp

Fall. One of my very favorite times of the year. What could be more Fall than apples and cranberries? I actually made this last November, not long after getting Baking: From My Home to Yours, because it looked like such a great recipe.

Well Fall has come again and with it the chance to make the Cran-Apple Crisp again. Mmmmm! I actually made a double batch, one for my neighbor's dinner party, and a small one for our family. This is an easy and delicious recipe. I love the ginger in the crisp. It adds a lovely zing. My neighbor served it hot, with homemade pumpkin ice cream on top. That sounded delicious to me, something I might try next year.

This is a real winner of a recipe. I haven't been able to upload a picture yet, but might get to it tomorrow. If you are interested in the full recipe, head on over to The Repressed Pastry Chef. You won't be disappointed!

TWD: Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte

Fabulous!!! I really did love this dessert. It was super rich though so only one piece was enough for all. I had to change it a little so it would work for us. I don't really like making things we can't or won't eat so I altered it a bit.

The Review:
The brownie bottom was sensational. It surprised me how much I liked the dried cherries mixed in. The brownie torte was extremely fudgie and rich...just the way I like it. I ended up halving the recipe since we have a small family and we were not planning on having guests over. I actually kind of liked the pepper added to the brownie, but I think the torte would have been just as good without it.
The mousse was a nice offset to the rich brownie layer. It needed something to tame the fudginess. I liked the added cherry filling (my addition), because it made it a little different than your normal whip cream topping. It also served the purposes of making it more like a black forest torte.

The alterations:
The brownie portion of this lovely dish called for kirsch that is added to the dried cherries then you ignite it. Since we don't do alcohol here I omitted the kirsch and added a few tablespoons of apple juice and let it simmer with the cherries and thicken a little. It worked fine.
The second alteration I made was to the mousse. The original recipe calls for mascarpone cheese. I am not a huge fan of the mascarpone flavor. I thought of using ricotta instead but opted to add more cream cheese and some cherry pie filling to get more of a cherry flavor to the mousse. It turned out beautifully!
I did not have a springform pan small enough so I just used a 6 inch cake pan and carefully removed the torte about 10 min after it came out of the oven. Then in order to get the mousse layer shaped with the brownie I put wax paper in my 6 inch pan and topped the torte with the mousse. After freezing it I pulled it out of the pan easily. I also had a little extra batter that I put into mini muffin tins. It was very fun to have these rich little brownie bites with a dollop of cherry mousse on top.

Overall we loved it and will surely make it again. If you are interested in making these you can visit April of Short + Rose.

TWD: Allspice Crumb Muffins

I was excited when my sister, Sarah, asked me to fill in for her this week. Fall is here and an allspice crumb muffin sounded great! These muffins were quick and easy to mix up, but I was really wanting more flavor out of them. I opted not to add the lemon, but I think should have. I think I'll give them a try with the lemon another time.

To check out the recipe go to Grandma's Kitchen Table.

TWD-Split Level Pudding

I am a sucker for a really good homemade pudding so I was excited that this was the recipe I got to make this month. I stuck to the basics and kept the flavors of vanilla and chocolate. Some other TWD members had posted that they had problems with their pudding being a bit runny after it went into the blender. Mine thinned out some but not significantly. It did, however, mix with the ganache when I poured it into the bowl and did not stay in any kind of layered form. Try more like marbled. I made the pudding in one large bowl so that might have been part of the problem. When all was said and done the taste was fantastic. Smooth and creamy, a perfect pudding. The rich ganache was a nice compliment to the simpleness of the vanilla. I think it would be fun to play around with different flavors as well.

I took a few pictures but felt they didn't look very nice. I'm still trying to figure out how to take good food pictures. I also couldn't find the cord to upload the ones I took so I decided just to post my thoughts now and maybe add some pictures tomorrow.

This is a simple recipe and one I will definitely try again. If you are interested in the full recipe, head on over to The Flavor of Vanilla. The pictures there, as well as many others I saw today, did the recipe justice.

TWD: Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart

DELICIOUS!!!

That could pretty much sum up this divine rich desert. Similar to many of Dorie's recipes this delightful dish was a very detailed treat to make. Luckily I had an extra baker this time to help and a much more adept baker at that. Thanks Lizzie (sister and TWD baker as well) for helping out and thanks Mike for studying ALL night so I could borrow your wife!

For the first time I did not change a thing...I think.
Here is the run down:

The crust was a short bread crust. It was very buttery and delicious. It was slightly time consuming so next time I may use a faster recipe...Liz has a no roll nut crust that is similar. Maybe she will post it sometime.


I turned the caramel responsibilities over to Liz. She is the family caramel expert (at least that is what I think). This caramel used a very unique technique done in a skillet with heating just the sugar first. She did a fabulous job. After the caramel has cooled the recipe called for honey roasted peanuts, which I thought were super fun in the desert.


The ganache. Wow!!! This stuff was rich. This wasn't too hard to make. I think this is the best ganache I have ever made. I used ghiradeli bittersweet chocolate and it was crazy rich. If I were serving it to guest I may tone it down a little and use at least semisweet or maybe milk. Although the caramel is so sweet you have to be careful with the balance. It was good!


The finished product. Oh so good. When we sat down to eat (at 11pm) my husband said he didn't think he could eat the whole thing because it was so rich. Oh he totally finished it. It is too good pass up. All of the flavors worked well together without one over powering the other. If you are interested in giving it a try you can hop on over to Chocolate Moosey for the recipe.