Rugelach

This week's recipe for the all-new Tuesdays With Dorie (Baking With Julia edition) is Rugelach.  I have baked rugelach once: Dorie Greenspan's recipe in the original TWD group, which I posted here.  Rugelach is a traditional Jewish cookie, and consists of a cream cheese dough filled with a jam or jam-like spread, and sprinkled with nuts and dried fruit then rolled and baked.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- The host blogs for the rugelach are Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker; you can find the recipe if you visit their posts (here and here).

-  The rugelach recipe in Baking With Julia contains several different components.  One is prune or apricot lekvar - a sort of a spread or paste made from dried fruit.  I had some nice soft prunes that I had used for a different recipe and wanted to use them up while they were still fresh.  I made 1/2 recipe of the prune lekvar.  It was easy enough to prepare and I froze the leftover lekvar for a future baking projects.

- For the dough, I had 2 ounces of cream cheese in the fridge to use up so I decided to make 1/6 recipe of the dough and the other components.  I know that I mixed up the dough without incident, but got a little tricky when I moved onto the "filling and topping" component(s)  I was cruising along with my mental calculations and then suddenly I got totally confused by my math in the sugar and nuts measurements.  I know that I reduced the sugar by a little bit, and reduced the cinnamon by a good bit (I wanted the fruit and nuts, not to mention the prune lekvar, to shine)

-  Roll-and-sliced was the recipe's preferred method of shaping the cookies, but it also allowed for the traditional crescent shaping - where you form long thin triangles of dough and rolling those around the fillings.  I decided to go for the crescent shape even though I suspected it would be hard to fit all of the filling inside the cookies.  I rolled my dough into a rough semicircle, spread it with the prune lekvar, scattered the fillings, and cut triangular wedges.  The recipe cautions against rolling the dough too thin, because it has a lot of filling to hold.  As it turned out, filling was spilling out, even before my cookies made it to the baking sheet.

halfway through the process of coating with egg wash and sugar/spices/nuts before baking

-  Once filled and formed, the cookies were treated to an egg wash and rolled in a mixture of  cinnamon, sugar, and nuts.  It turned out that the egg wash glued all of the elements of the cookies together.

-  These cookies, in my hands, were an unholy, glorious mess. They melted all over the baking sheet (thank goodness for silicone mats!) and stopped this side of charring before the pastry was finished baking, but they ended up perfectly baked inside.

the verdict:

Matching their untidy appearance, my rugelach were a riot of fruit and nut flavors, with a hint of sweetness + cinnamon.  My husband and I had no trouble polishing off the half dozen or cookies and wishing for more.  They were especially good with a cup of hot coffee or tea.

Somewhat Snickerish Squares

Four years ago today the Tuesdays With Dorie bakers posted Snickery Squares, a shortbread-based bar that contains the flavors of the world's most popular candy bar: caramel+chocolate+peanuts.  I'm on a mission to make up the all the TWD recipes that were chosen in the early part of 2008 before I joined the group. 

The recipe is one that I've wanted to taste for a long time because (1) the picture in the book (Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours) is very very inviting, and (2) I have heard good things about these bars from those who baked them before me.  What has kept me from baking the bars?  Four elements to prepare and then layer.  I usually default to an easier recipe.

When I saw that the bars were coming up in the list of TWD recipes, I included them as part of my pre-Lenten flurry of baking sweet treats.

n.o.e.'s notes:

-  The Snickery Squares were chosen and hosted by Erin of the blog  Dinner and Dessert.  You can find the recipe on her post.

-  The recipe gives direction for three elements - caramelized peanuts, shortbread, and chocolate topping - and specifies store-bought dulce de leche for the fourth.  As it turned out, only one of the four elements was prepared as directed by Dorie's recipe!

-  I did not use the dulce de leche but instead located some homemade caramel in my freezer and used it for the bars.  I had made the caramel from a recipe in the book Baked Explorations and it was a really intense, smoky batch of thick caramel.

- As I've shared in a previous TWD caramel+chocolate+peanut recipe, I don't really care for peanuts and chocolate.  This week, rather than peanuts, I used roasted, salted pistachios, which I caramelized according to the recipe's directions for preparing peanuts.

-  I wanted to experiment with a gluten-free version shortbread as a base for these bard.  I tried a recipe from Alice Medrich's cookie book.  I've never had a failure with a Medrich recipe, so I had high hopes for this shortbread crust.  The dough was not difficult to put together and the crust baked up to a nice, firm cookie that held together beautifully.

-  For the topping, I used 70% Green & Black's chocolate.


the verdict:

I found the combination of rich shortbread, good caramel, dark chocolate and crunchy candied pistachios in these bars to be out of this world.  Two tasters joined me for these bars.  One loved them and one didn't card for the caramel.  I'm guessing she would have loved them had I used dulce de leche.

I enjoyed the bars so much that I put some in the freezer for an after-Lent indulgence!  As much as I enjoyed this recipe, I am equally excited to find a gluten-free shortbread recipe to use as a base for other cookies and even for tarts.

Pecan Biscuits

Whew! After all the chocolate desserts that have appeared on the blog lately, I'm relieved to post a recipe for biscuits - basic, easy, breakfast-friendly, and not chocolate!  This is the next recipe in my project to finish all the recipes in Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home to Yours, is Sour Cream Pecan Biscuits.  This recipe was the assignment for the original Tuesdays With Dorie group four years ago today.

n.o.e.'s notes:

-  You can find the recipe on the post of the original host blog, Ashley of Eat Me, Delicious, here.

-  Dorie's biscuits are simple enough to put together.  Although you never want to overwork biscuit dough, I didn't mix the dough quite enough; it was crumbly, and floury, which you can see in the finished product.

-  I used 3" cutters and gently patted the scraps together and cut them again.

-  I baked up half the recipe and froze the other half for a future biscuit occasion.

-  My biscuits didn't rise very high as they baked; they turned out like hockey pucks in shape - the top one pictured above is the only one that had any significant rise.

the verdict:

Although I was a little disappointed in the appearance of my biscuits, that was fleeting.  Once I tasted them - warm with salted butter - I didn't really care about their (lack of good) looks.  I loved the taste of these, a touch sweet and with appealing crunch from the nuts. 

