Baking With Dorie: Sablés

I love Sablés - especially chocolate ones. But since we're baking World Peace Cookies  next & they're almost Sablés-like (and may I mention they are the best cookies, ever!), I decided not to tinker with this recipe too much and wait to get my chocolate fix next time.

So I went ahead with the spice version suggested by Dorie Greenspan & while I was fumbling around in my kitchen cabinets looking for coarse sugar, I came across a packet of peppermint candy & thought what fun it would be to roll these cookies in crushed candy . . forgetting the fact that the candy would melt in the oven . . . and so 20 minutes later I was scraping all of this from the bottom of the cookies . . 

Just remind me to stick to the recipe next time! 

That said, the cookie dough was slightly tricky. I haven't made this kind of cookie in a while & Dorie's instructions said to not over-mix the dough. So I was over-cautious but then I was using a hand-held mixer so I had to beat just slightly longer than I was supposed to, and my resulting cookie-dough was just a little smoother than it was probably meant to be. 

I divided the dough and used just one half to make cookies this morning. They're really good: buttery (though not very crumbly because I figure I overmixed the dough), sandy, and taste somewhat like a snickerdoodle. But since I'm not very fond of snickerdoodles, I have a feeling I would have loved the lemon version more and intend to try it out some time between now and the next BWD challenge. 

Please do check out the other BWD bakers here. For the recipe, head over to Laurie's blog Cookin' up North, or page 131 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. 

Next up, we're baking World Peace Cookies, picked by Rebecca. If you'd like to join our baking challenge, please email me at needfulthings at ymail dot com. We'd love to have you bake along with us!

Baking With Dorie: Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake

Cheesecake had never been my forte until I discovered Dorie Greenspan. And so I felt pretty confident about tackling this recipe when Jen picked it for this week. Besides, what was not to love about the thought of apples, cinnamon and brown sugar in a cheesecake?

The only thing was - I didn't want to make a big cheesecake, but then I also didn't want to do the math & divide this recipe in half. What's a lazy girl to do? 

I didn't divide the recipe in half but baked 6 mini-cheesecakes in my muffin tin as a trial version & saved the rest of the filling to use later tomorrow. I expected an epic fail once I realized that I was out of sour cream & had to substitute with yogurt. I was sure something would happen to compromise the texture of the cheesecakes & sat around with fingers crossed the entire time they were baking.

I need not have worried because the texture turned out to be everything it promises to be: creamy without being too dense, and  the surprise layer of caramelized apples is deliciously pleasing.

This may not have been one of my prettiest BWD bakes, but whatever it lacked in visual appeal is made up for by its' apple-infused dreamy-creaminess. 

Thanks to Jen for picking this recipe this week! Please head over to Jen's blog for the recipe, or to pages 238-9 of Baking: from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. Do head over to the blog roll & check out how the other BWD bakers' did this week. 

Next up, we're baking Sables (picked by Laurie). If you'd like to join our baking challenges, please drop me a line at needfulthings at ymail dot com. We'd love to have you bake along with us! 

Taste & Create: Aloo Fry (a Potato Curry)

This is my first time participating in Taste & Create & I've been paired with Padmajha of Seduce Your Tastebuds. Padmajha has a treasure of Indian vegetarian dishes featured on her blog and I would have loved to try some of the ones I've never heard of before. But I had to pick something simple due to time constraints & so I went with Aloo Fry.

This is a simple, flavorful side dish that requires little preparation. I followed Padmajha's recipe exactly and the only minor changes I made was to add a squirt of lemon juice to the potatoes at the end. The other thing I did differently was that I waited till the onions were light brown before adding the whole spices (mustard seed, coriander seed, cumin - and a pinch of kalonji/black onion seed, which was my own addition) - quite simply because I thought if I added them in the reverse order, the spices might burn by the time the onion was browned.

You can find the recipe for Aloo Fry here.

I figured Taste & Create was a good way to shake me out of my complacency & try out new recipes. I'm looking forward to my next challenge next month! You can find out how it works here.

Baking With Dorie: Applesauce Spice Bars

I finally made these! After looking through everyone else's blog posts this week, I knew I was going to love this bake & I was sure to double the glaze, as suggested by the other BWD bakers. 

These bars came together in no time at all, which made me realize I could have tried to make them sooner. And they were fabulous! Ultra-moist and almost spice-cake like, the glaze is what sends these bars truly over the edge and makes them completely irresistible. 

