Cran Apple Crisp - TWD

As I was frantically making a chili dinner with cornbread last night for our guests....I asked Ben to help me make dessert. He agreed!! I opened Dorie's cookbook and let him have at it. He did an awesome job and the crisp turned out great. We both liked it and so did our guests!!

I was a little scared of the cranberries, I will admit. I don't enjoy cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving...in.the.slightest. But this was great. There were raisins, apples (honeycrisp) and cranberries, along with the tasty, crunchy, oatmeal topping. I had Ben make the crisp "family style" in a 9 inch pie plate instead of individual portions.

We have been limiting ourselves to a piece a day. Not easy to do. I wasn't able to get a picture of the entire dessert before we dug into it. But at least I was able to snap a picture before we devoured more of it today. Try it with Edy's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Not that I blew my diet by eating ice cream with it. I wouldn't do that (insert extreme sarcasm)!

Thanks to The Repressed Pastry Chef for the selection. You can find the recipe HERE.

TWD CATCH UP

I am going to cram 3 TWD posts into one. I have been so busy and have been baking along but have not been posting. Time to get my act together!

These applespice bars were OK. I thought that they tasted delicious right out of the oven after the frosting was just cooled. But the next day....not so much. I stored them in a Tupperware container and they were a little mushy and the frosting seemed to soak through the bars. The recipe was chosen by Karen from Something Sweet and can be found HERE. I think that if I would make them again I would halve the recipe and intend to eat them all at once maybe for a party.

This key lime pie was tasty. I might have left the pie under the broiler a tad too long though. It was almost black in spots. Still good though. The recipe was chosen by Linda of Tender Crumb and can be found HERE. My only criticism about this was too much butter. I should have used half. I would rather have more of a tart lime taste than a lime/butter combo.

These YUMMY espresso cheesecake brownies are PHENOMENAL! I wouldn't change a thing about them. I could sit down right now and eat half the pan they are that good. I used 4 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and reduced fat cream cheese. I also only had about a half cup of sour cream and about a quarter cup of powdered sugar. Therefore, my topping wasn't that thick. I don't think that it mattered though. The recipe was chosen by Melissa from Life In a Peanut Shell and can be found HERE. Thank you for such a great pick!!

Brownie Buttons - TWD

These were not my favorite. I don't think that I liked the orange flavor. And I probably overcooked mine. Or maybe it was the fact that I forgot to add the brown sugar until the batter was already in the mini muffin tins. I just happened to glance back at the perfectly measured brown sugar sitting on the counter. CWAP! I actually just divided up the brown sugar in each invidual muffin portion and then mixed it with a toothpick. I don't think that I would attempt them again!

The recipe was chosen by Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen. My batch made 24 buttons by doubling the recipe by 1/2.

Vanilla Ice Cream and Banana Bundt Cake

I have been awful about getting any blogging done lately. No excuses!

I made the vanilla ice cream last week. It was yummy and everyone enjoyed it. I followed Megan's recommendation and only used 3 eggs. The recipe was chosen by CafeLynnylu and can be found HERE.

Today I baked the banana bundt cake. Also a winner. It was moist and delicious. The recipe was chosen by The Food Librarian. I did use light sour cream though. I tried to make it less fattening. Yeah right:)!

Tribute To Katherine Hepburn Brownies - TWD

Lisa from Surviving Oz chose the recipe this week after she designed a fabulous logo for TWD. Check it out along with the recipe HERE.

The recipe is Katherine Hepburn brownies. They were good. Even though I did not really follow the recipe as Dorie suggested. I skipped the cinnamon and nuts. I also used espresso powder in place of instant coffee and only used half the amount.

The brownies are super fudgey and moist. Go ahead....try them. You won't be disappointed.

Perfect Party Cake - TWD

This is quite the party cake. I will make this one again in a heartbeat. Carol of mix, mix, stir, stir chose this party cake. It is a white, lemony cake layered with raspberry filling. The frosting is made with a buttercream and topped with shredded coconut.

You can find the recipe HERE or on pages 250-252 in Dorie's cookbook. It really is not that difficult of a recipe to bake and put together.

I baked the cake in celebration of my friend's birthday. We went camping together and I brought it to the campsite. It seemed to be enjoyed by all. When I make it again I plan on using some other frosting though. The amount of butter used is literally shocking! I will also skip the coconut next time. I just am not a big fan. Other than these two minor issues, it is a great cake.

My VERY late Taste and Create

I need to apologize to Eat Me, Delicious. I am sorry for my tardiness for Taste & Create. I had such a hard time picking something to make from your delicious blog (I enjoyed your blog with all the pictures of your cat. We are big kitty lovers here and yours is adorable). There were so many potential choices that I wanted to make and narrowing down my pick was difficult. I have numerous bookmarked to make in the future. I actually did bake my selection on time but I didn't get around to posting it last week.

