"Baking: From My Home to Yours" (Part 2)

[colls509]

I'm on a wonderful detour right now, Bundt cakes are on hold while we wander our way through Spoon Desserts. We've had a lot of company lately it seems and the weather is chilly and blustery. These desserts are comfort in a cup. Made the Chocolate Soufflé and served with chilled Creme Anglaise. Total silence and happy, happy diners. Another night I served the Split-Level Pudding. The vanilla was yummy enough, and the surprise ganache sent it over the top. We had the chocolate pudding in front of the fireplace, and the chocolate pot de creme for a family dinner. Yummy, yummy! The Pot de Creme was like silk on the tongue. I baked the Caramel-Topped Flan in individual ramekins but got spooked and pulled the caramel off the heat too soon. Shoulda left it for another 30-45 seconds or so.

The entire book is comprised of sections filled with delicious, reliable recipes. The variety, just in the puddings and custards, is impressive and each one is better than the last. I've got a couple of bridal showers to attend soon, I can't think of a better gift than "From my Home to Yours."

[Dorie Greenspan]

Colls509, I'm so glad you made a bunch of the Spoon Desserts -- they're real favorites of mine, but I don't hear about a lot of people making them. There's going to me an article about them in the May-June issue of Cottage Living and I was thrilled when they chose to spotlight these recipes. It's funny, you had the puddings fireside -- which is perfect -- and Cottage Living saw them as right for spring-summer -- also perfect.

A heads-up on the Rice Pudding -- there's a typo in the recipe: you need to cook the rice for about 50 minutes to have it absorb about 80% of the milk.

[Jean Blanchard]

Dorie, Thanks for letting us know about the rice pudding. That was one of the first things I made from your book and although the taste was great, it was too runny. Now I won't be afraid to try it again!

jb

[Dorie Greenspan]

A reader just recently sent me a letter about the rice pudding being too runny, so I ran into the kitchen, made a batch and found that, because of the typo, the timing was off by a lot. Aaarrrgh! It's not as crucial if you're making chocolate rice pudding because when the chocolate cools it thickens the pudding, but without it ... Happily you're right about the taste: runny or thickened it's good!

Dorie

[CSY]

Hi Dorie,

May I ask s/t about World Piece Cookies?

1. Will the taste be different if I use (regular, quite-smallish-granulated) sea salt, stores here don't carry Fleur de Sel. Yet I do remember that joke "i don't have butter so i use magarine, i don't have brown sugar so i use white sugar...". Cookies deserve more respect than that I think.

2. Food bloggers describe the taste as "a burst of saltiness", does this mean when we're mixing, we should be careful to keep the sea salt not too melted, still "keeping their original shapes, just smaller"?

3. For the bittersweet chocolate, that means cocoa content should be around what percentage? V-brand is not commonly available also.

4. I googled under "WPC", and many nice pics from different homebakers came up, yet there are also some with the color and all being really not that appetite-arousing(Type A. very pale, and CLAY-like, but the taste is said to be non-the lest superb. Type B. very dark, like ink, exactly. Type C. very flat. ). What might the cause be?

5. How long can these cookies keep in a container once made?

I know the Q-list is long...

[Domestic Goddess]

HI Dorie! I see you in here. I just wanna say that after reading this entire thread, I swore to buy a copy of your book if I find it here in Korea. If not, I'll maybe have more luck finding it in the Philippines when I get back there in June.

[Dorie Greenspan]

CSY -- here are the answers, as best as I can give them to you:

1. Will the taste be different if I use (regular, quite-smallish-granulated) sea salt, stores here don't carry Fleur de Sel. Yet I do remember that joke "i don't have butter so i use magarine, i don't have brown sugar so i use white sugar...". Cookies deserve more respect than that I think.

Fleur de sel has a very distinctive, minerally flavor and, most interestingly, it tastes less salty than other sea salts. You can make excellent World Peace Cookies uses different kinds of salt, the only thing you'll have to play with is the quantity. If you're using a "quite smallish granulated sea salt", start with 1/4 teaspoon.

2. Food bloggers describe the taste as "a burst of saltiness", does this mean when we're mixing, we should be careful to keep the sea salt not too melted, still "keeping their original shapes, just smaller"?

You don't need to worry about overmixing the salt -- just be careful not to mix much when you add the dry ingredients.

3. For the bittersweet chocolate, that means cocoa content should be around what percentage? V-brand is not commonly available also.

When it comes to dark chocolate, I always urge people to use the chocolate they most like to eat. Since you're using the chocolate as chips, the type of chocolate will greatly affect the taste but do nothing to the "mechanics" of the recipe. If you like dark chocolate and if you can find it, I'd suggest you use a great-tasting chocolate that has at least 55% cocoa; I usually use a chocolate with upwards of 65% cocoa.

4. I googled under "WPC", and many nice pics from different homebakers came up, yet there are also some with the color and all being really not that appetite-arousing(Type A. very pale, and CLAY-like, but the taste is said to be non-the lest superb. Type B. very dark, like ink, exactly. Type C. very flat. ). What might the cause be?

