TWD: Chockablock Cookies

Well, it has been a couple of months since I last did a TWD post. Our sweet baby girl was born March 1st and the past two months have been a bit crazy at our house as we adjusted to life with a baby again.

We did our monthly TWD Dessert Night a few weeks ago and I chose to bring the Chockablock Cookies. When I read the recipe I was intrigued and wondered what these cookies would be like. I had high expectations and hoped they would be just fabulous, but ended up thinking they were just OK. I think that was the overall consensus of the group. I really love molasses but felt that the molasses flavor was far too strong. It was worth a try but these cookies won't be ones I will make again. If I'm going to make cookies, I'm making ones that I know will be a hit.

I wasn't going to be the one to post on these, but Liz is making her way across the country with her little family for a summer internship so I decided, last  minute, to fill in for her. I didn't take any pictures because I wasn't going to post. So, if you really want pictures, head on over to Popsicles and Sandy Feet, where Mary has pictures and the full-recipe.

TWD: Sweet Cream Biscuits

Well....I realize it has been a good long time since we have posted a Tuesday with Dorie. Some recipes have been made and not posted on. I guess life gets busy with new babies in most houses here on Celestial Confections and I really have no excuse other than life is still busy even without a baby in my life. Anyhow I am finally posting about a delicious recipe.

I think our home has been overloaded with treats lately so it was a nice change to make biscuits for my Tuesday with Dorie. I was shocked that these biscuits were so flaky and delicious even without butter. I suppose replacing butter and milk for heavy cream still allows for a good amount of fat and richness so the biscuit is bound to be good.



These were a cinch to throw together. Dare I say....just as easy as a mix, truly. Mix the dry ingredients...pour in the cream...blend with fork, roll out, cut in circles. Bake and enjoy! Holy easy and so tempting straight out of the oven.

I made our favorite honey butter recipe and together the combination was heavenly. The Honey butter recipe is from my good friend Susie whom I lived with in Arizona during my husbands internship. Here is the recipe for any who would like to try it out next time they make, biscuits, rolls, or bread.

Honey Butter

2/3 c. butter, softened (10-11oz)
1 1/3 c. honey

Beat until fluffy
Add:
1 cup whipped, whipping cream
Shake in a little cinnamon


Anyone who is interested in making these sweet cream biscuits visit Melissa at Love at First Bite

TWD: Dulce De Leche Duos

Like most of Dorie's recipes this is some serious richness. These little babies were excellent, especially considering they had no chocolate in them. I do love my caramel too and dulce de leche is close enough.



These soft little sandwich cookies had a caramel cookie made of butter and sugars and even a good amount of dulce de leche added to the dough. I am a huge cookie dough person and lapped up a good portion even before baking (good thing I did a little exercise today, I think I can't skip tomorrow now). Dorie's instructions were to bake them using a measurement of a heaping teaspoon full. Whenever that is the instruction I never know if that means a teaspoon from my silverware set or a measuring teaspoon. I used a measuring teaspoon, because I thought the small portions would be better for my kiddos.



I thought that after they baked up they would loose the caramel flavor, but luckily they did not. Then I sandwiched them with more Dulce de Leche and dug in. Wow! My kids downed them in seconds....the baby was covered in dulce de leche head to toe and begged for more at my feet.

Dorie gave the option to melt a little bittersweet chocolate and lightly spread it on the cookie before the dulce de leche. That sounds steller too, but I didn't have any on hand....so next time and there will be a next time. For those that don't like dulce de leche....I wonder if you could try a caramel sauce and it could work out similarly. Who knows?



If you want to give this one a try head on over to Jodie's blog called Beansy Loves Cake.

TWD: Soft Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Hello fellow bakers! It's been a while since I've posted and it's good to be back. Thanks sisters for covering for me while having baby #4!

Unfortunately, my camera can't be found and my four-year-old assures me that the twin two-year-olds are to blame. So, no pictures as of now. I'll post them if I find the camera in the next 24 hours.

The tart crust was buttery and yummy. I don't have a food processor, so I used a pastry blender and it seemed to work just fine. I used ground pecans in the recipe and thought it was great. The chocolate raspberry portion of the tart came together nicely, but when it baked up it wasn't as pretty as I thought it would be. I questioned whether the tart would truly be soft and creamy, but was it ever!! This tart was delicious! I made it for April's "birthday cake" and it was a hit...with the adults! I think it was a little too rich for the kiddos, but we sure enjoyed it.

I love the way Rachelle served her tart with shaved chocolate and whipped cream. Check out her blog for the recipe and...pictures!

Found the camera!

TWD: Honey-Wheat Cookies

I made this Tuesday with Dorie out of pure curiosity. After reading the title and ingredients I really wanted to see how these would taste and turn out. I was picturing an airy cake like little cookie with some great texture from the wheat germ. They were not what I was expecting, but they were still good and a fun make.



The Making
These cookies were a cinch to whip up. I had the batter finished in minutes and let it stiffen for a few hours in the fridge. These cookies do have wheat germ, which makes you think they are a healthy snack, however I must admit that the butter might not make it as healthy, but hey that is the part that makes it like a cookie. I used orange zest instead of lemon. I like the orange flavor quite a bit, but I think it would be great with the lemon.



