Classic Brownies + Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

I love brownies.  Well, let me clarify that statement.  I love all of Dorie's brownies.  We were recently traveling in and around Denver and stopped at a bakery/deli.  There was a request for chocolate raspberry bread pudding (this was good, but I kept thinking how Dorie's Apple Apple Bread Pudding is not just good, it's fabulous).  There was also a request for a brownie.  This brownie was a real disappointment and I think it was, as my husband put it, "the fat is off".  I'm quite sure that if they used butter, they didn't use all butter.  It did not satisfy.

Classic Brownies

So it was with great pleasure that I had an excuse to bake Dorie Greenspan's Classic Brownies along with the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers.  Delicious!  Not too cakey and not too gooey.  In other words, just right.











This week I pulled out of the freezer the Double Crusted Blueberry Pie that I made before we left for Denver.  What a lucky stroke that was, as blueberry season is just over here and yet we are extending the season by enjoying this delightful pie.

Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

Chocolate Spice Quickies

I made these quite a long time ago and nearly decided to skip this recipe since we were going to be traveling.  But the "Quickie" in the title and the desire (obsession?) to bake along with the Tuesdays with Dorie crowd was enough incentive to whip up the logs, freeze them, and bake just a few before we left for the weekend.

This time, I actually took the time to blanch the almonds.  It's not a hard task, and it is surprisingly satisfying to pop off the almond skins, but it added a bit of time to the quickiness of the recipe.  I must say, however, that I'm glad I did.  I'd read that there is tanin in almond skins that provides a slightly bitter taste which is not always appreciated when baking.  I think for these cookies, there is a noticeable difference with blanched v. unblanched almonds and I much prefer using blanched almonds.

The cookies were great--not brownies, but they aren't advertised as such.  They were a little too fragile to survive traveling in a plastic bag in a purse on an airplane, but it didn't matter because we happily shared the crumbs during a layover at an airport and it was a great little chocolate fix.

This picture is just for show.  The cookies (most of them anyway)
 traveled with us by plane and were a happy little snack
 at the airport.

Rewind! Brioche Raisin Snails and Summer Fruit Galette

I joined Tuesdays with Dorie in January 2010--about 20 months ago.  The group had already been going strong, baking through Dorie Greenspan's fabulous book, Baking from my Home to Yours.  I had been baking through the book in a rather random way, but Tuesdays with Dorie helped me focus in on a particular recipe each week--plus there was the fun of knowing that lots of other folks were baking the same thing!  The Tuesdays with Dorie bakers expect to finish baking all of the recipes by the end of the year!  I'm hopeful I'll cross the finish line with them, although I do have 35 recipes to complete instead of 13!

This week, I baked two absolutely wonderful recipes.

First off, I used the brioche dough from last week to make Brioche Raisin Snails.  Wow!  Was that ever fun!  I loved soaking the raisins in boiling water for 4 minutes, then dumping in some rum, and lighting it!  Playing with fire in the kitchen!  The interesting thing about the rummy raisins is that the rum flavor wasn't really detectable--they just tasted delicious.

The second recipe I made was a Summer Fruit Galette.  I made this for my birthday and used fresh peaches.  Beautiful, wonderful, and delicious!  I followed Dorie's suggestion and spread the dough with ginger preserves and while I wouldn't have thought it possible, the preserves improved the taste of the already splendid peaches.

Golden Brioche Loaf + some catching up

I've been traveling the past month and so have been unable to post every week.  Every time I've been home, however, I've been baking!

The Golden Brioche Loaves that are this week's Tuesdays with Dorie choice, need to be started a day in advance.  The batter is fun to make, though time consuming.  The most amazing part was to beat in 3 cubes of butter, a little at a time.  The sticky dough turned into a smooth batter--isn't butter wonderful?

After the batter rose in the refrigerator, I got it out this morning and rolled four little logs which I placed into the loaf pan.  Dorie says it takes up to an hour an a half to rise, depending on the warmth of the kitchen.  My kitchen was downright cool today so after five hours I declared the dough risen enough and baked it up.  It just came out of the oven and smells heavenly.  I think it will taste great, but it certainly didn't rise as much as I thought.

Golden Brioche Loaf

With the second half of the dough I plan to make Dorie's Brioche raisin snails tomorrow.  The raisins have been rum-i-fied, and the pastry cream made.

And now for the catching up:
I made the Dimply Plum Cake but used peaches instead of plums.  During peach season, I gorge myself on peaches!  It was wonderful with Dorie's lemon zest and fresh basil variation and folks who ate it at brunch last week pronounced it wonderful.

Dimply PEACH cake

I also made Carrot Spice Muffins, which were August 9th's TWD choice.  I've baked them in the past, but last week I made them as mini muffins because they were to be served at a pot luck where there were lots of choices.  They were tasty as mini muffins, but I think I prefer the concentration of flavor in the regular size.

Carrot Spice Muffins

Tropical Crumble

I have been away for most of the past month.  We arrived home last night, I went to the store and bought butter this morning, so I'm ready to bake!

Usually I bake Dorie's recipes as written.  However, it is PEACH season and for two or three weeks, I intend to gorge myself on peaches.  Instead of a "tropical" crumble, I made a summertime crumble, with fresh peaches instead of mangoes.

Yummy!  But as others found, I think there is too much butter in the crumble.  Probably could cut it in half.

Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet

I have been out of the blogging loop because I have been alternately out of town and staying in town to spend time with a dear friend in hospice.  When my friend Chris was only eating liquid food two weeks ago, she said she had been told she could have ice cream.  I told her I would make her some chocolate sorbet.  She was only able to have the smallest taste.

Singing together
Chris is standing, the third from the left

Cream Scones & Mixed Berry Cobbler

I didn't bake or post last week.  I feel badly about missing a week, but I spent last Tuesday with my husband at the dentist's office and then at the Urgent Care facility.  He was on an extension ladder when it slipped and he plunged about 8 feet, hitting the hard wood floor.  No body parts were broken, although 2  of his teeth were pushed out of place.  The ladder crashed into the 20 gallon aquarium and punched a hole near the top--about 5 gallons of water spurted out all over the place.  As he put it, we had "way too much excitement" that day.

I almost didn't bake this morning but couldn't resist mixing up Dorie Greenspan's Cream Scones which is this week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick.  They are so easy and Dorie suggests that it's possible to freeze the dough, which I did.  (Ok, well I admit that I just baked one little scone for me.)

Scone dough ready to pop into the freezer

My one delicious scone

The day before the furious fall last week, I  baked Dorie's Mixed Berry Cobbler  with blueberries, mulberries from the CSA, raspberries from my neighbor, and strawberries from the farm market.  Wonderful!

Mixed Berry Cobbler

With ice cream!