Spice Bars with Pecans and Raisins

 At this point you might be "fussed-out" from rolling, cutting, decorating, and eating fancy cookies during the December baking season.  These Raisin Pecan Spice Bars  are a perfect January treat: they are simple to throw together and their warm spices, nuts, and dried fruit make them very welcome if you're caught in deep winter's chilly grip.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri.  Since I am a (very lax) member of the The Modern Baker Challenge, and the group has agreed to not post the recipes baked from the book, I'm not including the recipe.  I can give you a glimpse of the ingredient list, though: all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, butter, dark brown sugar, sugar, eggs, molasses, sour cream, raisins, and pecans. 

-  I couldn't find any sour cream in the fridge so I used yogurt.

- I stirred a mixture of golden and dark raisins into my batter.

-  Chopped toasted pecans from Trader Joe's are a great time saver and give a wonderful nutty flavor in baked goods!

-  Instead of one 9x13 pan, I baked the recipe in two 8x8 pans because I wanted to make sure the middle got baked through.

-  My bars took 30 -35 minutes to bake, and were still quite moist inside, with a nice crackly top.

- I cut the bars small because they were going on a big platter of bar cookies and brownies.

the verdict:

These bars have a perfectly balanced combination of flavors. The raisins are a strong presence but blend beautifully with the spices and nuts.  I like the way these bars round out a collection of bar cookies - they are great with blondies and brownies.  On the other hand, they are strong enough to stand all by themselves.  I'll turn to this recipe time and again for a versatile cool-weather cookie.

I have been enjoying the streamlined, delicious recipes from The Modern Baker.  In fact I included the book as one of my favorites in my 2010 Cookbook Roundup and purchased three copies of the cookbook in hardcover: for me and for each of my daughters.  If you don't have a copy, the book is now available at very reasonable cost in paperback!  I was honored that Nick Malgieri recently sent a paperback copy of the book to each member of The Modern Baker Challenge.

Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread Cookies (in three sizes)

As we saw in last week's post, the Tuesdays With Dorie group is officially finished with Dorie Greenspan's Baking; From My Home to Yours, having selected every recipe in the book over a 4 year period of weekly baking assignments. I wasn't a member in the first several months of the group's history, so I'm going back now and catching up on what I missed by baking the recipes that were selected early on. I am following the order that the recipes were originally selected in 2008 in Tuesday of the corresponding week here in 2012.

Here's the way it will work: The group (although I think it was just 2 bakers at that point) baked the first recipe, Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies, on Tuesday January 1, 2008. I baked the recipe and am posting it today, the first Tuesday of January in 2012. And so on until July, when I will reach the corresponding week to the one where I joined the group in 2008, and at that point I will have baked every recipe in the book!



n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe on Michelle's blog post from 2008 on her blog Sugar & Spice (the blog was later renamed Brown Eyed Baker.) Michelle was one of the two bakers in Tuesdays With Dorie that first week along with the group's founder, Laurie.

- Rather than grinding up my own pecans (which isn't particularly difficult in a food processor) I used pecan meal, which is very finely ground pecans. Knowing that the meal would come in very handy some day, I'd ordered it a while ago when King Arthur Flour offered one of its periodic free shipping promotions.

- I doubled the quantity of salt in the recipe, and even so it was not very noticeable in the dough.

- The recipe calls for a pinch of cloves; I couldn't wait to see what they would contribute to the shortbread.


- Dorie's instructions are to roll the shortbread dough (in a zipper plastic bag, which is a very cool technique), cut it in squares, poke holes in the cookies with a fork before baking. I've done that with some of the past TWD shortbread recipes (here and here.) I almost always have issues with my shortbread spreading as it bakes, unless I bake it in a pie or tart pan, as I did in this post. and this one. Also my baking buddy Phyl made some shortbread cookies with cookie cutters recently, so I decided to do some experimenting with shaping my cookies:

1. I rolled some of the dough then cut it with a fluted cookie cutter. The cookies turned out pretty well, although they spread a little bit and lost some of their definition.

2. I patted some of the dough into the molds in my silicone mini tart pan. After baking, these popped out of the pan and cooled on a rack.

3. And finally, I spread some dough into my 4" fluted tart pans with removable bottoms. They released well, and produced a hefty cookie.

- All of the cookie shapes turned out well. My favorites were the ones in the silicone pan - they were a great size, baked evenly, and I loved how easily they released from the pan after baking.


the verdict:

After all the fun I had shaping and baking the shortbread it was time to see how it tasted!
The cookies were crisp around the edges and tender in the middle. They were quite buttery, with complex flavor from the brown sugar, pecans, and cloves (which were not at all noticeable as an individual element, but added a mysterious little hint of spice.) There was just enough salt. I loved these cookies and will definitely bake them again!


[edited on January 4, 2012 to add: the next recipe in the TWD rotation was Quintuple Chocolate Brownies. I previously baked this recipe and posted it here, so next Tuesday, January 10, I don't have a catch-up TWD post.]

{TWD} Russian Tea Madeleines and Honey Almond Pluot Tart

This is another one of those weeks where the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group is doubling up on recipes - after 4 years of weekly baking, the group will finish Dorie Greenspan's book Baking; From My Home to Yours by the end of 2011. I'll no doubt have some reflections in the final post (December 27) but until then I'm not letting myself think about it too much - too sad!

Today we have another tart and another recipe for madeleines. My Honey Almond Pluot Tart hearkens back to autumn while my Russian Tea Madeleines are decidedly wintry, featuring satsuma and grapefruit flavors.

First, the madeleines (pictured up above):

Russian Tea Madeleines

Dorie's recipe is for Earl Grey Madeleines, but I have completely run out of Earl Grey tea. I keep running across recipes needing Earl Grey and I have scavenged and scrounged the last of the Earl Grey from the recesses of my tea drawer. Since that drawer is still bursting with other varieties of tea, I am holding out on replacing the Earl Grey. But one byproduct of all that scrounging is that at the very back of the tea drawer I found an unopened tin of Russian tea. As it happens, this tea has orange bergamot oil - just like Earl Grey! - and also tangerine and grapefruit flavors. It sounded perfect for my madeleines.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The madeleine recipe is hosted by Nicole of Bakeologie. You will be able to find the recipe on her cute madeleine post.

