TWD: Normandy Apple Tart

Soo I know this weeks recipe was supposed to be the Parisian Apple Tartlets, but we were having a huge laker party at my house, and I needed to make something bigger than just the tarts. 

When I saw the picture of this tart, I was sold on making it! The picture looked just beyond amazing. And it was not at all hard to do.

The finished tart came out wonderful, and I served it with a little vanilla ice cream. Everyone loved it! I would make this again for sure!

Next time, i'll try to make the tartlets, i'm sure those were amazing as well.

TWD: Chipster-Topped Brownies

Yet again, this week's TWD recipe was AMAZING. Though, I was not surprised. I mean, how can you honestly go wrong with a layer of chocolate chip cookies baked ON TOP of a goey, chocolate-y BROWIE?! This was HEAVEN. I'd just like to give a HUGE shout out to Beth of Suppilicious for a great pick!

Since I had so many different baking chips I needed to use up, I just threw in handfuls of peanut butter chips, white chocolate chunks, and butterscotch chips along with the chocolate chips.

To say these were DEVOURED when they hit the table was an understatement. People were FIGHTING over them! It was actually quite hilarious to watch my friends and family go at it.

I will of course be making these again!..gonna try topping a square with some ice cream...oooh i'm baaaaad !

Mmmmmm...SO good.

TWD: Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie (Tart!)

It feels like FOREVER since I last updated, but i've just been crazy busy lately. Stressed

doesn't even begin to describe what things have been like for me...

BUTTT on a happier note!! I was able to do this weeks recipe!

Kim of Scrumptious Photography chose this Chocolate Cream Tart recipe, and wow is

all I can honestly say.

When I was reading the recipe, my eyes flickered to the "playing around" section,

and as soon as I saw the variation was "Chocolate COCONUT CREAM PIE", I was

off to my cabinet for the coconut! The variation was not that much different from

the regular tart except for the fact that before you add the chocolate cream,

there's a layer of creamy coconut custard smoothed on before.

It was absolutely amazing! "It's the best recipe you've made out of that book yet"

exclaimed my family as they licked their plates clean.

And I agree, this probably was one of my all time FAVORITE recipes i've made

from her, so far. There's no question in my mind that I'll make this again.

SOO good !

TWD: Banana Cream Pie

YES! I'm SO happy someone FINALLY chose this recipe! Ever since I got this book, and 

saw the picture of this pie, I've been looking for a reason to make this!

So first, i'd like to thank Amy of Sing for your Supper for deciding to make this.

And secondly, it was my dads birthday yesterday and one of his all time favorite

desserts is none other than Banana Cream Pie! So I though, perfect!

I've never made banana cream pie before, so looking at Dorie's recipe, I had to admit,

I was a little intimidated. But once I got the custard, and the pie dough ready, and going,

I started to feel a little more confident about it. And needles to say, it turned out

absolutely MAGNIFICENT in the end!

I loved the different twist on adding cinnamon and nutmeg to the custard.

Such a great and tasty addition! I was SO glad to see my dads face just

LIGHT up as soon as he took his first bite. That made me so extremely

happy that he and the rest of my family enjoyed it!

This was great recipe this week! Hope everyone enjoyed it as much

as I did!

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

Sadly, I only took 1 picture of this cake. As it was completely devoured 

by the rest of family as soon as it was made.

See, here in my house, we LOVE coffee cakes. Not just like, we LOVE them.

So after making, and eating this cake sliced warm with a hot 

cup of coffee, I just sat back and watched as my entire family gobbled it all up.

It was quite a site to see.

Anyways, this was a GREAT recipe, super easy to make, and I had all the ingredients on hand already. I think i might just make another one of these babies

 in a couple days...?

Hope everyone liked it as well!

TWD: French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze

It's tuesday. And you know what that means...TWD ! This weeks choice was

picked by Liliana of My cookbook addiction. And after reading the comments

about this cake/pound cake, and seeing all the GREAT reviews about it,

I couldn't wait to make it.

