Tuesdays with Dorie – Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte

I absolutely LOVE cherries!  Ken absolutely LOVES chocolate! 

We do not LOVE cherries and chocolate together!

I made the brownie layer and placed it in a prepared springform pan.  I baked it and allowed it to cool and then prepared the marscapone/cheesecake layer and placed it over the top of the brownie layer. 

Ken and I thought this dessert needed a little something else. 

 MORE CHOCOLATE! 

I made a chocolate ganache that consisted of semi-sweet chocolate chips, heavy whipping cream, light corn syrup and vanilla.  This ganache was easy to prepare and when I poured it over the white and creamy layer of cheese, I knew it would be a winner!

And, what a winner it is!

Thank you to Short & Rose for choosing this recipe.  Please click onto this link or purchase Dorie Greenspan’s delectable book:  Baking, From My Home to Yours!

Tuesdays with Dorie – Sweet Potato Biscuits

 

Ken and I baked these biscuits on Sunday and thought they had a pretty orange color and tasted really good.  For the recipe, instead of using the canned potatoes, we used two large, baked sweet potatoes, which equaled out to about 1 1/4 cups of mashed potatoes.  The ratio of sweet potatoes to flour was just about perfect, as these biscuits baked in the oven for the full eighteen minutes.  These biscuits would be an excellent bread choice for serving guests or for that special occasion because they are dainty and light orange and have a light and flaky texture that is sure to please.  

 

Thank you Erin of Prudence and Pennywise

for choosing these delightful biscuits. 

Please click here for the recipe or buy the book,

Baking from My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan.

Measurements and Oven Temperatures

Measurements

• 1 cup (C) = 250 mL
• 1 tablespoon (T) = 15 mL
• 1 teaspoon (t) = 5 mL
• 1 kilogram (kg) = 2.2 pounds (lb)
• 1 pound (lb) = 16 ounces (oz)
• 1 ounce (oz) = 28 grams (g)

Cooking Temperatures

• Gas 1 = 140ºC = 275ºF
• Gas 2 = 150ºC = 300ºF
• Gas 3 = 160ºC = 325ºF
• Gas 4 = 180ºC = 350ºF
• Gas 5 = 190ºC = 375ºF
• Gas 6 = 210ºC = 400ºF
• Gas 7 = 220ºC = 425ºF
• Gas 8 = 230ºC = 450ºF
• Gas 9 = 240ºC = 475ºF

Tuesdays with Dorie – Allspice Crumb Muffins

Thank you to Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen for choosing the recipe for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie.  Please visit Kayte’s website for the recipe or purchase Dorie Greenspan’s wonderful cook book:  Baking, From My Home to Yours. 

Ken and I love muffins. These muffins were light and airy, but the allspice seemed a bit strong for this recipe.  If we make these muffins again, we will change the recipe ingredients a little by using cinnamon instead of allspice and will add toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts to the topping.  Some lemon glaze swirled over the top may be added to offer these muffins a little sweeter taste.

Split Level Pudding

 

First of all, let me tell you, this is not your grandmother’s pudding.  The combination of the creamy bittersweet chocolate ganache and the velvety smoothness of the vanilla together make for a very elegant delight that will surely heighten the senses of all dinner guests. 

Mixing the chocolate ganache layer was so very easy.  Bringing the heavy cream to a boil is so easy and then pouring it over the bittersweet chocolate is just as easy.  Mixing the two ingredients, swirling with a spatula is fun, because it’s almost like magic, watching the cream turn to chocolate is fascinating.

The vanilla pudding was a bit more time involved, but worth every minute.  Not that it took long to make, but certainly not as easy as the ganache.

Using the food processor to mix the dry ingredients together only takes seconds.  Then adding the egg yolks to the dry ingredients made a soft dough type mixture. 

While mixing the dry ingredients in the food processor, I was heating up the two cups of milk.  I slowly poured this hot milk into the sugar, corn starch and salt mixture and it turned into a lovely creamy substance that I just knew would turn into something delicious. 

