Coconut Butter Thins (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Coconut Butter Thins

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch selected on Coconut Butter Thins on page 145 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

This recipe calls for lime zest but I forgot to buy one and used a Meyer lemon instead. The dough was easy to put together in the morning, roll out and let it chill out in the refrig. I came home from work, cut them out and baked them off. Dorie has you cut them into squares with a ruler and all...but my blob of dough was so misshaped I thought circles might be easier!

They were light and buttery. Coconut, lemon zest, & macadamia nuts!
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze (Bon Appetite)

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze
and some California Strawberries

When the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit arrived at the library, I started to salivate (as usual). They have a section on cakes that is just beautiful!

Then, I was going through my way overflowing Google Reader and found that Tracey's Culinary Adventure made the cake! It looked fantastic and I just had to try it out. I've been making the Everyday Food Orange Cornmeal Cake practically every day. I love this one too! You should definitely try both of these recipes!

The recipe calls for a crushed blueberry sauce, but I didn't have any and threw on some strawberries instead. The cake was so lemony delicious that it didn't need the sauce at all!

Okay, totally off-topic, but I seem to always have one competitive reality show going (no, I'm not talking about Octo-mom's competitive crazy person show - dude, she wins that one). I'm hooked again on the Amazing Race. Did you know that Mike White (screenwriter/actor of School of Rock, Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl) is in it with his 68 year old father? Totally my favorite team. The LA Times had a great article about it - Mike calls himself an "Amazing Race scholar." Sundays at 8 pm on CBS! It's not too late to join in the fun. And the host Phil is just so cute.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze: I give it 4 forks!
You can find the full recipe here on epicurious!

Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake (Donna Hay)

Apples.
Cinnamon.
Cake.

Yum.

Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake

My co-worker went to the American Library Association conference last year (oh yeah, thousands of librarians in one place...[insert your own joke here]). She was waltzing around the vendor area and one of them was packing up...decided to not shlep all of the display books back home...so she gave away this great Donna Hay Simple Essentials: Fruit book!

And then my co-worker gave the book to me! How sweet! Oh yeah, did I mention that pages were marked with "suggestions" to make and bring to work?! (just kidding...sorta)

This book is awesome and beautiful. Every recipe is short and sweet (she fits 4 recipes on one page!!) and each one has an awesome photo. Donna Hay has a lovely empire of magazines and books. Australia is so lucky to have such a gem.

Okay, so my intention was to make the cake as directed on page 82...but I didn't have all the ingredients and ended up substituting so many things I don't know if its her recipe anymore. Anyway, my creation was yummy. And I'm sure her recipe would only be much better, richer and more delicious. I'll gather all the right ingredients and make it again.

Here are the changes I made:
- Used an 8” springform (instead of an 8 1/2" springform) so mine is a bit taller. Next time, I'll use a 9" springform.
- Used what I had at the time – skim milk instead of whole milk.
- Used granulated sugar instead of caster or superfine sugar (because I didn’t have it on hand)
- Misread the ingredient list and used 6 oz. butter (1 ½ sticks) instead of 6 ½ oz.

apple and cinnamon tea cake

Cream together: 6 ½ oz. soft butter (if my conversions are right, this should be 1 stick + 5 T butter), ½ t cinnamon and 2/3 c caster (superfine) sugar.
Add one at a time: 3 eggs.
Sift onto batter: 1 ½ c all-purpose flour and ½ t baking powder.
Mix in: 1/3 c milk.

Place on top of batter: 4 small green apples, peeled, halved, cored, and cut thin - but don't cut all the way through. I didn't press them down at all because the apples were small snack size gala apples. Sprinkle on top: 1 t sugar and ¼ t cinnamon.

Bake for 50 minutes (160 C / 320 F) then brush on ¼ c apricot jam or jelly, warmed. Pop back into oven and bake for another 10 minutes or so. I ended up baking mine for 65 minutes at 325 F.

Yummy! And the co-worker who gave me the book? She loved this cake. Thought it really focused on the apple.

Get a copy of Donna Hay's Fruit book here, or see if your library has it on Worlcat!

Fresh California Strawberry Scones

Strawberry Scone

Beep. Beep. Beep.
Bang {hitting the snooze button}.
Beep. Beep. Beep.

It's about 4:45 am on Monday morning and while listening to NPR's Morning Edition, I flip on the laptop.

When I look at my Google Reader, Irene's Confessions of a Tart Strawberry Scone pop out at me. I mean, arms coming out of the computer shaking you awake in the morning and screaming, "Make these now!"

Luckily, I went to the farmer's market this weekend and picked up these lovely California grown strawberries.

Irene received her recipe from a friend and it's totally a winner!

I used 90% cream and a little buttermilk (because I ran out of cream!). I shaped mine in two small rounds and got 16 scones. I brought them to the library and they were gone in a flash.

When you hear the Beep. Beep. Beep. of your alarm, get up and make some scones!

Thanks Irene for a great recipe! For the recipe and way, way better photos (including step-by-step photos) go to Irene's awesome blog: Confessions of a Tart - Strawberry Scone

Blueberry Crumb Cake (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Blueberry Crumb Cake

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Sihan of Befuddlement selected Blueberry Crumb Cake on pages 192-193 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

This cake is just like its name: Cake, Blueberries and Crumb!

The crumb is a yummy combo of walnuts, butter, sugar, brown sugar, and flour.