In the end I chose the Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake. This is one fantastic recipe. I am a sucker for poundcake. But this specific poundcake is the absolute best I have ever tasted. Seriously. It was that good. It may not look like anything from my picture but we finished every last crumb. Please check out the link above for what the bundt cake should look like. Her cake looks wonderful and beautiful. Mine not so much!

I obviously didn't follow the recipe and tried to remove it from the pan way before it was ready to come out. I had to get my son to T-Ball practice and was rushing around. I tried to get it un-molded almost immediately upon taking it out of the oven. Big mistake. Huge. The cake came apart into numerous pieces. At the end of the day it really didn't matter though. It was so DELICIOUS! The boys loved it and my husband and I couldn't leave it alone. I will be making this one for my dad who is a poundcake hound as well.

Here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake

Makes one 10 inch bundt cake, serving 12

Cinnamon Streusel Swir
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Buttermilk Pound Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 cup buttermilk

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325F. Grease the inside of a 10 inch Bundt pan. Dust the pan with flour.

Make the Cinnamon Swirl:
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, breaking up any large lumps of brown sugar. Add the melted butter and stir until blended and crumbly. Make the Pound Cake
3. Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine, and set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until very creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and beat at medium-high speed until well blended and light, about 4 minutes. At medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the vanilla extract and orange zest. At low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk in two additions and mixing just until combined.
5. Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer. Sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly over the batter. Scrape the remaining batter on top and smooth it into an even layer.
6. Bake the cake for 65 to 75 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes (obviously this is so important!!).
7. Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely.

My VERY late TWD

I am so behind!

I did make the pineapple dessert that was chosen by Andrea last week. I just didn't get around to posting it. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 293-295 in Dorie's cookbook.

This recipe was extremely time consuming. Not hard. Just took me a long time to make. And 3 hours in the oven with weather being 90+ degree heat plus high humidity that day was just awful. And the broiling of the pineapple and toasting of the coconut was just not my cup of tea. But my husband thought that it was one of the best desserts that he has eaten. In fact, he said that he is "in love" with this dessert. I really did not think that it was that good. Too sweet. Maybe I am just not that "in love" with pineapple as he is.

Unfortunately to Ben's dismay, I don't think that I will be making this one again.

Coming VERY soon: My late Taste & Create submission!

Honey Peach Ice Cream - TWD

This is a really bad picture and it does not do this ice cream any justice! We really enjoyed this honey peach ice cream in delicious, crunchy sugar cones. YUMMY!

Tommi from Brown Interior was the recipe chooser this week. It was a good choice. I just wish that it would get a little warmer here to really enjoy ice cream outside. You would think it was the beginning of fall with the awful weather we have been having. At least get to 70, please. I shouldn't complain though because yesterday was 80. I just wish it would stay like that.

You can find the recipe HERE or on page 437 in Dorie's cookbook.

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie - CEiMB

I was late for TWD and I am late again for CEiMB. What a slacker I am!! But this was actually made on Thursday. I just didn't get around to eating, taking photos or posting about it until Friday and today. Better late than never.

This pie was chosen by Tessa at Handle the Heat. When CEiMB was in the beginning stages the banana cream pie was chosen. I think this chocolate pie of Ellie's was better than the banana cream one. Both of them are a tad gelatiny for me though. It is not bad...but I am certainly not running to the refrig to eat the leftovers!

You can find the recipe HERE or HERE. Be sure to check out all the other CEiMB participants as well.

The only modifications that I did to the recipe was substitute dark chocolate cocoa powder and used 1.5 cups of 2% milk and 1/5 cups of skim.

Parisian Apple Tartlet - TWD

I am late with this one. I realize that today is Wednesday, not Tuesday. We have been so busy with last day of school stuff, cleaning the house, etc. I made this tonight.

The recipe was chosen by Jessica from My Baking Heart. You can find the recipe HERE. Her pictures are great and her tartlet looks fantastic.

My tartlet was not so pretty. I went with a puff pastry made from scratch. I really wish that I would have just used the store bought stuff though. I may try this again at some point. It was really simple and would be so easy just to put together with some frozen Pepperidge Farm puff pastry some night after dinner. I used this recipe for puff pastry that I found from reading the TWD P&Q. It was OK. Maybe a little bland and very greasy right after removing it from the oven. I had to place the tartlet on a paper towel to attempt to remove some of the grease. I also read the directions wrong and cut my fuji apple into smaller pieces than necessary.

This would have been better if I hadn't of run out of vanilla ice cream to put on top. Ben didn't care for it. My sister and her boyfriend thought that it was good. They gave it a 7 or 8 rating out of 10.

