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

[Abra]

Just so you don't feel all alone, Rose, I might be the only other person in the world who's not a fan of the World Peace/Korova cookies. Mine came out fine, looked nice, but all I really get from them is chocolate and salt. If I want chocolate and salt, I much prefer some lightly toasted crostini brushed with olive oil, then melted chocolate, then sprinkled with salt. It's a Spanish thing, I think, and I like the balance better.

[Rose&Thorn]

Just so you don't feel all alone, Rose, I might be the only other person in the world who's not a fan of the World Peace/Korova cookies.  Mine came out fine, looked nice, but all I really get from them is chocolate and salt.  If I want chocolate and salt, I much prefer some lightly toasted crostini brushed with olive oil, then melted chocolate, then sprinkled with salt.  It's a Spanish thing, I think, and I like the balance better.

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My thoughts exactly. I like sweet and salty. But rather than sweet, I find in these, the chocolate comes through as bitter (I love bitter chocolate), but combined with the salt - does not work for me. Sorry Dorie

Basically - to each there own!!

[Aria B.]

It is so funny how some people can love the same recipe while others really don't care for it. I am a World Peace Cookie lover. My palate detects sweet, salty, and chocolaty flavors in perfect combination. This recipe is one of my favorites for sure. But, to each their own!

[Malawry]

Have you tried the pecan-honey sticky buns yet?!?!?!?!

ZOMG.

I baked them off yesterday morning and ate two for breakfast with a banana and some coffee. Sooo rich, sooo sweet, sooo yummy. We took the leftovers to the nurses at my clinic, and there were enough that they cut them up to share with the other patients and the office staff. One of the office people came running up to me saying, "Who is the goddess that brought THOSE in??" Helped me stand up a little straighter, that's for sure.

Highly recommended recipe. As a matter of fact, I recommend you make it with half the brioche dough every time you make that--no matter how much you like brioche or bostock, you will love this even more.

(Although they are very sweet, as good sticky buns are supposed to be. So if you don't like very sweet breakfast pastries, maybe you should stick to brioche and bostock...)

[pax]

On sunday, I browsed through the bookstore cookbook section and decided to treat myself to this book.

I came to E Gullet on Sunday afternoon to post a topic about asking for recommendations what to bake first, and look what I found...a 30 page ode to baking goodness.

It has taken me this long to get to pg 13. I am going to work my way through the rest come hell or high water.

I made the chocolate chip cookies with my 5 yo the other night and they were the best cookies I've ever had. (I like the extra 1/4 tsp of salt, I loved the consistency. I used half the amount of chocolate listed.) My only complaint was they didn't hold their nice crispy edge and got soft in the cookie jar, but since they only lasted about two days in the cookie jar, I guess that's not such a big worry.

I have old bananas and I'm off to make sure I have what I need for the banana bundt cake.

Ms. Greenspan, I had no idea you were such an active e-gulleter. I am so impressed that you come here and share your thoughts and recommendations. Thank you. And just for that, (well, and for the food) I am going to go buy more of your books asap.

Cheers y'all.

[SondraG]

On sunday, I browsed through the bookstore cookbook section and decided to treat myself to this book.

I came to E Gullet on Sunday afternoon to post a topic about asking for recommendations what to bake first, and look what I found...a 30 page ode to baking goodness.

It has taken me this long to get to pg 13. I am going to work my way through the rest come hell or high water.

I made the chocolate chip cookies with my 5 yo the other night and they were the best cookies I've ever had. (I like the extra 1/4 tsp of salt, I loved the consistency. I used half the amount of chocolate listed.) My only complaint was they didn't hold their nice crispy edge and got soft in the cookie jar, but since they only lasted about two days in the cookie jar, I guess that's not such a big worry.

I have old bananas and I'm off to make sure I have what I need for the banana bundt cake.

Ms. Greenspan, I had no idea you were such an active e-gulleter. I am so impressed that you come here and share your thoughts and recommendations. Thank you. And just for that, (well, and for the food) I am going to go buy more of your books asap.

Cheers y'all.

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Pax, as you are in Va horse and wine country, you should be able to get some nice apples soon. Try the Double Apple Bundt cake, it's lovely. (or apple pie, yummy)

The Banana Bundt cake is very good, super easy.

[Patrick S]

Have you tried the pecan-honey sticky buns yet?!?!?!?!

ZOMG.

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Agreed. Best sticky buns ever, I say.

[Malawry]

Re: Sticky buns...when I went back to the doctor's today, somebody had written across my check-in sheet, "Be good to her, she's a baker extraordinaire!"