- Dorie's recipe calls for lemon zest, which is rubbed with the fingertips into granulated sugar before beating both with the eggs, I decided to use satsuma tangerine zest and grapefruit zest to complement the flavors of the Russian tea.

- This recipe uses an unusual technique to incorporate the tea: leaves of tea are infused in hot melted butter for 15 minutes. Then the butter is strained and added to the batter, carrying the tea's flavors with it.

- Unlike the last time I baked madeleines, I tried to not overfill the molds. They turned out just right, characteristic humps and all, even though I forgot to use Dorie's trick of setting the mold onto a hot baking stone.

the verdict:

These were delicious little cookies - crunchy edges, and softer centers, with the citrus and tea flavors adding complexity and holiday cheer. My husband and I enjoyed them with ice cream and a cup of tea, respectively.

And now, on to the tart:


Honey Almond Pluot Tart

I love baking tarts. Even if f this group were "Tuesdays With Tarts", and we baked a tart every single week, I don't think I'd get tired of baking - or eating - tarts. This week's tart has plenty of appeal. It started as a fig recipe, but there are many other fruits that Dorie suggests as possible variations on the recipe.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The tart was chosen for TWD by Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table (she's a tart fan also). You will be able to find the recipe for the tart and her lovely grapefruit variation if you click to her blog post, but what's even better, you will find her reflections on nearly 4 years of TWD participation. I couldn't say it better.

- Earlier in the fall I looked at the remaining TWD recipes and decided to bake all of the ones that needed seasonal autumnal fruit while it was still in stores. At that point I could still find figs but I had just baked a honey fig cake for TWD and decided to branch out to one of Dorie's suggested alternate fruits. I was hoping for apricots or nectarines but there were none to be found so I picked up some pluots. They're half apricot so I deemed them "close enough."

- For the tart's crust, I made Dorie's Sweet Tart Dough with Nuts, using Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour. I love that tart dough recipe and thought the almond would complement the almond filling. Also, I managed to run out of flour so it was fortuitous to replace some of the recipe's quantity of flour with ground nuts.

- I added almond extract to highlight the almond flavor of the filling.

the verdict:

This was a lovely tart, accompanied nicely by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The brightness of the pluots was a counterpoint to the sweet creamy almond filling.

All in all, two more delicious recipes, and just three more remain until the book is finished!

{TWD} Far Breton ~and~ Honey Nut Scones

The baking group Tuesdays With Dorie began on January 1, 2008, and each week it has presented members with one assigned recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home to Yours. Right now we are *this* close to finishing the book, and the group's leaders have decided that we should finish by the end of Calendar Year 2011, making the group exactly 4 years in duration. In order to meet this deadline, we have to double up on weekly recipes for most weeks this month, leaving Thanksgiving week free for us to choose a recipe we might have missed. So there's a lot of baking going on in my kitchen, and each Tuesday's post in November will have not one, but two recipes.

This week's recipes are Far Breton and Honey Nut Scones.

Part 1: Far Breton

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Nicole of Cookies on Friday chose Far Breton, and you can find the recipe on her post.

- Far Breton is a regional dish from Brittany, containing prunes. Apparently the word "far" mean "flour" in Breton, but the batter for this cake is quite egg-centric with very little flour at all.

- I made 1/2 recipe in 6"x3" round cake pan.

- Instead of white sugar, I used granulated golden palm sugar, and duck egg rather than chicken eggs.

- The recipe calls for prunes and raisins, although Dorie gives permission for other dried fruit substitutions. I stuck with the prunes and raisins, cutting the prunes in half before soaking the fruit in very strong black tea. The recipe specifies Early Grey, but I didn't have any (I rooted through the entire tea drawer not once but twice to prove that to myself.) Another option is to infuse the fruit with Armagnac, but I've never been able to locate it in the liquor stores in my hamlet.

- The far puffed a lot as it cooked, and browned beautifully. It took a good hour to bake, even at half the size.

- When I unmolded the far, it fell considerably, like a souffle.


the verdict:

The far was squarely in the delightful no-man's-land between custard and cake, like a baked custard with enough flour added to edge it toward cake territory. Both my husband and I loved the finished product. It was eggy and dense and sweet and fruity. After its long soak in strong tea, the dried fruit was tender and nearly melted away into the custard. We found the far at perfect at room temperature as an after-dinner dessert, and nearly as good, chilled, for breakfast the next morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2: Honey Nut Scones

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The scones recipe was chosen by my baking buddy Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake.

- I stuck closely to Dorie's recipe, with the exception of using I used pecans instead of walnuts.

- Dorie's method for forming scones produces small, individual scones. I prefer a bigger scone with more "inside" and less "outside", so here's how I baked these: After mixing the dough I patted it into a disk in a greased glass cake pan, scored the disk into 6 or 8 wedges with a bench scraper, then baked. When the scones are still hot from the oven, I cut them into separate wedges along the score lines. To me the scones don’t end up dried-out this way.

the verdict:

These scones were a welcome sight for Saturday morning breakfast. And for Sunday and Monday as well! I'm more used to fruit than nuts in a scone, but I really liked the crunch and that the nuts lend to this recipe. This was one of my favorite scone recipes in the book.

{TWD} Date-Nut Loaf

The Tuesdays With Dorie bakers have been baking a lot of cakes with brown sugar in recent weeks. We had the Pecan Brown Sugar Bundt Cake and the Blueberry Brown Sugar Plain Cake. And now, the Date-Nut Loaf, which is actually a brown sugar cake with dates and nuts added. I'm not complaining, however, because these cakes are wonderful: the brown sugar gives a touch of caramel flavor.

Date nut loaves are such an old-fashioned treat; something about the combination of the dates and the nuts is both reassuring and rewarding. I knew that my husband is a fan of date nut breads, so I planned to bake a whole loaf hoping that he would consume most of it.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- This week's recipe was chosen by my funny and creative baking buddy Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet. If you don't know her blog, click over there for the date loaf recipe and stay to read about all of the fun she has with her family in her kitchen.