Thanks for choosing such a winner Chaya ! Please head over to Chaya's blog for the recipe, or to Page 117 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Next up, we're baking the Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake (Pages 238-8). If you'd like to join our baking challenge, please drop me an email at needfulthings at ymail dot com. We'd love to have you bake along with us!

Baking With Dorie - Links to BWD Bakers this week (Applesauce Spice Bars)

I'm late with my bake again. I've been far too preoccupied lately & haven't had the time to bake or blog. I promise to have it up tomorrow!

Meanwhile, here are the links to all the other BWD bakers:

Beurrista
Bright Morning Star 
Cookin' up North
Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog

Gluten-Free Baking 101

My Domestic Bliss

The Rookie Baker

The challenge was chosen by Chaya this week.  Please head over to Chaya's blog for the recipe, or to Page 117 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Next up, we're baking the Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake (Pages 238-8). If you'd like to join our baking challenge, please drop me an email at needfulthings at ymail dot com. We'd love to have you bake along with us!

Baking With Dorie - Links to BWD Bakers this week (My Favorite Pecan Pie)

Despite my best intentions, I've been unable to bake Dorie Greenspan's Favorite Pecan Pie today. I hope to do a rewind post in two weeks. Meanwhile, here is the list of blogs participating this week (the other bakers will do rewind posts later), please be sure to check them out:

Beurrista

Cookin' up North

My Domestic Bliss

The Rookie Baker

The recipe was chosen by Tina of  My Domestic Bliss this week & she tells me it's a winner! Please head over to Tina's blog for the recipe, or Page 327 of Baking: from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. 

Next up, we're baking Applesauce Spice Bars (Page 117). If you'd like to join our baking challenge, please drop me an email at needfulthings at ymail dot com. We'd love to have you bake along with us!

An appeal for Help

This post hasn't much to do with food. But it does have to do with something that breaks my heart. 

Now that the Pakistani flood waters have receded, all the news cameras have rolled away and any little world interest that there was, has faded. But the wreckage and desolation remain. Those in affected areas are still in dire need of all the assistance they can get. The situation is anything but over.

Back in August, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon described the Pakistani floods as 'a slow-motion tsunami. It's destructive power will accumulate and grow with time. . . Make no mistake: this is a global disaster, a global challenge. It is one of the greatest tests of global solidarity in our times'.

Diseases are now on an alarming rise (cholera, skin diseases, diarrhea, malaria, respiratory-tract infections, dengue fever - to name just a few). More than 20 million have been affected by the floods and the UN estimates that 10 million are still in need of shelter, food , clean drinking water and other basics. 

8 million children and over 500,000 pregnant women are at risk because of deadly water-borne disease. 105,000 children younger than 5 years of age might die of malnutrition over the next 6 months.

What if it were your child up there? Or here:

or worst of all, what if this were your child? 

Would you not want someone to help him? 

At the onset of winter millions are still in temporary shelters, without warm clothing or food. 

Please, please: if you have warm clothing or blankets to spare, or an extra can of food (only beans, peas, corn or fruit - expiration date at least a year away), call up your local airport to check if the Pakistan International Airlines has a collection point in your city, and please drop off your donations there. Every little contribution counts and whatever you donate will be forwarded to Pakistan free of cost by the airline. You could find more information on their website.

People in Pakistan need your help. 

Timing is crucial - Whose suffering will you help stop today? 

(All photos are courtesy of Google Images).

Baking With Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins

There's nothing better than sleeping in late on a rare morning, and then heading down to the kitchen to bake up a batch of muffins that you can eat straight out of the oven; snuggled on the couch with your cup of coffee.

That's what I did today - trying to stretch out the quiet contentment of the sunny morning before my toddlers' friend arrived for a play date. I had figured these muffins would be a perfect snack for the kids and so I sprinkled them with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds for toddler-appeal. It worked as far attracting their attention was concerned, but unfortunately I found both kids making a mountain out of crumbs a few minutes after they sat down to eat these muffins.. ! I guess you just can't win them all.

But that is not to say that these muffins aren't good - they are moist and have just a subtle hint of spiciness and mild sugary sweetness with an agreeable blend of textures ranging from the soft chewiness of the raisins and pecans to the pleasing crunch from the sunflower seeds. I liked that these muffins were delicately spiced,  tender and not too sweet - perfect with cup of coffee. And so much healthier than our previous bakes!

