TwD: Brownie Buttons

So I've been M.I.A. lately, mostly because I've been busy getting out of MIA...moving. Ah moving. The excitement of an adventure and a move to the next big thing, and the sadness of leaving behind good friends and good times. Mostly I'm excited, though moving can be a bit tiring. Which is one reason why this week's recipe chosen by Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen was perfect. It was easy, miniature, and yummy. I thought the brownies were a bit dry but Mom and Sister loved them. I skipped the orange zest (for lack thereof) and am thinking it might have helped after reading Jayma's blog. I also skipped the white chocolate topping (for the same reason as the orange zest) and replaced is with a German chocolate-esque caramel coconut glaze. Some of the brownies got crowned with an almond, and after trying both, they all got stuck with one. These little addictive brownies were too poppable to stay around long. Thankfully, I only made half a recipe that gave me 12 little brownie buttons.

Oh, and I love the name Brownie Buttons. I think Dorie must have fun with the names sometimes.

Coconut Topping

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons light brown sugar

1 Tablespoon milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup sweetened coconut

Heat butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla over medium-low heat until boiling. Stir frequently and boil rapidly. The color will appear lighter. Add the coconut and continue to boil until it returns to a rapid, frothy boil. Continue to boil until it thickens slightly. Spread over cooled brownie buttons. The topping with hardened slightly after cooling, but will remain gooey.

TwD: HONEY PEACH ICE CREAM

This ice cream rocks! Thanks to Tommi at Brown Interior for this week's awesome pick! Just in time for the summertime heat down here in Miami. I used good ol' Georgia peaches and clover honey. I love ice cream but have rarely made my own. My family makes it every July 4th, whipping out the ice cream machine and boxes of rock salt once a year to make a monstrous tub of homemade vanilla ice cream. A few times additional flavors have been added to match our favorites of the summer, toasted coconut and peaches are the ones I remember. We always try to eat as much as possible the first day - through brain freeze and all - when it's still sitting in the ice cream maker. After it hits the freezer, it's never as good.
I'm definitely looking forward to the ice cream in a couple of weeks! Yet, the large machine, the rock salt, the noise and monitoring so it doesn't catch, is quite an undertaking. I'm going to start searching for a lovely, little, hassle-free ice cream maker. In the meantime, I took a cue from Clothide's Chocolate and Zucchini for those sans ice cream makers. I made the recipe as directed, and then put it in the freezer, stirring about every hour or so. The ice cream will begin to freeze from the outside in, so the periodic stirring allows it to freeze more evenly. And it worked! The texture wasn't weird at all. Just creamy dreamy.

I'm surprised I liked the honey taste as much as I did. I'm more of a purist when it comes to fruit ice creams. This was divine though. I halved the recipe and boiled all the peaches in the honey (because I didn't read far enough ahead in the recipe). Next time (and there will definitely be a next time), I'll try just half in the honey and half added plain later. I'm hoping this will allow the peaches to stand alone in taste and mingle with the honey.

TwD: PARISIAN APPLE TARTLET

Thanks to Jessica of My Baking Heart for picking the Parisian Apple Tartlet. This recipe is ultra-easy, and just as yummy! Check out Jessica's blog for the recipe.
Dorie's inspiration for this tartlet is from the Parisian bakeries, and the individual sweets people exit carrying and munching. I'm mentally filing it for any showers or teas in the future. I used Pepperridge Farm puff pastry and am already planning to try out mini tartlets with pears, peaches, and plums. The apples were great though I think I overloaded the pastry. Before baking, the apple pieces made a flower shape that fell apart in the oven so that afterward it looked more like a mini replica of Stone Henge. Edible historic sites...I'm sure there's a blog out there somewhere for it.

TwD: CINNAMON SQUARES

When I first saw that we were making Cinnamon Squares, I didn't think it would have chocolate. I thought it was an entire chocolate-free month! I love chocolate, but this chocolate and cinnamon duo was a bit much for me. The cake was yummy, though a little dry. I left it in the oven and thought I turned it off, when really I had left it cooking  somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes longer. Ooopsy. The icing was yummy, ummm, it's melted chocolate and butter stirred together. What's better than melted chocolate? Chocolate with butter! It sounds like a Paula Deen recipe. 
After putting half the batter in the pan, you layer with a cinnamon, sugar, and instant expresso mix, sprinkle with chocolate chips, and then add the other half of the batter. In the picture in the cookbook, Dorie's Cinnamon Squares have a lovely, playful wavy line through the middle. My chips went AWOL and all over the place. But still good. I opted for a piece with sour cream, as suggested in the Playing Around Section. I don't know, I really thought I was going to like this one, but it was all a little much. I would love to try the cinnamon bread sans chocolate as a more breakfast/brunch item. 

