A savory quick bread makes a good snack or accompaniment to a dinner soup or stew. This bread fits both roles easily.
Whisk together flour, sea salt, baking powder and black pepper. Dorie suggests you may want to add more pepper than the 1/2 teaspoon called for in the recipe. I did and I think a little more would be even better.
Next, eggs, milk, extra-virgin olive oil, honey and lemon zest are whisked then added to the dry ingredients. Then goat cheese and chopped fresh mint are added.
The batter goes into a pan that’s been buttered or sprayed with bakers spray. Then into 350 degree oven. It took 38 minutes for my bread to be ready to come out of the oven. A short rest in the pan, then onto a rack to cool completely.
My bread was a nice companion to a chicken and black bean soup my husband made. We liked it so much, we had the same meal the next night!
A simple vanilla custard baked in a puff pastry crust until bronzed, what’s not to love? You must be patient and plan for cooling, but the wait is worth it!
Bring milk and granulated sugar just to the boil in a saucepan that has been rinsed with cold water, a neat trick from Dorie that helps to prevent scorching. Meanwhile, additional granulated sugar, brown sugar and cornstarch are whisked together, followed by eggs. When the milk mixture is ready, pour one quarter into the sugar-egg mixture while whisking, then slowly drizzle the rest of the milk, whisking all the while. I got an assist from my husband for this task; he poured while I whisked. Pour the mixture back into the pan after giving the pan a quick rinse.
The custard comes together quickly and becomes thick in no time thanks to the healthy portion of cornstarch. On medium heat, whisk, whisk, whisk, making sure to get the corners of the pan. Dorie says to watch for the first bubble to appear on top, but my mixture was foamy when I poured it in the pan, so I just paid attention to the texture of the custard. When my whisk started to leave tracks, I whisked for a bit longer. The custard was nice and thick when I pulled the pan off the stove.
Scrape the custard into a bowl, add vanilla, and optionally, dark rum. I didn’t have rum on hand so added extra vanilla, per the recipe. Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate and wait. Dorie says at least an hour, so at this point I went for a walk, planning to bake the tart when I returned. When I returned, I pulled the puff pastry from the freezer, read the package instructions and realized I should have been defrosting the pastry. I don’t use puff pastry very often, but I should have realized it needed to soften up. On the plus side, the additional hours of waiting meant the custard had time to thoroughly thicken.
When the pastry had softened, I rolled the rectangular sheet into a 12″ by 12″ square, rounded the corners with a pizza cutter and placed it into a 9″ springform pan. After a quick whisk, the custard goes into the waiting pastry. I smoothed the top with a small offset spatula, trimmed the pastry to 1/2 inch above the custard and placed the pan into a 425 degree oven. I set the timer for 50 minutes, the minimum time given in the recipe. Times are approximate, so what I was looking for was a darkly browned top. 50 minutes: very puffy custard, no browning. 55 minutes: still no browning. 60 minutes: nope. 65 minutes: a small patch of brown on the top. 70 minutes: okay, that’s brown enough! There was liquid leaking from the bottom of the pan when I pulled it out. Next time I will place the pan on a sheet pan.
More waiting! My poor husband was under the mistaken belief that we could dive right in after the tart came out of the oven. But the tart must first come to room temperature, then cool, covered in the refrigerator, preferably overnight. As it was already 9 pm at this point, we had to wait until the following evening to see if our patience paid off.
There was some condensation of the top of the tart when I pulled it out of the fridge; I dabbed it up with a paper towel. The tart sliced easily and cleanly. The flavor is mild and the texture is very comforting. The extra time in the oven meant the bottom of the pastry was very brown, but it was not burned. A very satisfying way to end to a Monday.
This simple lemon cake has subtle lemon flavor that deepens over time. It’s light due to the airy egg whites folded into the batter.
Plan ahead and take out your eggs so they come to room temperature. When you are ready to bake, prep the pan. I used my simplest Bundt pan due to Dorie’s warning that the cake likes to stick to the pan. I applied baker’s spray generously.