I'm not, but Dorie makes me one.

[Stuckey]

I made the Classic Banana Bundt Cake today. It turned out very well! I don't enjoy creaming butter and sugar, but in this case, it's definitely worth it. The cake is very moist, and very tender. The flavour is great - very banana-ey. I used sour cream instead of yoghurt, and used 1 3/4 cups of mashed darkly-speckled bananas. Dorie says that this cake is better the day after, and if the taste now isn't as good as it gets, I can't wait to try it tomorrow!

My go-to baked banana goodie used to be Cook's Illustrated's Banana Bread, but Dorie's Banana Bundt Cake has just taken the lead!

[ColleenD]

I made the rugulach today. They are great! The dough is really easy to put together in the food processor. I made a double batch and tried 4 different fillings--fig jam, chopped pecans and cinnamon sugar; chocolate, pecans and cinnamon sugar; nutella, chopped hazelnuts and chopped chocolate; peanut butter and chopped chocolate.

They are all great, but I think my very favorite is the fig jam version, which I guess is the closest to a traditional version. I don't have a camera to take pictures, but they look great--the dough really held its shape and puffed up to a nice golden brown.

[SondraG]

The weather invited me to make the Double Apple BUndt Cake today. I used an 8 cup silicone bundt pan, and put the excess in two mini silicone bundt pans. I used macintosh apples, store bought apple butter, pecans and golden raisins. This cake bakes up lighter than I expected, and the spice/apple butter combo comes through. Though I didn't follow directions and try to unmold it in 5 minutes, it turned out well. I was convinced that it would fall apart in that time frame, and I left it for about 15 minutes. I actually tried to unmold the babies in 5 minutes, and they didn't come out whole, though they were tasty, having sacrified them to "quality contro". I suspect the cake will be more moist and flavorful tomorrow, we'll see.

I made Dorie's Caramel Sauce (quite easy) to go with it, since DH won't love the lemon or orange sauce. I may have gotten it a bit dark, it caramelized in a flash, but it's cooling and we'll see.

I am likely to make this cake many times this Fall, and will probably half it and bake it in the mini silicone pans, six servings would be right for us, maybe even some left to freeze.

[Kim D]

To date, I've made 15 recipes from this book.

I've had contractors working in my house for the last couple of months. I think the projects have taken so long because I've been baking for them.

Last week, one of the contractors literally jumped up and down in the kitchen because he was so happy with the latest recipe...

I made the Golden Brioche Loaves and the Brioche Raisin Snails.

All of the recipes have been good but these two recipes take it to another level. Awesome. So good I would have sworn they came from a bakery if I hadn't made them myself.

- Kim

[colls509]

Well, the crumbs taste great.

I baked the Brown Sugar Bundt cake, my favorite, this time subbing a chopped apple for the pear and adding the extra walnuts. It was a chilly, rainy afternoon, but the cake smelled like heaven. My mistake was using the wrong plate. It was a large charger-sized pottery plate--clumsy and heavy. I lost my grip, the Bundt pan went flying across the counter, then across the floor with about half the cake with it. The rest landed on the counter. The plate survived unharmed. Thank goodness, now that would have made me mad!

Up next, Chockablock Cookies with apricots, golden raisins, and pecans. Yum!

[GTO]

God dammit!

At least the plate is OK, and you didn't injure yourself!

[GlorifiedRice]

Maria: What is it?

Harriet Miller: Its a bundt.

Maria: A bun?

Harriet:A bundt

Maria A Bondt?

Harriet: BUNDT BUUNDT!!

Maria: I know, its a cake!....(to friend) there's a hole in this cake.

- My Big Fat Greek Wedding

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

Awww, that sucks... I feel for ya. Last year, during a VERY busy weekend with over a dozen people at our home, I squeezed in the time to make a key lime cheesecake for a friend's daughter's 8th birthday. Stressed already, you can imagine how I reacted when the cheesecake slid unexpectedly (and inexplicably) off the platter and fairly FLEW across the kitchen, landing upside down on the floor. Still not sure how that happened, and we laugh about it to this day. (I wasn't exactly laughing when it happened, however!)

At least you had the crumbs! Better luck with the cookies.

[Dorie Greenspan]

This week, according to amazon.com, Baking From My Home to Yours is one-year old. Actually, it’s a couple of weeks older than that, since it was on September 1, 2006, that Russell Wong put up the first eGullet post about the book – and, in the process, informed me that the book was out in the world!

