Vanilla Mango Panna Cotta—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

I missed the last TWD, which was an apricot raspberry tart.  I bought a big container of organic apricots at Costco that I was planning on using, but my kids all like apricots so much (so do I) in their perfect, fresh form, that they all got eaten super fast before I was able to make the tart.  The tart sounds like something I’d love, so it was probably a good thing that I wasn’t tempted to eat it.

Today’s recipe for the Vanilla Mango Panna Cotta was super simple so I decided there was no excuse to get it made.  I used organic cane sugar so I could taste it.  I normally don’t eat things with milk and cream much anymore but decided this was an okay excuse because I really wanted to try it.

 

Panna Cotta, as I described it to my kids, it just a gelatin (Jell-o) made with milk and cream. It’s pretty low in sugar, too.  With this one, a mango puree is put in the bottom of each cup.  I would not be against just going with more puree (half the cup!) and half panna cotta.  It would even be good with the mango mixed in with the milk/cream mixture. 

This is how I served it here after nice photos--

You can never have too much fresh fruit!  I followed Dorie’s recipe exactly, even using lime juice and a teaspoon of honey in the puree.  I used vanilla extract as I didn’t have a vailla bean.  I’m tell you, super easy for a nice dessert.  This recipe made four servings but would also be a cinch to double or triple it for a crowd.  You want the recipe, don’t you?  I’ve told you before—get Dorie’s book, Baking Chez Moi.  Loving it!  A lot more panna cotta to behold with the group, check it out here. 

This would be good with any fruit and surprise, surprise, I’m thinking there’s got to be a way it would be really good with chocolate, too.  Ooh, raspberry puree, raspberries on top and chocolate shavings or a drizzle of melted chocolate.  That would be my ideal panna cotta.  What would be your favorite?

Berry Shortcakes Franco American Style—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

Today’s post for Tuesdays With Dorie--Baking Chez Moi are Strawberry Shortcakes Franco-Amercian Style (pages 338-340 and 424-425).  They are basically a ladyfinger dough, piped onto a baking sheet.  Two cookies/cakes are sandwiched with fresh whipped cream and berries.  Dorie’s recipes has a great filling with a strawberry compote as well as another option for roasted strawberries.  My family likes fresh berries, so I made the cakes, whipped some fresh cream and washed some berries—raspberries, blackberries and strawberries and let everyone choose what they wanted.

It was fun to make the ladyfinger batter, which I hadn’t done before.  The simple dough is made with whipped egg whites added to minimal ingredients of the yolks, a little flour and sugar and some cornstarch.  So easy and I liked doing something new.  The dough is put in a piping bag and piped into three inch circles and baked for a short time.  The cookies are tender and cake-like.  I tasted a little piece of one.  They could easily be made with a gluten free flour and organic sugar.  I will try that next time. 

If I have learned anything from all my years baking from Dorie’s cookbooks with TWD, it is mise en place—everything in its place.  I love getting everything ready to go before I begin assembling a recipe.  The parchment is ready to go and the piping bag.

Quite the simple batter and piping is easy—don’t be afraid of it.  Yes, filling the bag gets just a little messy, but that’s what baking is all about, right?

Baked to a perfect golden color, the shortcakes are ready to go with whipped creamy goodness and fresh berries!

 

I set up a quick dessert station and let my family have at it.

Glad I participated in this one.  Check out the other bloggers’ posts for their shortcakes here.  Who knew that ladyfingers dough/cookies were so easy?  

Chocolate Cherry Brownies—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

Chocolate Cherry Brownies

These Chocolate Cherry Brownies we made for Tuesdays With Dorie as our pick today from Baking Chez Moi were pretty easy, are super fudgy and dare I say it—delicious.  I mean, I wouldn’t really know how good they are, since I didn’t eat them, but just look—perfectly fudgy brownies and in my opinion, you can’t go wrong adding cherries to chocolate! 

I followed Dorie’s recipe exactly, except instead of red wine or port added to plump up the dried cherries, I used POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice.  I think any red juice would work just fine.  These are a “traditional” brownie with chocolate and butter melted together, the sugar and eggs added, then the salt, pepper (wait, pepper is not so traditional, but a fun addition), and flour.  Stir in some cherries and finely chopped chocolate and bake.  Easy!