- Dorie's recipe specifies plump, soft dates. I had a full container of dates in my dried fruit stash, but they were hard and dry. I reconstituted them by soaking them in a mixture of boiling water and rum for an hour or so.

- For a quarter of the flour, instead of all-purpose flour I used freshly milled hard red wheat flour. I talked about my mill on this post on my bread blog, and I must say that fresh whole grain gives breads an amazingly complex nutty flavor.

- I used dark brown sugar rather than the light stuff specified in the recipe because I always do. What's better than brown sugar flavor than more brown sugar flavor?

- What could be more perfect for such an old-school cake flavor than a vintage loaf pan? I baked this cake in my long slim pan. Truth be told, I bake all loaf cakes in that pan, but it felt especially appropriate for this recipe.

- In addition to buttering and flouring the pan, I lined the bottom with parchment. Side note: did you know that you can wash off parchment and use it again? It is impregnated with silicone, so it has no problem doing a bit of time in the dishwater. [updated 6/22/11 to clarify: you can wash the parchment in a sink of soapy water, but I wouldn't try an actual dishwasher]


the verdict:

This cake had wonderfully caramelized edges, thanks to the brown sugar. Even though I had used a substantial percentage of whole grain flour, the loaf was light, moist and with the unmistakeable sweet date taste. My husband loved this one, eating it for dessert with rum ice cream the first two evenings, then switched to toasting it with butter for the next several days. We both agreed that it made delectable toast. There is no doubt that this recipe will be a repeat in my kitchen, and sooner rather than later. Thanks, Mary, for a great pick!

[TWD} Pecan Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

Being one among a couple of hundred members of the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group has shown me the seemingly infinite variation among bakers, particularly when it comes to recipes preferred by the group's members. Case in point: the recipe that appealed to me most when I first opened my copy of Dorie Greenspan 's Baking: From My Home to Yours - the Swedish Visiting Cake - was still available for me to choose when my hosting turn rolled around, more than 2 years after the group started. Another example: when my daughter JDE bought Dorie's book three years ago, the Brown Sugar Bundt Cake was one of the first recipes she baked, but it wasn't chosen for the group until this week; more than 150 recipes were chosen ahead of it!

A testament to the quality and depth of this book is that these recipes that we are baking in the group's final year, far from being "dregs," are producing some of the tastiest baked goods to date!

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Peggy, of the blog Pantry Revisited, is this week's hostess; you can find the recipe on her blog post. I love reading Peggy's blog because she is always cooking up something fun in her kitchen. Besides, we Southern bloggers need to stick together, right?

- JDE joined me in the kitchen and we baked the bundt together. We made half recipe in a small pudding mold/tube cake pan.

- As written, the recipe calls for adding pieces of pear and chopped prunes to the batter. The ever-helpful Dorie suggests that apples would be a good substitute for the pears and any kind of dried fruit could stand in for prunes. Dorie gives a further option for making a nutty brown sugar bundt cake, and because I love pecans with brown sugar I decided to go that direction and bake a super-pecan bundt. I used King Arthur Flour's Pecan Meal in place of some of the all-purpose flour, substituted 2 oz of pecan oil (which I had bought a couple of months ago when I visited B&B Pecans in Fairhope, AL) for 2 oz of the butter, and stirred in a generous handful of deeply-toasted pecans (also from B&B Pecans). I also added some teensy currants. The flavorings were almond and vanilla extracts.

- The brown sugar I used was pretty dark, but I'm never one to object to a more intense brown sugar flavor.

- The cake crumbled when I sliced it, but I think that might be because I cut into it before it was completely cooled. It definitely was not a dry cake.

the verdict:

This cake was delicious, very moist and nutty with a distinctive flavor of brown sugar. I thought it was great plain but I certainly wouldn't argue with a little whipped cream on top. As much as we enjoyed it the first evening, warm from the oven - and we did enjoy it, each of us going back for second helpings! - it was even better the next day when the flavors had a chance to settle and combine. The pecan version was delicious, but I'm betting the cake would be equally good with walnuts and walnut oil.

{TWD} Pecan Powder Puff Cookies

I can't seem to get enough of cookie-baking lately. Few things are more appealing than fresh cookies, and this week's Tuesdays With Dorie baking assignment, Pecan Powder Puffs, provided my latest excuse to fill the proverbial cookie jar!

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Tia of Buttercream Barbie was responsible for choosing this week's recipe. If you'd like the recipe for these Pecan Powder Puffs, click over to her blog.

- This recipe is Dorie Greenspan's version of Mexican wedding cookies.

- The recipe came together easily. The only thing I changed was to use freshly-grated nutmeg instead of cinnamon.

- I found that my melon ball tool was perfect for scooping out the cookie dough into smooth spheres.

the verdict:

These were crumbly, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth delicious cookies. I'm thrilled to add them to my cookie repertory.

{TWD} Chestnut Honey and Toasted Walnut Brownies

Before making this week's recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie, the Honey Nut Brownies, I had a little debate with myself. On the one hand I've never heard of honey as an ingredient in a chocolate brownie. I was skeptical.

On the other hand I like honey. A lot. In fact, I probably have half a dozen different types of honey in my cupboard. And little known fact: honey doesn't expire; it contains some antibiotic-type properties that preserve it indefinitely, apparently.

Back to the original hand, the question remained: Would honey be good with chocolate? Maybe I should cut the amount of honey and fill in with Llyles golden syrup, or sorghum, or even molasses. But that would totally defeat the intention of having honey brownies, wouldn't it? Dorie's unusual-sounding recipes have pleasantly surprised me time and again, so I decided to try the brownies as written and see.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The brownie recipe was chosen by Suzy of Suzy Homemaker. You can click over to her post to find the recipe.

- Since I was embracing the honey-in-brownies concept, I decided to go all-in and use uber-strong chestnut honey, since Dorie said that flavor complements the chocolate in the brownies.