The variations in color are because of differences in cocoa powder -- some cocoa powders, like those from Valrhona and ScharffenBerger, are coal dark, while others are pale. And, cocoa powder can change the texture of the cookies a bit too. Again -- you're going to have to experiment to find the ingredients that you like best/that best match your taste.

A word about flat cookies: If your oven is too hot, the cookies will spread too much and be flat. Make sure your oven is at 325 degrees F.

5. How long can these cookies keep in a container once made?

The cookies will keep perfectly for about 3 days at room temperature and will still be irresistible after about 5 days. The baked cookies can also be frozen for up to 2 months. However, if you can swing it, the best thing to do is to freeze the unbaked log of dough and cut (without defrosting the log) and bake the cookies just when you need them.

I hope this is helpful.

[Dorie Greenspan]

Welcome Domestic Goddess! It's so exciting for me to think that you'll be baking my recipes in Korea -- I hope you can find the book. Thanks so much for being so interested.

[lumiere]

HI Dorie! I see you in here. I just wanna say that after reading this entire thread, I swore to buy a copy of your book if I find it here in Korea. If not, I'll maybe have more luck finding it in the Philippines when I get back there in June.

←

I know what you mean by this. It really frustrates me that Borders here stocks quite a small range of cookbooks. I don't know whether it's a good thing or not because it actually prevents me from acquiring too much cookbooks. Anyway, I've been following this thread from the first post and I must say that straight away I knew I had to have this book. Ordering from Amazon wasn't one of the options as the postage cost was too much. I was resigned to the fact that I'll get it later this year when someone from the US/Manila comes here for a visit. Then lo and behold a month ago my friend told me she will be in New York for 2 weeks. Keep still my beating heart. Without hesitation I had her order it from Amazon straight away. A few days later it was finally in my arms. (postscript:A week after getting this book I found it in my local Borders.... at AUD 89.95! Definitely got a bargain getting it off Amazon!)

I've been trying out the recipes and my oh my are they scrumptious! Maybe just a tad too sweet for this household's taste, though.

Good news for you, Doddie.. I saw the book available in Fully Booked (well, it's on their website).

Thanks heaps, Dorie, for this wonderful book. It'll definitely be in my bookshelf until I'm old and grey.

[Domestic Goddess]

HI Dorie! I see you in here. I just wanna say that after reading this entire thread, I swore to buy a copy of your book if I find it here in Korea. If not, I'll maybe have more luck finding it in the Philippines when I get back there in June.

←

Good news for you, Doddie.. I saw the book available in Fully Booked (well, it's on their website).

←

Unfortunately Lumiere, I/we don't have a credit card so I can't order overseas or online for that matter. I am still crossing my fingers that the book might be in Bandi&Luni's (largest foreign [read: English] bookstore in Seoul). I am quite certain the book is available now in Manila.

[Domestic Goddess]

I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!

I found it in a used/secondhand/nearly new bookstoe in Seoul called "What the Book?". And it is on sale! From $40 to $34! I'm reserving it right now!

*doing happy dance*

Edited March 15, 2007 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[rjwong]

Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, has been nominated for a 2007 James Beard Award under the Baking and Dessert category.

Go Dorie!

[Dorie Greenspan]

Thank you! I'm thrilled with the nomination -- actually, I'm kind of skipping around my office while I'm writing this.

[KatieM]

I finally got the book yesterday, after many longing looks! I had it on both my Christmas list and my birthday list, but since no one obliged and it's many months before the next gift-giving holiday, I went ahead and bought it.

My co-workers will be thrilled when I start baking new things for our meetings. A friend sent me the recipe for World Peace Cookies back in December, and they have become an office favorite.

I can't wait to get started!

[lannie]

Just have to say that the recipes I've made so far (Classic Banana Bundt Cake, Black-And-White Banana Loaf, and Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes (minus the rum drenching)) have all received a rousing thumbs-up from my 15 month-old daughter. She gobbled it all up and keeps asking for more!

Thanks for the great collection of recipes, Dorie! Congratulations on your James Beard nomination!

[laniloa]

Congratulations Dorie!

I celebrated by trying another recipe - the midnight crackles. I did the ginger version. Absolutely wonderful. Very chocolately, rich texture, hint of spice (I only did the ground ginger and not the stem ginger).

[CSY]

CSY -- here are the answers, as best as I can give them to you:

1. Will the taste be different if I use (regular, quite-smallish-granulated) sea salt, stores here don't carry Fleur de Sel. Yet I do remember that joke "i don't have butter so i use magarine, i don't have brown sugar so i use white sugar...". Cookies deserve more respect than that I think.

Fleur de sel has a very distinctive, minerally flavor and, most interestingly, it tastes less salty than other sea salts.  You can make excellent World Peace Cookies uses different kinds of salt, the only thing you'll have to play with is the quantity.  If you're using a "quite smallish granulated sea salt", start with 1/4 teaspoon.

2. Food bloggers describe the taste as "a burst of saltiness", does this mean when we're mixing, we should be careful to keep the sea salt not too melted, still "keeping their original shapes, just smaller"?

