TWD - Honey Wheat Cookies

This week, Michelle from Flourchild, chose Honey Wheat Cookies from page 81 of Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours". You can also get the recipe from Michelle's blog if you stop by for a visit. I was really excited to see that the description of these cookies included the words "soft" and "chewy"! Faaaaantastic - my favorite kind! I was never a big honey fan until spring of 2009 rolled around and I discovered Green Toe Gardens at my local farmers market. All their hives are local and the flavor is fantastic! I can now add "honey" to my list of snobberies. I used Wild Detroit Honey for Dorie's Honey Peach Ice Cream and for this recipe I used Eight Mile Road Honey.

These cookies are easy to make and are delicious! Dorie's recipe calls for the addition of lemon zest but I forgot to by lemons so I forged ahead with it and the cookies were still wonderful!

I did want to try one little experiment with the dough ... A couple weeks ago I wandered into Sur La Table and discovered cookie cutters on sale for 60 cents each. Seriously? Sixty cents? I picked up a bunch of cutters, including an extra large bee hive! This cookie dough is really soft but I refrigerated, rolled, refrigerated, cut, refrigerated and finally made these into a soft and chewy cut-out cookie. The next time around I may need to throw the freezer into the mix because it was very difficult to transfer the cut outs to the baking sheet.

Please visit the rest of the TWD bakers to see what they did with this weeks recipe selection.

TWD - My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week's selection is from Kait, from Kait's Plait, who chose "My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies". You can find the recipe on Kait's blog or on page 68 of Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours".

Right out of the gate the following words fill my heart with dread ... Thin. Crunchy. Cookie. In case you missed the memo. I do not like Thin. Crunchy. Cookies. My mission this week became three-fold. Part one - make something my son will like, part two - make a cookie that is neither thin nor crunchy and part three- make them Valentine's Day appropriate. Mission impossible?

My son recently became hooked on ice cream sandwiches made with chocolate chip cookies so I thought I would try to make ice cream sandwiches for him. With the first batch of cookies, I scooped the dough with a big disher and refrigerated them before baking in order to reduce spreading. That didn't work out ... I got Thin. Crunchy. Cookies. that were oddly shaped (as opposed to the perfectly round cookies I was shooting for!)


Next! I moved on to Valentine's Day appropriateness with a silicone heart-shaped muffin pan. I had some difficulty with the edges of the cookies climbing the sides of the pan and some sinking in the middle of the cookie but after a bit of playing around, I managed some good heart shaped cookies! These cookies were thick but still a little on the crunchy side.

With two-thirds of my mission complete, I decided to go back to part one - "kid friendly". I went with heart-shaped ice cream sandwiches using Dorie's recipe for vanilla ice cream and they turned out thick and delicious! I can see the appeal of these yummy treats!

Please check out the rest of the TWD bakers to see how their spins on these chocolate chip cookies.

TWD - Sables

This weeks recipe is for Sables, which is essentially a shortbread cookie. I loved these cookies because they are rolled and sliced, so I can cut them as thick as I want! After the dough has been refrigerated, it is brushed with an egg wash and rolled in sugar (I used turbinado) before slicing. This gives the cookie a fantastic crunchy edge that I loved! I will be making these over and over and look forward to trying some variations.

This weeks recipe was chose by Barbara of Bungalow Barbara. I love to visit Barbara's website! Check out the rest of the TWD blogroll to see what the rest of the bakers are up too!

Daring Bakers - Vols-au-Vent

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

First of all - I cannot believe that I actually made my own puff pastry! I wish I had a picture of my face when I pulled the baking sheet out of the oven because I was astounded that I had actually done it. Seriously, I think I was grinning from ear to ear! Very soon after I had removed my vols-au-vent from the oven a pair of high school seniors appeared at my door wanting to sell candy to my seven year old in order to pay for a trip to ... Paris! Their timing was impeccable. Of course, they got a handful of cash! Had they been going to Cozumel I probably would have sent them packing! LOL!

Puff pastry is something most of us buy at the grocery store because it is a bit time intensive (but very easy to do!) Puff pastry is in the ‘laminated dough” family, along with Danish dough and croissant dough. A laminated dough consists of a large block of butter (called the “beurrage”) that is enclosed in dough (called the “détrempe”). This dough/butter packet is called a “paton,” and is rolled and folded repeatedly (a process known as “turning”) to create the crisp, flaky, parallel layers you see when baked. Unlike Danish or croissant however, puff pastry dough contains no yeast in the détrempe, and relies solely aeration to achieve its high rise. The turning process creates hundreds of layers of butter and dough, with air trapped between each one. In the hot oven, water in the dough and the melting butter creates steam, which expands in the trapped air pockets, forcing the pastry to rise.