- I made 1/4 recipe in 3.5 x 6 inch pan, which I lined with a non-stick foil sling.

- For nuts I used walnuts, since they have a strong enough flavor to stand up to a bold honey like chestnut.

the verdict:

I took a bit of brownie and thought, "Chestnut honey, and...more chestnut honey." Everything else faded into the background. The brownies forced me to decide how much I really like chestnut honey. David Lebovitz says that chestnut honey tastes "brusque and bitter" and maybe that's how to best describe its strong and unusual flavor.

At that point JDE walked into the kitchen. I asked if she'd be a taste-tester. Her reaction: "I don't think they can be called brownies if they don't have chocolate." Not only was there not enough chocolate to balance the strong honey taste, the chocolate flavor was nearly undetectable. With an undeniably cakey texture, these brownies were more like a snack cake than a typical chocolate brownie.

Although the brownies took me by surprise at first, I came to like them as I tried bite after bite; they were better the second day when the flavors had settled a bit. If you like honey and you're not expecting a strong chocolate hit, you might enjoy these brownies Be sure to use your favorite honey flavor because it will take center stage.

but they kind of grew on me

Crispy Brined Pecans

When I saw this odd gadget in a back corner of my in-laws' kitchen cupboard I squealed with delight. And since they hadn 't used it in ages, I got to take it home with me. Why the excitement, you ask? This contraption is a pecan-cracker, and the beauty of the thing is that if you set it correctly, it will crack the shell so that it is easy to remove and leaves a whole intact nutmeat.

Here in Georgia I've been getting bags of pecans in my farm box each week, and have accumulated quite a stash. Up until now I've only had a hand cracker. The "new" cracker entered my life at just the right time; I had a recipe in mind, Spiced Brined Pecans. I'd seen it on the Food 52 site and the method was so intriguing I just had to try the recipe.

Food 52 is the brainchild of Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs and is one of the most fun and useful food sites on the internet. Not only does it have weekly themed recipe contests with really good recipes, a wildly entertaining annual cookbook tournament, and a cool shop, there's also a helpful forum that provides answers to cooking questions.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe here.

- I increased the recipe by half, using 3 cups of pecans instead of the recipe's 2 cups.

- The recipe is quick to throw together unless you are cracking 3 cups of pecans. Even with my spiffy cracking machine, it took a bit of time to separate the nuts from the shells. Of course, it would be a cinch if you started with already-shelled nuts.

- My nuts soaked in the brine for 6 hours.

- I baked the nuts for for 9 1/2 hours. My upper oven doesn't go as low as 150 degrees, so I put the baking sheet in my lower oven. The dial for the lower oven has marked settings down to 200 degrees and a range of "warm" below that. I picked a spot somewhere in the "warm" range that I hoped was approximately correct. After a couple of hours, I went out and purchased an oven thermometer to see exactly where 150 fell on the "warm" scale. I realized that I'd been baking the nuts at around 175 degrees, but adjusted the oven down for the remainder of the cooking time. I suspect that if your oven doesn't go as low as 150, these would turn out just fine at any temperature lower than 200.

- The nuts needed little, if any, tending while they baked.

- At the end of the baking time, the nuts didn't look very different from how they started, except dry instead of wet. The showed no visible signs of spice or salt.

the verdict:

I love this technique! The brining adds lots of flavor, but it is subtly infused throughout the nut, and the long slow bake dries the nuts and provides an appealing crunchy texture.

I was very glad that I'd increased the recipe; these nuts make a great snack. There are other variations of nuts/spices on the food 52 site, and I can't wait to check out some of the other flavors.

{TWD} Toasted Almond Scones

I'm pretty excited about Tuesdays With Dorie this week. Our host is Mike of Living Out West, and he has a brand new blog as of today. I don't think you can see his old posts at the moment so you'll have to imagine the beautiful baked goods that Mike consistently turns out. Not only that, he is creative, generous, and helpful to boot.

This week Mike chose the Toasted Almond Scones for all of the TWD bakers to bake. It's hard to go wrong with scones; they are quick and easy, and can do duty all through the day: scones for breakfast are a natural, but they are also yummy as a mid-morning, mid-afternoon, bedtime, or midnight snack, not to mention a sweet accompaniment to lunch or dinner. Yes, scones truly go the distance.

These scones sounded particularly delicious. Almond is one of my favorite flavors in baked goods, and are particularly almondy, since they are made with almond flour, almond extract and chopped almonds. With sliced almonds on top, they truly promise almond overload.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- If you'd like the recipe for these scones, Mike will have it on his scones post today.

- Working with scone dough, as with any "short" dough, it's important not to overmix the ingredients. I was very careful not to over-handle the dough. Patting myself on the back that I had kept a light hand when mixing my scones, I suddenly stopped short, realizing that I had forgotten to put in chopped almonds. And I had already formed the discs. At that point I decided to experiment. I took one of the discs and rekneaded it gently with half of the cut almonds, then reshaped it into a disc, topped it with slices almonds, and cut into wedges for baking. I left the other disc of dough as it was, with no almonds in the dough. Instead I sprinkled the chopped almonds on top before cutting it into wedges.

- Dorie's method of dividing the dough produces a dozen scones that are quite petite.

- My scones baked for 18 minutes (the recipe says 20-22 minutes) and they were definitely done. Another minute in the oven would have over-baked them.

the verdict:

It turned out that I didn't need to worry about over-handling my scones. Both sets of scones turned out fine, even the ones that I had to re-knead to add the chopped almonds. They all rose beautifully in the oven and came out puffed and golden. As far as taste, they were tender, flaky and delicately, but definitely, almondy. The scones weren't very sweet, making them the perfect vehicle for butter and jam.

Of the two versions, I actually liked the ones with the almonds on top and the plain insides. To my taste, the crunchy chopped almonds interfered with my enjoyment of the flaky goodness of the scones' crumb. My husband was thrilled to see a scone in his breakfast lineup: "I like this. It's nice and flaky" And every time he ate one he'd exclaim again about their flakiness.

Thanks, Mike for the great choice and congrats on your new blog!