Dorie suggested cutting these brownies when they are just warm or barely at room temperature.  Normally I chill brownies before cutting, but I did what she said and these cut just fine.  I saw others in the group mentioning their brownies needed a much longer bake time than Dorie suggested, but mine were perfect at 28 minutes.  The bottom of the pan was still slightly warm when I cut them and they were easy to cut!  Dorie did suggest cutting them into 25 squares and I only did 16.  My oldest said these were great.  I have a feeling he’ll be eating at least 95% of the brownies (or all of them).  Kevin doesn’t like fruit with chocolate.  (Crazy, crazy man.)   

I didn’t want to feel left out this week, so I made a gluten free, organic sugar version of these with half a recipe in a 9x5 inch bread pan.  I even used apple juice sweetened cranberries (all pomegranate juice, instead of half juice half water).  I used an organic 70% dark chocolate and I used some gluten free pastry flour.  I think they are great!  Mine are a little more crumbly.  They might be perfect if I’d have checked them earlier and only baked them about 20 minutes.  I took them out of the oven after 23 minutes. 

I’m happy.  Scott is happy.  (Parker is at scout camp this week, and the other two boys cringed when they heard they have cherries.)  If you’re looking for a super easy, but slightly changed up brownie with cherries added, try this recipe.  Oh, you’ll need to get Baking Chez Moi for the recipe!  If you’re interested in my gluten free version, let me know and I’ll send you my version of the recipe!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Brownies

Check out the other Tuesday With Dorie participants’ Chocolate Cherry Brownies for more chocolaty goodness!

Rhubarb Upside Down Brown Sugar Cake—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi (Gluten Free, too!)

Look at this cake—it’s gluten free.  For Tuesdays With Dorie this week we chose the Rhubarb Upside Down Brown Sugar Cake.  I didn’t think it would be very fun to make a cake that I couldn’t taste.  So I decided to halve the recipe and make two cakes in six inch pans.  One is gluten free and made with organic sugars and the other is done as the recipe is written by Dorie.  Win—win. 

Even to make mine gluten free, I didn’t change the recipe except I used a gluten free pastry flour blend instead of all purpose flour.  And I used organic cane sugars and two whole eggs instead of 1  1/2 for the half recipe.  My gluten free cake is just a little dry, but maybe it just needed taken out of the oven a couple minutes before the other.  I baked both six inch cakes for 21 minutes when a toothpick inserted in the center came out clean.  I was happy with how I did do the butter and sugar and caramelizing of the rhubarb in the little baking pans on the stove rather than in a saucepan and pouring it into the baking pans.  I measured everything in two separate batches and had both going at the same time.  I don’t get to do that kind of thing as much as I used to and it was fun and I’m glad it worked out to be able to do it on Sunday.  I used some smaller cut rhubarb I got last year and put in the freezer.  Perfect.  I just thawed it first, then had it sit in the sugar syrup.

The big test—would the cakes come out of the pans without any trouble or sticking?  I was happy to see that they did!  Just as Dorie said, turned upside down and letting them sit for a minute to let gravity (and a little steam) take its course, out they came!

I really didn’t think the boys would eat the cake, which is mostly why I decided to do two smaller ones, which included a gluten free one for myself.  Within a very short time, so short that I didn’t get any more pictures of the gluten cake, this is what I saw and was left with photographing on the plate--

And even before I knew it, Scott came and scooped up that last piece as well.  Actually, I think it’s safe to say he ate at least half the cake.  I know, it was only a six inch cake, but still.  I guess he really liked it, especially with a little whipped cream on top. 

Because I thought my gluten free cake was just a little dry, I doused it with a spoonful of the leftover rhubarb sugar water (from my organic cane sugar).  This would definitely be good with a little whipped cream on the side, but I only had the Reddi-Whip kind, which I don’t eat. 

Scott will most likely be happy to polish off my gluten free cake as soon as I give the okay.  I don’t want to say I ate a whole cake by myself, you know. ; )

If you have learned anything from me and my blog over the last seven plus years, it should be that you should have all of Dorie Greenspan’s cookbooks if you are looking for some delicious recipes and food.  Definitely including Baking Chez Moi.  I am loving baking through this one with the rest of the Tuesdays With Dorie group, a little gluten can’t stop me.  Check out the others’ Rhubarb Upside Down Brown Sugar Cake.  

On a different note, today is World MS Day (Multiple Sclerosis).  Check out the link.  Become aware, millions worldwide suffer with this MonSter, including me.  sigh  Someday, someday we have hope for a cure.  Until then, wear orange, color your world orange, (today especially) in honor of someone you might know who has MS.  (I didn’t put my gluten free version of this cake on an orange plate by accident.)