Since it is officially fall up in these parts, I decided to fill my pastries with apples sauteed with a bit of butter, sugar, and cinnamon. I topped them off with a dollop of maple whipped cream and sprinkle of cinnamon. I used some of the pastry scraps to cut out tiny maple leaves for garnishes. If you cut shapes, I highly recommend chilling them like crazy before baking because some of mine spread quite a bit.

Thanks Steph for a great challenge! Please visit the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see how the rest of the group fared with their Vols-au-vent!

TWD - Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart

Woo-hoo! Look at me! I baked. I blogged. I did it in a timely manner! I finally feel like I'm getting my baking mojo back! This week's Tuesday with Dorie recipe was selected by Carla of Chocolate Moosey, who chose Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart. The recipe can be found on Carla's blog or on pages 355-357 of Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours."

This recipe was pretty straight forward and simple yet came together beautifully! I used a 10-inch tart pan because that is what I have and everything still managed to work itself out. The tart is rich and decadent and would be great for a fancy schmancy get together. Personally, I used to bribe my official taste tester into assembling a bunk bed!

Please check out the rest of the TWD bakers to see how they did with this week's recipe!

Banana Chai Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

I've been in the funkiest funk for the last couple of months and I haven't been able to shake it. I've barely baked and I certainly haven't blogged! What I have been doing is reading blogs and taking notes. Lots of blogs and lots of notes! I got the ball rolling with some peach cupcakes posted by Deb over at Smitten Kitchen. I love, love, love her blog regularly stalk it looking for some goodies. I love cupcakes and hers were wonderful. The next thing to catch my eye was a post on I Heart Cuppycakes about the revival of Cupcake Hero. Cupcake Hero is monthly cupcake contest and I decided that a little competition would be just the jump start that I needed.

I borrowed Deb's Peach cupcake recipe and tweaked it into a Banana Chai Cupcake and I outright stole her brown sugar cream cheese frosting. :) It's a hella good frosting and intend to use it often! I often have a banana chai protein smoothie for breakfast and I always thought it would be a great cupcake flavor.

Banana Chai Cupcakes


3 cups cake flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. chai spice blend (I used McCormick's)

3/4 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. buttermilk

1 4-ounce jar banana baby food

3 small bananas, chopped



Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 30 muffin cups with paper liners.


Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chai spices and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars together, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then add the vanilla. Gently mix in the buttermilk and baby food. Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the chopped banana.


Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.


Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting



1 1/4 c. light brown sugar

1/4 c. cornstarch

1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract


In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator until it thickens back up a bit, about 30 minutes, then spread or dollop on cooled cupcakes.

I was afraid of losing some banana flavor since I was using chopped banana instead mashed banana so I used a small jar of baby food. I loved the little banana chunks scattered throughout the cupcake and they had an excellent banana flavor with a little kick from the chai spices.

Please check out the other Cupcake Hero entries and cast your vote for your favorite at I Heart Cupcakes. The voting poll is on the left hand side of the screen.

Here I was thinking that this overpriced Animal Kingdom monkey was a complete waste of money when in fact, she makes an excellent photo prop!

Daring Bakers - Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.
Bakewell tarts…er…puddings combine a number of dessert elements but still let you show off your area’s seasonal fruits.

Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.


For this challenge, I made three mini tarts. For one of them, I used mango jam (I know you're all shocked that I would slip in mangoes) and for the other two I used homemade caramel apple jam. I think the idea behind the tart .. er.. pudding, was to use a smooth jam, I just couldn't pass on the chunky apple jam. The result? Fantastic! I actually liked the apple version better than the mango version and plan on making this again when fall rolls around. Here, in Michigan, that could very well be the week after next! :)


The recipe calls for flaked almonds for the top, but I used sliced almonds because I had them in the cupboard. Here is what the inside of the mango tart looked like.


And the caramel apple jam version topped with whipped cream sweetened with brown sugar and a dusting of cinnamon. Yum! I seriously can't stop eating the tartlettes!

Please check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see other versions of the Bakewell Tart .. err .. Pudding. Here is the recipe I use for the Caramel Apple Jam.