Sweet and Spicy Nuts

It's Friday, the day that cooks and bloggers scattered around the globe post food they've prepared from Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table as part of the French Fridays With Dorie cooking group. Each month there is a list of recipes, and we can cook and post them in any order, as we have the time and inclination. This week I've chosen to post the Sweet and Spicy Nuts. According to Dorie, the French are most likely to serve something simple, such as nuts, along with drinks. And whether you are French or not, these nuts are the perfect nibbles to serve at a party, making this just the thing to post for New Year's Eve!

The first time I made these nuts was back in November when I attended an event in Madison, Connecticut, where Dorie read excerpts from her book and gave a little talk before giving each member of the audience personal attention as she signed our cookbooks. Dorie was, of course, utterly charming, and meeting her was a highlight of 2010 for me.

I knew that I wanted to bring something edible to the book signing for Dorie. My initial thought was, "Oh, I know, I'll make something from Dorie's book." I chose the nuts, because they would travel well, and didn't really realize how daunting it was - to cook Dorie's own food to serve to Dorie herself - until the nuts were already in the oven.

n.o.e.'s notes:

[edited to add: you can find the recipe for the Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts on Dorie's blog]

- I used pecans, because I wanted to have something from my home state of Georgia for Dorie.

- Although Dorie gives lots of possible variations on seasonings for the nuts, I used the chili powder as specified in the main recipe.

- The nuts are quite easy to prepare. First you mix the nuts with egg whites then coat them with sugar and spice mixture. Then the nuts are baked until they are dry and a bit browned.

- I substituted palm sugar for the granulated white sugar.

- Pecans have lots of little crevices that catch and hold the egg whites and spices.

- It's a bit tedious to take each nut out of the seasoning and place it individually onto the baking sheet, but Dorie says that's how it's done, so I did it.

- There was a good bit of egg whites and spices left in the bowl, so I tossed in some more pecans and coated them also.

- I've also made this recipe with almonds and curry powder, pictured below.

the verdict:

Maybe it's as surreal for Dorie to taste her recipes, but cooked by other people, as it is for us to make her recipes and have her taste the results? Any musing along that line, however, was rendered irrelevant by the graciousness of Dorie. "Oh, these are good," she said, "your nuts are so nice and separate; mine always stick together." I had to laugh, "Dorie, I just placed them individually, as you said to do!" And then I had to admit that I'd changed the recipe by substituting the kind of sugar, although, the nuts were delicious that way. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, I didn't take a single picture of those pecans.

My next batch, the almonds with curry, was also quite good. The third time I made the nuts, I went back to the pecan/chili powder combination. These got just a tad too toasty in the oven, as you can see in the top picture, but luckily were still enjoyed by all.

Happy New Year!

{TWD} Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

One of the appealing parts of the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group is the variety - and essential unpredictability - of the recipes selected. With a different "host" each week, the chosen recipes reflect not only the season but also the tastes of the various TWD members, as they choose the recipes from Baking: From My Home to Yours which attract them.

At busy times of the year, it can be a little bit tricky to fit the TWD recipes into the menu, planning, so this week, just like at Thanksgiving, we were free to choose a "rewind" recipe; something that we previously missed. After a bit of searching and thinking, I decided to choose a breakfast item. We had house guests for Christmas week, and at such times it's nice to pull something fresh from the oven first thing in the morning.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- These biscuits were originally chosen by Ashley of Eat Me, Delicous, in February 2008. You can find the recipe on her post.

- I baked these for breakfast on Christmas Eve and I was doing a million things at the same time. I mixed, rolled, cut and popped the biscuits in the oven, and was in the middle of congratulating myself on what a great job I'd done, when I realized that I'd left out the brown sugar. Luckily the biscuits are incredibly easy to throw together that I whipped up another batch immediately. This time I mixed up my steps and added the liquids without working the butter into the flour first. So I tried to mix the dough enough to incorporate the butter without overmixing and making the biscuits tough. No matter how they turned out, I wasn't going to bake these a third time just to get it right. Too much else on the "to do" list on Christmas Eve.

- I used a cutter that was slightly smaller than the specified 2 inches. Despite my worries about them, both batches of biscuits rose quite well in the oven, and I ended up with very tall petite biscuits.

the verdict:

I ended up liking both versions of these biscuits. The unsweetened ones were particularly good with salted butter or a piece of smoky bacon. The brown sugar version had a nice sweet edge, but I wouldn't exactly say that they tasted very strongly of caramel. The pecans provided a nice textural interest. From the way these biscuits disappeared from the serving plate, I'd say they were a big hit with everyone on Christmas Eve.

{TWD} Somewhat Peanutty Blondies

I've baked fancy blondies and I've baked plain blondies, but this week's recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group, the Peanuttiest Blondies, is the first peanut butter blondie recipe I've seen. I was intrigued by the promise of a chewy peanut butter bar with chocolate accents.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Nicole of Bakeologie chose Peanuttiest Blondies on page 119. Find the recipe on her post.

- I made these according to the recipe with one exception: I left out the chopped peanuts. Additionally, I chose the smooth rather than the crunchy peanut butter option. Thus my blondies were definitely not "peanuttiest" but only "somewhat peanutty."

- For a pan I used a 9" silicone pan which I lined with parchment only on bottom. The blondies released perfectly.

- I found that testing these blondies for done-ness was tricky - but luckily mine turned out to be baked just about right.

the verdict:

The blondies were thick and chewy and just peanutty enough. I loved the bit of chocolate in them; it's such a natural combination with peanut butter. The next time I bake these, if I omit the nuts I would probably increase the salt. That is what my baking buddy Caitlin of the blog Engineerbaker (she's getting married this Saturday!) did with her blondies, and she reports that they were perfect that way.

I'm glad to add this recipe to my blondie repertory.

Triple Chocolate Praline Tart

I found today's recipe thanks to one of my far-flung Twitter contacts, Gourmet Traveller an Australian magazine. Reading the the tweets from @GourmetTweets provides an interesting global experience because the seasons in Australia are exactly opposite those of my part of the world (the American South being the Northern Hemisphere and all) so the magazine touts hearty comforting food when I'm craving cool salads during a summer heat wave, and it features refreshing fare when I'm thinking of a bowl of something toasty and warm. (Recent recipe tweets have been for lamb and strawberries as right now it's springtime in Australia.)