Of course, it was amazing. As is ALL of Dories' recipes!

I read her comments on what to serve this with, and one of her suggestions 

was to pair it with Lemon Cream. And seeing ALL the fresh lemons

I'd just picked from our tree, it was a no brainer.

The lemon cream, slathered on top of the cake was fantastic. The cream had a 

perfect, tangy, lemony kick, which went SO well with the cake.

I'd definitely make this again.

TWD: Devils Food White-Out Cake

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater. 

I was insanely excited when I saw that we would be making the mouth watering cake that is the cover of the book!

The cake itself was not hard to put together, although, for some reason my layers didn't rise that high? Dorie says after the layers are cool, to cut them horizontally to make 4 layers. If I sliced those 2 cakes, the layers would be almost paper thin!

So I made another batch, and made 2 more layers...making the mistake of NOT slicing them horizontally. So while assembling the cake, the 3 layers were pretty thick. And like the picture, I piled on the frosting.

Well, while frosting the rest of the cake, I sort of ran out of frosting, so my mom suggested pushing the cake down, and using the frosting from the middle of the cake, to frost the rest of it.

...BAD IDEA. Although it worked at the time...when I sliced it, there was barely any frosting left on inside of the cake. 

That little incident on the side, it still turned out great! Next time i'll make sure to slice the cakes like the recipe says.

TWD: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

This weeks tuesday with Dorie was chosen by Heather of Sherry Trifle. 

I really really love a nice, spicy gingerbread. It makes you think of the holidays all over again.

When I saw this weeks choice was gingerbread, I got excited.

I decided, at the last minute to not put the chocolate icing on top, I think it was probably cause I was just lazy, but i'm sure it would've tasted great.

I had it for dessert, but the rest of my family nibbled on some pieces for breakfast the next morning. This was a great, tasty recipe!

Thanks Heather!

TWD: French Pear Tart

This weeks TWD was chosen by no other than herself, the women from whom we get all these AMAZING recipes, Dorie Greenspan.

When I looked at who this recipe was picked by, I knew it had to be a pretty good one. So I made it right away, and it served it to my family this weekend.

This tart was absolutely amazing. And i'm glad to say that it was very easy to make as well. I loved the thick, sweet dough, and the almond cream complemented the pears beautifully. 

I will definitely make this again soon.

Thanks Dorie!

No TWD this week...

Sorry guys, I know I havn't been the best with keeping up with TWD lately.

I've just A LOT of stuff on my plate right now..no pun intended. Haha.

But I am happy to say that I will be back posting more frequently after thanksgiving, and i'll be sharing ALL my wonderful goodies that I making for the big thanksgiving feast this year!

Cant wait!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

TWD:Rugelach "Bars"

So this week's TWD was chosen by Piggy of Piggy's cooking journal and I wanted to thank her for choosing this scrumptious recipe.

As you can probably see from the pictures, I(with help from the lovely Martha Stewart) decided to turn the traditional Rugelach "cresent"s into Rugelach BARS, or "fingers."

I followed Dories recipe ingredients, but slightly adapted them to fit Martha's directions for the bars. They were SO incredibly easy to make! The only long-ish part was that the dough had to be chilled for a little, but besides that, not time-consuming and VERY easy.

Sadly, we didn't have currants in my house, soo I substituted raisins instead, and they still turned out amazingg. I highly recommend trying this recipe, as I do with EVERY other Dorie recipe, if you're looking for great Rugelach.

Be sure to check out all the other TWD bakers for their lovely Rugelach(es)...?!

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

Sorry!! I know, I havn't been doing many TWD's lately.

It's just been SO hectic, I havnt had time to do much "planned" baking.

But, i'm back now! And soo happy that I am!

**This weeks TWD was chosen by Kelly of Sounding my Barbaric Gulp

And let me just say, this was the best recipe to come back on.