For over a year, you eGulleters have baked hundreds (could it be thousands?) of World Peace Cookies, pans and pans of Applesauce Spice Bars, bunches of Bundt cakes (including the one that recently flew off the plate!) and just about everything else in the book and I have been surprised, thrilled and so touched by your enthusiasm and energy. And I’m so very grateful for your tremendous support. THANK YOU!

To celebrate BAKING’s birthday, Houghton Mifflin, my publisher, and I are giving away 10 signed copies on my blog – just leave your name to be in the random drawing. (www.doriegreenspan.com)

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you and sweet wishes to you all – Dorie

[RuthWells]

How the time has flown! Congrats on the anniversary, Dorie.

[Jean Blanchard]

Wow! A year has gone by already. Of course, I should know that because the first thing I made from Baking was the cake on the front cover for MY birthday. Never have I made so many things from the same cookbook. Now that fall is here, I'll be baking again. Can't wait to try something new. Congratulations Dorie and when is the new cookbook coming out?

[DanaG]

Congrats Dorie! Your book really is a treasure.

I actually have a question about one of the recipes in it. A friend just asked if I could bring dessert tomorrow night, and as luck would have it, I just picked up a bunch of apples at the farmer's market yesterday. I was thinking of bringing your Alsatian Apple Tart, but if I make it tonight, will it keep until tomorrow night? Advice?

[Dorie Greenspan]

Dana, like most tarts, the Alsatian Apple Tart is really best eaten soon after it's made. If you wait a day to serve it, the texture of the crust will change and the apples and custard will probably pull away from one another (you could glaze the tart the day you're serving it and fill in the spaces, but ...) Would you consider making something else that keeps better? Like maybe the Double Apple Bundt Cake? Or the Applesauce Spice Bars? But, if you're set on the tart -- go for it! It will be softer than when it's first made, but it will still be homemade and there's a lot to be said for that.

[pax]

I have a couple of reports on my attempts!

I made the Citrus-Currant Sunshine Bars, but I had to make some changes.

I used chopped strawberries instead of currants.

I macerated the strawberries in a little confectioner's sugar. When they were room temp I drained them over a measuring cup and lo and behold, I had a cup of strawberry juice, which I used in place of the oj.

They were fabulous.

Thank you for providing the "Playing Around" sections. It's really nice to know what sort of substitutions can work. I stand there imagining all kinds of stuff.

Then, I made the Corniest Corm Muffins. I didn't have butter milk, I had the powdered kind you keep in the fridge, so I added 4 TBL of that to the dry stuff and the cup of water required for reconstitution in the liquids.

My husband raved. We've been married for a few years, he loves corn bread, and I have NEVER made a corn bread he really likes, and I've tried. This was a HUGE hit, and he thanks you. Toasted and buttered the next morning, they were yummy. If I KNEW I was eating them the next day, I might leave the corn kernals out. Sweet and juicy the day I baked, they got a bit raisin like over night. I can see some blueberries, maybe...

Tonight it's raining so my kids and I made the Chunky Peanut Butter And Oatmeal Chipsters.

Fabulous. My changes: 6 oz of chocolate instead of as written, half milk, half bittersweet of that good chocolate that starts with V. Smooth, not chunky, because that's what I had on hand. The cinnamon was a bit strong but I was using some brand new Penzey's...I might cut back a 1/4 tsp and see how that goes..this is the first oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookie I've ever had that doesn't completely squash the peanut butter. It's got a slightly creaminess with the crunch that is so, so good.

[jumanggy]

Dimply Plum Cake. I've been getting tired of chocolate everything, so I thought I might try fresh fruit (good for the soul, I guess..). I love the cakey brownieness of it.

Edited October 2, 2007 by jumanggy (log)

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

Just had to tell you all that I, too made the World Peace Cookies for my husband to take to work. Everyone raved (no surprise there, after reading about these!) but the really cool part was that my husband, who is not a big chocolate fan, couldn't stop eating them.

Now it'll be even more fun to see how they come out when I have a real oven again to cook them in!!

[pax]

I made the Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie Cake yesterday.

It was yummy, I served it with homemade cinnamon ice cream.

And of course, me being disorganized me, I didn't have any raisins that weren't yoghurt covered. My kids loves those. Anyway, I subbed dried cherries, which I'd steeped in hot water with a little vanilla.

The directions called for 65-80 mins, I checked it at 50 and I am glad I did because I pulled it right away and it was still a bit overdone. I think I will pull out the manual and recalibrate the cooker.

They ate it for dessert with ice cream, came looking for more this morning for breakfast, and my husband cut off a big chunk to take to work.

I was a little put off originally by the fact it was two pages long but after I read it through, it was dead easy.

Edited October 4, 2007 by pax (log)