Strawberry Shortcakes Franco-American Style

Strawberry season is so short that I always find myself making everything with strawberries during the few weeks when the local berries are available.  This week the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers had the opportunity to make Strawberry Shortcakes Franco-American Style, found on page 338 of Baking Chez Moi.

The fun part for me was using that open star decorating tip that I bought to decorate the Limoncello mini-cupcakes a few weeks ago.  Who knew that a little $2 purchase could bring so much pleasure?!
I used it this time to pipe on the whipped cream.  Messy, but really fun to do.

We enjoyed these shortcakes very much.  They were lighter than the usual American biscuit-type shortcake and oh, so delicious!

For more scrumptious strawberry pictures, check out the blogs of other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers.

Sifting the dry ingredients

Making the meringue

piping them on to the baking sheet

The leftovers

Out of the oven

The finished product!

Fun with piping on the whipped cream!

Chocolate Cherry Brownies

There are few desserts that I enjoy more than brownies.  When I baked through Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours,  I was delighted to find several brownie recipes, each different from the other and each wonderful in its own way.  So when her new book, Baking Chez Moi arrived last fall, one of the first recipes I baked was the only new brownie recipe:  Chocolate Cherry Brownies.

I've learned so much about baking from Dorie and from this recipe I learned that it doesn't take much wine to really ramp up the flavor of dried fruit!  The cherries were delicious in these brownies!

The Tuesdays with Dorie bakers baked these brownies this week.  I have to admit that I did not, but only because I was on an airplane traveling home to Rochester, NY from the west coast.   So the only picture I can provide this time is the page in the book with my notes from November:

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Notice the note:  11-17-2014
                            Very dense, very tasty.

If you want to see what the other Tuesday with Dorie bakers have to say about these brownies, and see their wonderful pictures, go here.