TWD: Savory Brioche Pockets

After looking at the recipe, I felt like I should stuff some chicken and other things inside these 'pockets' but decided I better just stick to the recipe.  And after making them and eating them, I'm thinking maybe I should have listened to my heart.  Dramatic, I know.  I forgot to add the chives to the potato and goat cheese mixture, oops.  I ended up sprinkling them on top to try to make up for my misfortune but these just didn't wow me enough to make them again.  

It was a 2 day process for the brioche and then several different pans are needed to 'steam' the potatoes and cook the asparagus and caramelize the onions.  And honestly after all that time and all those dirty dishes, I was expecting to have my socks knocked off.  Sadly, they weren't.  My socks are still in tact.

I enjoyed mixing the dough, but we've made brioche before so I knew what to expect.  And I have to admit, I think she's so pretty.

 Calvin helped me fill up the pockets and I caught him eating asparagus!  I just about died because he usually and forcefully refuses asparagus.  So there's that.

 The pockets before the rise.

 After the rise and ready to bake.

 Baked.  The edges didn't really want to stay nicely pressed like they were in the book, but I figured the fillings were solid enough, I didn't worry too much about it.

I KNOW the brioche recipe is a winner because these Pecan Sticky Buns blew my mind and used the same brioche recipe.  I think it's just a matter of what you shove inside these things and your preferences.  If you'd like to try the recipe or a variation of it, you can visit the blog of our host for the week:  Loaves and Stitches.

I'm sure the amazing TWD bakers have come up with some mouth-watering renditions.  To see their links go HERE.

TWD: Fresh Rhubarb Upside-Down Baby Cakes

I don't have baby cake pans, baby.  I told you that when we made Gingerbread Baby Cakes.  Last time I used ramekins.  This time I thought I'd use my jumbo muffin pan (the muffin holes are 3 inches across).  It doesn't get used all that much and I think it feels left out most days.

We had maple flavored whipped cream to go on top and the whole thing was the kind of dessert that almost makes me forget who chocolate is.  And my own name.  I love being pleasantly surprised.  But what's not to like about a cake with caramel, walnuts (I didn't have pecans) and rhubarb.  Did I lose you there?  At the rhubarb?  Yeah, I didn't add very much but I wished I added more.  It was delicious.

I halved the recipe and it was perfect for the muffin tin.  

Look at her all happy and buttered and floured.

 All good things start with caramel.  (Remember, I forgot who chocolate was for today.)  And this is where I should have been more bold with the rhubarb.  Probably twice as much.

 And then cake batter on top.  I used my 1 oz scoop and put 2 oz in cake hole.  Yes, we are making cake right now so they're cake holes.

 Bake and dump out.  I had to take a knife around the edge of each one before they really wanted to come out.

And then wonder if they are worth all the dirty dishes.  But my little saucepan was also happy.  He doesn't see much action either, normally.

 And then (almost) accidentally beat your whipping cream until it turns to butter.  Oops.  I caught it just in time.  It was probably about 1/2 cup whipping cream, 2 T sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp maple flavoring and I want to remember that for next time.  I might have just eaten some whipped cream.  Maybe.

Then, decide it was worth all the dirty dishes.

 And then forget there are even dirty dishes.

These were so good I might have to throw the rest away so I don't eat them all.  

If you'd like to try them yourself, you can buy the book or you can visit the blog of our hostess for the week at:  When it Doubt....Leave it at 350

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did, you can go HERE.

TWD: Madeleines

 I've never made madeleines before.  The only reason I've even heard of them before is because of FRIENDS.  Remember when Sandy made madeleines?  And Ross was mad because they were 'lighter than air'?  Yeah, that about sums up my knowledge on the subject.  I can't really comment on how successful I thought the recipe was and if they turned out how they are supposed to or not because I really don't know.   I wish Ross or Monica were here, they could tell you.  For a couple hours today, I thought there would be a reunion season of FRIENDS.  It was a blissful couple hours, but the dream has been crushed.

