"Baking: From My Home to Yours" (Part 1)

[Patrick S]

Made the espresso cheesecake brownie the other day -- another hit. I didn't bother trying to swirl the layers together.

Larger version

[Pat W]

We just got home, completely beat, & there on the front porch was my package from Amazon. (I actually opened the box before I poured a nightcap.) The book is beautiful! To anyone still teetering on the brink, all I can say is: "Jump, Jump!".

When we finally got home, after working so painfully late, all I cared about was falling into bed.

Well, it's forty minutes later, I am still not ready to put this book down. I am inspired.

How tragic that I won't be able to try out anything until Sunday.

Must reluctantly go to bed now.

pat. w

Edited October 6, 2006 by Pat W (log)

[Betts]

I couldn't hold out any longer - I bought the book on Monday and thank goodness I have been catering for a group of 12 all week. They are so lucky!!

I have made the Chunky Peanut Butter and Chocolate chippers twice but used salted peanuts instead of chocolate chips. Completely delish.

Today I made the applesauce spice bars - I LOVE THESE - what else can that glaze go on besides my fingertips.??

Thank you for this book. I really want to make the brioche raisin snails soon and then just work my way through the recipes.

[Lori in PA]

It seems to be my role on this thread to provide comic relief. This week's episode:

Lori wants a dessert, made ahead, to serve to potential company after an event on Friday night. She wants something autumnal and homey. Double Apple Bundt Cake will fit the bill perfectly. She has the ingredients and she can JUST squeeze its preparation into her Thursday afternoon. The youngest lad has to be ferried to soccer practice before the cake will come out of the oven, but no matter, The Husband will take care of its last minute needs. She calls instructions to him as she dashes out the door: "When the timer rings, five minutes in the pan cooling on a rack, then turn it out onto the rack and leave it."

She returns, eager to see a browned crown of cakey goodness resting on the cooling rack. Instead, she finds a broken half-cake on the rack and its twin half still stuck in the cake pan. "I'm sorry," says The Husband, with not nearly enough grief in his voice.

"Didn't you loosen the cake with a knife all around the grooves before you tried to turn it out?" she asks, bereft.

"I didn't know I should do that," he answers, more sympathetically now.

Hmmm. Suggestions requested -- how do I salvage it?

[Marlene]

It seems to be my role on this thread to provide comic relief. This week's episode:

Lori wants a dessert, made ahead, to serve to potential company after an event on Friday night. She wants something autumnal and homey. Double Apple Bundt Cake will fit the bill perfectly. She has the ingredients and she can JUST squeeze its preparation into her Thursday afternoon. The youngest lad has to be ferried to soccer practice before the cake will come out of the oven, but no matter, The Husband will take care of its last minute needs. She calls instructions to him as she dashes out the door: "When the timer rings, five minutes in the pan cooling on a rack, then turn it out onto the rack and leave it."

She returns, eager to see a browned crown of cakey goodness resting on the cooling rack. Instead, she finds a broken half-cake on the rack and its twin half still stuck in the cake pan. "I'm sorry," says The Husband, with not nearly enough grief in his voice.

"Didn't you loosen the cake with a knife all around the grooves before you tried to turn it out?" she asks, bereft.

"I didn't know I should do that," he answers, more sympathetically now.

Hmmm. Suggestions requested -- how do I salvage it?

←

Oh dear. Trifle maybe?

[snowangel]

It seems to be my role on this thread to provide comic relief. This week's episode:

Lori wants a dessert, made ahead, to serve to potential company after an event on Friday night. She wants something autumnal and homey. Double Apple Bundt Cake will fit the bill perfectly. She has the ingredients and she can JUST squeeze its preparation into her Thursday afternoon. The youngest lad has to be ferried to soccer practice before the cake will come out of the oven, but no matter, The Husband will take care of its last minute needs. She calls instructions to him as she dashes out the door: "When the timer rings, five minutes in the pan cooling on a rack, then turn it out onto the rack and leave it."

She returns, eager to see a browned crown of cakey goodness resting on the cooling rack. Instead, she finds a broken half-cake on the rack and its twin half still stuck in the cake pan. "I'm sorry," says The Husband, with not nearly enough grief in his voice.

"Didn't you loosen the cake with a knife all around the grooves before you tried to turn it out?" she asks, bereft.

"I didn't know I should do that," he answers, more sympathetically now.

Hmmm. Suggestions requested -- how do I salvage it?

←

Lori, how about serving the cake pre-sliced?