The Tasting
The cookies were a bit more dense than I thought and perhaps a little dry. Not really bad dry. They tasted more like a heavy biscuit for dipping in hot chocolate. You can taste the butter flavor and it complimented the orange nicely. The wheat germ added some texture and a little nuttiness. My husband and I like them and our one year old liked them, but not our 6 and 3 yr. olds. They really aren't fans of anything citrusy and zest is way out of the question. When my 3 yr. old tasted the batter she first asked me if it had chocolate chips in it. So her expectation were set pretty high when she thought it was "cookie dough." After tasting it she said...."This is disgusting....Mom, I think we need to throw this in the garbage." I had to laugh a little. I baked them up anyway and Glenn and I enjoyed a few. While this was a fun different treat I may not repeat it again. Everyone has to like it or it causes me problems on the scale later.



If you are interested in making these little cookies you can get the recipe from Michelle of Flourchild.

My second baking adventure of the day was some whole wheat banana bread. I got this recipe from my friend Jill. My husband is not eating treats during the week right now so I am trying to keep my baking relatively healthy. These had less butter and had both wheat and oat flour as opposed to white flour. It was more dense than I thought and I had to bake it for longer to get it cooked through. But when it came out my kids ate a ton, so that was worth it to me. Here is the recipe if you are interested.



Banana Bread
This banana bread is moist and delicious with loads of banana flavor!
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour (mix wheat, white, and or/ oat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
¼ cup applesauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

TWD: My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Be-lated Valentines Day! Hope it was filled with love and if you have kids lots of cheer and amusement.

Our Valentines Day consisted of valentine scavenger hunts, hours of crafting homemade valentines, cousin fun, making and eating sweet lovable treats (homemade heartshaped oreos, sugar cookies, and cherry fudge brownie torte).

On to the Tuesdays With Dorie for the week. I had was lucky enough to get her best chocolate chip cookies for my week. Oh how we love chocolate chip cookies around here. I will be honest though....we delight so much more in the dough than in the actual cookie. Once a chocolate cookie is baked it looses its magic....except maybe not our favoite Big Fat chocolate chip cookies. Each time I make cookies I will save at least 1/3 of the dough shaped in a log so we can pull it out of the refidgerator at will and cut a good chunk off. Yum!



So unfortunately Dorie's favorite was not my favorite. It was still a good cookie, but not amazing. I felt like they were drier than I wanted even when I underbaked them. I am sure it has more to do with the baker than the recipe. I have made these before and accidently turned them into a steller cookie. My kids still loved them and my toddler begged and begged me for a bit while I baked them and finally sweet peace he got one and I think probably three, because Nana was in town. Naughty Nana!



If you want to try these cookies out head on over to Kait's Plate for the recipe.

KT (sister-in-law) also brought up a delicious cookie as well. These patties were super rich so one was enough, but they were very delectable. I took pictures of hers at night so it is not that great of a shot sorry!



Creamy Peppermint Patties

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 tsp peppermint extract
9 cups confectioners' sugar
¾ cup milk chocolate chips
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 Tblsp shortening

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and extract until smooth. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating well. Shape into 1-in balls. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Flatten into patties. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.

In a microwave, melt chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Dip patties in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper until firm. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: about 4 dozen.


Here is a viewing of our sugar cookie decorating with the kids.

Miriam

TWD: Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia

Well, I am down to 2 1/2 weeks until baby makes her arrival. Right now I am in full nesting mode which means I am doing a ton, probably too much on some days. On top of the nesting frenzy, I have done a lot of baking over the past week. After the success of our last family TWD night, April and I decided it would be fun to do it again. She took the cookies and I took the brownies.

When I first read the recipe I thought to myself, this is a lot of work for brownies so they had sure better be good. I have a recipe that I love and use often enough that I have it memorized. These brownies were more labor intensive than I prefer brownie recipes to be. When they came out of the oven they were still quite gooey so I put them in for an extra 5 minutes. Even at that point they still seemed a bit gooey but I figured that the recipe said they should be fudgy so hopefully when they cooled, they would be more fudge-like and less runny.

Saturday I spent the day cleaning the house with my sister and mom to make room changes for the baby's arrival. I made the brownies in the morning and by the time it came to go to the TWD night, I was exhausted and couldn't walk. My hips were killing me so Josh was nice enough to take the brownies, and the kids, to a family evening while I stayed home and enjoyed the quiet and a bath. It was heavenly.

I actually never got to taste the finished product, or take a picture of it. I sent a plate with Josh and kept a few for photos but didn't take pictures quickly enough as the rest of the brownies were eaten by my dad and my hubby on Sunday. Oops! Josh came home and said that the brownies were a huge hit. As he finished off the last one he told me they were addicting, so much so that he said he had been thinking about them all day. So having never tasted them, I'll have to take the word of family that these were good brownies.

Even with the good review though, I still don't know that I will make them again because of the extra work involved. I know it's not huge, but I think brownies should be a one bowl dessert. Josh loved them though, so maybe he could persuade me to make them again at some point. For the full recipe and great photos, head on over to Chocolate Chic.

Until next time, happy baking!