Tuesdays with Dorie Number 27: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

Greetings all :) What a last few weeks it has been! I'm finally back to Tuesdays with Dorie after a longer then expected absence. Between snowboarding in Colorado, the Holidays with family and more snowboarding in Colorado.....I haven't had a chance to get to my regular baking. That, and the amount of food I've eaten over the holidays....I didn't think I could look at any more baked goods.
This week's recipe is the Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake, and they are an easy, delicious muffin. I ate mine plain, but I think they would be wonderful with soup or chili.

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 26: Buttery Jam Cookies

This week's recipe was chosen by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl and is the Buttery Jam Cookie. Once again, another wonderful cookie recipe perfect for the holidays!
I used blueberry preserves in mine, and topped each cookie with a whole almond. The dough came together very nicely, and the cookies maintained there shape (there was no interesting "falling" with these little guys). All in all, a wonderful recipe.

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 24: Linzer Sables and Post Number 100!!

Greetings all! Technically this is the recipe to be posted December 2, but with all the Thanksgiving stuff going on, I didn't get to it when I should have. So, here are the Linzer Sables, a recipe chosen by Dennis of Living the Life.

I ground almonds in my food processor, and I was a little worried that perhaps they were not fine enough. The end result held together fine, and tasted wonderful!In order to make them more festive, I used Christmas cookie cutters on some of the cookies. I'm hoping to fill them soon, but I think for now I'm going to store the cookies in the freezer for Holiday Happiness later in the month :)

On a side note, this is my 100th post for Butterbur's Bistro. Hooray!

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 25: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

This week's recipe was chosen by Ulrike of Küchenlatein, and is Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar cookies. I was very excited to see the recipe pick, as it goes along perfectly with holiday baking!
I made mine into slice and bake cookies, but to make them more festive I rolled some in sprinkles, and on others used pecan halves. Of course, I had Christmas music going full tilt while I was working on these delicious morsels! Happy baking!

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 23: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

Well, this post is late, but due to the Thanksgiving holiday, TWD posters had an extension on the posting date. Thank goodness! The Thanksgiving Twofer pie is this week's recipe, and it was chosen by Vibi of La casserole carrée. I traveled to my parents this Thanksgiving, so my mom and I made the pie for Thanksgiving dinner (which is why this post is just a bit on the late side).

I managed to locate my missing battery charger, so the pie photos are not the blurry variety from my cell phone. Hoorray!
This pie came together nicely and we had little difficulty preparing it. However, I did learn a lesson. When the recipe tells you to weight the crust when prebaking, do not "shortcut" it and hope that pricking the pie crust all over will be an acceptable substitute. Thankfully, my mom and I were concerned about the 25 minute baking time and pulled the crust out after 10 minutes to check it. The pie crust edges had slid down to the bottom of the pie plate, and the center part of the crust had tripled in volume. It was late Wednesday night and we were not about to remake the pastry, so I pulled another heavy pie plate out and squished the crust as much as I could. The sides did come up a bit and we finished prebaking. The finished product came out much better then expected because the pecan topping covered all the sad spots of crust.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving!

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 22: Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (Or Both)

Well, this week's recipe was very interesting on many levels. I apologize for the picture, but I can't find my battery charger for my camera....so I am stuck with the cell phone pics. **sigh**

This week's recipe was Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (Or Both) chosen by Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa. I followed the recipe, and was a little worried when by the end of the cooking time I had milky "rice soup". I put it in the fridge and hoped that it would thicken up over night, but when I checked it the next morning...there was no improvement.

I ended up cheating....I reheated the pudding and stirred in 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and 1 beaten egg. This had the effect of thickening the pudding, but after I let it chill for awhile....the texture was less then desirable. After reading the comments on the TWD page, it seems that there was a typo in the book. The pudding should have cooked for 55 minutes and not the 30 that I gave it (I actually let it cook a little past 30 minutes). I will try this pudding again sometime in the future as the flavor was good, but as noted before....the texture with cornstarch and egg...not so much. This is the first recipe out of all the recipes I have tried with TWD that did not come out. Hopefully next week's pie will go smoothly.

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 21: Kugelhopf

What a busy last couple of weeks it has been! I greatly appreciate all of you who have left comments, and I'm hoping to get back to checking blogs soon. Hopefully things will settle down a bit.

