Tuesday, December 08, 2009

TWD—Lemon/Orange Sables and Chocolate Toffee Sables

Darn it all if this isn’t the cutest little guy you’ve ever seen!

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Snow’s a comin’!  (I write my TWD posts Monday night and as I write this, we’re supposed to get 6-9 inches of snow in the next day.  The kids are praying for a Snow Day Tuesday!  Sam is ready!)

Our Tuesday’s With Dorie recipe this week was chosen by Barbara of Bungalow Barbara and she chose Sables from Baking From My Home to Yours.  They are on pages 131-132.  Barbara will post the recipe, but I think if you don’t have the book, it should be on your holiday wish list!

I made half a batch of these and added the zest of one lemon to the sugar by rubbing it in with my fingers before making the dough.   (Who here LOVES doing that and that smell from the citrus zest, raise your hand!) I rolled the dough into a log as traditionally suggested by Dorie.  I’ve never been very good at getting cookie dough logs to be nice and round.  These turned out rather rustic because of this.  They are a nice, well, buttery cookie with just a hint of lemon (duh).  I thought the lemon could have been stronger.  I did not brush the cookies with egg yolk and roll them in sugar before baking.  Instead I baked them first, then while they were just slightly warm, I rolled them in some sugar that had orange zest in it.  That helped bump up the citrus flavor.  I still think I like traditional shortbread cookies better, but the sables are good.

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The end.

Just kidding.  Oh, you say I didn’t tell you about the Chocolate Toffee Sables?  Well, okay.  You didn’t really think I wouldn’t throw some chocolate in there somewhere, did you? 

I made another half batch of the sables.  I took the one cup of flour and removed two tablespoons of flour from the cup, then added two (and about a half) tablespoons of Hershey’s Dark cocoa powder to it.  I also stirred 1/3 cup toffee bits and 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips into the dough.  Instead of forming the dough into a log, I flattened it to somewhere round about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick between some plastic wrap and chilled it.  When the dough was chilled, I took a small round cookie cutter and made circles—perfect circles, instead of my unround, rustic, cut-log cookies. 

After the cookies baked and then cooled slightly, I rolled them in some crushed toffee bits.  Oh yes, I did!

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Have you had enough?  Good, there’s more.  There was some dough leftover, you know, after you’ve cut out some cookies—the scraps.  I took those chocolate scraps and pressed that dough into my little 4 inch tart pan.  I baked the lil’ tart.  After it came out of the oven, I generously sprinkled it with more toffee bits.  Once the tart was cool, I put in a layer of caramel (“put in”—that sounds like, “then we put in a patio out back.”)  Anyway, I just happen to have a little caramel in the fridge, so I heated it up so it was pourable and added than on top of the toffee.  Then, because it just wasn’t enough (eye roll), I melted about 1/4 cup milk chocolate with 1  1/2 tablespoons hot cream and poured that on top of the caramel.  And finally—sprinkled a few more toffee bits on top!

THIS—is a good sable!  It’s rich., in case you wondered.

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Wanna see the inside?

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Pardon this next very poorly lit photo.

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My “I’m a spoiled brat” new camera will be here next week!  Thanks, Honey!

Oh, and last week I mentioned wanting to make spanakopita but without feta.  Thanks for all your suggestions.  I made a hasty decision to just whip something up with cream cheese and some grated manchego cheese.  I put some in some folded phyllo dough.  They were pretty good!  I realized that it tasted like spinach dip wrapped in phyllo.  So probably  not really spanakopita, but I used the phyllo and spinach I needed to use up!

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Oh, I’ve been bakin’ up a Christmas storm, Friends.  I just haven’t had time to blog it and share it all with you.  I must get to a few more posts this week.  There’s been some yummy stuff going on here that I need to tell you all about!

37 comments:

Amanda said...

Oh Katrina! I love the chocolate version, you are so smart! Everything looks wonderful, and that tart? WOW

Emily (The Experimentarian) said...

Holy moly! I am moving to Kansas and becoming your neighbor--if you make this kind of stuff every day, I bet you make THE most amazing Christmas goodie handouts :) xoxo

Unknown said...

Ha! Katrina! I KNEW you wouldn't leave us at "the end" ! Love it. That tart looks amazingly delicious!! WOW!

Pamela said...