Thank you for choosing this recipe this week Elizabeth!

For a gluten-free version of this dessert, please visit Elizabeth's blog Gluten-Free Baking 101. For the original recipe, visit Chaya's blog at My Sweet and Savory or Page 13 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.

To check out the other BWD bakers, visit the blogroll here. Our next challenge is 'My Favorite Pecan Pie' picked by Tina of My Domestic Bliss. If you'd like to join our baking challenge, please drop me an email at needfulthings at ymail dot com. We'd love to have you bake along with us!

Devils Food Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

My sons' evolving preferences over the years have me confronting increasingly challenging trials in birthday cake-decorating. In fact this is the first year that I completely failed him on that account. It would have been so much easier to just pick up a cake from a bakery but I take birthday cakes very seriously and what I lack in decorating talent as well as punctuality, I make up for with the sheer determination to make my kids birthday cakes that they will remember throughout the year.

But despite my best intentions, I just couldn't deliver this time: there I was at 4 a.m., just having finished frosting a 2-layer 9x13" cake, struggling to 'draw' Ben 10 with tinted buttercream, and failing. Miserably. An hour, and several errors later, I gave up and scraped the offensive Ben 10 figure off, replacing it with candy cake decorations. I then dropped it off at the school, sending up a prayer that the cake itself would appeal to my picky sons' taste buds.

Once he got home from school, I was rewarded with the very rare compliment that 'everything about the cake was so, so delicious' as well as a request to make it again over the weekend. The second time around, I decided to keep it simple and made a 2-layer 9-inch cake. It took us a couple of days to eat through it, and it seemed that the flavors just intensified the longer this cake sat around in the fridge.

The cake recipe can be found on Gourmet here.

The brown sugar cream cheese frosting is a twist on the classic cream cheese frosting and is one of my favorites ways to frost cupcakes. It comes from Joy the Baker and it paired so well with the chocolate in the cake, that I may never use any other kind of frosting ever again!

Baking With Dorie: Kids' Thumbprints

My daughter and I are the real peanut butter lovers in our house. So my reason behind choosing this recipe was just so I could have some fun making these with her. Halfway into rolling the cookie dough into balls, I realized this had been a bad idea because my daughter insisted she was handling play-doh and soon everything was going to end up all over the kitchen floor. So I took over the dough and allowed her to poke holes into the center of each cookie, using a wooden spoon.  I had to make them  a little larger than teaspoon-sized because my daughter kept smashing them while trying to poke the hole! The end result was a little messy looking cookie, but we did have a lot of fun baking them together. 

These buttery, shortbread-like cookies were a big hit with my toddler, her favorite part being the strawberry jam center.  

Kids' Thumbprints

from Baking: From y home to yours ,by Dorie Greenspan, Page 163.

1.5 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter - crunchy (Dorie's choice) or smooth

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg, separated

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 large egg white

1 1/2 cups roasted peanuts (salted or unsalted), finely chopped

about 3/4 cup jam or jelly (cherry, raspberry, strawberry and  blueberry are particularly good)

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. 

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars together on medium speed until very light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg yolk and continue to beat until well blended. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until incorporated. 

Put the 2 egg whites in a small bowl and beat them with a fork until slightly frothy. Put the chopped nuts in another bowl. 

Working with a teaspoon of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms to form balls, turn them in the egg whites till completely coated and then drop them into the nuts and roll to coat. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Steadying each cookie with the thumb and finger of one hand, use the pinkie of your other hand (or the end of a wooden spoon) to poke a hole in the center of each cookie. Be careful not to go all the way down to the baking sheet. 

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway mark. The cookies will be lightly golder. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to a rack. 

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets before baking a new batch. 

Put the jam or jelly in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring, over low heat. Using a small spoon, fill each thumbprint with hot jam. Allow the cookies - and especially the jam - to cool to room temperature, at which point the jam will form a shiny , nonsticky finish. 

Thank you to all the BWD bakers for baking along with me this week. Please check out the blogroll here to see everyone elses's thumbprint cookies, and please note that the gluten-free version of these cookies will be up on Elizabeths' blog Gluten-Free Baking 101 tomorrow (Tuesday). We are baking Pumpkin Muffins next, picked by Elizabeth. If you'd like to join our baking challenge, please email me at  needfulthings at ymail dot com. We'd love to have you bake along with us!