laniloa

Great tip. I pushed the middles down when they came out of the oven but at that point they were a little too done and crumbly to take much manipulation. Earlier tapping would probably work much better. I found these cookies to be much better after a day. The nut flavor of the dough was nuttier.

I just made the thumbprints and while they taste great, I didn't make a large enough well for the jelly and the cookies don't work as nicely as they could. They are nutty, crumbly and would be perfect with a touch more fruit. I think they'd work really well with a hit of spice (ginger, lemongrass, cardamon, etc) in the cookie as well.

I haven't made the muffins but have made the brrr-ownies. I really liked them. Nice fudgy texture lightened up by the peppermint. I've gotten more requests for copies of that recipe then the others I made. People thought it seemed simple enough for them to try out even though they were box-mix bakers. I'd encourage you to try a few more recipes from the book.

These both sound wonderful and are now on my to do list. I think I may roll the cider caramels in toasted, chopped nuts rather then chocolate (since I'm not so great at dipping caramels).

Had to scrap my plan for a cake last night due to a late start. Flipped through for a shorter project and settled on the brrrrrr-ownies. Some of the peppermint patties oozed through the top crust making for an interesting patterned top. This is an unbelievably simple recipe that produced fudgy, but not dense, minty deliciousness. I had 3 requests for the recipe at the office.

Made the caramel peanut-topped brownie cake tonight. The center caved a little just as warned but I think that just holds the peanuts better. I won't get a slice until tomorrow afternoon at work, but I tasted the caramel peanut topping and it is rich with just a hint of salty. Delicious. I'm not sure I understand the instructions about putting the cooled cake bake in the springform before topping. I'm guessing it just to get the peanuts all the way out to a clean edge. It seemed like too much trouble so I just spooned the topping on the cake. Worked like a charm. Dorie -- I hope in addition to the suggestion about the index, you've also forwarded to your publisher all of our delights with these recipes!

I like tobring a sampling for my boss and his staff of whatever treats I bring in to my office. I generally get the cleaned, empty container back with a note saying thanks. Earlier this week I brought them the honey nut brownies (which I have decided to call chocolate nut honey cake). I got the container back with a note that said MORE PLEASE! I guess that recipe is a keeper!

I made the honey nut brownies tonight. I used local tupelo honey and the flavor really came through. They almost, but not quite, don't taste chocolatey. I used almonds for the nuts. While I lightly toasted them, I think I'd toast them longer next time as they got a little soggy in the brownie. All in all, a nice departure from the fudgy brownies I usually make.

I made the cinnamon squares this week. They were unbelievably easy and quite tasty. The texture reminded me more of a light quick bread then a cake. I'm not a coffee fan so I stuck with just chocolate for the middle swirl. I was concerned that the frosting (chocolate thinned with butter) might be too heavy for such a light cake but I was glad to be wrong. This may have been the office treat that disappeared the quickest even with several folks out!

Brownies are my go to shipping treat because of the ease of the trick Abra mentions. No crumbled, dry, soggy, whatever cookies to deal with. You can add flavor combos (orange, mint, cinnamon, chile, caramel, etc), frost or not, top or not. I wrap the foil pan in plastic wrap and put it in a sturdier container to prevent smushing. I use Medrich's cocoa brownies as my base. It gets a tiny bit of a top crust anyway so it stands up well to a day or two en route.

These sound wonderful. Can you post your recipe?

I've read people's raves about the chocolate mousse but somehow never tied it. Until last night. I brought it to a friend's house as my contribution to dinner. The three of us fought over who got to lick the bowl. It somehow manages to be both light and airy and densely chocolate at the same time. I made it with Valrhona Gastronomie. This will become one of my go-to recipes. Ridiculously easy but truly delicious.

Anyone have any suggestions for shipping caramels? I'll be making some for holiday treats and someone asked about making an extra batch to ship to his son. I was thinking it might be best to leave it as a slab, wrap in wax paper, and then wrap in plastic wrap. He can cut it when he gets it. What do you think?

Definitely not. They were light and moist. My only minor complaint is that they were so chocolatey that they seemed to overwhelm the flavor of the buttercream. I'd use a better matched frosting next time.

I followed the recipe which I also thought was odd but figured others on this board with far more experience then me had good results so I'd give it a shot.

I made the Epicurious recipe last night as cupcakes. They are fabulous -- moist, slightly delicate crumb, and a rich chocolate flavor. I used half coffee, half water because I hate coffee and didn't trust that their wouldn't be a hint of coffee peeking through. There wasn't. Next time I'll probably go all coffee.

Thanks to all for the words of wisdom and encouragement in this thread. This weekend I attempted my first buttercream in years. I'd been avoiding it after having several batches be "ruined" and get that cottage cheese look, not knowing that was just one step on the road to success. My officemates will be enjoying caramel Italian meringue buttercream frosted cupcakes with lunch. I started with Ling's recipe and decided I wanted more caramel punch so made a quick caramel syrup to mix in. Fabulous.

Reporting back after my first forray into babka. I'm sorry I don't have pictures -- must add digital camera to wish list! What I decided to do for freezing was to wrap the assembled babka including streusel in the non-stick aluminum foil (I love this stuff) and put that into a plastic bag. It unwrapped without a hitch. This produced wonderfully rich babka. I'd bake it a few minutes less next time as I thought it was a tad overdone. Thanks for mentioning the other thread Swisskaese. I had looked there and just picked a thread from the search engine to bump up and post my question. I'll be trying your recipe next time as it seems a little more straightforward then the one I tried (a variation on the Martha Stewart recipe that I found online).

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm going to attempt my first babka this weekend. Actually, I'm going to attempt several. I don't want to bake them all at once and several of the recipes say that the assembled babka freezes well. I've never frozen an unbaked sticky dough before. One recipe specifies to assemble (including streusel topping), wrap in plastic and freeze. That seems like it would be a sticky nightmare to unwrap once defrosted. I would imagine that you could unwrap while frozen and then defrost but I'm worried about condensation. Any suggestions?

You can order it here. After not finding it in the store I went looking online and when I saw the company it gave me the idea of trying other aisles.

I couldn't find it until I went away from the spices and condiments to the Asian foods section.

I prefer them when frozen first rather then chilling for a few hours. I find they have a slight bite to the crust while still being wonderfully chewy. Also, they look more impressive (for a home baker) as they tend to look more uniform like bakery bought.

I've found vegetarian rennet at the Glover Park Whole Foods and sour salt/citric acid in the kosher food section of the Social Safeway and the newish Bethesda Giant.

The folks at Claver-Woodley in DC near the Van Ness Metro are usually very helpful with special orders. I've picked up Barbancourt and Barcelo there.

I've seen Hershey's cinnamon chips at my local supermarket.