Uh...first of all...when did Sam get so big?? Wasn't he a baby like...yesterday?? He looks HUGE!
And darned cute, of course! Nice job on everything here. IT all looks good to me, especially that caramel! Yum.

Judy said...

Love those sables. I would go for the lemon one, love lemon. The last one looks absolutely sinful.

Jules Someone said...

Can I come over to your house? All of this looks amazing. I should know better than to look at all these blogs while I'm hungry....

Hindy said...

I'm speechless. And hungry. I want caramel pie. And a cookie.
Beautiful all around!

Stephanie said...

You are a baking master! I want it all!

Have fun with your snow day :)

Flourchild said...

You have been baking up a storm, good for you! the chocolate version of the sables is wonderful. My husband would have loved them!
Your little guy looks ready for the snow!

chocolatechic said...

You. ROCK!

Unplanned Cooking said...

I bet your guy is so proud of that hat!

I love your photos. I would love to come to a holiday party at your house. I would eat everything.

Megan said...

I knew you'd go with a chocolate version. I would have, but I ran out of time this week.

Mary said...

I love the chocolate toffee version...nice work!

Teanna said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! Love those chocolate sables, love that chocolate tart, love the feeling and the scent of rubbing zest into sugar, I love it all!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

I love sables this way, rolled in logs. Today I've been seeing them all over blogland and I can't help than remember the time I had to do huge amounts of those logs in a restaurante I was. That was the time I renamed sables : fattners ;)
I LOVE your cute tarte, I was so glad you showed the interior, that was suchhhhhhhh food porn!

Anonymous said...

I am speechless at that filled sable. Can you shoot one down I-70 to the east?

Susan said...

Can I come live with you? I can clean house and help with cooking. Please? Love your variation on the sables and the tart...omgoodness! To die for!

Lillian said...

You're my new hero. Those chocolate sables look marvelous, and I won't even mention the tart. Fabulous!

Tia said...

chocolate toffee - you are a freaking genius!!!

Engineer Baker said...

Okay, can I just request chocolate toffee sables and spanakopita to go? Please? They both look fantastic!

Anonymous said...

I came here for chocolate and I'm not disappointed! That tart looks fantastic! I was going to dip some of mine in chocolate but they didn't bake too nicely so I skipped it. Next time though!

Maria said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the chocolate toffee ones! I can't wait to make them!

Bungalow Barbara said...

Thank you for baking along with me this week!

Yes, I love rubbing in the lemon zest too!

Your cocoa-chocolate chip-toffee variation is FABULOUS! and then using the leftovers to make that sinfully rich and delicious tart...I'm in awe.

Jacque said...

Wow, the treats in your posts always get better and better the farther you go! That tart looks like a giant candy bar... yumm!

TeaLady said...

You are on a roll, girl. cookie roll that is. Love all the variations.

And the tart - genius!!!

Valerie said...

Those sables both look so perfect! But I admit that the caramel tart version is making me drool!!!

mike said...

Wow, you are such an over-achiever - I love it! THANK YOU for doing a chocolate toffee version, I LOVE toffee and chocolate... will definitely have to try this. Plus the beautiful tart - and the kid's not so bad either! :) Glad your family likes your baking - it's truly wonderful!

Soy*Baby said...

I want to come live at your house. Everything looks absolutely delicious. I love all the sable variations. Did you get a snow day? I want one or three of those.

Mimi said...

The smile on his face says it all. I love your creative liberties with the recipe. The tart is the winner.
Mimi

♥peachkins♥ said...

the sable looks amazing even in that darker photo!

Emily said...

I demand more B&B posts! I can't get enough.

You are so talented! A baking genius, for sure.

Liz said...

I think your tart is just about the best thing I've seen all day! And of course, being a chocolate cookie monster, the chocolate-toffee variation sounds fab too.

And I don't think I can ever leave a comment without telling you how adorable your son is.

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

hand raised here! :) My mouth is watering over the caramel chocolate tart. YUM! And your little guy is adorable!

Unknown said...

Wow, Sam grew up!! And I LOVE that sable tart thing! It must have been amazing!!!

Kayte said...

OMW you never do things simply over here! How do you get all this done in a week with all those little boys around? I love the phyllo shot...OMW, need to go Greek for lunch, I think!

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