Nutella Buttons—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

I have something sad to tell you.  I messed up.  While these mini cupcakes, made light and fluffy with whipped egg whites, look great, it wasn’t until they were baking that I realized I FORGOT THE BUTTER!  Even worse, while mixing the dry ingredients with the egg yolks, I thought it so strange that the dough was not coming together.  Dorie mentioned in the recipe that at this point the dough would look like a paste.  Here was mine--

My already melted butter sad in the microwave, waiting to be put in the mix.  I never once thought about it.  I was perturbed that this wasn’t right.  So my brain decided—add another egg yolk.  Okay, so I added a fifth egg yolk, it was a little better, but I decided to just mix in some of the whipped egg whites and carry on.  It looked like this after a little of the egg whites were added--

Okay, I decided to just carry on with that and folded in the rest of the egg whites.  And I made the little “buttons” as instructed, including the little dollop of Nutella in the middle of each.  The boys were going to like these!

I was excited to see that they baked up nicely and had hope everything would be okay even though I used an extra egg yolk.  While they were almost done baking, it hit me—THE BUTTER!!!  Sigh.  I was worried, but decided they looked good, so I kept my hope.

I was even happy that the cake pulled away from the wrapper pretty well.  But all WAS lost—they tasted horrible and were super dry.

I’m not one to just throw things out, I try to repurpose or make things into something else that would work, but these were just not good.  They ended up in file 13 after I took a little taste.  I wouldn’t even let my boys have to eat them.

What can I say?  You win some, you lose some.  This was just yesterday, so I didn’t have time to make them again, but I plan to sometime.  PLEASE, check out others in the group for Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi, much more successful, and I’m sure tasty, Nutella Buttons.

Lemon Cupcakes—Baking Chez Moi—Tuesdays With Dorie

These cupcakes were so fun to make and were a hit with everyone who ate one.  Wish I would have doubled the recipe.  It made exactly twelve cupcakes and the frosting was the perfect amount.  Dorie’s recipe was for Limoncello Cupcakes and since that is an alcohol, I made them just using fresh lemon juice in place of the limoncello.  An option was to put lemon (or orange) marmalade in the middle of the cupcakes, but I decided not to do that.  The cupcakes out of the oven are brushed with a lemon syrup.  To make sure the lemon flavor was kicked up enough, I poked holes over the tops of each cupcakes with a toothpick while they were still hot so the syrup seeped into the cupcakes more. 

The frosting was simple and delicious.  Again, I replaced the limoncello with lemon juice and also used a little milk to get the consistency I wanted. 

The cupcake batter has a bit of cardamom added, which was a great little addition.  Dorie also suggested in place of that some black pepper.  Both just make you ask, “Hmm, what is in there?”  I received quite the compliments on these cupcakes and even though I didn’t taste them and they didn’t have chocolate (ha), I will use this recipe when I need lemon cupcakes again.

Want the recipe?  Get Dorie’s book, Baking Chez Moi.  I’m loving being a part of Tuesdays With Dorie again.  Good times.  Great recipes and yummy treats to share.  Check out the Tuesdays With Dorie link to see everyone else’s cupcakes this week.

Crispy Topped Brown Sugar Bars—Baking Chez Moi—Tuesdays With Dorie

I missed the last TWD post.  It was two weeks ago.  I actually just forgot about it until late the day it should have been posted.  Good thing we have a rewind week next week—I plan to make up the lemon madeleines I missed.  Dare I try to make them gluten free?

Anyway, today we get to tell you about the Crispy Topped Brown Sugar Bars in Baking Chez Moi (pages 324-325).  These were a fun, simple treat to make for my family.  First off all, they are topped with some caramelized Rice Krispies cereal.  While I think I made them just a tad crispy, I still think those are really fun.  Dorie mentioned they would be great as a crisp topping for ice cream and I agree.  They couldn’t be easier to make.  Put some sugar in a skillet, let it begin to color, add the cereal, stir it until the cereal is all coated in the caramelizing sugar and let it cook another minute or two.  Spread it on a sheet to cool.

 

I love that for these bars, she talked about a lot of different toppings you could use, including granola, coconut, caramel popcorn, nuts, endless options.  I might need to play with this recipe some more.

