TWD Marshmallows

Marshmallows are one of those sweet items that I feel people either love or hate. Joe doesn't care for them, but I on the other hand, I REALLY care for them. Leave me alone in the house with a bag of marshmallows and I'm pretty sure at least 50% of that bag will be gone by the end of the day. The only reason I drink hot chocolate is because it's a vehicle for marshmallows. Don't even get me started on why I can no longer purchase large tubs of Fluff. Hey, they're fat free, right?

Back in August my friends and I got together for a big night of eating. I decided to make home made smores for the event. I made the Charles Chocolate graham cracker recipe (posted on chow.com), and I made Dorie's Marshmallows. Those were by far the best smores I've ever had. When I saw that TWD was making marshmallows this week, I was really excited to make them again.

This time around I decided to make espresso marshmallows. I have a small bottle of Trablit that I love to add to different desserts for a great coffee flavor. My kitchen was really cold today, so I had to heat my whites over my stovetop (very carefully!) to warm them up. From that point on I followed the recipe pretty much according to the directions. The one thing I noticed is that the recipe called for an extra tablespoon of sugar, but there was no mention of it in the method. I assumed that it was supposed to go into the whites when they were frothy, so that's what I did.

Here are some pictures of the process and of the final product. I can't wait to add these marshmallows to my hot chocolate tomorrow J

TWD Russian Grandmother’s Apple Pie Cake

This week and next; my posts will be on the shorter side. It's restaurant week here in Boston, and that means I'll be working many extra hours. The upside of restaurant week is that Joe and I will be eating dinner at Excelsior on Friday night. I can't wait for that!

This apple pie cake was fantastic. I found the dough fun to work with and quite tasty. I loved the way the dough hugged the apples as it was baking, revealing the fruit within. I baked this cake with Cortland apples, and I found the flavor of them worked well with the dough.

Luckily, there isn't much to say about this cake/pie other than I will make it again!

TWD Snickery Squares

I can't think of anything more exciting than a bar or cookie that might taste even remotely like a snickers bar. I make pastries for a living, but give me a snickers bar over crème Brule any day! When I saw that Erin of Dinner and Desserts had chosen the Snickery Squares I was delighted. So happy in fact, that I made them for a dinner party on Friday.

These squares were super easy to make. First I made short dough in the food processor, and baked it off. Next, I candied some salted peanuts. Finally I melted some chocolate with some butter. After a quick assembly, you have an absolutely addicting treat. Now, that being said; production wise there are some things I will do differently next time I make these. First, I will line my square baking pan with parchment paper going up and over the sides. Even though I buttered my dish, the short dough still stuck to my pan. It wasn't a huge problem, but it made my squares slightly less picture worthy. Second, I will add a tiny bit of melted butter to the nuts after I caramelize them (when they're still in the pan), just to get the caramel coating the nuts a little more evenly. Last, I will make two times the recipe because these were so good. I am not lying when I say that I almost got into a fight with my husband when I came home from work on Sunday night and (gasp!) he had eaten the rest of the squares! I was so disappointed, but I guess it's for the best. Swimsuit season is just a few months away J

One note about the Dulche De Leche called for in this recipe. I used the brand La Salamandra Farmhouse Dulce De Leche. I purchased it at Whole Foods for $6.99, which I thought was a bit expensive. After opening the jar, I realized I had struck gold. The flavor of the dulce de leche was the perfect balance of caramel and vanilla. I will buy this brand again if I don't have time to make the dulce de leche myself. The only downside of using this brand is that the caramel never really sets up when you refrigerate it. Personally, I love gooey desserts, so it was perfect for me. It just made them a bit messy.

I promise pictures will be up soon. Somewhere between California and Massachusetts lies a USB cord to connect my camera to my computer. If anyone finds it please let me know J I hope to get a cord by the end of this week, so hopefully pictures will be up by Sunday latest.

