Tuesdays with Dorie: (Fail) Chocolate Pots de Creme

So these didn't quite work for me. I knew it was a bad idea to use cling wrap in the oven and I should have followed my gut. Seeing as I don't like eating melted plastic and I ran out of time and ingredients to make more, there were no Chocolate Pots de Creme in our house.

Hopefully Christine of BlackCatCooking had more success! Please visit her blog for the recipe.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Toasted Almond Scones

Oh how I love a good scone! Unfortunately I've never been that good at making them. I just don't have the touch. Seeking to remedy the situation this time I made these scones in the food processor and ... success!

I made a few changes to the recipe (as always) subbing in wholemeal flour, low fat milk instead of cream and using whole raw almonds with the skin on. Oh and leaving out the almond essence because that stuff is evil.

I wasn't intending to mix the dough in the processor but seeing I had to grind the nuts in there anyway it seemed easier to just switch to the dough blade and not dirty another bowl. A few quick pulses and the dough came together.

The taste test ...

Wow. Seriously good. Moist, nutty and really moreish. I ate mine warm from the oven with a smear of butter and a big drizzle of golden syrup. Mmmmmmmm.

Thanks to Mike of Living Out West for helping me to finally make good scones! You can find the recipe on Mike's blog under today's date.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

This week Caroline and Claire of Bake With Us chose Dorie's Chocolate Oatmeal Drops. I really love this sort of cookie. There's no creaming butter, you don't have to wait for the dough to chill and you don't have to roll them out. Just melt, mix, drop, bake and eat!

I made just 1/4 of the recipe and got 10 large cookies. They disappeared in record time so I will definitely have to make another batch sometime soon. Next time I will leave a little more space between them on the tray though, these spread like crazy.

The taste test ...

I don't think I've ever really had oats in a chocolate cookie before but it was delicious. I upped the wholegrain aspect by using wholemeal flour which made me feel a bit better about scoffing down 3 of them for lunch! These were really tasty everyday cookies and I will be making them again.

Make sure you check out Bake With Us for the recipe as well as the other TWD bakers here.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Maple and Fruit Bread Pudding

I know I've said it before but I'll say it again ... I LOVE bread pudding! It is just about the most comforting food you could ever eat and after the week we've had, a little comfort eating is definitely required.

Oscar came home from daycare last Monday with a fever and by the next day was just downright miserable and refusing to eat or drink. By Thursday he was diagnosed with tonsilitis. By Friday he was covered in a rash which is either rubella or roseola. Being sick at any time sucks but when you're not even 2 and can't tell anyone what hurts or what you need to feel better must be just horrible. While he is on the mend now we still have a week of quarantine at home missing out on all the fun stuff like swimming, daycare, music and playgroup that we normally go to.

The remedy? Bread pudding for breakfast!

While I love bread pudding I don't love bourbon and wanted to make it child-friendly in any case. I pretty much completely changed Dorie's recipe but I was inspired by it. A big thanks to Sharon of Simply Southern for choosing it this week.

For my Maple and Fruitbread Pudding I used the following ingredients but followed Dorie's method of preparation and baking.

250g fruit bread (mine was homemade and packed with dried fruit and mixed spice)
4 eggs
3 cups reduced fat milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 ts cinnamon
1 ts vanilla extract

The taste test ...

The youngest and sickest taste tester gave this a big "yum yum!" I have to agree. Absolutely delicious. A little sweet for everyday but perfect for a special breakfast or dessert.

For the real deal aka Bourbon Bread Pudding make sure you visit Sharon of Simply Southern.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Great Grains Muffins

This week I was delighted to have another muffin recipe. And even more delighted that they seem somewhat healthy. Now that Charlie is 12 weeks old I don't really have any excuses for not losing the baby weight, so these Great Grain Muffins chosen by Christine of Happy Tummy sounded perfect!

As with all muffins you simply tip the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir a few times and you're done. Mine baked for the full 18 minutes and I used both prunes and dried apricots.

The taste test ...

Straight out of the oven these were amazing! Moist and flavourful, not too sweet. As for the healthy part I worked out there are 221 calories and 9.5 grams of fat per muffin*. So a little high in fat but with all the grains and dried fruit you do feel full after just one. I think they would make a great quick breakfast and I have most of the batch stashed in the freezer for just that purpose.

Thank you Christine! A great pick and definitely one I will be making again. You can find the recipe on Happy Tummy.

* I used the recipe calculator at Spark Recipes to work out the nutrition info. This is a great tool to find the fat and calories etc in everything you make from scratch. That's if you actually want to know!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Nutty, Chocolatey, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This week Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort chose a recipe with possibly the longest name I've ever come across! The Nutty, Chocolatey, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake. To tell the truth I was debating whether to make this or not. My thighs really don't need a chocolatey, sour cream anything at the moment. But I know N's lab mates are always up for cake so I figured I could just give it away. Unfortunately the universe/my oven didn't cooperate.

Despite the oven always cooking hotter and faster than I expect, this time... it didn't. My beautiful bundt cake with the crispy golden crust was massively underbaked. As it was cut each slice collapsed in on itself leaving a gooey, doughy centre. As you expect this made for a very sorry looking photo. See above.

But still, it was delicious! Chocolate, orange zest, cinnamon, walnuts ... it was a marriage made in heaven. It even came out the pan perfectly, something I know others were struggling with. (I used a silicone pan greased with olive oil spray in case you were wondering).

We ended up just picking at the cooked parts and throwing the rest away. Such a shame. But I'm really not sure what I could have done differently. It baked for the full 65 minutes, the top was crisp and golden, it was pulling away from the sides and a skewer came out clean. Oh well.