Cinnamon Squares - TWD

Cinnamon squares while baking = house that smells like a Yankee candle factory!

These cinnamon squares are wonderful! Not only did they make my house smell divine while baking but everyone really enjoyed them. Especially Brock, who inhaled them. He even requested that I make this "cake" for his birthday! I was quite surprised that he liked them as much as he did. There was a lot of cinnamon and coffee flavor. Especially for a 5 year old.

Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures was the TWD chooser this week. I'll admit that I wasn't too excited to make these cake squares. I didn't think that the picture in Dorie's cookbook (pages 210-211) did them justice. But, they sure were a hit.

This recipe is easy and doesn't require a lot of thinking. Just the kind of recipe I really like. I used a mixture of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate throughout.


Next Tuesday: Parisian Apple Tartlet

Chipster-Topped Brownies - TWD

I love brownies....I love chocolate chip cookies. Who wouldn't like them layered together? Needless to say I was stoked to make this recipe! They were even made way earlier in the week than I normally make any of my TWD recipes. While preparing them and getting the ingredients ready I wish that I would have thought to halve the recipe though. This makes an insane amount of brownies that only Ben and I ended up eating. The boys didn't seem to enjoy them.

The recipe was chosen by Beth from Supplicious. It can be found on pages 94-95 in Dorie's book as well.

The only modification I did was substitute peanut butter chips for the bittersweet ones in the cookie layer. I also skipped the walnuts. My brownies baked up strange though. The bottom layer of brownies were fine. The problem came in with the cookie layer. While it was baking the top seemed to get very brown and seemed done. However, when I removed it from the oven and let it cool I noticed that it was still very gooey inside after the top cracked. We still ate it but it certainly wasn't done all the way through. And if I would have left it in the oven more to bake I am certain that the cookie layer would have been black.

While this recipe was fun to make I probably wouldn't make try it again. Although we did eat all the brownies, raw or not...they were good.

You Capture. Sweet

I participated in another You Capture Challenge. The theme for this week was to capture something 'Sweet'.

Beth is the creator of this fun event and her pictures are always awesome. Her "sweet" pictures today do not disappoint either. You have to check them out and also see everyone's pictures. There are some really good ones and always are.

This is a French Brownie I made a couple of weeks ago doing a catch-up for TWD. They were delicious and sweet. Especially with vanilla ice cream. You can find the recipe HERE.

My last picture is of my youngest son, Brady. He was sharing his popcorn with his rubber duckie today at snack.


Does that get any sweeter?

Tartest Lemon Tart - TWD

Rest assured....even though I don't have any pictures to share, I did make this tart. But not many liked it. My boys and I went to visit my sister this weekend and I forgot my camera. But I did remember to bring my blender, food processor and tart pan though. She doesn't have any baking equipment and I wanted to bake this for her and my mom. OK. I take that back. She does have baking stuff, just very limited baking stuff.

Obviously I didn't read the P&Q very carefully before making this eye popping sour tart. I used the entire lemon, with the exception of the seeds. It. was. very. sour. My kids didn't like it at all. Neither did my sister. I thought that the crust was delicious (I skipped the nuts and made it plain) but wasn't so keen on the lemon filling. Very sour! My mom liked the tart and my sister's boyfriend thought that it was fine.

This was not a tart that I would try again. I do like lemon desserts and think that this would have been fantastic if the tartness would have been tamed down some. Alot some! It was fun to make though.

The recipe was chosen by Babette. You can find the recipe HERE or on page 336 in Dorie's cookbook.

I will be back next week with Mango Bread. And pictures!

Tiramisu Cake - TWD

I was super excited about the chosen recipe for today. Megan from My Baking Adventures chose the recipe. I love Megan's blog and faithfully check hers everyday. I love the recipes that she posts and am glad that we "met" each other. Check out how her cake turned out HERE and she also has the actual recipe posted.

This cake is a good one. It was fun to put together and even though I am not a coffee drinker in the slightest, it is delicious. My little guy loved the frosting and of course the chocolate chips on top. I was already a tiramisu fan though. I really liked the yellow cake, the filling and the frosting. The chocolate in the middle is just an added bonus.

Be sure to check out what everyone else did for this recipe. There are some really creative ones from sushi to cupcakes and more cupcakes.

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for Mother's Day!!

Chocolate Cream Tart - TWD

I am going to make this short and sweet. This recipe was chosen by Kim at Scrumptious Photography.

We thought it was good. Not spectacular or a TWD favorite though.

I decided at the last minute to add strawberries because I thought that it needed some color or something to offset all the chocolate.

Kim has the recipe posted on her blog HERE. Or you can find it on pages 352-353 in Dorie's cookbook. You really should check out Kim's blog though. She has some amazing pictures and is an awesome photographer. You will be impressed, I promise.