TWD Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

Tuesdays with Dorie's recipe for today is Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits. The weather in Boston right now is perfect for biscuit baking. It's cold with huge wet snowflakes coming down. I just had the pleasure of eating a biscuit fresh from the oven with a cup of Earl Grey. Comfort in a cup and on a plate, food experiences like this are what it's all about. This is also my first blog post since Joe and I moved from California back to Boston. I can't think of a better way to start blogging again, with such a nice, homey recipe. Speaking of California, my friend had made these back in April when I first decided to put together a baking blog. The concept of my blog, baking from one cookbook with a group of friends certainly changed quickly after my first post. Practically everyone in the original post moved away (including myself at the end!). I decided to stick with the blog though and post my own baking and cooking experiences. In addition to baking with TWD, I will continue to post my own experiences. I've been baking and cooking from two great cookbooks, so expect some new posts soon.

The Pecan Sour Cream Biscuit recipe was very straight forward. Combine dries, cut in butter, add liquid and then pecans. Whenever I make biscuits, I get nervous that I'm going to over mix the dough. After making and baking off my biscuits, I think I could have used one more fold to get the dough a bit more cohesive. The biscuits came out awesome, but instead of baking straight up, they all seemed to lean over a bit. I have a feeling that's because the dough was a bit loose. Regardless, the biscuits were delicious, and I will certainly make them again. I loved the tang the sour cream produced in the biscuits, and the pecans added a nice texture to the dough.

(Pictures to come soon… )

At Home in Napa

Not nearly as cool as Provence!

This week I've been cooking and baking from Patricia Wells At Home In Provence. This cookbook is beautiful, and all of the recipes are inspiring. Two of the recipes that really stood out for me were the Saturday Beef Salad (page 74) and Garlic Family Soup (page 103). Both of which I decided to make last Friday as a surprise dinner for Joe to come home to. The grapes were finally ready to be harvested last week, so Joe's been working very long days lately. He clearly needed steak.

The Saturday Steak Salad was the perfect meal for us. Joe always wants to eat steak, and I always want to eat salad; so finally we were united in a meal :) This salad was so good. The cornichon's went amazingly well with the horseradish, red onion, dijon and steak. The potatoes made this salad much more of a meal than a starter. The romaine made it feel healthier than it really was :) Overall, I would say this was one of the best salads I've made. While Joe and I were savoring the salad; Joe declared the salad didn't need the romaine. It was the best potato salad he's ever had! So funny, personally I think it needs the romaine to cut through the heaviness of the other ingredients.

In addition to the salad we had the Garlic Family Soup. I was really disappointed by the soup that evening, but I've changed my tune since. In hindsight, it's obvious to me that I paired two very strong flavored items together that would have been better apart. There was simply too much going on, flavor wise, between the cornichon's, horseradish, garlic, tarragon...etc. There were too many competing flavors, and because of that the soup didn't taste that good. All I could get from it that night at dinner was a strong taste of tarragon. The next day though, I had the soup for lunch. It was great. The garlic, leeks, shallots, onions and potatoes united together to form a deliciously creamy soup. The tarragon, which I had found overpowering the night before, was mellow and a nice contrast to the other flavors.

In addition to the cooking, I decided to make the Fig, Apricot Walnut & Raisin Rye Bread (page 183). This bread recipe was delightful to make. I didn't have figs, raisins or walnuts so I did as Mrs. Wells suggested; I used what I had on hand. The bread I made was loaded with dried apricots, cranberries and pecans. To me, this recipe is what bread baking is all about. The best ingredients and a lot of time and patience. The whole process of making this bread took about 13 hours, but it wasn't very labor intensive. Next time, I will make this bread at night right before bed, because the first rise is about 8 hours in the refrigerator. Here's the resulting bread:

It was huge and delicious. On Sunday night I made the most incredible tartines with said bread. Slices of bread were toasted, topped it with a thin layer of cream cheese, some Stonewall Kitchen Old Farmhouse Chutney, Boars Head Maple Turkey, a little watercress and finally some thinly sliced radishes. Then I put the assembled tartines back in the toaster oven to warm everything up. The resulting sandwich was heavenly. We still have a lot of bread to go through though. I'm seeing visions of a delicious bread pudding in our future!