Jammer Galette

I really liked this recipe!  And if you plan ahead, it is super simple.  Basically, it's a big shortbread cookie topped with preserves and heavily covered with a lovely streusel.  You can make the crust and streusel ahead of time and how hard is it to open a jar of preserves?!  I actually made it twice in the past couple of weeks--once with raspberry preserves and the second time with 4-berry preserves.  Sorry I didn't get a photo of it on the serving plate, but I shared each of the galettes at events with friends and before I knew it, it was all gone!  I'm sure I'll be baking this again.

To see how other Tuesday with Dorie bakers fared this month, be sure to check here.

Matcha Financiers

I'm so glad there is a make-up Tuesday this month because it gives me the opportunity to bake the Matcha Financiers which I hoped to get done this month!

We were away for two weeks, visiting sons in Seattle and Portland.  While in Seattle, I looked for matcha tea and found it in a beautiful tin at Remedy Teas.  However, the beautiful tiny tin of tea cost $30 and that seemed too pricey when I only needed 1 1/2 teaspoons!  Happily, I found a bin of matcha in the bulk section of the Central Co-op and was able to buy just the right amount for the reasonable price of $0.85!  I had to transport that tea back home, however, so as to be able to use my favorite mixing bowls and pans.

The little bit of matcha that I bought from the Co-op for $0.85!  It may look like there is a lot in the bag, but that's because the inside of the bag was coated with the fine powder as it traveled from Seattle, WA to Rochester, NY.

All my ingredients ready.

Stirring in the matcha and flour.  

Not really pea-green, but definitely shiny.

Going into the oven.  I decided to make just enough for this evening and more tomorrow.

Mine didn't turn out as green as some of the pictures I saw.  Difference in the matcha?

I meant to take a picture of the split level pudding but didn't remember until it was all gone!  It was scrumptious!

There are still some posts up of other baker's Matcha Financiers.  Check them out here:  https://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/bcm-lyl-matcha-financiers-or-odiles-fresh-orange-cake-2/

Odile's Fresh Orange Cake

The picture in Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking Chez Moi, is absolutely beautiful and I was delighted to bake this lovely fresh orange cake.

It was an easy cake to prepare and I enjoyed cutting up the oranges for the topping.  Dorie says you need 3 oranges--I used 2 1/2.  She's right:  you need three oranges.  While my cake looked pretty fantastic, covering the whole top would have been even more so!  I guess I'll just have to bake this one again!

Getting ready

Straining the oranges for the topping

Oranges on

A sprinkle of powdered sugar

Hot Chocolate Panna Cotta

I was hoping that this month's choices for Tuesdays with Dorie would be something that I could easily serve to a big crowd of guests.  We continue with our once-a-week soup nights and generally about 25 people have been showing up each Monday night.

I baked the Sunday in Paris cakes (my son was traveling to Paris and it seemed like the appropriate thing to bake), and they were a big hit.  But making Panna Cotta or the Soft Centered Chocolate Teacup Cakes for 25 just wasn't going to work.

Sunday in Paris Cakes

So this week I made the  Hot Chocolate Panna Cotta to take to a brunch with a few friends and it was delightful.  

Heating up the milk, cream, and cocoa

Melting the chocolate

Bubbling around the edges

The chocolate is melted and ready to be added to the cream

Allowing the gelatin to bloom

I almost forgot to take a picture of the finished Panna Cotta!  This is the last one.

We enjoyed this recipe:  my husband is a big fan of Panna Cotta and its smooth texture.

Check out the results of the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers  here.

Fluted Tangerine-Carrot Cake

Last week I made two cakes for our Soup Night guests:  Dorie's Fluted Tangerine Carrot Cake and  Betty's Chocoholic Cake.  What a contrast in flavors and intensity!

Halfway through Soup Night:  the tangerine cake and the chocolate cake have been equally enjoyed!  By the end of the evening, only crumbs remained.

In my last post, I described how my husband and I host weekly "Soup Nights" during the winter.  We live where it's cold and snowy (Rochester, New York, which is located in western New York, no where near NYC.)  For the past dozen years, we have invited our friends to join us once a week throughout the winter for soup, bread, and desserts.  Folks usually contribute wine or a side dish.  It's a wonderful way to see friends during the stay-at-home months and what could be better than gathering around delicious food?!

This week I made Dorie Greenspan's Fluted Carrot Tangerine Cake.  I thought I took a lot of pictures of the tangerine cake preparations, but I guess I only got the very beginnings! 

I enjoyed making and eating this cake.  It reminded me of Dorie's Swedish Visiting Cake from Baking from my Home to Yours.  Fairly simple to make with subtle but lovely flavors, and beautiful to look at.  I'm sorry that I didn't get a better picture!

I always make two desserts for Soup Night (we have 20+ guests) so I decided that it would be cake night.  Betty's Chocoholic Cake is definitely intense!  Oh so pretty and oh so chocolatey.  If one ate a little slice of the chocolate cake and then a little slice of the tangerine cake, the intensity of the chocolate overpowered the tangerine.  

