TWD- Brioche Plum Tart

This was my first attempt at making a brioche dough. When I initially read the Brioche Plum Tart recipe, I was concerned about the amount of time and attention it took to prepare the brioche dough. With four kids, a house and yard to care for, babysitting my brioche dough was not at the top of my priority list! As I read through the P&Q comments on the TWD site, I noticed someone asked if it would work to use the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day brioche recipe and a light went on in my head.

The recipe varied slightly from Dorie's recipe in ingredients. The Artisan Bread recipe used honey as its sweetener instead of sugar, and did not have milk as Dorie's recipe did. Other than that the ingredients were the same. What I liked was I only had to mix it, let it rise once and then put in the fridge until I used it. That's my kind of dough.

I was able to find plums for only 88 cents a pound at Sunflower Farmer's Market (my favorite store right now!), but was unable to find plum jam. I had a jar of Cherry Boysenberry Preserves I had left over from a previous TWD recipe that I decided to use. I wanted to use almonds but didn't have any so I had to settle for walnuts.

The assembly was rather simple and quick. As the tart baked it smelled divine! It came out of the oven nicely browned and the plums were tender and juicy and plump. I made half the Artisan Bread brioche recipe, and used about 2/3 of the dough that I had. I think it was probably more than there would have been with the original recipe.

The finished product was quite good. The plums were a bit tart, but the sugar balanced it nicely. The walnuts gave a slightly crunchy texture and the brioche was light and tender. This is definitely more a breakfast pastry. Not quite sweet enough for dessert but it made for a great evening snack for the hubby and I and I think the kiddos will enjoy some for breakfast in the morning. At some point I will attempt brioche dough the way it is supposed to be made, but it just wasn't in the cards for me right now. If I were to try it again I would love to experiment with other fruit combinations.

If you are interested in the complete recipe, head on over to Chez Us. Until next week!

Happy Baking!

Lucky Me

My family is moving this week from New Jersey. We have spent the last year living here and I don't think I knew how much I would enjoy it. It has truly been a joy. I am having such a hard time leaving. So in the process of our move my most wonderful neighbors threw the kids and I the best garden party. I really do have the best neighbors!! They set out tables in front of our complex with a bounty of food and drink. I wanted to share some of the goods because they were special. One thing that makes this complex unique is that there are several mothers who stay at home, but each is so different and from different cultures. So my friends shared food from their own culture. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everything, but here is what I have.

Gunjan made an Indian dish called Pakora which is potatoes and cauliflower breaded in chickpea flour and fried. It was delicious!

Wipha made a Thai dish of pan fried talapia with fried garlic. It was very flavorful. I am just barely starting cook fish and my talapia is not nearly as delcious.

Wipha also made another delicious Thai dish made with Tuna, mint leaves, lime juice, red onion, and lemongrass.

Ulrika served a sweedish dish of sour cream with chives meatballs with Lingonberry jam. I loved the sweet flavor of the jam along with the savory meatballs...yum. I might just eat my meatballs with jam from now on.

Ulrika also served pickled herring and herring in mustard sauce, I have memories as a child of my Dad eating pickled and creamed herring. I can't say I ever tried it as a child. I am glad that I finally got a chance to try it.

Ulrika also served potatoes sweedish style. They were boiled potatoes with dill sprinkled atop. They were pretty and delicious.

Joanne brought a delicious cake from the most loved Bakery in downtown Summit called Natale's. I heard about Natale's from the very first week I moved here. You can check out their delicious website here. Marcus my little non-eater ate up little bits of this cake like crazy.

Ulrika brought some sweedish goodies. So if you want to experience a bit of my lucky day go to Ikea and buy your self some of these Ballerina Kex cookies.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to get to know these wonderful women. There is something unique about the bond of motherhood. I have loved watching these women mother their beautiful children. Each in a different way. It has been so enriching to learn from them. One of the best parts of the afternoon was this beautiful painting Wipha painted for me. She was so incredibly sweet about the resemblance to the uniqueness and beauty of each mother in comparison to the beautiful flowers and how together they are beautiful. I will miss these great women in my life. Thank you for the grand afternoon.



Thank you Ladies!!!

TWD-Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies

With Rach moving, she has decided to take a break from TWD until they have a house and are somewhat settled in their new place. I kindly offered to take her recipe this month so that she didn't have to worry about it. Who wouldn't want to try a new brownie recipe?

I loved the story behind these brownies. Who would have thought that Katherine Hepburn had a fabulous brownie recipe! I also loved the fact that this entire recipe was assembled in one pan and didn't require the use of a mixer. The less mess the better! I have never made brownies in this method before. Adding all the ingredients to the melted butter pan was new to me.

I made mine minus the coffee for religious reasons. There are some times I will purchase decaf for recipes like this but I didn't have it on hand so I just made do with what I had. When they were finished baking and I took them out of the oven, I could tell they were very soft. I let them rest for the time recommended but they still fell apart when I took them out of the pan. No harm done, they still tasted fabulous. They were rich and fudge-like and required a tall glass of milk. The cinnamon was a subtle, but nice addition to the brownies and you got little chunks of gooey chocolate in every bite.

These are a definite keeper and are a recipe I will make again. Thanks to Lisa at Surviving Oz for the pick this week. Head on over to her site for the full recipe.

Happy Baking!

TWD: Perfect Party Cake

I LOVED the look of this cake. It really is beautiful and will wow everytime. The coconut adds to the beauty. I ended up halving the recipe, because a whole double layered cake was a little much for our family. So we ended up with this darling little square cake that was the perfect size for our family.

