Popovers! (TWD: BwJ)

I was not all that excited for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe; I think I've only ever had popovers once, the one time I baked them before, and I wasn't that impressed.
But it couldn't be an easier recipe: toss flour, salt, melted butter, warm milk, and eggs into a blender (I was careful to be sure that my milk and eggs were both warm). Pour 1/4 cup into some buttered muffin cups (I did preheat my pan, given some comments on the P&Q). Bake. Eat. Seemed like it would be silly not to try the recipe.

And I really enjoyed them! We ate them warm and buttered, spread with the last of my strawberry-honey jam, with our eggs. Delish!

Check out the rest of the TWDers' experiences here, and check our hosts' pages for the recipe: Paula and Amy....or better yet, buy the book! :-)

French strawberry cake (TWD: BwJ)

Genoise and I haven't always gotten along (read this story if you're interested in a cocoa genoise complete comedy of errors), so I was a little nervous about this week's TWD: BwJ recipe: French strawberry cake.

But then we went strawberry picking on the spur of the moment (I love summer!), and it seemed that I'd have to make it for sure. I macerated the strawberries ahead of time, and assuming I'd make a half-recipe because I always do, I used half the amounts.

The next day, I read the instructions for the cake: oops! The recipe makes an 8" round....which I don't own. I have a 9" or a 6". The 6" was too big for a half-batch, so, being too lazy to try to scale the recipe correctly, I made a full recipe, filled the 6", a ramekin, and had a little batter left over.

I knew many people had struggled with the cake, so I was uber-careful. I let the eggs sit in warm water for a long time, carefully measured out all ingredients ahead of time (including sifting the flour prior to measuring because I noticed that it said "1 cup sifted flour" and not "1 cup flour, sifted"), and read each step about 17 times. When my eggs and sugar hadn't doubled in volume after 5 minutes of whipping, I remembered something I'd read on the P&Q about the egg temperature...sure enough, when I stuck my finger in the bowl, the eggs were cool. I set the mixing bowl in a bowl of hot water, and after about five minutes, the eggs felt warm; they whipped up beautifully after that.

When it came time to fold in the flour, I decided not to use my usual method, which usually yields sketchy results: I usually dump in the flour and use a rubber spatula to fold. Instead, I carefully sifted bits of flour over the top and then used a big balloon whisk. This seemed to work. The batter didn't deflate nearly as much as it usually does. The ramekin baked in 24 minutes, and the 6" cake baked in 27 minutes.

While they baked, I made the whipped cream (a full batch because it sounded too good not to): cream, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla...yes, please!

The cake was tall enough to cut in three layers, but I was just making it for our family dessert and it was late and I was tired, so I went the lazy route: two layers and no fancy decorating. It didn't matter; we all loved this cake. I usually make the kids eat dinner before dessert (on the rare occasions when we have dessert), but once in a while, when I make something extra special, I serve it with the meal. The little guy gobbled his cake up before touching anything else, and then said, "There seems to be a problem; my cake is all gone. I think I need another serving."

For the recipe, check out our hosts' blogs: Sophia of Sophia’s Sweets and Allison of Sleep Love Think Dine, and to see what everyone else thought, check the links.

Pecan sticky buns (TWD: BwJ)

Our second May recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is pecan sticky buns. I just knew these would be a hit in my family, and the recipe was perfectly timed for Mother's Day.

Unlike my usual cinnamon bun recipes which start with a sweet dough, these are made with brioche, an incredibly rich dough made with five eggs and a stick and a half of butter. The dough is mixed before the butter is added and it took forever for my butter to incorporate. But finally, using my mixer and a bit of hand kneading, the dough was ready to rise and then chill.

The next day, the dough is laminated, with another stick and a half of butter folded in. I actually only laminated half of the dough. I knew my kids wouldn't like the pecan sticky buns ("no nuts!"), so I used a quarter of the brioche dough to make plain ol' cinnamon buns for them (the other quarter is in the freezer to be used later).

The dough was really easy to handle. Once it was chilled, I rolled it out and then topped it with sugar, cinnamon, brushed egg, and pecans. I used a little less butter than called for (there was so much!!) and a little extra cinnamon and sugar. Then I rolled up the dough into a jelly roll. The recipe says to freeze it before cutting, but my dough was still quite cool from the fridge, so I just used my normal dental floss technique to cut it and it worked just fine.

My buns did not bake for as long as the recipe called for: the cinnamon buns were finished in 26 minutes and the sticky buns were finished in 30. I loved the look of the layers in the finished buns before I flipped them!

The texture of these was incredible: so light and fluffy. They weren't as sweet as our usual dough, and hubby and I didn't like them quite as much. Which is really quite a good thing, as they were a whole lot more work! Still, a delicious Mother's Day treat, enjoyed by all! :)

Check out the other TWDers' sticky buns here and check out the recipe in Baking with Julia, or on our hosts' blogs: Lynn of Eat Drink Man Woman Dogs Cat and Nicole of Cookies on Friday .

Hungarian shortbread (TWD: BwJ)

Our first May TWD recipe is Hungarian shortbread, a recipe from Gale Gand.

In general, I'm not interested in desserts (especially cookies) unless there is a strong chocolate presence. Every once in a while, an almond flavor will suffice. But a butter cookie with jam filling? Meh. So imagine my surprise when I absolutely 100% loved these cookies!!

I made a half-batch in an 8x8 pan. The shortbread itself was easy to throw together in the mixer: flour, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter, egg yolks, and sugar. The dough is then wrapped in plastic and chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes before being shredded into the pan on the large holes of a box grater. I had a few questions as I got ready to assemble and bake the cookies: should I butter the pan? The recipe didn't call for it, but that seemed weird to me, and several of the places online where this recipe is printed call for buttering the pan. In the end, I did. And several of the people on the Ps&Qs for this recipe mentioned prebaking the bottom crust or it wouldn't fully bake; should I? I ended up putting the bottom part of the crust in the oven for about 5 minutes while I prepared the jam; and then I baked the cookies for 45 minutes to get the top golden. The bottom was much more done than the top; next time, I'd probably skip the prebaking stage altogether.

If I'd filled these with the rhubarb jam called for, it'd be a sure bet that no one would eat them, so I used the last bit from a jar of store-bought mixed berry preserves and part of last summer's strawberry jam. I first used the 1/2 cup of jam called for (I was making a half-recipe), but it didn't seem like nearly enough, so I ended up using quite a bit more (probably a cup total for the half-recipe).

As I said, I was shocked by how much I loved these: sweet, crunchy, buttery, with a bright hint from the jam. Delicious!

Check out all of the other TWDers' shortbreads here: and please visit our hosts' pages to see the recipe: Lynette of 1smallkitchen and Cher of The not so exciting adventures of a dabbler….

Lemon loaf cake (TWD: BwJ)

Our second April recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is a lemon loaf cake. This is a pound cake that takes all of five minutes and one bowl to make.

It's made by whisking eggs with sugar (gently), and then lemon zest, and then sifting flour and baking powder, whisking in some heavy cream, and folding in some melted butter. That's it; it took a million times longer to bring the ingredients to room temperature than it did to make the cake.

I used three mini loaf pans (5x2) instead of a 9x5 pan; the loaves baked for 35 minutes. We enjoyed one of the mini cakes with dinner; it was a huge hit. The little guy said, "I would like another piece of that delicious lemon cake!" The hubby and I each took a mini loaf to school to celebrate the start of fourth quarter. It must be spring! :)

Check out the other TWDers' lemon cakes here and, if you'd like the recipe, grab a copy of Baking with Julia or check out this week's hosts: Truc of Treats and Michelle of The Beauty of Life.

Pizza rustica (TWD: BwJ)

I'm not sure how it's April already, but here we are: the first Tuesday of the month! Our first April Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is pizza rustica by our very own (Modern Baker Challenge and Bake!) Nick Malgieri!

This recipe (or maybe April itself) sneaked up on me, but luckily it's the kind of recipe where you can realize you need to make it at 8 a.m. at work, send the hubby to the grocery store at 3 p.m. for a couple of key ingredients, and still be eating dinner by 5:30.

Pizza rustica is made with a sweet dough, which is quickly mixed in the food processor and handles like a dream. Into the crust goes a mixture of cheese (ricotta), more cheese (Romano), even more cheese (mozzarella), and meat (prosciutto). I wanted to make the recipe as written the first time, but I know some of the other TWDers experimented with adding veggies, and I would love to do that next time: some onions, spinach, maybe a pepper. Yum! You may be thinking that it doesn't sound like pizza, and you'd be right; it's much more like a quiche. Luckily, some of the TWDers had been talking about that very fact, so I named it "quiche" when describing it to the family and no one was disappointed.

I know the sweet crust-salty/savory filling was weird for some people, but with my big sweet tooth, I thought it was quite tasty! The hubby loved it. In fact, he's pretty sad that I need it for my lunches this week and he won't be able to eat it every day for breakfast. The kids, never fans of foods with ricotta, didn't like the filling, but both ate pieces of the crust like it was a cookie.

For the recipe, buy a copy of Baking with Julia, or check out today's hosts: Emily of Capitol Region Dining and Raelynn of The Place They Call Home.

Irish Soda Bread (TWD: BwJ)

The second March recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie group is Irish soda bread, chosen just in time for St. Paddy's Day. But March 17 came and went around here, and there were multiple grocery shopping trips after which I realized that I'd forgotten the buttermilk yet again, and I decided to pass on this one. The one and only time I made Irish soda bread was also the one and only time I'd ever tasted it, and I was not a fan. I think most of it ended up in the garbage.

But...when the first several posts started popping up this morning, everyone talked about how incredibly quick this recipe was, so I decided that if I was going to skip a recipe, this would probably be a pretty silly one to choose. The little girl and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up some buttermilk, and we were on our way. This truly was the easiest recipe ever: flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk, all stirred and kneaded and formed into a round. That's it. I made a half recipe, and decided at the last minute to go the traditional route and not use any of the extra add-ins. My little boule baked for 35 minutes (thanks, Nancy!) until it reached an internal temperature of 180º.

The bread smelled amazing, and we didn't wait long to cut into it. Surprise, surprise, we loved it! How could four simple ingredients bake up into something so tasty? It was delicious as a pre-dinner snack with a little butter, and yummy (even if a little incongruous) with our dinner of chicken-sausage gumbo.

Please check out our hosts' blogs for the recipe (and to see their creative variations): Cathy of My Culinary Mission and Carla of Chocolate Moosey, and check out here to see the other TWDers' creations!

Rugelach (TWD: BwJ)

Our first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for March is rugelach, hosted by Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker. My hubby took one bite of the finished product and said, "It's like a cinnamon roll and a danish and a cookie and something else all mixed together, and it's just so good!"

I made a half-batch of dough early in the morning. It came together pretty quickly in my stand-mixer: softened butter, softened cream cheese, salt, sugar, and flour. Once it came together into a ball, I patted it into a rectangle and put it in the fridge to chill.

Then I made the lekva. We had the choice of prune or apricot lekva. I've never heard of lekva before, but apparently it's a Hungarian fruit butter. I really love prunes, and I'm not a big apricot fan, so this was an easy choice for me. The lekva was incredibly easy to make: prunes boiled in water and combined with sugar, lemon juice, and chopped walnuts. Okay, sounds pretty nothing-special, right? NO! I seriously could've eaten the entire bowl straight-up; it was that good!!

Late the same afternoon, I plumped up some dried cherries and chopped up some apricots, toasted some walnuts and pecans, and proceeded with shaping the rugelach.

I rolled the dough out into a large rectangle and cut it in half. My problems started after I spread it with the lekva and then began to sprinkle on the insane amounts of filling: fruit, nuts, sugar (I also sprinkled in some mini chocolate chips on half, at the kiddos' request). There was no way to roll these babies up! I did the best I could; one strip actually rolled okay. The other one began to tear and there was filling pouring out all over the place.

I chilled the rugelach for about six hours, then brushed them with the egg wash, sliced them, dipped them in the sugar-nut mixture, and baked them. Regardless of their looks, these were a big hit with the family! The little girl and I weren't huge fans of the dried fruit, but we all loved the combination of flavors from the prunes, nuts, and dough.

Check out everyone else's rugelach here!

one of the exploded, less-than-stellar ones :)

Incredible exploding white loaf (TWD: BwJ)

As I said in a post a few weeks ago, I discovered Tuesdays with Dorie long after they'd started baking through Baking: From My Home to Yours. But once I discovered the magical world of food blogs, I always enjoyed my friends' TWD posts. So when a new TWD group started this year, and I just happened to get the book, Baking with Julia, for Christmas, and I just happened to get some pressure from a certain someone, and I saw that the first two recipes were a bread and a yummy chocolate tart, of course I signed up. :)

After a busy Saturday morning, just as I was heading out the door to go grocery shopping, hubby said, "Hey, what about chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner?!" We had no bread in the house, but I remembered that the BwJ recipe was supposed to be fairly quick (it says, "Since the dough belongs to the direct-rise family....you can mix a batch after breakfast and eat still-warm-from-the-oven bread for lunch."), so I took off my coat and mixed up the dough.

The method was a little unusual to me; you mix some water with the yeast and sugar and let it bubble (no surprise there), then add the flour and mix. Then add the salt. Then knead for a long while, and finally add the butter. But, as promised in the recipe, the dough did finally come together. It gave my stand mixer a workout, so I alternated between mixer and kneading by hand.

The dough rose while I was at the grocery store and a little over an hour later, I came home to this:

Eek!

Instead of dividing the dough and shaping it into two 8x4 loaves, I left it as one massive piece and baked it in my pullman pan with the lid off. I couldn't believe the explosion when I peaked into the oven!

The bread had a slightly unusual flavor, but I couldn't quite place it. Maybe it's because we sliced it when it was still pretty warm. It made excellent grilled cheese sandwiches, and was pretty popular with everyone. Hubby used the rest of the loaf to make eggs-in-a-nest for breakfast over the next several mornings; he was very happy. :)

Laurie and Jules, the fearless leaders of TWD, are the hosts this week, so check out their blogs for the recipe!