Pumpkin Muffins are my FAVORITE type of muffin. Sure I love blueberry, and banana and all that jazz, but there's something about the spicy, yumminess of a nice, hot pumpkin muffin, especially in the fall. 

This recipe was verrrry good!

Ive never been let down by any of her recipes, and ive tried 5 million different pumpkin muffin recipes!...although, im still on the lookout for that one AMAZINGLY spicy recipe, Dorie's really did NOT dissapoint.

If you want the recipe go check it out on Gretchens blog, and go look at all the other wonderful Dorie bakers!!

**Correction: These were picked by Kelly from Sounding my Barbaric Gulp!!

Sorry guys!

<3

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers

It's tuesday, and you know what that means...another fabulous recipe from Dorie.

Claudia of Fool For Food suggested these addicting chocolate cookies this week, and I am SO glad she did.

I kind of have a bad addiction to ANY type of chocolate cookie, I dont know why, but something about that dark, rich, dense, chocolaty flavor just makes my mouth water! And you'll ALWAYS find me first in that cookie jar whenever they're around.

These cookies were absolutely amazing! And they weren't hard to make at all. Just throw in a bunch of chocolate, some nuts, and raisins, and your done!...they're also very versatile so you can basically put any type of mix in, in them.

All in all, I very much enjoyed these cookies, and so did my family, and friends who I shared them with as well! 

Dorie's done it once again!

Mmm, chocolaty goodness =]]

TWD: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

I'm back!...after a 2 week vacation to NYC, and another short break, it's finally time to get back to baking.

I was very excited when I saw that this weeks TWD, chosen by Stefany of Proceed with caution, was cookies. A nice, easy way to ease back into things. 

These cookies were SO extremely easy, and required a lot of ingredients you'd have on hand.

I really liked the peanut butter combo with the oatmeal, and chocolate chunks, and these made my house smell absolutely delish!

Make sure to check out the other cookies, and see what all the other 200+ bakers did!

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

Coincidentally, I've already made this!

Soo please refer here to see how it came out!!

=]]

TWD: Summer Fruit Galette

This weeks TWD couldn't be more perfect for summer.

I've never made a fruit galette before, and from the picture of Dories other Galette, the dough looked pretty hard to do...but I was determined to do it!

Thank you SO much Michelle from Michelle in Colorado , this was such a great pick!

In the recipe, Dorie says you can add any assortment of fruit to this, and since it's summer, there are sooo many great fruits in season, so choosing some was not hard at all.

I chose an assortment of peaches, plums, pears, apricots and blueberries.

All those different flavors turned out great!

We had all my grandparents, plus a bunch of family friends over for dinner, so I was happy I had another excuse to bake this!

What I served this with was a no brainer...VANILLA ICE CREAM!

If you make this, I HIGHLY suggest serving it with ice cream...it really does make it 100 times better!

And now, for the after picture...

...can you guess if they liked it or not?

There was a fight for the last little sliver... ;D

Be sure to head over to the Tuesdays With Dorie site to check out more Galettes!

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

This weeks TWD was picked by Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake.

I absolutely LOVE cobblers, that yummmy, delicious fruit filling hidden underneath the ever so flakey topping. Everything about them just screams "YUMMMMMM!"

I've never had rhubarb before, but i've been meaning to taste one, so this gave me an excuse to try some.

In the recipe, it said after you lay out the biscuit dough, to separate it into 20 individual "puffs", and to make 4 rows of 5, of the circles. Now, I must have done something wrong cause as you can see, the circles didn't really spread, and or cover the fruit filling...? That kind of stumped me as I was pulling the cobbler out of the oven...SOOO, there was obviously a mistake there.

(...Hmm?)

Regardless of that minor error, the cobbler turned out verrrrrry good!