The Cake: I haven't had a lot of luck with with layered cakes. I am sure it is due to lack of practice. I was happy when this one turned out well. Dorie describes the cake as a tight crumb cake and that is just what it was. I expected it to be heavy, but it was very refreshing and light. It's color was a beautiful white. The lemon zest in the cake was not necesarilly recognizable in the finished product but lightened up the taste significantly.



The filling: I made a raspberry sauce from frozen raspberries for the filling instead of raspberry jam as I am not a huge fan of jam in my treats.

The frosting: This frosting was light and elegant. It finished off the cake charmingly. I was really curious about how the frosting would turn out and taste. It was a hot meringue buttercream frosting. This was no ordinary buttercream. Basically you take egg whites and sugar and warm over simmering water while whisking. It turns into a shiny white mixture that looks like thin marshmellow cream. You then whisk the egg whites and sugar in a stand mixer to make a meringue. I was unsure whether the frosting would take on the pristine white whipped frosting that was described. However as I whipped the meringue and added the butter and watched and watched my frosting transform into a soft beautiful flowing buttercream.

I assembled the cake and cooled it in the refridgerator. Glenn and I both sampled it that night. The cake was delicious as was the filling. The icing, while beautiful, might have been heavy on the butter flavor. I may use a whipped cream next time. But it is hard to pass up the beautiful look of that frosting. However...my other taste testers (my lovely neighbors) loved the cake and felt the whole thing was refreshing and delicious...frosting and all.



This was a fun make and I would surely make it again for a special event. If you are interested in the recipe you can visit mix, mix...stir, stir.

TWD-Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise

You're probably thinking this looks nothing like Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise....well, it's not! I made a valiant effort, but had a bit of a problem. My dacquoise looked and smelled beautiful! I was so excited when I pulled it out of the oven; however, my excitement quickly dissolved when my dacquoise was stuck to my paper!
This is definitely a recipe I will try at another time, but time did not permit me to start the three hour plus process again. In the meantime, I whipped up my ganache and we've been eating it with strawberries, pineapple, graham crackers, and anything else we can think of! It is delicious and we're in heaven eating it!

The recipe isn't super hard, just requires a good amount of time. Make sure you have plenty of time when you get started. Thanks Andrea for the recipe, we'll give it another try!

Ooooops La La

So, I made a delicious baking mistake a few weeks ago. My family is just waiting for me to make this mistake again.

I wanted to make a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies...I expanded on the recipe and accidently made it even more delicious. Okay so I decided to add some toasted almonds and coconut. And of course I toasted them myself and in my haste get these cookies in the oven and in our mouths faster I added the warm toasted almonds and coconut right on top of the chocolate chips (instead of allowing time for the nuts and coconut to cool). As I stirred the chocolate chips melted into the cookie dough making the most amazing chocolate dough. Once the dough had cooled a bit I added more chocolate chips to make the cookies a deep chocolate chocolate chip cookie. The dough was AMAZING and the cookies could not have been more perfect. Yummers!! I really need to make these again. I think they rivaled The World Peace Cookies.



Double Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ toated almonds and coconut

Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
2 c. flour
1 tsp salt (1 1/4tsp if you really like salt)
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter, at room temp.
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. (packed) light brown sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 2 c. store bought chocolate chips
My Additions
1 c. chopped almonds
1 c. coconut
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1. Center rack in oven and preheat to 375
2. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda
3. Beat butter on medium speed for 1 min, until smooth. Add sugar and beat for another 2 min or so, until well blended. Beat in vanilla.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 min after each egg.
5. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add dry ingredients in three portions making sure dry ingredients are incorporated each time (I added a little bit more flour, a few Tablespoons).
April's Additions
6. Pour 2 c. chocolate chips over dough, set dough aside.
7. Put coconut and chopped almonds in dry frying pan on low stiring constantly. Cook until coconut and nuts are toasted (coconut will be just starting to turn golden, but the majority will be white...it will smell really good).
8. Pour warm nuts and coconut on top of chocolate chips and stir into dough. Keep stiring until chocolate is melted into the dough and nuts and coconut are incorporated. Let dough cool for a few minutes. Stir in 2 more cups of chocolate chips (these ones should not melt).
9.(Dorie again) Spoon dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls. Bake cookies one sheet at a tiem rotating the sheet at the midway point for 10-12 min. They may still be a little soft in the middle and that's fine. Pull from oven and allow to rest for 1 min, then transfer to cookie rack and cool.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe was taken from Dorie Greenspan's book...Baking from My Home to Yours on page 68.

TWD: Honey-Peach Ice Cream

Dear Summer,

Thank you for your hot days, your bright sun, your warm breeze.  

Thank you for the happy sounds of children giggling, splashing in the water, carefree in every way.

Oh ya, and thanks for honey peach ice cream.  It really is perfect!!

Love,

Sarah

Thank you Tommi of Brown Interior  for choosing this recipe.  It was such a sweet treat for summer.  I received a Cuisinart ice cream maker for Christmas and just didn't get around to using it until now.  This recipe reminds me of old-fashioned peach cobbler.  My peaches weren't great, so I used peaches for the honey blend and nectarines for the mix-ins.  I made ice cream sandwiches with Grandma's all-occasion sugar cookies, (which happen to be the best sugar cookies ever.)  Together, they made a perfect pair.

This recipe originally comes from "Baking:  From my home to yours" by Dorie Greenspan, but you can also find it at www.browninterior.blogspot.com.

Happy Summer!!