The boys mentioned that even the cookie layer on the bottom was a bit crispy, so I will just make sure to not bake them quite as much next time (I only baked them for 16 minutes when the recipe suggested 22).  I used milk chocolate just to please the boys, but would love to make these with a bittersweet chocolate as Dorie suggested. 

Chocolate is spread on the hot-out-of-the-oven bars and it melts pretty quickly and is spread evenly.  Then the Krispies are added and pressed into the top.  Cool and cut into squares.  Love trying new recipes!

 

Marquise au Chocolat—Baking Chez Moi—Tuesdays With Dorie

Marquise au Chocolat (Frozen Chocolate Mousse), Baking Chez Moi, Tuesdays With Dorie

You might not realize what this is (which is why I put it in parenthesis in easy terms) and might not even think it looks too terribly good, but let me tell you, this frozen chocolate mousse is divine!  I even kind of like the lines in it from lining my heart-shaped mold with plastic wrap and it not being perfectly smooth.  It’s rustic and heart-warming and hello, it’s frozen chocolate and it’s definitely smooth going down the hatch.

I’m so glad I buckled down and made this, though it was last minute (the weeks sure fly by, not sure how I used to do TWD way back when, when we posted weekly)!  My seven year old woke up early, early Monday morning (the middle of the night) with the stomach flu and was sick all day yesterday.  I even dragged him to the store so I could get some chocolate and cream, which was in my plans before he was sick.  It worked well for me to tell him we needed to get some Sprite and saltine crackers for his upset tummy.  We got to the store and they were out of the chocolate I needed/wanted.  SIGH. 

Never fear, we went back home and I decided I had enough of everything to quarter the recipe and make a small serving.  Then I decided it would be fun to make it and put it in heart-shaped molds (this was before I even read Dorie’s suggestion to do that if desired).  She and I, we’re so smart.  So while my son lay on the couch trying to rest and not be sick, I got out the things I needed to make the quarter recipe for this chosen delight, Marquise au Chocolate (Frozen Chocolate Mousse), from Baking Chez Moi, pages 357-359.  Don’t let seeing that it’s three pages in her book make you think it’s too much.  A lot of it is all her background about the dessert and a great photo.  This was really so easy to make!  It took a couple steps, um, most recipes do, but if you plan it out and get everything together before starting, it’s pretty simple!

I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, they are dairy, nut and soy free and made with evaporated cane juice.  They taste great!  Love the fun-shaped chocolate flower that showed up in the mix here.

The chocolate and butter were melted in a double boiler.  Since I made only one-quarter of the recipe, I beat the egg yolk and sugar with my hand mixer, then added that to the cooled melted chocolate and in another small bowl beat the heavy cream.  That was folded in to the chocolate mixture, then I put it in a small heart-shaped ramekin and a small heart-shaped metal mold that I’d lined with plastic wrap. 

 I put the molds in the freezer for only about four hours (recipes says six), but since they were smaller, I thought it would be okay.  Had to taste (and photograph) it right after an early dinner.

I ate about 2/3 of this little dessert (and gave Kevin the rest), it was rich and delicious and perfectly creamy.  I’m so excited that the bigger heart is still there for me in the very near future.  This was pretty simple to divide (especially with the gram measurements).  I’m sure I’ll make this again, maybe, just maybe I’ll try it with coconut cream and honey for the sweetener.  I’m not afraid. ; )  I would like this with some raspberry coulis or fresh raspberries next time.  If I make it that way, I’ll post it with the recipe for you.  Go get Dorie’s book!

Granola Energy Bars—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

It’s Tuesdays With Dorie time.  To start out the new year, we picked the Granola Energy Bars from Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi.  How fun for me to have a recipe that didn’t need altering.  I just used gluten free oats.  We could use any nuts and dried fruits we wanted and the granola bars were easy to make.

Dorie mentioned that these were best with brown rice syrup and I’ve been wanting to get some and try it so I bought some (and yay, it was on sale).  I did exactly as the recipe said, but only baked these for 20 minutes, not 25-30 and they were super crispy/hard. Bummer. So much that we had a hard time cutting them immediately.