The dry ingredients are flour, baking powder and fine sea salt. Whisk them together. Separate the eggs. I use a little tool I got in my Christmas stocking long ago. I have been taught, read about and seen multiple ways to separate eggs. But I like this little gadget.
Whisk in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until the eggs have firm, glossy peaks.
Scrape the whites into another bowl, pour the sugar and lemon zest into the mixing bowl and massage the zest into the sugar with your fingertips.
Using the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks into the sugar for three minutes, until thick, pale and shiny.
With the mixer running, add the oil down the side of the bowl and beat for another 3 minutes. Then add lemon juice, vanilla and, if you wish, lemon extract or lemon oil. I added extract because I had it on hand. Then the flour goes in all at once and the batter is mixed until thick and smooth.
To incorporate the delicate eggs whites into the thick batter, add a small amount of the egg whites to the batter to lighten it up before adding all the egg whites. I’m always nervous about this part, afraid I will deflate the egg whites. This batter was pretty stiff, so it took a bit of mixing to incorporate the egg whites.
After scraping the batter into the prepared pan, the cake bakes for 45 to 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven, until a tester comes out clean. My cake was done after 45 minutes. A rest of 5 minutes and the cake is ready to come out of the pan.
It came out perfectly, with just a tad of sticking to the inner part of the pan. After the cake has cooled, you can sprinkle on some confectioners sugar.
My husband and I have enjoyed a slice (or two) of this airy cake for each of the past few days. I keep it under a cake dome and it has held up well. I love a good lemon cake and this one allows you to have a treat without feeling like you ate too much, as heavier cakes can do. It will definitely be added to my cake rotation.
Chocolate chip cookie recipes abound, but many are a spin on the classic Tollhouse recipe. This cookie distinguishes itself by combining unexpected ingredients. The result is a cookie that has chocolate pieces in it, but is anything but ordinary.
The dry ingredients are where we find our first surprises: rye flour, ground coffee or espresso, cardamom and cinnamon. It even makes a pretty picture:
We start by creaming two sticks of butter with granulated and brown sugars and salt. Two eggs are added, one at a time, then vanilla extract. The dry ingredients go in, followed by the next ingredients that make these cookies special: a combination of the baker’s choice of seeds. I added kasha (a favorite addition of mine from another Dorie cookie), poppy seeds, sesame seeds and flax seeds.
After mixing, the cookies can be baked right away, which results in a larger cookie, or refrigerated. I chose to refrigerate the dough.
When you’re ready to bake, scoop the dough with a medium sized dough scoop and drop onto cookie sheets a couple inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with more of the seed mixture and top with a few flakes of flaky sea salt.
I baked half a dozen and put the rest on a sheet to freeze for future bakes.
After baking for about 12 minutes, the cookies were ready to come out. They need to sit on the pan for a couple of minutes before being removed to a rack to cool for another fifteen minutes. (I think my husband thought the fifteen minute wait was excessive and unfair.)
The resulting cookies were just delicious. Complex in texture and flavor, they are a real winner. My only regret is that my mom, who passed away last month, couldn’t be here to enjoy them with us. She was a huge fan of my baking and she would have loved these. I miss her.
After a long absence, I’m back to baking with the incredible bakers baking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Dorie. It’s nice to start with a simple loaf cake. Or is it so simple? Little tweaks elevate this loaf, making it more complex than one would have thought at first bite.
Rather than simply calling for grated lemon zest, Dorie suggests you remove the zest with a vegetable peeler and finely chop the zest. After peeling away the pith, each lemon segment is cut away and placed between paper towels to reduce the moisture while the rest of the recipe is prepared.
Dry ingredients whisked: flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and baking soda. The zest is worked into the sugar with your fingertips and so is the sumac.
Plain yogurt (I used whole fat Greek yogurt) goes in, mixed in with a rubber spatula. Three eggs are beaten in, one at a time, then the vanilla.
The flour mixture is added in two additions. Melted butter and canola oil mix in to make a shiny batter. The lemon wedges, having been finely chopped, go in last.