Our guests enjoyed both cakes--the only leftovers were a few crumbs.

Lemon Squares, French Style

Every now and then I'll be at a potluck and someone will bring lemon squares.  They are usually tasty, but occasionally they are too sweet or gloppy.  I looked forward to trying Dorie Greenspan's Lemon Squares, French Style.

Let me just say the these were scrumptious.  The lemon curd was the perfect consistency and very lemon-y without being overly tart.  The crust was lovely, as one might expect with the use of almond flour.  The key here, I think, is that this recipe uses one pound of butter.  With that much butter, how can it not taste great?!

Cooking up the lemon curd.  Notice those hunks of butter?

Rolling out the crust, using a small glass as Dorie suggested.

The crust has baked a bit.

About to spread out the lemon curd.

Ready for the oven with extra crust sprinkled on top and finally topped with chopped, slice almonds.

Out of the oven.

Dorie writes that the edges will caramelize and that they will be the best part.  I figured my guests would think that the edges were "burnt", so I trimmed them off.  And ate them myself.  Yummy!

Here's my husband, setting things up for our first Soup Night of the winter.  The Lemon Squares and Dorie's Apple-Apple Bread Pudding (from Baking From My Home to Yours) are the first things our guests will encounter when they arrive.  My son made the two artisanal breads, and there are two big pots of soup on the stove, Mrs. Albarelli's Italian Bean Soup and Mushroom Bisque.  

For the past twelve years, we have invited friends to our house to share delicious soup, fresh bread, and luscious desserts, for a series of nine Mondays in a row throughout the winter.  It's a chance to fill our house with good food, good friends, and good conversation.  Last night was the first Soup Night of the season and we had 28 guests!  People bring wine, salads, appetizers and side dishes to share.  I send out a bunch of invitations but RSVPs are unnecessary:  I like t be surprised!  It was a wonderful evening!  I learned about new jobs, happy excursions, and overheard conversations about brewing beer, scuba diving, jigsaw puzzles and grandchildren.  All of the desserts and breads were consumed and we had just one quart of soup left over.  It was great to reconnect with our friends on a cold, snowy night and great to share my baking with them.

To see what other Tuesday with Dorie bakers baked this week, check out this link.

Stained Glass Window Cookies

Every year about this time I notice magazines with articles about the best cookies to bake at Christmas.  Often one of those recipes is "Stained Glass" cookies--sugar cookies with cut-outs into which you put crushed candy.  The result, at least in the magazine pictures, looks terrific and fun.  So I was really happy that Dorie's recipe for Stained Glass Cookies was chosen to be baked this December.  I had a holiday party to attend this past Saturday and planned to bake them for the party.

While at the store, I picked out lifesavers from the bulk bin.  I hadn't remembered how many Dorie said I'd need, but I selected several in different colors until I figured I had enough.  When I looked at the recipe she said about 15 and guess what?  I had exactly 15!  It was as if this was confirmation that my cookies were going to be perfect!

I made the dough, rolled it thin, put it in the refrigerator.  Everything was going as planned.

I crushed the lifesavers by color, using my heavy and excellent mortar and pestle.  They looked very pretty indeed.

I rolled out the cookies and cut them into two-inch rounds.  So far so good.

Dorie suggests cutting one or more tiny circles in each cookie, using a 1/4" icing tip.  This was the start of my problems.  I had star shaped tips about that size but that didn't work.  I tried using the tip of a grapefruit knife and that wasn't successful.  I finally used the end of the decorating bag coupler and that worked reasonably well.

Then I used the same coupler as a funnel to fill the holes with crushed candy.  I painted on some egg wash and sprinkled on sugar.

The first results out of the oven were okay, but not great.

The second tray was not so great--I forgot to set the timer and overbaked them, the candy turned brown (as Dorie warned that it would) and the cookies did too.

By the time the too-brown cookies came out of the oven, I had about one hour left before we were leaving for the holiday party.  One thing I've learned from Dorie is that if something isn't coming out as well as you'd planned, it's best to improvise!  I pulled out a simple Christmas tree cookie cutter, cut the cookies and sprinkled on some colored sanding sugar.  (I suppose I could have tried the crushed lifesavers but I really wasn't sure how the candy would melt).

I ended up with a small tray of cookies.  They tasted great and were much appreciated at the party, but weren't the cool looking stained glass cookies I had hoped for.  One thing I've learned, however, is that when someone compliments my baking, I just smile and say thank you.  It's unnecessary to reveal that the result wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I started.  And those overly browned cookies?  My husband thinks they were delicious and has been steadily eating them up.

Check out what the other Tuesdays with Dorie baked this week.  And if you don't have Baking Chez Moi  by Dorie Greenspan, tell everyone you know it would be a perfect gift.