I didn't have the full 2 cups of blueberries...so I had to do with one cup. Instead of folding it into the batter, I pour half the batter into the pan and scattered the blueberries on top. Then the rest of the batter and topped with crumb topping!

It was a little hard to tell when it was done because the crumb topping made a crust. Some bakers got a puddle of butter in the center. Some think the crumb topping needs to be cold when it goes into the oven; I have read instructions like this for other crumb cakes so I concur. Mine was pretty cold, but it could have been colder.

Thanks Sihan for a great pick! Find the recipe on her website!
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Sky High Cakes - Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake (Cake Slice Bakers)

Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake

The Cake Slice Bakers voted to make the super delicious Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake!

The Cake Slice Bakers make one cake per month and we are spending one year using the terrific book: Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman.

Better get a chicken because this recipe uses 13 eggs! Eight in the 9" chiffon cake and 5 more in the lemon curd. I made mine with Meyer lemons.

The layers are filled with lemon curd and topped with a whipped cream with lemon curd frosting. Light as air.

Be sure to check out other The Cake Slice Bakers!

Seriously, celebrate the first day of Spring by purchasing the great cookbook!!! You won't be disappointed!!

Dorie Greenspan's Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake (Dorie Greenspan's recipe)

I was never the student who skipped ahead to the next assignment, or finished the chapter before it was due. I was usually finishing up on my way to class.

But my love of the Bundt has put me ahead of the Tuesdays with Dorie group. We'll be baking for a few more years to get through all the recipes and I just couldn't wait because I was craving me another Bundt.

A sour cream cake batter is made and 1/2 the "swirl" added. The swirl is sugar, walnuts, bittersweet chocolate, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Dorie says to scoop the rest of the batter in the pan, dig a little trench and then place the rest of the swirl in the opening. Finally, cover it the best you can (it won't cover everything). I wasn't very good at this and might try to save more batter to place it on top of the swirl instead.

Just before a simple topping of powdered sugar rounds out this delicious Bundt.

Recipe: Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake on page 182 of Dorie book, Baking.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Ice Cream Jello

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ice Cream Jello

Mix together to dissolve:
2 large packages (6 oz each) of green Jello (or any flavor)
1 packet of unflavored gelatin
4 cups boiling water

Add:
1 quart vanilla ice cream (I would use less ice cream next time)
Stir til dissolved

Pour:
9 x 13 glass dish

Refrigerate overnight, cut and serve! The ice cream will float to the top of the jello.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

French Yogurt Cake with Lemon Curd (Tuesdays with Dorie)

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction selected French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze on pages 224-225 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

My Open Letter

Dear Liliana,
How did you know? How did you know that this cake is my soulmate? I love this cake! I want to try it on a plane, in a train, and with orange zest, strawberries and mint, and with some lime.

Thanks for a great pick. - Mary the Food Librarian

I made mine with Greek yogurt from Trader Joe's and baked it in a 9" cake pan.
I split the layer and layered lemon curd in the middle.

I just topped it with powdered sugar...Dorie uses lemon marmalade and that sounds delicious too!

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's Pi Day! Thin Mint Strawberry Pi (You Want Pie with That?)

Strawberry Mascarpone "Mint" Pi

It's Pi Day! (3/14 = 3.14)

To celebrate, the baking group You Want Pie with That? is posting their monthly pie selection today. This month's theme, selected by Elizabeth of Cake or Death, is Herbs and Spices.

I'm sure my other bakers are pulling out the mortar and pestle to grind cardamon pods, spent the month growing rosemary on their windowsill, or went to their Indian spice store.

Um, my herb is totally exotic.

It's pretty rare...only found in certain areas.
Like the delicate saffron, it is harvested by hand.
It's as addicting as the stuff they make from poppy seeds in Afghanistan.
The selling season is short and only sold by certain designated individuals.

My herb is the Girl Scout Thin Mint!
(Okay, it's a stretch, but I figure Pi day would appreciate the pun)

I took food processed about 1 1/2 sleeves of Thin Mints to make 1 1/2 cups of crumbs. (I didn't have enough so next time I would go for 2 cups of crumbs). Added 4 T (1/2 stick) of melted butter. Pressed into tart shell and baked 10 minutes at 350.

I blended an 8 ounce container of mascarone cream, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 c heavy cream, and 1 t vanilla for the filling.

California strawberries...yum!

Be sure to check out the other creative You Want Pie with That? bakers!

Baking Illustrated Apple Cake

Apple Cake

It's yet another bundt with apples!

I made Cook's Illustrated / Baking Illustrated Apple Cake. I've made it before and it is very yummy and comes together very quickly.

To get the recipe, it's considered Premium Content on Cook's Illustrated website (subscription required) or find the recipe in Baking Illustrated (page 334) or American Classics (page 344). Use WorldCat to help locate a copy at your library (or use InterLibrary Loan to get a copy)...Baking and Classics. (I'm not going to post anything about the recipe less I end up like Alosha's Kitchen saga with Cook's Illustrated/Cook's Country)

A Bundt pan is buttered and sugared, then white and brown sugar is placed in the base.

I used Granny Smith apples (mixed here with brown sugar - and I added a bit of cinnamon) and the cake batter tops the apples.

You need to immediately invert the cake when it comes out of the oven. 99% of the apples came out and I pulled off the stubborn ones from the pan.

I think this cake is super yummy. With the cake flour, the crumb is delicious - like a pound cake topped with warm apples. :)

Apple Cake by Cook's Illustrated

P.S. Note to Kimberleyblue: Sorry, but here is another Bundt to try!! :)