So...

This weeks recipe was Kugelhopf as chosen by Yolanda of The All-purpose Girl.
When I first saw the recipe I had my doubts. However, the recipe came together fairly easily and smelled wonderful as it baked. It wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be.

Mine didn't raise very high, and stuck to the bottom of the pan. It tasted fab though, and I've eaten far too much of it this evening!

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 20: Rugelach

This week's recipe was chosen by Piggy of Piggy's Cooking Journal. It is a wonderful choice, and I was very excited about. However, have been baking and cooking like crazy lately, and haven't had time to post anything or write about it. The Rugelach came together as I was busy preparing several brisket dinners, and unfortunately they look it:
I failed to realize that the chocolate chips that I used were somewhat less then "mini", so I think the next time I try this recipe I will pulverize them before adding them to the filling.

The rugelach tasted wonderful, and I will definitely try this recipe again. However, next time I will devote more attention to the cookie.

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 19: Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes

Eat more chocolate! Save a pumpkin! Thankfully, this week's recipe Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes was chosen by Clara of IHeartFood4Thought and is a recipe that has no pumpkin! Imagine the horror that we pumpkins feel each year as millions of us are consumed in pies, cakes, bread and other seasonal travesties.

What a wonderful fall treat. Seasonal cupcake paper, festive orange sprinkles....please...enjoy a chocolate cupcake this fall. Pumpkins everywhere thank you for your understanding during this difficult time of the year.

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 18: Pumpkin Muffins

This week's baking adventure brought to you by Tuesdays with Dorie is Pumpkin Muffins. The recipe was chosen by Kelly at Sounding My Barbaric Gulp, and if you would like the recipe, it will be posted there.

Frodo was supposed to be here to share some insights on pumpkin muffins, but he ran into some trouble with chocolate a few posts back, and couldn't be here to share.
Shelob is here in his stead.
She loves the pumpkin muffins, and I wouldn't argue with her!

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 17: Lenox Almond Biscotti

Greetings all, Juniper here. This week's Tuesday with Dorie will not feature a lovable plastic character, but instead will be narrated by none other then the sweetest small white cat ever. I have been falsely portrayed on other occasions, but I'm here to tell you that I am not a hindrance to Rigby's activities. This week I stayed under the kitchen table in order to observe the process that went into making Lenox Almond Biscotti, a recipe chosen by Gretchen of Canela and Comino.
C3PO tried to take notes on the biscotti making, but I eat guys like him for lunch.
Anyway, the view from under the table was interesting. First, Rigby measured out all of her ingredients. I kept hoping that she would spill something so I could help clean it up, but nothing ended up where it didn't belong. The mixer was put to work, and I could hear the sounds of cookie dough coming together. Rigby then plopped dough onto baking sheets. She pulled out a ruler and kept measuring something. Evidently this didn't work out the way she thought because when she pulled the baking sheet out of the oven later, she looked a little surprised by what she saw. I kept hoping she might let me see....but, no.
I fell asleep for awhile, so I missed what was going on in the kitchen, but when I opened my eyes Rigby was putting slices of Biscotti on the cooling rack. She put on a pot of coffee and sampled the cookies. I came out from under the table hoping to get a taste, but I was steered back to the cat food. Next week Rigby is going to make Pumpkin Muffins and I am determined to taste them!

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 16: Caramel Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Greetings, I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations. I am afraid I am not much of a story teller, but I have been summoned from the far corners of the galaxy to share with you the tale of a Caramel Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake and how it came to be.
The cake was born of chocolate and butter and flour, and its creator referred to the great book of culinary reference: Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Truly, Dorie Greenspan is a Master Jedi of baking. The recipe was chosen by Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy, and has been created by the many Jedi apprentice bakers of the Tuesdays with Dorie clan.

Creating a chocolate cake worthy of space travel is no easy task. In order to achieve light speed, a cake must be small and aerodynamic, and so the cakes were made miniature by way of muffin pans. Nurtured by the warmth of the oven, the cakes grew to gargantuan size, and when they came from the oven, they had baked onto the top of the pan. And so the chocolate cakes separated, the saucer sections destined for space travel without the burden of the bulky cargo bottoms.