I gave most of the squares away to my co-worker for picking me up from the oral surgeon's. She shared them with the rest of the office who apparently loved them. I've still got a few in the freezer that I'm planning to pull out in a few weeks and try again. Perhaps when I'm craving something chocolate and over-the-top. Thanks to Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures for this week's pick! 

TwD: CHIPSTER BROWNIES

I'm making history today people. This is the first Tuesdays with Dorie posting for which the dessert is already made, given, and long gone. You see, a few weeks ago a friend had a birthday. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, and to my horror she shook her head, "I don't like cake." What? Okay, it's her birthday so she gets what she wants. "Well what would you like?" "I don't really like sweets." Alright, now this was getting a little crazy. I know people who don't like sweets, my brother being one, and it usually just means more for me. However, we were talking birthday here. So I tried one more time and got...brownies. Brownies?! I can live with brownies.

A big thanks to Beth of Supplicious for picking Chipster Brownies. In case you haven't guessed, chipster brownies are brownies topped with a layer of chocolate chip cookie. Oh yes, you heard right, this duo is out to blow other little brownies to pieces! Everything went smoothly with the recipe...until I got to the part where you spread the chocolate chip cookie dough on top of the brownie batter. My cookie dough was so heavy that it wanted to plummet straight to the bottom of the pan. I had brownie batter sputtering out in mini geysers. It was kinda a mess, and the resulting brownies look more marbled in the middle than they're probably supposed to. I was happy when I finally got the dough covering the whole top and popped it in the oven. As I set out to clean-up, I found an egg in the 1/4 cup measuring cup. Huh? Who put that there? Wasn't that supposed to go into the...cookie dough. Huh, I wonder if that's why it was so hard to spread?  
The forgotten egg made me a little nervous. The brownies smelled good, looked good, and were a bit dense and gooey (my fave-type of brownies). The chocolate chip top was a bit crumbly but hey, I had a birthday bbq to get to. So I boxed up the brownies and headed off hoping for the best. And people loved them! Deemed them "crack brownies." Finished them before anything else. Success. Even without the forgotten egg. There were a couple of people who could only eat a bite, before calling it quits. These brownies are not to be take lightly. They are double the dessert. I will definitely be making these again.  

TwD: FRESH MANGO BREAD

M-A-N-G-O

M-A-N-G-O

M-A-N-G-O

And Mango was it's name-o!

Yes, this more than slightly annoying little ditty has been playing through my head. But it doesn't take away from the fact that I looovvvee mangoes! I practically lived off mangoes for an entire month while backpacking through Southern Africa. I grabbed handfuls of the small, stringy kind off trees for the juice and the fruit. Love 'em. 

Thanks to Kelly of Baking with the Boys for this week's pick. It's a sweet bread filled with fresh mango, raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon, lime zest, ginger, and (I added) coconut. Living in Miami, I get to have mangoes a lot. I usually try to buy them from the local farmer's market on the weekend. Since I was out of town this past weekend, I settled for the grocery store mangoes. What did they have? The ones I think look like wooden shoes with funny little pointed toes. I'm not sure if there's anyone out there who can see the resemblance...but it's there.I got two mangoes and needed both to make two cups diced. This variety from Haiti is sweet and a little stringy. I don't mind the stringiness. I'm not very discriminating when it comes to mangoes; small, large, oval, shoe-shaped, stringy, sweet, green with chili pepper, it's all good. The stringiness was a little weird in the bread though, so I would probably opt for a less stringy variety next time. 
I definitely think this bread is kickin' and the perfect summer sweet alternative to heavier chocolate desserts. I also like fruit desserts in the summer months. I turned my bread out too soon, and a bit of the top stuck to the cooling rack. I used powdered sugar and coconut on top to cover up the resulting blemishes. But since that was the biggest mishap of this kitchen episode, I think it was a pretty good baking night. 