I like to use baker’s spray instead of butter to grease pans, but today the spray came out very thick and foamy. I usually wipe the pan down when this happens, but was in a hurry today, so I left it. I could see the spray bubble up the side of the pan to the top of the batter as I poured the batter in. Oh well, into the oven it goes!
I pulled the pan out after 55 minutes (checking for doneness at 50.) The result of the excess baker’s spray was evident: a crusty ridge had formed around the top of the cake.
But how will it taste?
Looks aren’t everything and the crusty ridge gave the cake added crunch, which I liked. The cornmeal adds chewiness and the chunks of lemon, chopped lemon zest and sumac give the cake a pleasant tartness. Lots of complexity with each bite, both of flavor and texture. Not such a simple loaf!
Tasty, lovely and easy to make, what’s not to love?
The base is Dorie’s All-Purpose Tart Dough. Comprised of flour, sugar, salt, cold butter pieces, an egg and water, it comes together easily in the food processor. I added a little extra water at the end, due to it being a very dry day. The dough rolls out well, but I had trouble with it falling apart as I rolled the dough over the rolling pin to transfer it to the tart pan. But I patched it together and it turned out fine. After a short stay in the freezer, I blind baked the crust for 20 minutes with pie weights and a few more after removing the weights.
I baked the crust the day before, so I was ready to assemble the tart the next morning. I spread Dijon mustard over the bottom. The custard filling consists of heavy cream, eggs, pepper, salt, grated nutmeg and grated cheese. The original recipe called for Comté, but I had Gruyère on hand, so that is what I used. Half the filling goes on top of the mustard, then pear pieces, then the rest of the filling. I left out the option cheese pieces and walnuts.
The tart was the perfect light lunch to welcome my son and his girlfriend when they arrived for a week’s visit. The Dijon adds a bite of sharpness which combines well with the sweetness of the pear.
I love bread pudding. I have made many versions over the years using various kinds of bread: hot dog buns, brioche, even croissants. But I never considered scones as the “bread”. So even though leftovers scones are not a frequent occurrence at our house, it’s nice to have a new twist on and old favorite.
I made scones on Sunday morning so I’d have leftovers for the pudding. My husband didn’t want to believe that yes, I really did need five, not four scones for the pudding, but I managed to make it to Monday with five scones.
I buttered the pan and started cutting the scones in thirds. I saw that I was not going to have enough slices to make two layers, so I switched to getting four slices out of the thicker scones. First one layer, brushed with lemon curd, then a second. (I found an open jar of Bonne Maman lemon curd in my fridge, so I used it instead of making my own.)
Next, I made the custard. Heated milk, cream, lemon zest and ground cardamom in a pan until the edge formed small bubbles.
Then I whisked sugar, eggs, an egg yolk and vanilla, to which the milk mixture was gradually added. Then I poured the custard over the scone slices and popped the pan in the fridge until dinner time.
Time for baking: apple slices tossed with lemon juice top the custard. Melted butter brushed over the apple slices then sugar mixed with cardamom sprinkled on top. The pan is placed in a water bath and into the oven. The recipe suggests 45 minutes in the oven, but my pudding took an extra ten minutes because I had refrigerated before baking. Once the pudding was puffed up and a tester came out clean, it was ready to come out of the oven. More lemon curd brushed on top.
After a thirty minute rest, the pudding came out of the pan cleanly. The creamy texture of the custard complements the slightly crispy apples and the chew of the scones. The curd adds a gentle lemon flavor and I loved cardamom as the spice. All in all, a winner!
My father would have loved this pie. Cherry pie was his favorite and I made him one for his very last Father’s Day. Here, the blueberries combine with the cherries to make a delicious and not-too-sweet dessert, perfect for a Father’s Day celebration. Our family gathered this year to honor the fathers. This pie was a big hit.
I made the dough the day before cutting up and freezing the butter bits about an hour ahead.
The butter bits go into the Cuisinart with flour, sugar and salt..