Those who enjoy chocolate must have room for cargo, so the separation was not destined to last.
And so the delightful but ominous caramel sauce was harvested. Caramel sauce hails from the seventh moon of Napecuas, and must be collected when it is deep and amber in color. The trip to Napecuas is treacherous as the Empire is ever watchful of caramel traders. The caramel was not quite ready to be collected, and turned to a thick crusty glaze. It did its job well though, as it served as an adhesive between the saucer and cargo sections of the chocolate cake space ships.
Crusted with peanuts and blazoned with the thick layer of Napecuas caramel, the chocolate cake craft will provide many in the Rebellion a reliable way to travel the galaxy. And that is the tale of the Caramel Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake. If you will excuse me now, I believe that I hear the faint call of Ewoks and they can be ever so demanding.

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 15: Almost-Fudge Gateau

Poor Frodo, he has become bewitched by the power of the precious......yet again.....

This is not common knowledge, but Frodo has a serious chocolate addiction problem.

He can't seem to get enough of the stuff, and the Almost-Fudge Gateau sent him over the edge!

Technically, this week's recipe for Tuesday's with Dorie is Creme Brulee. The recipe calls for the use of a butane torch, and I do not own one. The option was given to make a previously done recipe, and so we rewind to the Almost-Fudge Gateau recipe featured on pages 218 and 219 of the baking mega-book, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe was originally chosen February 19, 2008, a bit before my time :)

This cake is scary good, and those who cannot handle serious chocolate desserts should only consume this confection with extreme caution.

Frodo was not careful, and in his chocolate induced haze failed to notice something sinister. Who will carry his burden? Who will ensure that the ring is destroyed? Methinks Sauron is behind the chocolate!

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 14: Dimply Plum Cake

Cue Sappy Music.....Now....

* * * *

Ah, ladies and gentleman, please join me for another riveting session of "Can this Cake be Saved?" Today's session is brought to you by Butterbur's Butter, found in all major supermarkets across the country. Better Baking Begs for Butterbur Butter.

Today we visit with Rigby of "Butterbur's Bistro" and the "Dimply Plum Cake". The setting of the scenario is simple: a small kitchen, an iPOD playing the musical stylings of CAKE, and the massive book "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan. It should have been an ideal afternoon.

Rigby: The recipe looked so ideal, so perfect. Mix a few ingredients here, add a few ingredients there. Perfect.
Dimply Plum Cake: Yes, but you were distracted. You never listen.
R: I do enjoy CAKE...
DPC: At my expense.
R: Honestly, I was sure that everything was included in the batter. I did wonder why the batter was so thick when I poured it into the pan though...
DPC: [sniffles]
R: At least I realized my mistake before you had been in the oven too long...I tried to make it right.
DPC: Imagine being all warm and cozy, tucked into your 350 degree paradise, when you are wrenched back into the loud frenzy of the kitchen and ripped apart.
R: You needed oil.
DPC: humph!

What do you think gentle readers? Can this cake be saved? Tune in next week for the conclusion of this session.

* * * *

This week's recipe was the Dimply Plum Cake, and was chosen by Michelle of Bake-En. As I am sure you have gathered by now, what should have been a fairly simple cake to throw together ended up being a panic moment (please refer to my stressed assistant above). I had the full cake assembled and in the toaster oven when I happened to glance over the recipe and realized that I had not added any oil. I had a moment of furious internal debate: should I leave the poor thing alone and hope for the best or try to correct the mistake? I opted for the latter choice, and had a mess on my hands as I removed plum halves from fudge-like cake batter. The oil didn't mix in as well as I hoped, but at least it was there. Back into the oven...fingers crossed, breath baited. The only excuse that I can offer is that my brain was so frazzled from running/walking a 10K race today, that there wasn't anything left for cognitive clarity.

"And there was much rejoicing."

The timer went off, and cautious jubilation! It appeared that I had a cake! Of course, there was a taste test involved, and the cake did indeed pass inspection. There was much rejoicing. Perhaps the next time I make this cake, I will follow the directions a little more closely.

* * * *

Here is the cake the next day as part of my breakfast with a good strong cup of coffee. I think the cake was even better for sitting overnight, and it was perfectly complimented by my coffee.