Although, I think the ginger in the biscuits gave them sort of a weird-ish flavor...I could definitely taste that spice in it...I was thinking of adding a different type of spice to the dough like cinnamon, or nutmeg, but decided to let it go...Maybe next time i'll change that.

I of course served it with some vanilla ice cream, which personally, is the BEST topping for ANY dessert in my book. And it added that extra deliciousness!

Putting those little set-backs aside, this was a greatt dessert!

(I need to learn how to take better pictures, I think...I have the Nikon D40, which I think is a pretty good camera, but i've got to learn how to do all that confusing lighting stuff and all those "professional" camera thingss...it's a work in progress I guess.)

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

"This sh*t is bananas...B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!"

Come on, it's not like you don't use that song to help you remember how to spell the word "BANANA"...or maybe that's just me...

Kay, onto the food.

One of my top 5 FAVORITE quick breads to eat, and bake is banana bread. I think it's also cause i'm a big banana freak. ANYTHING with banana in it, i'll eat. I grew up eating banana breads, mostly cause my grandma had a great banana bread recipe that she gave to my mom, and my mom gave to me...buttt today's recipe isn't from my grandma. It's from, of course, Dorie. This weeks tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Ashlee from A Year in the Kitchen.

I loved how it included both the chocolate and banana flavors together. Such a great pairing if you ask me. Annnnd, it has just a little bit of rum added to the bananas, that just gives it that nice touch.

Black and White Banana Loaf

from Baking from my home to yours

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/2 ripe bananas, peeled

squirt of fresh lemon juice

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tblsp. dark rum

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 stick plus 2 tblsp. unsalted butter, room temp.(10 tblsp.)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.

Butter an 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-x-2 1/2-inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on 2 regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with the lemon juice and zest, then stir in the rum.

 Melt the chocolate and 2 tblsp. of the butter in a microwave oven, or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water.

Working with a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining stick of butter(8 tblsp.) at medium speed until creamy, about 3 min. Add the sugars and beat for another 2-3 minutes, until light and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. The batter will look curdled, and it will continue to look curdled as you add the ingredients. Reduce the mixer to low and add half the flour mixture, mixing only until it is just incorporated. With the mixer running, pour in the milk, and when it is blended, add the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape down the bowl and mix in the mashed bananas. The batter will look even lumpier.

Pour a little less than half the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate and stir to blend. Drop alternating spoonfuls of both batters into the prepared pan, then, using a table knife, swirl the batters together, taking care not to over do it.

Bake for 1 hour and 20-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check after 30 minutes and if the cake starts to brown too much, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for about 15 min. before unmolding, then cool the cake to room temp. right side up on the rack.

MAKE THIS...you WON'T be disappointed at all.

No TWD this week =/...

I'm soooo bummed...sadly, I could not do this week's TWD recipe =/

I've been on a short, little vacation in Santa Barbara with my family, coming back on thursday.

But i'll definitely be back in time for next weeks post!

Until then, i'll see ya'll lataa!

=]]

TWD: Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

MMMM...PIE!

So this weeks TWD recipe was for the Double Crusted Blueberry Pie.

I was really excited when I saw this is what had been picked cause i've never made a big pie like this before, so I was anxious to get started.

When I told my mom I was going to be baking a blueberry pie, she got verrrry excited. And said that blueberry pie was her 2nd favorite pie, next to apple to eat. So I got started right away.

The dough was actually not hard at all to put together, and when rolled out, wasn't difficult to handle. I tasted the filling before I put it into the crust, like Dorie said to do in the recipe, and even the filling tasted amazing!...so I had no doubts this was going to be a pretty good pie.

Here's how it turned out!:

YUMMM...it turned out great! It wasn't too gooey, or runny...just perfect! And the crust turned out grrrreat as well...I served it with some vanilla ice cream. A GREAT way to finish a pretty hectic day!

mmmm...MY PIECE.

Now excuse me while I devour this lovely slice of blueberry heaven. =]