[Lori in PA]

If I wanted to serve it pre-sliced, I'd have to really serve it pre-chunked -- it's that sad. I thought of toasting hunks of it and making bread pudding with caramelize apples, but I don't know if the cake would get too soggy with the bread/cream mixture. Anybody ever do something like that? Other ideas?

[alanamoana]

new, more sympathetic husband?

i think the trifle sounds great. especially if you have a beautiful trifle dish. you can make it with apples to keep the theme of the cake going. toasted nuts, etc. also, since it is practically autumn, you can (instead of whipped cream) use a combo of creme fraiche/sour cream and mascarpone or cream cheese all whipped as the creamy part to give it a richness that suits the weather. maybe a caramel based sauce to cook the apples in which will soak into the cake? it will come close to a bread pudding without having to bake the whole thing! a cool, rich, creamy trifle/pudding...?!

edited to add: sorry for the stream of consciousness writing style. i just jotted things down as they came to mind.

Edited October 6, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[CanadianBakin']

I'd cut it into chunks and warm it up. Put it in individual bowls, top with a scoop of vanilla icecream and a good drizzle of homemade caramel sauce. Mmmmmm...

[ludja]

I'd cut it into chunks and warm it up. Put it in individual bowls, top with a scoop of vanilla icecream and a good drizzle of homemade caramel sauce. Mmmmmm...

←

All the ideas sound great, but CanadianBakin's idea would work for me! Sounds like a great way to serve this cake!

[Lori in PA]

Thank you for the very good-sounding ideas. I'd try one of them, but the cake is GONE -- The Husband just ate the last piece and said, "It may not be pretty, but is sure tastes good!" Next time, I'll either make sure I'm home when the unpanning moment arrives or I'll give more detailed instructions...

[Kim D]

I knew I needed another cookbook. But didn't know which one. Until this thread.

I made Banana Bundt Cake. I had way overripe bananas, a bundt pan still in its wrapper and a hankering for dessert.

My husband loved it and so did I. And now it's gone.

[SweetSide]

Today I made the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters -- very good. I like cookies with a lot of flavor, and these have it. I also want to try subbing out the chocolate chips and putting in salty peanuts as a peanut butter cookie. Mmmm.

I must say, my daughter is enjoying picking out treats for herself....

[Chihiran]

I received my copy of the book on Friday and I baked the citrus berry muffins today. I brought them to a meeting and they disappeared quickly! This is really rare with "American" food for Japanese people. Some of us have difficulty getting past the supermarket cakes. They're so light and just sweet enough. Thank you!!!

(it's a huge picture, next I have to learn to make them smaller!)

[rjwong]

Thank you for the very good-sounding ideas. I'd try one of them, but the cake is GONE -- The Husband just ate the last piece and said, "It may not be pretty, but is sure tastes good!" ...

←

Lori, how did you respond to that statement? For some reason, I'm imagining you taking a cast iron skillet and working on your two-handed backhand, and saying to your husband, "I'm sorry" ...

How about a picture to post when you make a Double Apple Bundt Cake, properly unpanned ...?

Chihiran, DON'T MAKE THEM SMALLER!! That photo is a nice size to lick the monitor!! Did you cut back on the sugar that's in the recipe?

[hosinmigs]

Well, thanks to everyone's comments here I decided to go out and buy the book at Costco yesterday. WOW. I love it! The problem is deciding what to make first. I think it just might have to be the biscuits. I love biscuits. yum.

[Kim D]

I'm two for two. I made the Banana Bundt Cake a couple of days ago and yesterday I made the Double Apple Bundt Cake. It's already half gone and I didn't slice it until this morning.

I didn't put in the full amount of raisins because the raisins I had were not at all moist and tasted very sugary.

I shouldn't have held back. The raisins plumped up just fine when they baked.

[Pat W]

I made the Applesauce Spice Bars last night. What a success! They are definitely a 10 on the yummy scale. Perfectly spiced & the apples, pecans & raisins give them a wonderful texture. They were also fun to make.

I just ate another one to make sure I wasn't exaggerating. I hope you appreciate the lengths to which I will go to insure accuracy.

pat w.

[tamiam]

Still loving my book. Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits are the plan for today.

But I have a question for Dorie, or for anyone else out there who has experience. The book favors silicone baking pans because items remove without sticking.

What is your experience with silicon pans? Is it worth buying any? If so, any particular kind?