Well, never fear—I decided to make them again.  This time, I changed up the nuts and fruit a bit (I went with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut and peanuts and just raisins.  But I decided to use raw honey and lower the temperature of the oven.  When I make granola, I bake it at 300 degrees F.  It was written in the recipe to bake these at 325 degrees F.  So I went with 300 degrees and I used raw honey instead of the brown rice syrup.  I baked the new batch for only 20 minutes as well.  They seemed a lot softer.  Enough that I was even worried they wouldn’t cut into bars.  But I waited as the recipe said—let them cool for 3 hours and while they hardened up nicely, they were much better, still a little more firm than I like a chewy granola bar to be, but I am going to love having them for snacks for the next week.  I wonder if it’s a high altitude thing?

I couldn’t help it—with the peanuts and raisins, I kept thinking about those candy bars called Chunky that have peanuts and raisins in them and I decided these granola bars needed to be dipped in chocolate.  LOVE!  I’m so smart. Just kidding.  Dorie mentioned in the recipe that you can add any and all kinds of nuts and fruit and chocolate if you want.  I never think of chocolate………….(right!?)  I used some 70% organic chocolate (3 ounces) melted with about 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil. 

When I didn’t have enough chocolate left to keep dipping the bars, I drizzled the rest over the remaining bars.

Never fear—I did not and will not throw out the first bars that are so hard.  This morning, I put them in some almond milk on the stove and waited and watched and broke them up as they softened and turned them in to my morning oatmeal!  Good stuff!

Gingerbread Buche de Noel—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

Wait—before the year is over, I must post about this Tuesdays With Dorie recipe we made in the group over Christmas!  I’m a little late on posting it.  The date was for the Tuesday before Christmas, but I wanted to make it for Christmas Eve, so didn’t get it posted—until now—all the sudden it’s New Year’s Eve!  I did make this for Christmas Eve and I must say, though it was a huge labor of love and there were many steps to follow, I have learned that with Dorie’s recipes, if I do just that—follow all directions, the recipes always turn out great.  That said, I followed all the steps perfectly, except I decided to try making it gluten free and used organic cane sugars. 

Oh, look, two skinny little ends cut off.  I had to taste them for quality control!

I had high hopes that since the cake only called for 3/4 cup of flour that changing it to a gluten free flour blend would probably be okay.  I was going to retype the recipe as I made it, but I really didn’t change anything except the flour (I happened to have some Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking Mix, so that is what I used) and I used organic cane sugar and organic brown sugar.  All the many involved steps to the recipe were not changed at all.  And though I say it was a labor of love and there were what seemed like many steps involved, it was SO worth it.  I would certainly make this cake again for a special occasion.

The gingerbread flavor was not too strong, so I think this cake could be made year round.  And even if it was a strong ginger flavor, I would not be against making this in the summer if I really felt like it.  ; )

The cake roll worked perfectly—that’s always a worry that it will not roll up nicely.  This rolled perfectly with not even any cracking.  The filling is a nice cream cheese/butter filling that isn’t sweet at all and then the delicious egg white/sugar syrup frosting is a perfectly sweet addition to the cake.  Also loved the pecan praline crunch that was in the filling and on the top of the cake. 

This cake was my big holiday splurge and I won’t tell you how many pieces of it I ate (not all in one sitting).  I took the cake to a family Christmas Eve celebration and it was well liked by everyone who ate some of it.  Nice thing about those big family get-togethers—so many desserts that I was able to bring a little bit of the cake home to enjoy later.

I wish you all a wonderful, Happy New year!  Thanks for still sticking around here with me.  It’s almost been seven years since I started my blog and while I’m not in it for the fame and money, I love sharing with my readers the happiness I get from baking and sharing with all those around me.  While how often I blog has changed over the years and even the kinds of things I blog, I’m happy you’re still here.  I wish you all health and happiness in the new year!

You are in luck if you want this recipe, it can be found on the internet from some of the promotions done with Dorie’s new book.  You can find the recipe HERE.  I think you should just get Baking Chez Moi!  My link at the top for Tuesdays With Dorie has everyone else in the groups’ posts for their Buche de Noel cakes.  Check them out!  We’ll be starting the year out more healthy with some granola bars, coming soon! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gingerbread Buche de Noel—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

Just a quick note—Today for Tuesdays With Dorie  the recipe is Gingerbread Buche de Noel.  I plan to make it tomorrow for Christmas Eve, so my post won’t be up today, but I’m looking forward to making it! 

Stay tuned and in the meantime, check out the link for others in the group who have already made and posted about their cake!

Tuesdays With Dorie--Baking Chez Moi--Gingerbread Buche de Noel links

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY

HOLIDAYS!