I will say that my kids ate all of these.  I had one and couldn't quite figure out what the fuss was all about.  I mean, where's the freaking chocolate?  Maybe I can't wrap my head around it because I'm not a coffee or tea drinker?  Maybe they go hand-in-hand.

I took the advice of a fellow baker and rather than greasing and flouring the pan, I brushed it with just butter.  That seemed to be a great tip.

For some reason, when I took them out of the oven, they all looked like they had tumors or something growing out of them.  Maybe they are supposed to look like that?  I really don't know.  The recipe just said to fill the molds with the batter, it didn't say how full.  I filled 'er up (I used my 1 oz cookie scoop and it seemed to be perfect).  Maybe I wasn't supposed to fill them all the way to the top though?

I'm not sure I would make this recipe again, but not because I don't think it's a good recipe.  I might just not like madeleines enough.  I guess I will have to try a couple other recipes to decide how I really feel about them.

 If you like madeleines, you should give this recipe a try.  You can buy the book or get it at our host blog for the week, Counter Dog

If you'd like to see how the other TWD bakers fared this week, you can go HERE to get their links.

TWD: Rustic Potato Loaves

I try not to get braggy about food.  Just because I like something, doesn't mean everyone will.  Just because I think something is 'the best...' or delicious, doesn't mean you will.  Because of that, I normally try to reel in my sentiments.  I don't want to over-sell anything.  But seriously, this bread was bomb.  Yeah, it made me feel cool enough to start talking like a 15 year old boy.  And since we are already there, I will just tell you that it was also epic.  Seriously.

When I took it out of the oven, I wasn't all that impressed.  When bread doesn't go how I want, and comes out looking wonky, I label it 'rustic.'  While this was supposed to be rustic, I wasn't in love with the look of it.  Have you ever seen someone and you don't think they're much to look at, but then you get to know them and it turns out, they're flippin' beautiful?  Or vice-versa:  They're beautiful until you get to know them and then they quickly lose all appeal?  Well, this bread was the former.  I wasn't so impressed with the rustic look of it, but then I got to know it a little better and I can't figure out why I didn't love it from the get-go.  I've made potato bread before, but never found a recipe that I wanted to commit to, until now.  Mark my words, this bread and I are going to have a long lasting relationship.  I am hopelessly in love with it.  

I loath peeling potatoes but I was expecting to have to peel them for this bread.  Um, nope.  And I almost chickened out and peeled them anyway because I thought it was going to be super weird having potato peels in the bread.  It wasn't super weird.  Everything about this bread was super awesome. (to be read: ..super awesome period!)  

I had to use a couple red potatoes because I didn't quite have enough russet.  I didn't have enough all purpose flour.  I subbed 2 cups of bread flour for the all-purpose so I left out 1/4 cup (I think I read/heard that bread flour soaks up more liquid than all purpose so I didn't want it to be too dry.)  to make 4 1/2 cups of flour all together.  The substitutions worked seamlessly.  So not only is this bread delicious  it's also forgiving!  

It did give me a little bit of anxiety when I was mixing the dough but the book warned me it would look crumbly.  I seriously wanted to add about 1/4 cup of water right here....

'Have faith and keep beating.'  And so I did.  And it paid off.  The dough did come together how it was supposed to.  Phew!

I didn't use my baking stone because it wasn't big enough for both loaves at the same time.  I lined a baking sheet with parchment, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal.

I was a little worried about transferring the dough, but it wasn't so bad.  The biggest hiccup was that one of the loaves was a bit crooked and it stayed that way.  (below)  Don't you think it's rustic and beautiful?  Well, maybe taste it and get back to me.

If you don't love the outside, try not to love the inside.  I dare you.

We had chicken salad sandwiches with the bread.  I wasn't sure how to cut it because just slicing it would have made for weird shaped sandwiches so I cut the bread down the middle and acted like it was 4 loaves of bread.

I can imagine this bread would be great with anything on it or nothing at all.  You really can't go wrong.