But that is, after all, what bookmarks are for, and I've marked plenty of recipes from the magazine's site. No matter if I need to wait 6 months for the appropriate season to roll around to my part of the world. Today's Triple Chocolate Praline Tart is one that came across my twitter stream a good long time ago and I've been waiting for the perfect time to share it.

Fortunately, chocolate has no season - although it does have a National Holiday here in the United States, today, October 28. And I cannot think of a more appropriate recipe to feature than a tart composed of three separate elements, each of them chocolate (chocolate tart crust, milk chocolate praline filling and dark chocolate ganache top layer)! For good measure, extra praline adds decorative pizzazz and a sweet crunch.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe, which you can find here, consists of three chocolate elements and a praline one.

- To make the praline, first you caramelize some nuts into a brittle, then pulverize it in a food processor. I used almonds instead of hazelnuts because I had just the right amount that were already blanched, and my hazelnuts all had skins. The thought of adding a blanching step was simply too daunting.

- Australian "pouring cream" (used in both of the ganache elements) is about 35% milkfat, a bit lighter than American heavy cream. In the old days (say, about 2 years ago) I might have tried to accurately calculate the fat percentages to get the same total amount as in the recipe, but this time I just winged it and used mostly heavy cream, along with some half-and-half.

- The recipe calls for a 28 cm tart pan, which converts to 11" by my calculations. I used my 9" tart pan and naturally ended up with an extra amount of each kind of ganache (although I wonder if I could have stretched the crust to cover a larger pan). Leftover ganache rarely goes to waste around here, though! I love having it in the freezer for those chocolate-topping emergencies.

- The good thing about a tart recipe like this is that each of the elements can be prepared well in advance of serving; in fact the finished tart can be assembled early, leaving no last-minute dessert preparations.

the verdict:

The tart proved to be very popular at a dinner party with my favorite tasters, my book group, who enjoyed its elegant slim appearance and strong hit of chocolate-upon-chocolate-upon-chocolate flavor.

Happy National Chocolate Day to those in the US, Happy Spring to those Down Under, and Happy October 28 to everyone else!

Apple Maple Granola with Figs

A while back my daughters were planning a backpacking trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Granola was on the menu for breakfast on the trail, so I offered to bake some for them. I was eager to try a recipe I'd seen on David Lebovitz's blog, filled with the flavors of autumn: apples, figs, maple and nuts.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- I've been making my own granola for over two years. Although I've tried other recipes, my usual recipe is here. Homemade is so easy that I've never looked back - or bought any granola again.

- This time I used a recipe from David Lebovitz, who adapted it from a recipe in Feast, by Nigella Lawson.

- All you need to make granola is a very large bowl, a baking sheet, oats or other flaked grains, nuts, seeds and dried fruit. I stuck very closely to Lebovitz's recipe, using oats, almonds, and raw sunflower seeds. I replaced his sesame seeds with raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

- The recipe calls for four kinds of sweeteners: I used applesauce, brown sugar, honey, and maple syrup (instead of rice syrup)

- My granola baked in a slow oven for nearly an hour. When it cooled, it was delightfully crunchy and aromatic, and just packed with seeds, nuts and fruit.

- I added chopped dried figs at the end.


the verdict:

This granola smelled amazing while it was baking. I love the way the flavors of the apple and maple combined. The girls really liked this granola, especially "the figs. They were key." My older daughter asked for the recipe, so you know it was a keeper!

{TWD} Chockablock Cookies

This week the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group takes us back into cookie territory as we bake Chockablock Cookies. One thing I've learned as we've baked through Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours is that I love her simple recipes, evidenced by the recipe I chose when it was my turn, the Swedish Visiting Cake. So I approached this week's cookie with a bit of apprehension. Dorie calls these cookies "chockablock" because they are stuffed full of stir-ins, all held together with a molasses-rich cookie dough. Molasses is one of my very favorite ingredients, and Dorie has some pretty wonderful plain molasses cookies that we baked back in November. I had to wonder if in these cookies the molasses would be just one flavor competing with the other "chockablock" items: nuts, dried fruit, coconut and chocolate.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet chose these cookies, and you can find the recipe on her site, or on page 86 of Dorie's book.

- I made 1/3 recipe which yielded 13 cookies.

- There's a lot of flexibility in this recipe - nuts of choice (I used pecans), dried fruit of choice (mixture of currants and golden raisins for me), coconut (toasted), and chocolate pieces.

- I adore the taste of molasses, but didn't enjoyed the molasses/chocolate combination in the Chocolate Gingerbread we baked for TWD, so I left out the chocolate from my cookie dough. Once I'd formed the cookies I studded two of them with a few Ghiradelli 58% chocolate chips.

- The dough is interesting because even though there is molasses, there aren't any of the "usual suspects" in terms of spices that often accompany molasses in baked goods.

- Rather than the recipe's proportion of 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening, I used 1/3 shortening, 2/3 butter.

- My cookies spread and flattened just the right amount and were perfectly baked in 13 minutes, 30 seconds.


the verdict:

My husband and I both enjoyed the non-chocolate cookies - they were filled with textures and tastes. The cookies had nice soft interiors, chewy but tender, and pleasantly molasses-y. Rather than competing with the fruit and nut flavors, the molasses pulled them all together. I'm taking a wild guess and saying that absent the influence of "Christmas spices," the molasses became a true team player.

As for the cookies with the chocolate chips: I could eat my words, but I'd much rather eat the cookies! I enjoyed the full chockablock experience - fruit, nuts, coconut, and chocolate were all very good together. I give the credit to the molasses. And the relatively mild chocolate. I'm glad I didn't use darker chocolate, because the mellowness of this chocolate helped it fit in with the (many) other flavors.

{TWD} Swedish Visiting Cake

When my daughter JDE came home from college two summers ago a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours soon appeared on my kitchen counter. In quick succession she baked the Perfect Party Cake (which she wrote up as a guest post on my blog) and then the Tarte Noire (which has not yet been chosen as a TWD recipe but is, by the way, indulgently delicious).

