Mixed Berry Cobbler: Tuesday's with Dorie

Today's recipe from Baking: From My Home to Your's, was a simple fruit cobbler--nothing fancy, just nice berries topped with a homey biscuit crust. Very comforting and easy. The lemon zest gave the berry filling a nice freshness and the plain topping was perfect to sop up all of the juices and let the fruit be the star. Not too sweet, this will be good for my breakfast tomorrow!

I did change this recipe just a bit. I cut it down by 1/3 and added 2 cups of mixed berries and peaches (more than the recipe called for but I definitely wouldn't want less). I also added a dash of cinnamon to the fruit and used buttermilk instead of the heavy cream in the topping. Instead of rolling out the dough, after mixing it with my hands, I globbed it on top of the fruit and spread it out to cover, giving it a more rustic feel. I was also scant with the sugar in the filling. Nice recipe! It would be just perfect with Blue Bell's new summer flavor, Blackberry Cobbler ice cream--yum!

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Tuesday's with Dorie Rewind: Bill's Big Carrot Cake

It's Tuesday again and that means another recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours! This week, the selection was a delicious looking peppermint puff ring. As you can tell by my photo, I was side-tracked by a previous recipe. And I noticed that it is acceptable to make past recipe trials, so I decided I just had to make a carrot cake for Father's Day. I'll have to get back to the yummy looking puff another time soon!

This is a big, beautiful looking carrot cake, filled with nuts, coconut, and raisins. The three layers are very moist and bake nicely and it certainly makes for an impressive presentation. It was good, but definitely not my favorite carrot cake. I guess I was wanting something spicier. As this cake only contains cinnamon, it didn't quite taste like a spice cake. And I'm not a fan of all of the coconut. If I were it make it again, I would add spices, omit the coconut, and increase the amount of raisins. That being said, it was still a very good cake.


But I absolutely LOVE the icing!! In fact, the icing took over the cake--yum! I could eat a bowl of this stuff! It's just a simple mixture of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and lemon extract--but it is terrific! I will definitely be featuring this lemon icing on many sweets to come! It would be wonderful on cinnamon rolls, or chocolate cake, or.....Yum!
Type rest of the post here

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French Chocolate Brownies: Tuesdays with Dorie

My first recipe with the group Tuesdays with Dorie! Wonderful! This group is going through Dorie Greenspan's fabulous book, Baking From My Home to Yours, one recipe at a time, posting each Tuesday. I was so excited to join up, as I really enjoy this cookbook--Yummy!!

These brownies are really tasty. But I'm not sure if I would necessarily call them brownies--they're so smooth and soft--velvety, yet not a cake either. Wonderful!! They are made with bittersweet chocolate and have an intense flavor. They aren't fudgy or cake-like, maybe somewhere in between. They have a very tender, soft texture. The top crusts over while baking and then cracks, making them rather delicate and crumbly, adding to their charm. The secret ingredient is raisins (supposed to be rum-soaked, but I left this out) and they're very subtle--great with the chocolate. They really add a great dimension. Very nice! I love these!!

Continue for brownie recipe.

French Chocolate Brownies

adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden

1 1/2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum (I left this out)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.
Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon.
Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium hea,t and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.
Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. (I carefully melted mine in the microwave and it worked fine--medium power).

Set the chocolate aside for the moment.
Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes.

Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter.

Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine.

Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.
Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.
Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Dorie's Serving Suggestions: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

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