If you'd like the recipe, you can buy the book or visit the blog of our host for the week:  Simply Sweet.  Dawn also has some great step-by-step photos and a loaded baked potato version that I am sure is down-right delicious!

If you'd like to see how the other TWD bakers did you can go HERE.

TWD: Mocha(less) Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This week's TWD was fine by me.  I love chocolate chip cookies.  But I was a little confused when I looked at the P&Q page and saw that people were talking about apricots.??  I thought maybe I had no idea what we were really making this week. But guess what!  There were apricots listing in the recipe ingredients.  With the word (optional) next to it.  Phew!  I am not sure I'm cool enough to ruin my cookies with apricots at this point.  (Maybe one day I will look back and laugh at this comment.  I mean, I did eat a beet the other day and I've held out on those since I was about 5.  It wasn't so bad.  One day I might morph into a chocolate-chunk-and-apricot-cookie eating fool.  Never say never.)  I also left out the mocha since we aren't coffee drinkers.  I didn't want to seem like a loser though so I threw some walnuts into a few of the cookies.

I used semi-sweet chocolate and instead of buying chunks I cut my own. About at this point (below) I was wondering why I didn't just buy those perfect chunks at the store.  Nothing perfect about this mess.  And the recipe said something about white chocolate so I threw some white chocolate chips in too.

 I guess the overnight chill is supposed to develop flavors and stiffen the dough.  Well, I skipped it.  The recipe didn't specify to soften the butter, so I used mine cold and by the time I got the dough formed, it didn't seem to need fridge time to me.  And let's face it, if a cookie recipe HAS to be put in the fridge overnight, I will find another recipe.  I can't trust myself to have that kind of forethought. 

 To slightly make up for skipping the chill, after I scooped (I used my 1 oz scoop) the dough onto the cookie sheet, I put the second pan in the freezer for 15 minutes while the first pan baked.

 The first, non cold batch seemed to do just fine.  They were a little less cripsy around the edges when they came out of the oven.  I think the colder ones get browner edges while waiting for the cold center to bake.

 Either way, no complaints here!  We all loved them!   I made some for Tyler with just white chocolate chips and he said he wanted about a hundred of them. The rest of us all loved the chocolate chunks.

  Next time I would probably skip the chill again and leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for a minute to cool before removing them to a rack.  They wanted to fall apart a bit right out of the oven but after a minute or so, it was easy.

This was a great recipe and you can never have too many great cookie recipes! (In my opinion, anyway)  You can buy the book, or get the recipe at our host blog for the week:  Galettista

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did you can go HERE.

TWD: Croissants

I realized the other day that I have been a member of TWD for over a year now.  I've been baking with the group since it started it's second run last February!  And while I haven't missed a week of baking, I've yet to host.  I've been feeling a bit guilty about it, really.  It's all part of being in the group, right?  When they ask for volunteers to host, eligible bakers should volunteer.  I hadn't done that yet and I told myself that the next recipe I saw that I was excited about, I would stop being a pansy and say I would do it.  So here I am.  I realized when I went to make these that I maybe should have read through the recipe (or recipes) before blindly saying I would host.  I mean, could I have picked a longer recipe to type up?  It's really doubtful.  I wasn't super worried about making croissants since I had done it before but now that my arms have gotten a workout with all the rolling, my fingers will now get their workout with some serious typing.

TWD: Boca Negra (Chocolate Cake)

Apparently Boca Negra means "black mouth."  Um, that doesn't really sound appetizing.  But then if you read on, you find out you aren't really eating mouth, but that the cake is so chocolatey, it will turn your mouth black.  And believe me, I can work with that.  

Is anyone surprised I halved this recipe?  I did.  And then I decided I would bake it in ramekins and make 4 small cakes.  It worked well.  Which was surprising since I didn't use the bourbon, I used water with some caramel flavoring.  I made the white chocolate cream (also subbed water with caramel flavoring for the bourbon) but it wasn't set up enough to take the picture, so ice cream stepped up to the plate.  And I'm not sold on the cream but it was pretty delicious with ice cream.

 I don't really know what this cake is supposed to be like.  Since I changed the recipe, I'm not sure it turned out how it should, but it was delicious still.  It was gooey and delicious in the middle and super chocolatey.  It was almost more brownie-like than cake-like.  I think this recipe would be super easy to make gluten free since the full recipe only has 1.5 T of flour.

I used the food processor method so it came together so quickly and easily it was almost ridiculous.  Next time you are in the mood for something with chocolate, you should give it a try.  You can get the recipe at A Frederick Food Garden (our host for the week).

And if you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did this week, you can go HERE.

TWD: Focaccia

I've been wanting to make focaccia for a while now.  My mother-in-law sent me a recipe (forever ago) and I have been meaning to make it; I just haven't gotten around to it.  So of course I was excited to see that's that we were making for TWD this week.  I do wish I had noticed earlier than 11:00 pm yesterday that this dough needed a 24 hour rest in the refrigerator.  Oops.  Needless to say, it didn't get that.  I didn't even refrigerate it.  I just let it raise and extra time, and then followed the directions in the book as though I did exactly what I was supposed to. 

We all really loved this.  I think my kids are going to eat all of it by themselves.  It was a tad too salty for me with the salt in the dough and then the coarse salt on top.  But that's an easy fix for next time.  I halved the recipe and just baked one focaccia and topped it with chopped chives and salt.    

 It would be fun to try all different variations of this.  The book suggests using it to make a sandwich and I think it would be delicious used that way.  Hadlee dunked hers in balsamic vinegar, I guess it reminded her of french bread. :)

I'm not sure what I was missing by not refrigerating the dough for 24 hours and I am not sure it's worth finding out.  I can't see myself thinking that far ahead for this kind of thing but maybe one of these days I will surprise myself and have it all together. 

If you'd like the recipe, you can get it at the blog of our host for the week:  Wandering Through.

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did this week, (and you should, there are some mouth watering combinations out there) you can go HERE.

TWD: French Apple Tart

 I wish I could tell you how this tastes, but I have no idea.  We are really trying to watch our calories around here so we dropped this off to some friends.  I hate that you can't taste this kind of thing before you give it to someone.  I did try all the components by themselves when I was making it and they were all pretty good.  I imagine this would be delicious with a scoop of ice cream and maybe some caramel sauce.....I just decided that I shouldn't have given it away..... :)

I just used the pie crust recipe that I normally use.  I was ready to use the recipe in the book, but I didn't have pastry flour, so I just stuck with what I knew.

It wasn't super hard.  Maybe a little harder than a regular apple pie but it looks so pretty.  If you'd like to try the recipe you can get it at Law's of the Kitchen, our host blog for the week.

And if you'd liked to see how the other TWD bakers fared this week, you can go HERE.

TWD: Pizza with Onion Confit

I am always excited when I can say I've made something new.  And now I can say I have made a confit!  I have always wondered what that meant.  Well, since Monica (from FRIENDS) said she makes the best duck confit with broccoli rabe, anyway.  And now I kind of know.  I was expecting the onion confit to be similar to caramelized onions and it was, I thought.  We all know how much I like caramelized onions, so of course, I loved these.  And we all thought the pizza dough was pretty good.

I added sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese and kalamata olives to our pizza.  The kids got the more traditional cheese and pepperoni.  At first, I think Tyler was wishing he was one of the kids.  After eating it, he did say he did liked it okay though. :)

My mandolin and I seem to have set aside our differences.   I have used it a few times since the attack and it's been on it's best behavior.  I think soon we might be inseparable.  Everyone/thing deserves a second chance, right?

If you'd like to try this recipe, you can get it HERE.

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did this week, you can go HERE.

TWD: Finnish Pullah

I haven't heard of this particular bread before.  It's essentially a yeasted sweet bread.  It's supposed to be flavored with Cardamom but I didn't have any and wasn't sure it was a flavor I would like so I took the advice of a fellow baker and subbed cinnamon and nutmeg (1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg) for the cardamom.  It was delicious.  I left off the almonds and used turbinado sugar instead of peal sugar.  Everyone loved it. 

