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.

Rhubarb Upside Down Brown Sugar Cake

Rhubarb season is so short where we live (upstate New York).  So when the Tuesday with Dorie bakers decided to bake with rhubarb this week, I was a little concerned.  I sent my husband off to Wegmans in search of rhubarb and none was to be had.  But somehow in conversation with friends the search for rhubarb came up and my friend Carol advised me that her former neighbor had tons of it in her backyard and wouldn't mind at all if we took some.  So we went knocking on said neighbor's door and I left not only with rhubarb, but also several heirloom tomato plants!

This cake was easy to bake.  The interesting part was preparing the rhubarb.  It is peeled, then cut up, then allowed to sit for half an hour combined with a half a cup of sugar.  The rhubarb gave up quite a bit of juice which Dorie recommends using as a syrup in various drinks.  I used it to flavor some water and it was delightful!

The rhubarb is caramelized and then distributed in a 9" round pan.  Then the very easy-to-make batter is poured over.

I don't think mine was a particularly beautiful and the rhubarb makes it quite tangy.  Dorie recommends serving it with ice cream or strawberries.  I served mine with strawberry ice cream and it was wonderful!

Nutella Buttons

I have been conscientious about baking and posting with the other Tuesday with Dorie bakers, but nevertheless,  I'm in a period of life that is just hurry, hurry, hurry.  I baked these last week, but only ate one before I carried them out the door to our local contra dance.  They were all consumed and many compliments found their way back to me.

These were easy and looked lovely, especially with the ganache.  I'll be making them again and keeping more than one for myself!

The egg whites and the yolk-y batter

Beginning to fold in the whites

A few left to add the top bit of batter

The glazed buttons

Coconut Tapioca

We have a wonderful bulk foods store in Rochester (NY) that sells just about every kind of flour, dried fruit, nuts, and coconut that you can imagine.  They had three kinds of tapioca!  They do mail order if you'd like to give them a try.  Niblack

This was a breeze to  make and everyone enjoyed it.  It reminded me that I enjoy making pudding, especially stirring and watching the chemical changes!

My family wondered about bonne idea possibilities.  We decided that we could add coconut, drizzle on some chocolate, or use cherry liquer instead of vanilla and add dried cherries during the cooking so they would plump up.  Anyone else have other ideas?

However, I think this was delicious on its own.  Here's my little dish with a strawberry added for color!  If you want to check out the posts of other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers, here's the link.

Limoncello Cupcakes

Two obstacles arose to baking this recipe for Limoncello Cupcakes.

Obstacle number 1:  I didn't have limoncello and had never heard of it.  Obstacle overcome when I sent my husband off to buy a bottle. He learned that  it's best served very cold and we should keep it in the freezer.  Don't know whether I'll be drinking it or using it in cupcakes!

Obstacle number 2:  Dorie suggests decorating with a swirl of frosting using an open star decorating tip.  I couldn't find my decorating supplies!  Had I given them to a friend or relative?  Had I stored them in a new place after I reorganized my kitchen?   Second obstacle overcome when I walked down to my local cooking supply store and bought a lovely open star tip for $1.90.  I decided against buying a package of pastry bags or a fancy-schmancy silicon bag.  Instead, I cut a corner off a plastic sandwich bag and dropped the tip in for a make-shift pastry bag.

The cupcakes are simple to make.  I decided to make a bunch of mini cupcakes and a few regular-sized cupcakes.  The yield was 24 minis and 6 regulars.  The real fun part was decorating them--it was well worth the $1.90 spent on the decorating tip!  And I think these were a light, lovely spring treat.

Check out what the other Tuesday with Dorie bakers did with this recipe!

Rewind: Crispy-Topped Brown Sugar Bars

I'm a conscientious person and love to bake, so how come I am already needing to "catch up" with baking through Baking Chez Moi?  Two weeks ago I had an unexpected illness that threw me into the hospital.  I was really sick.  The crisis is over and I'm slowly regaining energy and stamina.  When I'm not sleeping, I'm resting, and this has been frustrating since I'm ordinarily an active person.  Fortunately, my family has taken up the slack and my good friend Roberta gave me her best "mother advice":  Don't, don't overdo anything! Don't go bake any cookies or anything!! Just take it easy.

I took Roberta's advice for as long as I could, but today I did bake.  It was great to be back in the kitchen and happily, these bars are easy to make.

I heeded the advice of those who wrote in on the Tuesday Chatter and decided to bake the crust for a shorter time than Dorie suggests.  After 13 minutes, my crust was puffy and reasonably golden so I pulled it out, put on the chocolate, and back in the oven.  

I had attempted the caramelized Rice Krispies yesterday.  My energy was low and I didn't stir them quite as vigorously as I should have, and they turned out a little clumpy but good enough.

The sugar starting to burble

The verdict of my family is that these are quite tasty.  And I'm so  glad to have had enough energy to bake them--even though I'm a week late.

One happy little treat

Lemon Madeleines

Every cookie has its place and time and madeleines want to be eaten right away with tea or coffee.   These lovely lemon madeleines with their lemony glaze are especially yummy with tea.

This is a straight-forward recipe found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi on page 212.  The ones I baked yesterday didn't get the "bump" that some Madeleines have but I still have some batter left and will try again today!  (My madeleine pan only has 9 molds so it takes a bit of time to bake them since you have to leave them in the fridge for at least an hour.)  If I'm successful with the bump, I'll edit this post---

Adding the glaze

Out of the oven with the glaze happily melted

Pretty and delicious!