She mentioned that a group of food bloggers were baking their way through the book and pointed me to the Tuesdays With Dorie site. I was hooked! I joined the TWD baking group in July 2008, becoming the 200-and-something-th member of the group. I've baked along every single week since I joined - this is my 90th TWD weekly post. I have learned many baking techniques, conquered some fears (cough, cough, caramel, cough) and have enjoyed myself immensely.

When I opened the covers of Baking for the first time, the recipe that immediately appealed to me was the Swedish Visiting Cake on page 197. It looked straightforward and inviting. Even the name was homey and welcoming. Of course a cake that looked this good would be have to be made with almond, one of my favorite flavors. I vowed on the spot that I would choose this cake if it were still available when my turn rolled around, although I couldn't imagine that it would happen.

Time went on, and as things go in this kind of group, bakers came and went, so I've moved up the list and my turn to choose a recipe came much sooner than originally estimated. Lo and behold: the Swedish Visiting Cake was still available! Although my head was turned just a bit by some of the flashier recipes in Dorie's book, I stayed true to my original resolve and chose the Visiting Cake.

This one was baked in an 8" cast iron skillet

n.o.e.'s notes:

- If you want to bake the cake - and you should - I've included the recipe at the end of this post, see below. But you truly should bake many more of Dorie's wonderful recipes, so you'll be well served to buy your very own copy of the book.

- Dorie Greenspan has written about the Swedish Visiting Cake on her blog and it's worth a visit there to check out this and other wonderful treats that she features. About this cake Dorie says:

Making the cake just now reminded me for the nine-millionth time why baking is so dear to me: it is a pleasure that engages all your senses. In the 10 minutes it took me to get the mixture into my old cast-iron skillet, I rubbed sugar and zest between my fingers, watched a batter grow from thick and dull to lithe and shiny, caught the fragrance of lemon, vanilla and almond and had the satisfaction of knowing that I was making something completely by hand and that it would be something others would soon enjoy.

The fact that the house will smell like butter, sugar and vanilla for hours is just a happy extra.

- Dorie also posted a Swedish Apple version of this cake in her column for Serious Eats. I fully intended to bake that variation and include it in this post, but I couldn't bear to stray from the original recipe (it was just that good!)

- I LOVE that this cake requires just one bowl, one pan, and very few other dirty dishes. No mixer, no creaming of butter. "You're welcome," fellow TWD bakers!

- In an effort to be a good hostess this week, I took "process pictures" of each stage of the cake-making (well, nearly), but this cake is so easy that photos are not really necessary (although I did include them, below). If you can stir with a spoon, you've got this cake made.

- The cake has no leavening, and the eggs are not beaten, so it doesn't really rise. As a result it ends up with a distinctively dense and chewy texture.

- I baked this cake twice. First I made 3/4 recipe in my 8" cast iron skillet. (If you go to the P&Q for the Visiting Cake on the TWD site, I posted the ingredient amounts for 3/4 recipe.) I used 1 duck egg and 1 bantam hen egg, which came out to the perfect weight for the scaled recipe. I order these unusual eggs, along with regular chicken eggs, from my farm box, so I always have a variety of egg sizes on hand for recipes. If I do end up with extra egg parts from my baking activities, I usually throw them into my next batch of scrambled eggs.

- The second time, I baked this cake in my 10" non-stick skillet, and made 1 1/4 recipe. (This cake is the one pictured at the beginning of this blog post. The math for scaling the recipe up is on the P&Q post) I served this cake, along with a David Lebovitz chocolate flourless cake, to my book group.

- Dorie says that this cake is best eaten the day it is made, and she is, of course, right. However, if you should find yourself with some leftover Swedish Visiting Cake, you might agree with me that it's quite acceptable on the second or even the third day.

Adding a little "Swedish color": a red IKEA potholder

the verdict:

It was quite fitting that my daughter JDE was home for Spring Break when I baked this cake, since she got the TWD ball rolling around here in the first place. One taste of Swedish Visiting Cake, and she said "Oh man. This is good."

I was also glad to be able to share the cake with my book group. The members have tasted and evaluated over half of the TWD desserts. The group is filled with great cooks and I value their honest opinions about the baked goods (well, and about the books we read also!) Reviews were quite positive about the cake, although it was a tiny bit overshadowed by the showier chocolate cake that I also served.

The Visiting Cake was all that I'd hoped for, and more. Simple but not boring. Substantial in texture and subtle in flavor. The lemon was a background player and the almond more up front. The cake reminded me somewhat of a big chewy (almond-flavored) sugar cookie.

The recipe is extremely quick and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy the finished product since the flavorings are optional and can be customized to individual tastes (although I'll be visiting all of the TWD bakers' blogs so I'll get to find out!)

Thanks so much to everyone who baked along with me!

the recipe:

Swedish Visiting Cake
from Baking, From My Home to Yours

Makes 8 to 10 servings

1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

About 1/4 cup sliced almonds (blanched or not)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a seasoned 9-inch cast-iron skillet or other heavy ovenproof skillet, a 9-inch cake pan or even a pie pan.

Pour the sugar into a medium bowl. Add the zest and blend the zest and sugar together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic.


Whisk in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Whisk in the salt and the extracts.


Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in the flour.

Finally, fold in the melted butter. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Scatter the sliced almonds over the top and sprinkle with a little sugar. If you're using a cake or pie pan, place the pan on a baking sheet.

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the cake in the pan BEFORE I popped it in the oven. Here's a very blurry picture of the cake IN the oven; I made it reeeeally small so the lack of focus won't hurt your eyes as much

Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it is golden and a little crisp on the outside; the inside will remain moist. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then run a thin knife around the sides and bottom of the cake to loosen it. You can serve the cake warm or cooled, directly from the skillet or turned out onto a serving plate. [I was too chicken to turn the cake out, so served it both times from the skillets]

One reason I don't take "process pictures" more often: the need to keep an eye on the doggies to make sure the food survives the photo shoot! Meet Bro, our new rescue Australian Shepherd.