The dough was easy to work with and the braiding wasn't as big a deal as you would think  I am going to try it again sometime with the cardamom and see how that goes.  It's super festive and I am sure anyone would love to share it with you or receive it as a gift. :)

You can get the recipe by buying the book or visiting Erin's blog for the recipe.  She was our host for the week.

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did this week, you can see their links HERE.

TWD: Gingerbread Baby Cakes

I have always known that Julia's tastes were much more sophisticated than mine.  I wasn't fooling myself.  But after the last recipe, (the brownies) I started to feel like maybe we weren't that different after all.  Maybe we were kindred spirits.  Maybe I had completely misjudged the situation and we were actually BFFs at heart.  Then this week's recipe smacked me in the face.  And I remembered that there isn't much sophisticated about me and especially not my palate.

I have never made a baby cake before.  I thought that was just a nickname people used.  "C'mere baby cakes."  You know, that kinda thing.  But I guess that nickname came from somewhere, probably these cakes?  Or maybe it's not a nickname and I heard someone say it and thought they were talking to someone else but they were actually talking to a small cake.  It's hard to say.  Of course, I didn't have baby cake pans so I used some ramekins that I had.  I made 1/4 the recipe and it made 2 small cakes.  The only problem, and maybe it's not a problem at all, is that I added the wrong amount of molasses.  I was supposed to add 1/2 cup for 1/4 of the recipe but I guess when I saw molasses, my brain automatically went to tablespoons.  Who would add more than tablespoons of molasses to a cake?  What are we making brown bread?  So I added 1/2 tablespoon instead of 1/2 cup.  Oops.  I realized it after putting the cakes in the oven.  The recipe said to rotate the pans to level batter, but my batter was way too thick to expect a pan rotation would do any good.  After reviewing the recipe a few times, I realized what I had done, but it was too late. (dun, dun, dun)

I wondered if they would still turn out with my error but I think it ended up being a blessing.  I am not a douse-everything-with-molasses kind of girl so I think if I'd added the full amount, the flavor might have been a bit much for me.  At is was, I was surprised how little I hated this cake.  I really expected to hate it.  It didn't have nearly enough chocolate and it seemed like way too much ginger but really it wasn't so bad.  It also has pepper in it.  Yeah, pepper.  I know I have heard of  pepper in a cake before, but I didn't expect I would actually put pepper in a cake (I know I am not sophisticated enough).  All in all, it wasn't so bad.  I ate half of a baby cake and maybe even enjoyed it a little bit.  I probably wouldn't crave these or make them for myself.  But if I knew someone who liked gingerbread and pepper a lot, I would probably make it for them.  

The inside was still a bit gooey when we cut them open but I liked it like that.  I am just glad they worked at all after my mess up! 

On a side note, Calvin thought they tasted good and Hadlee decided to be 'nice' and give Calvin her piece.  She is so selfless.

If you want to see what the other bakers did this week and maybe see what the cakes are supposed to look like, you can go HERE.

If you'd like the recipe, you can buy the book , or stop by the blog of our host for the week, Karen's Kitchen Stories

TWD: Best Ever Brownies (Are they?)

When I saw the title of these brownies, I thought, "Hmmm, we'll see."  How can they possibly be better than my favorite brownie recipe?  Or even  my second favorite?  Those two are hard to beat in my book.  I was surprised with how much I ended up liking these.  I will be making them again and I feel like I now have three favorite brownie recipes.  To which I say, this is one thing you can never have too many of.

They were super delicious with ice cream which is one of my brownie requirements.  I didn't have a 9X9 pan so I used an 8X11.5 and it worked great.  I also substituted semi-sweet chocolate for the bittersweet.  

They were fudgey and gooey, but not too gooey and completely delicious.  If you are looking for a great brownie recipe, you should give this one a try!

You can get the recipe at A Beautiful Mess

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did this week, you can go HERE.