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.

TWD: Cottage Cheese Pufflets

Hello Bakers.....happy fall as it is the first day of fall. I love fall treats. It is the best time of year to bake. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am. The TWD this week is yummy, but not neccesaryily fallish. Don't you worry though we still had some fun with it.

These were a fun little change in pace. These pufflets were more like tiny little pastries that I think would be good served as appetizers. My husband's family has a Cottage Cheese Pancake recipe that is delicious so I thought these cookies could be similar. I am not sure what the cottage cheese adds to something like this, but they were tastey. The original recipe calls for a dot of fruit preserves in the middle, but I am not a fan of preserves in my desserts so I changed it up a bit. I did three variations.

The dough is refridgerated for a while before rolling out.

My filling variations were as such:
1. cinnamon, brown sugar, a little butter, and chopped pecans
2. sweetened cream cheese and chocolate chips
3. sweetened cream cheese and frozen raspberries

It seems like the favorite by my taste testers was the cinnamon version. It was delicious, but didn't turn out as pretty as the others. I preferred the raspberry version, but may have sweetened the raspberries a little next time. The chocolate was a fun variation as well. Next time I think I will make the pufflets bigger and more like puffs so I can add more filling. While these were yummy they may not be a regular in our house. Perhaps an occasional fun treat.

If you are interested in the recipe you can visit Daisy Lane Cakes.

TWD: Flaky Apple Turnovers

This weeks TWD recipe was a fun one! I enjoyed making Dorie's sour cream dough, although it was a bit difficult to work with when it softened. It made the flakiest, butteriest turnover I can imagine. The filling was a simple apple pie filling that complimented the dough perfectly.

I only made up 3 turnovers, and I saved the rest of the dough and filling in the fridge. I think I'll bake these up as a warm "welcome home after school treat" for the kids. -And maybe one for me too! ;)

If you would like to see how others fared with this recipe, you can go to Tuesdays with Dorie and if you want to try your hand at homemade apple turnovers, you can visit Julie at Someone's in the kitchen.

TWD - Chocolate Souffle

I was so excited for this weeks recipe! Although I knew it would be a challenge, I was up for it and was ready to face it head on. I had all my ingredients out and got everything ready to make the Chocolate Souffle. I pre-heated my oven and headed out to the garden to pick the late-summer bounty. When I came in a half-hour later, my oven was only at 190 degrees. Right then I knew things were not going my way. I called my neighbor to see if I could use her oven but no one was home. At that point everything was ready to go in a hot oven so I opted to use my new, shiny convection counter oven (a fancy toaster oven) I got for my birthday.

I had my doubts as to whether it could handle something as delicate as a souffle. I watched with great anticipation and saw it rise. Those hopes were dashed when minutes later it fell. I finished the cooking time and decided it was worth at least tasting. I even plated it and took a few pics. Alas, the pictures didn't do the dessert justice so I decided not to post any. I did taste it though and thought the taste was nice. It wasn't eggy, as I feared it might be having possibly been cooked too long. I put a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top of a scoop of warm souffle and took a few bites. I'm sure the texture was completely off but the taste was nice and chocolaty.

So, if you are brave and want to try Dorie's Chocolate Souffle, head on over to She's Becoming DoughMesstic for beautiful pictures and the full recipe. Maybe when my oven is fixed I'll attempt it again. I guess every week can't be a smashing success.