Tuesdays with Dorie Number 13: Chocolate Chunkers

Ah, I have found my precious!

I sense danger....it is all around...must protect....my preciousssss.....

Well, Frodo gives these cookies 2 thumbs up, and considering he is very limited in both movement and facial expression, that's saying something.

This week's recipe was chose by Claudia of Fool for Food and is the absolutely decadent cookie Chocolate Chunkers. What can one say about a cookie recipe that used 2 giant Hershey bars, 1-1/2 cups of peanuts and 1 cup of cranberries? The cookies are like candy loosely held together by cookie dough, and they make me very, very happy. It's the kind of happiness that makes me glad that I still have my membership at the YMCA, because I keep eating cookies.... If Frodo had packed chocolate chunkers along with his lembas bread for his epic journey across Mordor, he would have had little difficulty with his passage. How could anybody be cross with hobbit carrying pure gold in cookie form? Really, I want to know.

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 12: Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

Well, I almost missed the Tuesday posting, but here I am at the very last minute getting my two cents in on this week's recipe. It was chosen by Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart, and the recipe is posted at her blog if you would like to see what goes into these wonderful cookies!
Let me break the cookie experience down into simple terms: chocolate, whoppers, chocolate, simple, delicious, wonderful. These cookies were wonderful warm out of the oven, and wonderful cooled. The dough was cake like and puffy, and the whoppers made for a nice chewiness. There is not a bad cookie recipe in the book! I am looking forward to eating what few cookies that remain with a nice hot cup of coffee and a good book. Hurray for chocolate! Hurray for whoppers! Hurray for cookies!

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 11: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

Talk about your last minute posts....I was beginning to think this one wouldn't make it in time! I am a huge fan of peanut butter, oatmeal and chocolate, so there was no way I was going to miss out on making "Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipster Cookies", a recipe chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution.
Why so last minute? Well, school has started, cold season is alive and well, and I tried my hand at water skiing over the holiday weekend. Unfortunately I didn't find the time to actually stop and make cookies. I had my mind set on completing the recipe this evening, and had just finished mixing the dough when I was invited to have dinner with friends. Fortunately the dough chills well, and now I am enjoying a warm, melty dessert. :) I think that cookies help cure muscle soreness and sunburn.

Be sure to check out all the other fab cookies at Tuesdays with Dorie!

No TWD Post This Week

It is with a heavy heart that I skip this week's baking adventure with the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group. A heavy heart, and....a very heavy stomach. The month of August has been rather food friendly (or not, depending on my diet-mindset) and has featured 4 (yes, 4) birthday celebrations. Cake, ice cream, special dinners, and I have enjoyed every bite. However, when I realized that this week's recipe fell on my birthday....well...something had to budge, and I'm not giving up my special birthday food :)

Check out the blogroll to see what others whipped up this week.

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 10: Granola Grabbers

This week's recipe "Granola Grabbers" was chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking. If you would like the recipe for these cookies, be sure to check out her blog as it will be posted there.
School starts this month, and this is the perfect recipe for an after school snack. My kitchen smelled fabulous while these little gems were baking, and I didn't feel too bad about nibbling on them as they are full of good-for-you stuff! (I'm beginning to think of butter as its own dairy food group....)
Be sure to check out the other blogs from Tuesdays with Dorie!

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 9: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Well, the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for this week was true summertime bliss: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity chose this week's recipe, and if you would like to try making this fab ice cream, the recipe will be posted on her blog.
I used frozen blueberries for this recipe, trying to make sure that I drained the excess liquid from the bag. The recipe also called for lemon juice and lemon zest, which added a delicious flavor to the finished ice cream.
I doubled the recipe, so when I put it in the blender, I had this lovely moment where I thought "I wonder if the lid will stay on?" It did, but I was glad that I held the lid in place... The custard was rich and creamy, and I let it chill in the fridge over night. It set up nicely into a thick custard.
The ice cream was put in an ice cream freezer the next day, and turned out a delicious batch of blueberry happiness. I have never made ice cream from a recipe before, and if not for Tuesdays with Dorie, this probably would have been another one of those recipes that I looked at longingly, but never made. Hurray for blueberries!

Be sure to check out all the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll for lots more blueberry madness!