I always thought of them as gimmicky. They are sold as an easy cleanup item, but since they are so wiggly, you have to place them on top of a whole other pan, making the cleanup issue moot. And I wish the edges were sharper, like you get with metal. My reaction is so strong that one time a guy approached my BF and I in the back of BF's discount store. The guy had a trunk full of royal blue silicone bakeware. He gave me a couple to demo in the hopes that we could carry them in the store. The guy never returned, and I didn't even keep the free demo pieces. Am I so very wrong about this?

[Dorie Greenspan]

To all of you have baked and posted -- thank you!

The pics of the applesauce bars and muffins look great. The Applesauce Spice Bars have been in my kitchen notebook for decades, but I never tire of them -- I'm glad you liked them. And I was tickled to read that Chihiran's Japanese friends were happy to have American muffins.

To Tamiam about silicone baking pans. I would never advocate tossing out your metal pans for silicone -- in fact, the majority of my bakeware is metal and I use metal the vast majority of the time. But, I do think the silicone molds are good for cakes with curves, for example, Bundt cakes and madeleines; I like them most of all for madeleines. The only other time I use silicone is for muffins -- and then not all the time.

(In fact, I think that the only times silicone pans are mentioned in the book are for muffins, Bundts and madeleines.)

You're right that because the silicone pans are floppy you've got to put them on another pan (except you shouldn't do this with any pan that has a center opening -- the opening is there so the oven's heat can circulate), but I like to bake most things on a baking sheet. And, because I line my baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, there isn't the issue of extra clean-up.

Whether you use metal or silicone, you should be fine -- just have fun baking!

[Pat W]

but I like to bake most things on a baking sheet. 

←

OK, that was the one thing that confused me in the recipe. It said to place the 9X13 pan on a baking sheet. Does this make the pan heat more evenly? I still can't quite grasp why on a baking sheet is better than the pan in the oven by itself.

This is a really wonderful cookbook. I'm so happy I was seduced in to buying it by this thread. Thank you for making it so beautiful and accessible.

pat w.

[laniloa]

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.

[KMPickard]

It's two for two for me too.

I made the Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake for our Thanksgiving gathering today.

The universal reaction was "WOW, this is really good". In fact, it was so good that it totally disappeared without the opportunity for me to photograph it. You'll have to take my word that it looked as good as it tasted.

I used my favorite baking apple, Liberty, in place of the Golden Delicious and the flavour and texture were excellent.

Hmmm... what to try next?

Kathy

[beccaboo]

What is your experience with silicon pans?  Is it worth buying any?  If so, any particular kind?

←

I use silicone muffin pans and like them pretty well. I arrange 3 6-hole ones on a half-sheet pan and don't have to wash the sheet afterwards.

The brand really does make a difference. I had some Silicone Zone ones and they were worthless--everything stuck to them. Now I have two Gastroflex pans and a Le Creuset pan and they both work pretty well. The muffins I bake in the Gastroflex ones come out a little nicer-looking, with better-colored, more attractively-rounded tops, but the Le Creuset ones are fine.

[Pat W]

I guess this would go under the "you can teach an old dog new tricks...sort of.." heading.

After having successfully used the same buttermilk biscuit recipe for more than 30 years, I thought I would try one from this book. As luck would have it, we were out of buttermilk, so I went with the Basic Biscuits. I did the "working the butter in with your fingers" thing, which in theory sounded like a satisfying way to mix. In practice I found myself rinsing off gunky fingers and reaching for my trusty old pastry blender. (It was the first time I've attempted the finger thing, will try it again next time.)

The dough needed at least a quarter of cup or so more milk (using U.S. flour) than the recipe called for to come together. It kneaded beautifully, but after being patted out to 1/2 inch yielded only 7 1/2 biscuits. This confused me. The new, extra sharp biscuit cutter I used was about 2 3/4 inch as opposed to my regular 2 1/2 inch, but it doesn't seem that like that should have caused such a dramatic difference in yield.

An old friend of ours, who has an uncanny ability to show up at our doorstep whenever I have biscuits in the oven, knocked on the door just as the timer went off. (I haven't a clue how he does this, but it's been going on for more than twenty-five years.)

He was, to say the least, smitten with the biscuits. Kept bubbling on about the lovely crisp outsides and the fluffy, flaky insides. I have to admit, the texture was perfect, exactly as he described. They were very good, but I think I will like the buttermilk version even better. Having said that, what could possibly be more deliciously decadent than the sour cream pecan version? Will almost certainly try them next.

The photo doesn't do the buttered one justice. Bad angle & I'm not all that great with a flash.

pat w.