Traditional Madelines - TWD

This recipe was chosen back in May for TWD. The recipe can be found HERE.

I was so excited to make these cookies. Especially since I got my requested Madeline pan for Christmas! My sister knew that I wanted this baking pan since we saw it at a little specialty cooking store in Minocqua earlier this fall. She made "arrangements" so that I would get it for Christmas. I had no idea what a Madeline even was before I got this sweet cookbook.


These little cake/cookies are AH-MAZING. They were cakey, soft and had just a hint of lemon to them. They look like little seashells sprinkled with powdered sugar. The recipe made 12 and I am so ashamed to admit that I ate 6 of them in one day. I want to make another batch but I know that I will not be able to hold myself back.

I can't wait until someone else chooses to make more Madelines. There are more recipes for these delicious little cakes that are bound to be chosen at some point in time.

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread -TWD

Edited to add: The gingerbread cake is gone this AM. Our food loving beagle somehow wrangled it off the counter. The glass baking pan shattered all over the floor. The cake had to be thrown in the garbage, which may be a good thing. The Hubster is very sick this AM as well. He doesn't know if it was from the gingerbread or the buffalo wings he ate last night for dinner. For all we know it could be the flu. Hopefully it was the gingerbread and not a second round of flu raging through our house again this month.

I was not very excited about this recipe. I really am not one for gingerbread and can take it or leave it. Most of the time leave it. But usually anything goes good with chocolate, right? I gave it the benefit of the doubt. The recipe was chosen by Sherry Trifle. You can find the recipe HERE, or on page 212 in the cookbook.

While making the recipe I was astounded by the amount of ginger that it called for. I used what the recipe called for though. The fresh, ground and crystallized ginger...I left nothing out. I did substitute semi-sweet chocolate for the dark. I used a 7" x 13" pan that didn't overflow while baking. However, it took much longer than the 40 minutes bake time. I think that mine baked for well over an hour.

For the frosting, again, I used semi-sweet chocolate. I really wish that I hadn't added the 1 tablespoon of coffee granules. I did not like the frosting at all. I am not a coffee drinker and this frosting was horrible. The cake was OK. I sure am not looking forward to eating it tomorrow though. The Hubster thinks that it is good. He liked both the cake and frosting. I guess that it won't go to waste! Good thing that I gave a hefty 3 pieces away to our babysitter too!

Chicken Cacciatore - CEiMB

FINALLY! Now that I am feeling better and have recovered from my cold, I decided to make this for lunch today. I should have posted it last Thursday. Better late than never!

The recipe was chosen by Peggy from Pantry Revisited. You can find the recipe HERE or on page 204 in Ellie's cookbook. It really was a good pick.

This dish was easy to prepare and had a lot of taste. I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes instead of no salt tomatoes. I also added more red pepper flakes, black pepper on the chicken and an extra clove of garlic. I then served it over linguine pasta.

Both the Hubster and I enjoyed it. I think that he is starting to warm up to Ellie. Or maybe not. The last several recipes chosen have been liked in our house though.

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte - TWD

This was one of the first recipes chosen for TWD way back in January (1 year ago). It was chosen by April and you can find the recipe HERE.

I made it on Friday for a game night at our friends house. I think that it was good and everyone enjoyed it. However, it was not as good as the Cheese Cake that I made right before Christmas.

I did like the cookie type crust that this had. However, if I were to make it again....I would use some type of cherry jam and add a little bit more jam to the recipe. It didn't seem like there was enough jam (I used a strawberry rhubarb jam) "hidden" in the torte.

Carmelitas

I found this yummy recipe at Sunday Baker's blog. This is a great recipe to make for a bake sale, pot luck or a work function. The recipe makes a lot of them when they are cut into little bite sized bars. I actually made them for a work party that we never ended up going to. However, I still brought them into work the next day and they disappeared quickly. They are so easy to make and taste great. Who doesn't like caramel and chocolate?

Ingredients
Crust/Topping
2 c. Quick Oats
2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. salt
1-1/4 c. butter (softened)
Filling:
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 jar bottled caramel topping mixed with 3 T. flour

Directions
1. Spray a 9x13 pan and set aside. Mix together the soft butter and vanilla. Add this to all of the other ingredients listed for the crust/topping and mix well (I use my hands). Divide this in half and press one half into the bottom of the sprayed pan.

2. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, or until light golden brown.

3. Immediately after removing, pour the chocolate chips over the warm crust, spreading them so they are evenly distributed. Pour the caramel (make sure it's mixed with the flour) over the top of the chips and spread evenly.

4. Crumble the rest of the crust/topping mix over the caramel filling. Bake again for about 20 minutes, or until the oatmeal topping is light golden brown. Remove and let cool completely before cutting.

Berry Surprise Cake - TWD

The recipe started out disastrous! I started the cake around noon figuring that I would have plenty of time to get it baked, cooled and assembled for dinner this evening. I was concerned after reading the P&Q that the cake would not go my way. It sounded like a huge science experiment with the "diva eggs", heating them to 110 degrees, not over mixing, avoiding flour pockets in the batter, deflation, etc. I was extremely apprehensive.

I did not have a 8 inch springform pans. I decided to use one of my circular ceramic casserole dishes that was almost 8 inch. I greased the heck out of it and lined the bottom with parchment paper. I put the cake in the oven and was thrilled that there were no flour pockets and the batter appeared to be high. I baked it for exactly 33 minutes and then decided to take it out of the oven. The top was super jiggly but I didn't want to put a knife in it because the recipe stated that it would most likely deflate and the eggs in the cake were still fragile. I left in cooling in the pan cooling for 5 minutes before removing. Then it happened. The cake completely deflated in front of my very eyes and the batter came oozing out of the cake. It was so underdone and I should have left it in baking for at least another 10-15 minutes. It then found a home in the garbage.

I am not one for defeat. If at first you don't succeed...try try again. I made the entire cake AGAIN! This time I think that I whipped the eggs and sugar a little longer than I did the first time. While it was baking in the oven, the batter rose over the pan and fell onto the baking sheet. I let it bake for at least 45 minutes before taking it out. When I did, it looked deformed. I obviously had to do some trim work to make it look better and circular though. The Hubster cut the top off the cake and then hollowed out the middle for me (He told me that he wants credit for that). We did enjoy the cake by itself. It has a very good flavor and is nice and soft.

I used blackberries because they were on sale for $0.99 a pint. I also used blackberry syrup instead of chambord. To view the recipe for this experiment, please visit Mary Ann's blog and find her masterpiece HERE. I was initially very excited to do this recipe but just wasn't all that impressed.

The filling for this cake BLAND. The Hubster is convinced that I forgot an ingredient. I double checked numerous times and did not miss anything. I normally love cream cheese and this taste like nothing. It needs something else. Maybe I should have drenched the cake more with the syrup sauce before assembling. I only lightly brushed it with the blackberry syrup mixture before adding the berries and filling in the center.

After the top is placed back on the cake, it is frosted with a whip cream topping. There is just too much fluff to this cake. The Hubster said that it was a waste of the delicious blackberries that I prohibited him from eating in the refrigerator all weekend. He thinks that it would have probably been better to just dump all the berries in the center, forget the cream cheese filling and top it all with whip cream. I know....he doesn't get that it would defeat the purpose of the recipe and it would basically be shortcake then. Maybe it will be better tomorrow after it sits overnight and the flavors soak together.

COMING NEXT TUESDAY: Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

Mini Black & White Cookies

I participated in another bake along with Megan! I did my first one with her back in December and made chocolate crinkle cookies. I was very pleased with these cookies. I believe that the recipe came from Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. It was a great choice and helped me use some of the leftover buttermilk from the corn muffins that I did not care for earlier this week. I didn't like the tedious frosting of them but they tasted very good in the end. I told the boys that they were zebra cookies. They liked them too and the entire batch disappeared in 2 days. They are very cake-like and soft.

My batch only made 3 dozen cookies. It was supposed to make 4. I always tend to make cookies bigger than they actually should be. The dough was also very hard to roll in balls initially after mixing. Thanks Martha for noting in the recipe that I should have chilled the dough for awhile (sarcasm). It would have been much easier to roll the dough into balls and made more uniformed cookies if I would have done so. I also would probably have been able to get 4 dozen as well. Oh well.