You don't need to worry about overmixing the salt -- just be careful not to mix much when you add the dry ingredients.

3. For the bittersweet chocolate, that means cocoa content should be around what percentage? V-brand is not commonly available also.

When it comes to dark chocolate, I always urge people to use the chocolate they most like to eat.  Since you're using the chocolate as chips, the type of chocolate will greatly affect the taste but do nothing to the "mechanics" of the recipe.  If you like dark chocolate and if you can find it, I'd suggest you use a great-tasting chocolate that has at least 55% cocoa; I usually use a chocolate with upwards of 65% cocoa.

4. I googled under "WPC", and many nice pics from different homebakers came up, yet there are also some with the color and all being really not that appetite-arousing(Type A. very pale, and CLAY-like, but the taste is said to be non-the lest superb. Type B. very dark, like ink, exactly. Type C. very flat. ). What might the cause be?

The variations in color are because of differences in cocoa powder -- some cocoa powders, like those from Valrhona and ScharffenBerger, are coal dark, while others are pale.  And, cocoa powder can change the texture of the cookies a bit too.  Again -- you're going to have to experiment to find the ingredients that you like best/that best match your taste.

A word about flat cookies:  If your oven is too hot, the cookies will spread too much and be flat.  Make sure your oven is at 325 degrees F.

5. How long can these cookies keep in a container once made?

The cookies will keep perfectly for about 3 days at room temperature and will still be irresistible after about 5 days.  The baked cookies can also be frozen for up to 2 months.  However, if you can swing it, the best thing to do is to freeze the unbaked log of dough and cut (without defrosting the log) and bake the cookies just when you need them.

I hope this is helpful.

←

Hi Dorie,

Thank You for the quick reply to all my questions! I'll go through these details and test-run them...with regular sea salt(walked through the supermarkets and didn't spot Fleur de Sel yet, will keep looking.)

[KatieM]

Well, my new cookbook already has splotches on it! I made the cardamom coffee cake this morning to take to a meeting. It was fantastic. In fact, I may have another slice here pretty soon . . .

While baking, it smelled like everything I want to have for breakfast - oranges, coffee, and cardamom, which being Scandinavian, I associate with sweet breads.

It was a hit! I mixed up the crumbs and the dry ingredients last night and simply added the wet this morning, so I could even accomplish it bleary-eyed, and my co-workers think I'm brilliant for being able to bring something like this in to the office still warm from the oven.

Thanks Dorie!

I can't wait to try the next recipe on my list.

[Dorie Greenspan]

Thank you everyone for your good wishes and your continued excitement about the recipes -- it means so very, very, very, very much to me.

Lannie, I love that your 15-month old is liking the desserts. I just got an email from RuthW saying that her 11-year old wants the Plaisir Sucre from the Pierre Herme Chocolate Dessert Book for his birthday -- look what you have to look forward to!

And Katie M, it made me smile to think about you bringing the cardamom coffee cake into work freshly made. I love when recipes can be broken down so that they're really easy to make -- and baking lends itself to that. When I read about the way you made the cake, it made me think again about how foolish it seems to use a cake mix when you can make what is essentially a cake mix yourself. And, you can use premium ingredients!

[lannie]

Lannie, I love that your 15-month old is liking the desserts.  I just got an email from RuthW saying that her 11-year old wants the Plaisir Sucre from the Pierre Herme Chocolate Dessert Book for his birthday -- look what you have to look forward to!

←

Dorie, I am definitely looking forward to enjoying all sorts of decadent desserts with my daughter. She has already had the pleasure of having a mini Faubourg Pave for her 1st birthday - perhaps, the Plaisir Sucre will be centre-stage for her 2nd one! I know that she will love it!

[Becca Porter]

I have been cooking out of this book regularly since I got it. I have loved everything, however last night I made the Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart and I had to come post. It was out of this world! I used a 53% chocolate because my husband likes things a little sweeter. The textures and taste were incredible. I will be making this very often.

Thank you so much Dorie. You deserve the Beard nom and win...

Edited March 21, 2007 by Becca Porter (log)

[Dorie Greenspan]

I'm so glad to see your post about the chocolate-crunched caramel tart, Becca, because I've had the recipe on my brain for a few days now. I have to choose a recipe to be served at an event in Toronto in May and I've been going back and forth between the tart and the Devil's Food White-Out Cake. My deadline for sending in the recipe is today and your post just made up my mind for me -- thank you!

[Becca Porter]

I am honored to be able to help .

[Priscilla]

Another thumbs up on the Applesauce Spice Bars mentioned in so many earlier posts. I added only the chopped apple, no raisins, no nuts, as per the preferences of the intended eaters.

With a serrated knife we had no trouble making clean cuts. The bars were a few hours out of the oven, quite unwarm, when cut, which may have helped.

[Jujubee]

I made the Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake today and both my husband and I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. It has a remarkably soft texture (from the whipped egg whites, I assume) and a very balanced, appealing flavor of both brown sugar and blueberries. It is also not too sweet, a good thing in my book. It's not a looker, definitely a very homey treat, but it's only been out of the oven a couple hours and my husband and I have already eaten half the pan.