Double Tuesdays with Dorie with a Rewind

Holy ga-moly! Can you say busy?! I have this coming weekend to catch up on all the recipes I've tried and photographed, but haven't blogged about before my brother's wedding and then a much-needed vacation-post sprint incentive at work. Phew-I'm getting tired. And last week I had to be tardy in making TWD's Dimply Plum (or in my case, nectarine) Cake. It was for good reason though.....my very very good friend B from HSM was visiting for the week!!!!!!!! In between hikes, skating fun, Avenue Q, coffee shops, thrift stores, a full on Season 1 Heroes marathon, and oh yeah, work, there just wasn't time for baking. We were going to bake together, but we only had time for sushi-ing together.

Making some homemade sushi for a living room-Heroes picnic!

Last Thursday I drowned my sorrows that my friend was gone by baking this cake. I got to use my new grater/zester that I got for my birthday for the orange zest. I used nectarines instead of plums. Plums are my favorite fruit and they were no where to be found last week :-( Suddenly, I can find them in the stores again. I'm not sure if this cake was really meant to be. The cake tastes pretty good, but I'm not obsessed with it. I've mostly been letting my roommate eat it and when I grab a bite, I don't like any pieces that have nectarine in them. You can find the recipe at last week's host, Michelle's site, Bake-En.


For this week's TWD, after the whirlwind of B's visit I just didn't have it in me to a. buy ramekins for the creme brulee and b. risk my apartment's safety with the broiler action. So I did a rewind. I appreciate Mari's challenge, though! It was actually easy to narrow down which recipe to try, even though there are so many I want to! I got some fun birthday presents: a silicone scone pan, and a hilarious brownie pan, so it was either brownies or scones. I opted for the French Chocolate Brownies and I added a white chocolate glaze.

I love this recipe because it's really a cake masquerading as brownies. Perfect for this Edge brownie pan (my dad picked it out for me, ha). It's designed so that every piece has an edge, which is the chewiest and best part of a brownie, especially with this recipe.



These brownies lived up to their chewey promise! For the glaze, I just melted 2 ounces of white chocolate left over from the cookies two weeks ago and brushed it on the cooled product. You can check out the Creme Brulee recipe on Mari's blog, Mevrouw Cupcake and the French Chocolate Brownies (which look gorgey) on Fool for Food.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Chunkers

Dorie says these cookies are so good they are only deserving of using the very best chocolate. None of this Safeway brand semi-sweet chocolate chip business. If you're going to be spending all that money on these cookies, they should only be for special occasions. So, it was great timing that the couple's wedding shower I was hosting for my brother and future sister-in-law was this weekend! And you know your desert is a hit when you get asked for the recipe.

I used Ghiradeli bittersweet and white chocolate, in addition to the semi-sweet chocolate chunks and cocoa powder. I got a great look of confusion from the check-out guy at the store when all I bought were 4 giants chocolate bars and 4 Luna bars. I'm sure he was just jealous of the delicoiusness I was about to make.

I also used dried sweet cherries instead of the raisins which were the BEST part of the cookie. I opted for almonds for the nuts. I didn't have time to roast them, but they still added a nice crunch to all the cookie chunkiness. Scooping them into rounds for baking was interesting because there were so many chunks and so little dough holding them all together, but I managed ;-).
I LOVE these cookies. They are tied for my favorite with the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters from a few weeks ago (which also set a 20 minute disappearance record at work when I brought them in after round two of making them). They are decadent, soft, chewy, and have just enough variety. I really recommend using cherries. You can find the recipe over at Claudia's place.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Malted Malteser Drops

I think every time I opened Dorie's book I would look at this recipe. I was so excited to see it on the list of upcoming recipes so soon after I started TWD. This was a great recipe and a HUGE hit with my co-workers.

I made a special trip and picked up some Maltesers to use instead of Whoppers. I like to pretend I'm Britsh, remember. I actually just threw away a hugh bag of Maltesers not too long ago. My Finnish friend from studying in London sent me a giant box of Maltesers for Christmas and six months later I decided I needed to get rid of the left-overs. They would have really come in handy...

This was the gooey-est dough I've ever made. I ditched my little cookie scooper asap. But it did make soft, cakey cookies, which is my FAVorite texture for a cookie.

See how ooey-cookie-chocolatey-yummy this was! I agree with a lot of the other TWD-ers that it was too choclatey. This cookie put me in a chocolate coma. But that didn't stop me from eating the whole thing, I just needed a whole glass of milk to help me finish it.

I added an extra tablespoon and a half of flour for high altitute. Also, I was a little short on Maltesers (I didn't chop them, just put them in a plastic bag and crushed them with a meat mallet), so I added some more chocolate and malt powder. I think they were too malt-ey with the extra malt I added, so I will definitely cut down on that next time. Thanks to Rachel from Confessions of a Tangerine Tart for choosing this ooey-gooey-Malteser-tastic cookie. See how the other TWD-ers got their cookie on at the TWD blogroll.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

I'm a serial batter eater. Usually I taste a batter and think to myself, "mmm yummy". When I was making these cookies I was knocked out when I went for that first just-mixed lick. I have never been so surprised by a taste as I was with these cookies. I even semi-cussed out loud. And then I felt guilty for almost saying a bad word over such a wholesome treat. I had no idea the cinnamon would add such a kick. These are great peanut butter, oatmeal cookies with a decadent twist.

I made these for a friend's birthday bbq (his favorite cookies are peanut butter, chocolate chip, so it was a perfect opportunity). Thanks to Stefany for choosing such a kick-ass cookie. You can check out the other TWDer's cookies right here.

My mixer whizzing away...

Some Merlot, and the view from my kitchen just makes these cinnamon, peanut butter, oatmeal, suckers that much better!