After pulsing until the butter is incorporated, water gets pulsed in until the dough holds together when pressed with your fingers.
I discovered a way to get my dough pieces in nice even disks. I weighed the dough in small bowls to make the two dough pieces the same size. It occurred to me that pressing each half into the bottom of the bowls I used for weighing would form perfect rounds. I did so, then flipped them onto the pre-floured parchments.
The dough rolled out into perfect rounds. One went into the pie dish, which I put the the freezer. I put the disk for the top of the pie in the fridge so that it would be soft enough to work with the next day.
On Father’s Day I got up and started putting cherries. It took me a while. I had frozen cherries in my freezer, but wanted to use fresh. (Sadly our cherry season here in Washington was not good, due to our spring weather. I was glad I could find some for the pie.)
Half the cherries and half the berries are cooked with sugar into jam consistency.
After adding flour and cooking a little longer, the rest of the fruit is added and put into the pie pan. It’s optional to add more sugar to taste, but as I prefer less sweet when it comes to pies, I left the mixture as it was.
The top crust goes on, secured to the bottom by wetting the edge of the bottom crust. The top gets a brushing of milk.
The pie is baked for 25 minutes at 425 degrees. Then the temperature is lowered to 375 degrees, the edge of the crust is protected by a foil cover and baking continues until the crust is golden and the center is bubbly. I kept baking, past the recommended time, but no center bubbling took place. Then the filling decided to bubble out the sides, and the edge of the crust drooped down in places. Aesthetically not a pie’s best look, but you can’t argue with the taste. It was wonderful with vanilla ice cream and a cup of coffee.
Not exactly what comes to mind when you think of flapjacks, Dorie discovered these tasty treats on a trip to New Zealand. Chewy and crunchy, with a host of nutritious ingredients, these make a nice snack any time of day.
I weighed the main ingredients, adding them to a large mixing bowl. Oatmeal, sweetened coconut flakes, finely chopped crystallized ginger, and dried cranberries.
To hold these together, butter, brown sugar, and golden syrup go into a saucepan and are heated until the entire surface is bubbling.
Pour the butter mixture over the other ingredients and mix until everything is coated with the syrup. Pour into a buttered pan lined with parchment. Sesame seeds sprinkled on top are the final touch. Bake at 350 degrees, 24 to 27 minutes.
I pulled the pan out after 24 minutes. Dorie says to pull the pan out when the top is golden brown and the surface is still soft. It was very tempting to keep the pan in the oven longer, but I trusted that the bars would firm up out of the oven. After five minutes of rest, score the top into sixteen bars. When they have cooler to room temperature, cut into bars along the scoring.
The outer bars were crispy and the inner bars chewy. Both were good and the bars were gobbled up quickly. The ginger was a nice touch and did not overpower the bars. Don’t skip the optional sesame seeds on top!
Cornbread is a regular guest at my dinner table. My family is from Texas and that means I grew up with Grandma’s (and Mama’s) cornbread. Always baked in a cast iron skillet and always made with bacon grease (I keep a jar in the fridge.)
What I noticed right away about Dorie’s recipe is the amount of fat. I typically use two to four tablespoons in my cornbread. Dorie calls for eight. Wow! This is going to be rich. And ground pepper is an unusual addition. There are optional add-in’s: bacon, jalapeño, corn, fresh herbs, green onions. I decided to add them all.
The dry ingredients are cornmeal, a bit of all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, black pepper and Cayenne. These are whisked together and then buttermilk and two eggs are mixed in. The fat (I used a mixture of bacon grease and butter) is mixed in, followed by the optional add-ins. Finally, grated cheddar cheese on top for good measure.
The recipe says to bake the cornbread for 20 to 22 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. The tester came out clean at 22 minutes, but when I cut into the cornbread with a knife, it was clear the middle wasn’t cooked. I popped it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. It came out brown and perfectly cooked.
This cornbread is an upgrade from my standard. It’s bursting with flavor and is tender and moist. A perfect side for a bowl of chili or maybe black-eyed peas and collard greens.
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