As for frosting these bad boys...this was the only part of the recipe that I didn't like. I don't have a lot of patience and maybe it was a good thing that I didn't have another 12 cookies to frost. My frosting also tasted more lemony than it should have. I didn't read the recipe well enough the first time through to learn that I should have thinned it with water. I just added some extra lemon juice. oops! I liked the lemon taste though. So did the rest of us. The Hubster did comment today that there was a very strong lemon taste to them though.

Ingredients
Makes about 4 dozen.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add granulated sugar; mix until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk.
2. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls (or use a 1/2-ounce-capacity ice-cream scoop); place them 2 inches apart on lined sheets. Bake until bottoms turn golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool.
3. Whisk confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl until smooth. If necessary, add more water (icing should be a bit thicker than honey). Transfer half to a small bowl. Stir in cocoa; if necessary, thin with water. Spread white icing on half of each cookie's flat side, and cocoa icing on other half; let set 30 minutes.

Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary and Chocolate - CEiMB

Thank you Amanda! This was an excellent choice. I admit that I was a tad skeptical about mixing beef and chocolate. The whole combo just sounded strange. But it was SO good and I have a renewed faith in Ellie's recipes and this cookbook. Our dinner tonight was out of this world. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 180 in Ellie's cookbook.

I didn't buy a beef tenderloin. Our grocery budget this week didn't allow for a 2 lb beef tenderloin that would have put us out almost $30 some dollars. So I opted to buy a eye of round beef roast. It took a little longer to cook and was a little tougher than the way we normally prefer our steaks but it was still fantastic. The recipe was very easy to make and I guess healthy for you too. The sauce was made with beef broth, red wine, thyme, a bay leaf, scallions, celery, carrots, rosemary and cocoa powder. I served the dinner with herbed mashed potatoes and cauliflower.

The Hubster even liked it!! I am going to make this yummy chocolate sauce with filets when it gets warmer out and we can start using our grill again. We could actually use it now. However, we would likely get frostbite standing out there grilling anything. It is -8 degrees and the wind chill makes it more like -30 degrees.

Black and White Banana Loaf - TWD

This recipe was chosen back in August for the TWD group. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 232 in the cookbook.

My banana bread turned out almost cake-like and very moist. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. The recipe also called for dark rum, lemon zest and a squirt of fresh lemon. I don't know if I used too big of a squirt of lemon or what. The taste, for me anyway, was OK. I couldn't tell if it was because of the lemon or the rum. Maybe I just don't care for banana bread? The Hubster and kids seemed to like it though and it disappeared rather quickly.

The bread was marbled after I divided the batter in half and mixed the melted semi-sweet chocolate chips in it. It is a very nice looking loaf of bread I will add. I think that I just prefer zucchini or strawberry bread better.

Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins - TWD

The recipe this week was chosen by Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 6 in Dorie's cookbook.

I put off making these muffins for the entire week and then decided to make them with chili tonight for supper. I think that A LOT of TWD bakers made chili to accompany their corn muffins. I also divided the recipe in half and omitted the chili powder, bell pepper, black pepper and jalapenos from half the recipe. I didn't know if I would like them with the spicier component. I normally am a huge fun of cornbread and like it very sweet.

Unfortunately, these muffins didn't really do anything for me. The Hubster liked them but called them "bland". They were not sweet enough for me in the slightest. We haven't eaten the chili yet but it smells delicious bubbling away in the slow cooker. Maybe I will like them better with the chili.

The meal is a perfect choice for this evening though. It is getting COLD here and by the end of the week we should have seen temperatures dip way below zero with wind chills of -30 something. Oh how I wish that I lived in California!!

Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu - CEiMB

This week's recipe was chosen by Running with Food. I knew that tofu would not go over well in our house. I have never tried it and would have been willing to give it a shot, however, I knew that the Hubster would not. I also had no clue what edamame was until I went to the grocery store in search of it. I kind of thought it would be some sort of onion. WRONG! Soy beans. Interesting.



I substituted 1.25 lbs. of chicken for the tofu. I also used white rice (probably 4.5 cups) instead of brown because I wanted to use up some stuff in our pantry instead of buy more. Plus, I know that I don't really care for brown rice. I could only find a 10 oz. of package of edamame beans in their pod as well. I just peeled the beans out of the shells after cooking them and used the entire package. I increased the amount of ginger, garlic and corn as well and didn't use a "less sodium" soy sauce.
I was very skeptical about scrambling the eggs in the well of fried rice and thought that this runny egg would go everywhere. But I was wrong. The 2 eggs scrambled great in their little well.