In the recipe, Dorie mentions that the bread is best the day after baking. I have mine covered now, sitting on the table just waiting for tomorrow. 

TwD: (FOR REAL) TARTEST LEMON TART

I imagine this pie is the kinda thing all little Lemon Ice Box Pies aspire to. It's what they dream of being if only someone would have given them the whole lemon. Using a whole lemon for a recipe was a first for me, and it turned out great. I love that idea. Partly because using the whole of something is more eco-friendly, and partly because it's less prep and clean-up work for me. 
I used regular organic lemons, whatever kind Wild Oats had in singles. I saw some people used Meyer's lemons, which probably made theirs less tart. I love sour stuff - those awful Tear Jerkers, the fluorescent gummy worms - and this reminded me of a sweet kick of sour candy. I used Dorie's sweet nutty tart dough, adding a handful of coarsely chopped walnuts for texture. The crust was tasty, though it turned out crumbly and wanted to break apart coming out of the pan. Hmm, I wonder what I did wrong with the dough. The lemon filling was great, smooth and tart and not too jelly-like. 
My tart was tart...so much so that I moaned myself to sleep with a bellyache after eating a whole piece. But it was almost worth it because this is really delish. Thanks to Babette of Babette Feasts for choosing something citrusy and different! 

TwD: Tira-mini-su Cake

I went on a trip to Italy when I was a sophmore in high school and I remember trying very hard to like tiramisu. It was just so cool, with it's layers of creamy stuff. I couldn't stand the smell or taste of coffee and so I could never muster even a bite. But hey, as I've aged I have grown to love coffee, out of habit or necessity after long nights who knows. The only for sure thing is that I love my cup of joe. 
And this week I found out that I love my cup of tiramisu. I cut the recipe in 8ths and assembled it in a wine glass. Perfect for the mini tiramisu cake. Though the chocolate chips do like monstrous! 
I'm not a big fan of marscapone, so I substituted another creamy cheese - Neufchatel. It was yummy! This was a great little 'pick me up' chosen my Megan of My Baking Adventures. 

THE SWEETEST THING

Easter weekend, I took Good Friday off and hopped on a plane back to Georgia to visit family, friends, and my boyfriend (yeah, I know, long distance sucks). The day I left, a co-worker asked if the boyfriend cooks. Cooks...no. Not at all. He does grill though (it's programmed in with the other guy things). But cooking, in the kitchen, with his lovely set of pots and pans that have never been used except once by me...no.

But of course, as soon as I said it, things in the universe started turning to prove me wrong. For at the moment these words were coming out of my mouth, my boyfriend was in Publix, getting strawberries and chocolate and coconut. These he coupled with my favorite wine for a very sweet surprise.

He even took pictures before we devoured them so I could put them on my blog. And made my cheeks hurt with laughter telling about his kitchen adventures, first with the chocolate (how to get it melted) and then with the coconut (can you put coconut with strawberries or will it taste funky? can you sprinkle it on or dip it in?) Thank goodness he's a coconut fan too, because those were the best! I suppose if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the way to a woman's is through her sweet tooth.

TwD: 4 STAR CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

Something happened here tonight folks, and it wasn't good.

It was supposed to be chocolatey, simple yet impressive...a 4 star bread pudding - I LOVE bread pudding!

Instead, it was dry on top, gooey in the middle (dry & gooey???), ugly, and not sweet.

Perhaps I messed up during the downsizing. Perhaps it was the English muffin I used. Hey, this was a last minute bake. I wasn't even going to post today. But a funny thing happens when you usually do something. First, people expect you to.

"What are making for Tuesdays with Dorie this week?" "Well, nothing..." hmmm

Next, you expect yourself to. "What sweet thing am I going to get tonight?" "Well, nothing.." "But it's the Sunday before Tuesday..." then it's Monday and I'm still craving something sweet, then it's Tuesday and I see everyone's Chocolate Bread Pudding posts so I cave.

I divided the recipe in approximate sevenths. I say approximate because I am too bad at math and too lazy to get a calculator and convert 4/7 of a cup into tablespoons. I do this a lot, and it usually works. Usually, but not always (tonight). But to every situation, may there be an upside and mine was...(drum role)...I got to break-out the mini whisk for the first time ever! Well, first legitimate time ever. This whisk came to me from my mom (thanks ma!) and I thought it so cute that I stirred my coffee with it just to put it to use.