Thanks to Jennifer for a great pick anyway! It was really tasty and I love making bundts. Make sure you visit the other TWDers for better results and Jennifer's blog for the recipe.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Lemon and Poppyseed Muffins

Wow, a TWD recipe actually posted on the right day! This week Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness chose Dorie's Lemon Poppyseed Muffins. While I love a good layer cake as much as the next girl these melt-and-mix muffins are much more my thing at the moment.

It's been ages since I made muffins but given how quick and easy they are I really should dig out my muffin pans more often. Unusually for me I did a full batch and only made one substitution, using homemade greek yoghurt instead of the sour cream.

The taste test ...

These muffins are moist, bright and zingy, especially drizzled with lots of the lemon glaze. Perfect afternoon tea fare. My taste testers all gave a big thumbs up!

Make sure you check out Betsy's blog for the recipe and for lots of pics of her adorable baby boy (a November baby like Charlie).

Late TWD - Midnight Crackles

A belated happy new year to everyone! That's if there's anyone around after my extended absence. Hard to believe but Charlie is now over 9 weeks old and life with 2 kids under 2 is definitely keeping me busy. I am really missing baking and have a lot of catching up to do both in terms of recipes and reading my favourite blogs.

I actually did have this recipe made and photographed ready for the new year but a computer/camera compatability issue and lack of time means it is now 2 weeks late. Oh well.

So, Midnight Crackles. This is TWD's anniversary recipe chosen by Laurie and Jules. Can you believe it's been 3 years? Happy anniversary everyone!

These are basically a deep, dark chocolate biscuit with a little hint of spice. I baked just 1/4 of the recipe and they disappeared in record time! I am still figuring out our temperamental new oven so they were a smidge overbaked. I still have 1/4 of the dough stashed in the freezer and will definitely underbake these to ensure a yummy, fudgy centre.

I know this is short but I will finish with a few favourite pics of my boys from the holidays. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Here's to a fabulous 2011 for us all! :-)

PS. Since I began this post last week (everything happens in it's own time these days), my home city of Brisbane has been devastated by floods. At last count 16 lives lost and countless thousands who have lost their homes and possessions. We are exceedingly lucky on this side of town but spent a few worried nights as the river began to peak. I had a bag packed for the boys just in case we needed to leave quickly but in the end it was ok. My thoughts and prayers are with all who were affected. If anyone cares to make a donation to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal you can do so here.

Our new arrival ...

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our healthy son Charlie!

Born 1.53am on Monday 8th November, 4.25kg, 52cm and just perfect :) Will be taking a break from baking and blogging for a few weeks at least but looking forward to getting back into it soon.

TWD Double Up

I'm back! Can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks since I posted but between moving and unpacking and some trouble getting our internet sorted it's kinda not surprising. We're all settled now in our new home and not a moment too soon as bub #2 is due in less than a month!

I have still been baking these past few weeks though, and with reasonable success given the variables of a new oven. So on to my TWD catch up ...

First up from 5th October, Lynne of Honey Muffin chose the Double Apple Bundt Cake.

Let me just say I adored this cake. Incredibly moist, packed with apple and spice flavours and not too heavy on the butter. I didn't bother with a glaze or even icing sugar. It was absolutely perfect on its own or warm with custard. Mmmmmm.

Next up was the Fold-Over Pear Torte chosen by fabulous fellow Aussie blogger Cakelaw.

I really wanted to love this tart. One of my all time favourite Dorie recipes was the French Pear Tart and I was hoping this would be similar. I love everything in it - pears, apricots, nuts, custard, pastry. Yum. But somehow the combination fell a little short.

Part of my meh-ness about this one has to be the fact it just took soooooo loooooooong to cook. After 2 hours in the oven the middle was still oozy even though the top layer of custard had burnt to a crisp (which actually didn't matter because my foil tent stuck to it and peeled it off making for one butt-ugly tart).

But the pastry, oh the pastry! We splurged on a new food processor (partly because I managed to break the old one while packing) and this baby rocks! This was seriously the. best. pastry. EVER. Light, buttery, flaky and just plain delicious.

I'm so sorry I butchered your pick Cakelaw! If you haven't already, make sure you visit her blog for how it should be done.

I'm looking forward to more cooking/baking (for the next couple of weeks anyway). I really need to get stuck into some freezable meals to get us through those first few insane new baby weeks. I'm also planning on starting my Christmas baking asap so we have some yummy treats to look forward to!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Fine

This week Leslie of Lethally Delicious chose Dorie's Tarte Fine for TWD and I'm so, soooo grateful. Not only was it delicious it is one of the easiest recipes ever!

You see we're moving house on Thursday and chaotic doesn't even begin to describe the state of our place at the moment. Apart from almost everything in the kitchen being packed already there is barely a clear surface to put a pan down on. So a recipe that calls for pre-bought puff pastry, a few apples, an egg and some sugar was heaven sent.

This is one of those desserts that looks really impressive but takes literally minutes to prepare. In my case an extra 5 minutes was needed to hunt through a box for a pastry brush!

In spite of all that I still managed to burn it (and then carefully crop that bit from the photo). Our oven has developed a nasty hot spot that will singe things into oblivion if you don't carefully turn the tray a few times during cooking. Which I of course forgot to do. Blame the pregnancy brain.

The taste test ...

Utter perfection. Flaky butter puff pastry topped with slightly tart apples and a crispy scattering of sugar. Delicious warm from the oven or at room temperature hours later with a big scoop of vanilla icecream.

This time next week we will be all settled in our new home. Fingers crossed the new oven will be better than the old!

You will find the Tarte Fine recipe at Lethally Delicious. Thanks Leslie!