As you can see, I completely made this recipe less healthy than it is supposed to be. However, we enjoyed it and my husband was very happy with how it tasted.

French Pear Tart - TWD

This week Mrs. Greenspan herself chose the recipe. Yes....Dorie! Yup...The author of the cookbook. How cool is that?! In celebration of TWD's 1st anniversary Dorie chose her pear tart.

The Hubster has been very excited about this dessert. He loves pears and almonds so I knew that this was going to be right up his alley. I was right. His exact words were, "Dude, this is SO good"! He then continued to inhale 2 pieces.

This delicious little tart was not hard to put together at all. I used fresh pears and poached them in water, sugar and lemon juice. I did boil them for longer than the recipe called for (15 minutes) because I wanted them to be soft and not at all crunchy (about 25 minutes). Dorie suggests that when using canned pears, the tart turns out just as good. I thought it would be fun to try and poach the pears because I have never done anything like that before.

The shortbread crust had me worried though. Mine was quite crumbly and didn't appear to form as the recipe stated. No worries though. It tasted absolutely delicious. It seriously tasted like a shortbread cookie. So. Ridiculously. Good!

The almond pasty cream was just as excellent. I really liked the almond taste and the slight chewiness was simply yum. Paired with the pears on top this is one FABULOUS dessert. I am sure to be making this one again for the Hubster. He was quite impressed.

Once again, this is the reason I love TWD. Just browsing through this wonderful cookbook I would have never picked this recipe to bake. However, this fun little baking group "forces" me to look outside the box and try new things.

THANKS DORIE! Not only for the great choice this week but also for my favorite baking cookbook!

Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti - CEiMB

Better late than never!

This recipe was chosen by Leanne from Enjoying My Favorite Things. Very nice choice Leanne! She has the recipe posted on her blog or if you click HERE you can find it. The recipe is also on page 302 in Ellie's cookbook.

This is only the second batch of biscotti I have ever made. The first being Lenox Almond Biscotti for TWD. I made this healthier version of biscotti tonight. The recipe calls for olive oil in place of butter. It also calls for dried cherries, almonds and dark chocolate. I used semi-sweet mini chips in place of the dark chocolate. I may have also put in a little extra mini chips as well.

This biscotti is OK. I wouldn't say that it is outstanding. I'm not sure that I really like the olive oil taste to it or not? You can definetely taste it in there though. I also remember that I liked the lenox almond biscotti much better the second day so I am thinking that I will enjoy this a lot more tomorrow. We'll see I guess. The Hubster even said that it was good.

For the life of me I can't figure out why my biscotti look like pieces of bread. I followed the recipe to a tee and made my log 10 inches long by 3 inches wide. The biscotti sure don't look like others that I have seen.

Biscotti for CEiMB

I apologize. You will not be seeing the biscotti today. Hopefully tomorrow.

My household was sick this past weekend. It started on Friday with my oldest. He has been under the weather ever since. My youngest was sick most of the day Saturday and seems to be a little better today. I received this wonderful bug early this AM and am hoping that it steers clear of the Hubster.

The biscotti will be coming soon. I promise!

Peanut Butter Torte - TWD

Another completed recipe down, 24 more to go!

I baked this extremely rich and chocolately peanut butter torte for a dinner with some friends last week. I apologize for no photos. My pictures turned out terrible and I didn't want to post the fuzzy and blurry ones that I did get. But trust me...I did make the torte.

The recipe can be found HERE. The torte was originally chosen for the TWD group back in May.

It was good. Just very rich. I forgot to add the whole milk that the recipe called for. I don't think that by adding the milk the dessert would have gotten any lighter though. I also decided that I can't talk myself into liking dark, bittersweet chocolate. I am a chocolate lover...but only milk or semi-sweet. It seems that most of Dorie's recipes that involve chocolate call for bittersweet. I am just going to have to alter the recipes to fit my tastes. Everyone who tried the torte liked it though.

Coming tomorrow: Chocolate Cherry-Almond Biscotti