Once the whisking was done, I added the hot milk and poured it over the bread to sit like Dorie said. Then it went in the oven, and came out looking a little weathered. Oh well, I suppose every night can't be a 4 star night...but I'm glad I gave it a try.

TwD: CHOCOLATE AMARETTI TORTE

Chocolate Amaretti Torte, chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon. Dorie describes it as 15 minute magic. Magic...yeah, I would have to agree, though not because it takes so little time and is so easy to make. Honestly, any time I have to break out (and break down and clean) the food processor (and its very sharp blade), the recipe slides into the dangerous, way too much clean-up category and I start to sneer at the ingredients list wondering if a mixer will suffice.

This time I escaped with only a tiny cut from washing the blade and a delicious, rich, velvet-textured chocolate cake. I cut the recipe in third and made four mini tortes. They rose up about three inches in the oven, then sank to a meager one while cooling. I thought they might be too little, but boy was I underestimating. Half of one little chocolate amaretti torte drenched in chocolate cream sauce and I was chugging milk and crying done.

I definitely enjoyed every bite. I loved the Amaretti, which is odd because I do not like meringue. I even smashed some up and sprinkled on top. I didn't actually know what amaretti was before I hunted it down in Epicurious - a lovely little specialy food store on the beach. Amaretti has a nice little love story attached to it, dating from the early 1700s during the Renaissance of a couple who made these for a visiting bishop and were blessed with a happy marriage.

TwD: BANANA CREAM PIES

Banana, custard creme, banana, custard creme, whipped creme...mmm, lots of creme. All thanks to Amy of Sing for Your Supper for this week's pick. Congratulations to Amy - her blog turned one last week! Happy Bloggie Birthday!
I was afraid to have a whole pie on-hand that Dorie said was best eaten that day - that's a whole lotta creme, so I made one-third of the recipe, made a bottom-only chocolate crust, and put it in four ramekins.

With all the creme and bananas, my taste buds were expecting something akin to Banana Pudding. The really good kind made with homemade vanilla pudding, Nilla wafers, and lightly browned meringue. Alas, this is no banana pudding. But it is good - especially the custard! I think it would be great with cherries.

I actually liked this best the day after, once the flavors had mixed and mingled. I wasn't completely happy with the chocolate crust, which was an experiment and so won't post the recipe here. But I'll try again.

Next week, we're back to getting our chocolate fixes. I have to say I'm looking forward to it!

IRISH SODA BREAD

I was planning on making Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick's Day, but ran out of time. So I whipped up a loaf later when things slowed down a bit. I used a super simple, no-fail recipe that I had written in my recipe book at least five years ago.

Irish Soda Bread

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 Tablespoons butter

1 cup buttermilk (or substitute 1 cup milk + 1 Tablespoon lemon juice mixed)

1 handful of trail mix, for those who also love nutty breads

1. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda.
2. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles course meal.
3. Add buttermilk and stir until moistened.
4. Turn out the ball of dough and knead for 1 minute. Pat into a round, approximately 9 inches. Transfer to a buttered baking sheet and cut a large cross on top.
5. Bake at 425 F for 40 minutes. The loaf will sound hollow when done.

There's something so satisfying about pulling a lovely loaf of bread out of the oven. It smelled so good baking and bread seems so daunting that the fact that it came out recognizable as a loaf of bread was delightful. You should have seen me knocking on the loaf with my ear to the crust, looking as if I expected someone to knock back and call out - come in to my loaf! because I'm sure I looked silly.

After the glee that I had produced bread wore off, I decided that Irish Soda Bread is good, but is better with butter...and even better with something fruity...something like...apple butter. So I used the Granny Smiths I had to make an apple butter that was delicious. I wasn't sure how it would turn out using Granny Smith apples, which aren't typically used for apple butter, but I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised. Some apple butters tend to be very sweet and very clove-heavy. The tartness of the apples enhanced the sweet and the clove tastes.

I have to admit that I didn't measure anything for the apple butter. I just threw in the ingredients and surveyed by sight.

Apple Butter (Roughly)

3 apples

1/2 cup of sugar

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

pinch of salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and add water just to cover the bottom.
2. Bring to a boil and cook on medium heat.
3. Stir and mash the apples and continue to cook.
4. Cook. Cook. And cook some more. Until a dark brown color and thick enought to spread.