I placed this mixture back into the same pot and using a wisk, heated the mixture until it thickened a bit.  I placed this thickened mixture back into the food processor to add the butter and vanilla, and wow!  It smelled absolutely delicious. 

 I couldn’t wait to taste it.  So, I got a spoon and tasted it and I was immediately “wowed!”  Believe me, this vanilla pudding is sure to please even the most avid chocolate lovers.

I placed these beautiful martini glass-filled puddings into the refrigerator to cool. 

Ken and I shared one for dessert that we placed whipped cream on top along with chocolate curls and a cherry! 

 

If you’d like to see the recipe,

please check out Dorie Greenspan’s book

 “Baking, From my Home to Yours,”

Or visit

Garret of Flavor of Vanilla’s  blog for the recipe.

Tuesdays with Dorie – What’s Next?

Tuesdays With Dorie – Chocolate Crunch Caramel Tart

Thank you Carla from

Chocolate Moosey

for choosing this week’s selection

Chocolate Crunch Caramel Tart

for the baking group:

Tuesdays With Dorie

 

 

 

Chocolate Crunch Caramel Tart

Ken was very excited about this week’s selection as he dearly loves chocolate.  I was very excited about this week’s selection because I love caramel.  We were positive that combining these two flavours would certainly make up for a delicious tart.

Shortbread Crust:

We placed the flour, butter, sugar and salt into our food processor and literally whirled it up in no time.  Like the recipe states, it was so easy to pat this dough into the tart pan, rather than rolling it out.  We baked the crust for fifteen minutes.  The aroma from this shortbread smelled so delicious – almost like a bakery!  We were tempted to use a cookie cutter to cut cookies from this baked crust – however doing so would ruin the possibility of making this tart.  So instead of shortbread cookies, we set the tart crust onto a cooling rack to cool.

Caramel:

I have made caramel before and was a little concerned about the boiling time, as I didn’t want our caramel layer to become too candy-like.  We melted the sugar in our non-stick pan and added the corn syrup and boiled the two together until these ingredients turned into a nice caramel colour.  We added the butter and the heavy cream that we previously brought to a boil in a separate pot.  Next, we added the pieces of butter and allowed this mixture to come to a rolling boil. We checked the temperature with a candy thermometer and found that it was already at the required 225 degrees.  We poured this thick caramel into our heat-proof bowl and set it aside.

Ganache:

Ken and I have made ganache before, but never with bittersweet chocolate.  This recipe rendered a more thin ganache and caused me a little bit of concern that I didn’t use enough chocolate or that I measured wrong on the cream.  I called my mother to confirm what eight ounces of chocolate should be.  She always seems to know the answer to my questions and with this time being no exception, she confirmed our measurement. After talking to my “chief consultant,” I immediately felt more secure that this ganache would in fact turn out okay.  To top it all off, Ken didn’t seem to have that “I’m in heaven” look about him when I gave him the pot and spatula to lick in the end.  (Having used bitter-sweet chocolate doesn’t taste too well by itself.) However, this ganache was quick and easy to put together, as the ingredients were few and bringing heavy cream to a boil and then pouring it over the chocolate is certainly very easy to do and then swirling the mixture together with a wisk was fun, as the chocolate mixed with the cream magically reaches a certain smooth and shiny stage that heightens the senses and makes all those who love chocolate yearn for a taste.     

Assembling the tart:

This was the fun part – placing Ken’s favourite – the chocolate ganache, along with my favourite – the caramel,  that we laced with the toasted pecans into the shortbread crust. 

Our tart was beautiful.  We carefully placed it into our refrigerator to chill for the required thirty minutes, but discovered that we needed to chill it for an additional thirty minutes as the ganache was still a little giggly in the center.

As a result, we loved this tart.  The smooth chocolate and delicate caramel flavours combined along with the lightly toasted pecans and with the buttery shortbread crust all came together very nicely into what Ken and I thought was a ”picture-perfect” dessert.  Because of this we could hardly hold back the temptation to taste this splendid looking chocolate tart.  Pictures came first!  Then!  The time was to have that first taste!  The whole experience was absolutely sensational!  The creamy chocolate ganache along with the thick carmel and the crunch from the pecans and the buttery crust caused a reaction with our tastebuds that immedately caused huge smiles.  A final thought was that we decided that our tart tasted like a heath bar.  How utterly delicious could that be? 

Ken and I will certainly make this recipe again,

but will try using semi-sweet chocolate rather than the bitter-sweet. 

If you would like to view this recipe, please visit Cara at Chocolate Moosey or buy the exquisite book – Baking, From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. 

 

 

Best Ever Challah

 

This is a delicious challah.  I believe it is the honey that makes this loaf so delicious.  You may make this by hand or in your bread machine.  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 t salt
• 1 to 2 T sugar (or honey)
• 1-1/2 t yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2-1/2 T oil
• 1 egg

Method:

Using a two-cup measuring cup, fill with water and place in the microwave for 40 seconds.  Take the water from the microwave and add two teaspoons of yeast to the water.  Add 1/4 cup of honey to the water and stir with a fork until mixed.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together with a wisk.  Add the egg and mix together lightly.  Add the yeast mixture and mix together until it forms a dough.  Flour your work surface and pour the dough out onto the floured surface.  Knead the dough, adding additional flour as needed to make a nice dough that is not to sticky.  Knead the dough for about ten minutes. 

Spray your special challah bowl with cooking spray and turn the dough into the bowl until the dough is greased on all sides.  Cover this bowl with wax paper and place into an oven that has been pre-heated to 175 degrees and then turn off.  Let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, which will be about 1 1/2 hours. 

Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and punch down and knead for five minutes or until the dough is nice and elastic in texture. 

With a knife or pastry cutter, cut the dough into half and let one half rest under the large bowl.  With the dough that is in the open, divide it into either three or six pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope making sure that they are all about the same length.  Pinch one end of the ropes together and braid.  Place this braided loaf onto a large cookie sheet that has parchment paper placed onto it. 

Do the same with the other half of dough that has been resting. 

Spray a large rectangle of wax paper with cooking spray and place the sprayed side down over the braided loaves and place in a warm oven to rise for an additional 45 minutes. 

Mix one egg in a small bowl with a fork and add about one teaspoon of water to the beaten egg.  With a pastry brush, lightly “paint” the egg wash over the challout.  If desired, now is the time to sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds over the challout.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake the challout for aoubt 32 minutes or until the loaves sound hallow when lightly touched with your finger nail. 

Allow challout to cool slightly before eaten as the flovour of the bread will not be at its peake right from the oven.  At this point, you can place each challah into a plastic bag and placing it into your freezer.  Editor’s note, you may also freeze the challah when it has been braided and not risen for the second time.  When ready to bake the frozen challah, take from the freezer and place onto your counter top until the loaf is room temperature and has risen (about 1 1/2 hours), then bake.

Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

Two 10-ounce packages frozen corn, thawed (I thawed mine in the microwave)
1/4 cup sugar
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch of grated nutmeg

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter a 1 and 1/2-quart baking dish. (I used my square corning ware dish)

2. In a food processor or blender, pulse or chop 1 of the packages of corn until coarsely chopped, then transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the remaining package of corn and sprinkle with the sugar and salt; stir to combine.

3. Whisk together the eggs, milk, butter, chives, flour, and vanilla and combine with the corn. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and sprinkle with nutmeg. I sprinkled chopped fresh parsley over the top.  Bake in the center of the oven until the center of the pudding is just set, about 45 minutes.

Smoked Chicken, Balsamic Brown Butter Sauce Ravioli

 

Ingredients:

• 1 package frozen smoked chicken ravioli
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Cook ravioli according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
2. While the ravioli are cooking, melt butter in a sauté pan large enough to accommodate the ravioli, over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the butter begins to turn golden brown, remove pan from heat and let sit for about 1 minute. Whisk in vinegar, salt, and red pepper flakes.
3. Place ravioli in butter sauce in pan, turning gently to coat. Warm over low heat, then pour out onto serving platter. Sprinkle with toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings.