Fresh from the oven: Chocolate Buns

This is one exciting post! It's my first month baking for Fresh from the oven. I am over the moon excited to be part of Fresh from the oven! It was such an interesting recipe too. I can't wait for you to read all about it.


Chele from Chocolate Teapot chose Chocolate Buns, which is from Richard Bertinet's book 'Dough.' I have to admit I felt a mix of excitement and apprehension all at the same time when I saw the recipe. Obviously, I was excited because it's chocolate and it's bread and it's creme pattissiere... but, I was a little scared because, it's chocolate bread filled with creme patisserie and chocolate chips and turned into rolls, think cinnamon roll style... not gonna lie, sounds kind of weird yet oh so delicious at the same time.


I've got a bit of a cold and thought about calling in sick for this one, but I just couldn't. These intrigued me from the get go and I had to try them not to mention it would be pretty awful of me to call in sick on my first month participating! So I plugged along and busted out these delicious little buns. I have to preface my full review of the finished buns by saying I really love chocolate, everyone in my house does. We're definitely chocoholics. It is also well documented that I love bread. Right, put the two together and... well, I'm one happy gal.
The bread itself is quite yummy and only subtly chocolaty. It's what happens to the bread and the chocolate creme patissiere that is magic. The creme patissiere and the bread fall in love and create this ooey, gooey wonderfulness ~ along with the melty chocolate chips. Good God! It's luscious!


As soon as I was finished gobbling one of this buns up I was dreaming of other flavor combinations. Stay tuned!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cocoa-Nana Bread

This weeks recipe is for Dorie's Cocoa-Nana Bread and was chosen by Steph of Obsessed with Baking and the recipe can be found on her blog.



I have to admit I was a teeny, tiny bit excited about this recipe. Chocolate, Bananas, More Chocolate, Loaf Cake... what more could you ask for?



Unfortunately, I was not exactly happy with the results. In theory, this sounds good but I didn't get very good results. I thought this would basically be a yummy, moist, chocolate banana bread but it kind of wasn't. For me, it turned out a bit of a dry chocolate loaf with hardly any banana flavor. I really hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I highly doubt I will make this again. If I didn't know there was banana in this loaf, I wouldn't have guessed and the dryness factor made the whole thing a bit disappointing. I don't think it was me either, as I took the cake out 5 minutes earlier than the shortest cooking time. *Sigh* You can't win all the time, I guess.

The Comfort of PB&J Cookies

There are so many different variations of Peanut Butter and Jelly sweets. My all time favorite is Ina Garten's Peanut Butter and Jelly bars. Dorie's Kid's Thumbprints are quite good and come in a close second to Ina's bars.



I made these because for some reason people go really mad for this combination, I'd bet it's because these flavors are like a little bit of childhood in a tasty, decadent treat. It's like grown up PB&J.

Dorie's Kid's Thumbprints are really spectacular. The cookies are light and crisp and the jammy center is sticky and sweet. They are such a groovy little cookie. The recipe calls for the cookies to be coated in chopped peanuts prior to baking but I didn't have enough nuts on hand so I just made them plain and they turned out just fine.

I would have to say that I may have cooked them a little bit too long as they didn't keep all that well, a couple days and they were far too hard to really enjoy. So a head's up to anyone who reads this post and tries the recipe for themself, keep an eye on the cookies and don't allow them to get too dark. Other than that, a super sweet!

Sophisticated Snickers

I've been eyeballing these since I first got Dorie's book and finally made them for this weekend as we are having some friends over and it was a perfect excuse to load up on homemade sweets.



They were a bit of a process and made a lot of dishes to wash up. There are several steps to making Dorie's Snickery Squares, although none of the steps are all that difficult. The base is a buttery shortbread crust, the middle is dulce de leche and candied, salted nuts and then the topping is a chocolaty goodness sprinkled with chopped candied salted nuts. These bars are just like Millionaire's Shortbread but with peanuts nuts added. One bite and all those dishes I had to wash didn't matter one bit! Another successful recipe from none other than the Queen of Sweets herself, Dorie Greenspan.

I can't give Dorie's book, Baking From My Home To Yours enough praise. If you're a baker, buy it. You won't regret it.

Fresh From The Oven Here I Come!

I'm blissfully excited to announce that I am now a member of the Fresh from the oven baking group. Just over a year ago I started to bake my own bread and fell head over heels in love with it. It's hugely satisfying and there's nothing like freshly baked bread. It's also somehow a very spiritual experience to take such simple ingredients, a little bit of a meditative elbow grease and turn out something so grand as a delicious slice of freshly baked bread slathered with salty butter ~ It's magic! There are so many wonderful things you can create with yeasted doughs and I'm super excited to extend my knowledge and repertoire by being part of Fresh from the oven.

One of my favorite breads from last year: Scottish Baps
I'm really looking forward to participating in my first challenge this month. Stay tuned to find out what we're making, the post will be on the 28th. *Jumps for Joy*

Nutty Thumbprints

I have to admit, I've been doing pretty good at getting posts/back posts up, and I'm proud of myself. For a while there I thought a lot of photos would never receive a post. It's good to be back on track. Onward...

Huge cravings for some nutty, buttery, shortbread style cookies have abounded in our home lately. Shortbread cookies and a steaming cup of tea in the afternoon make me even fonder of winter than I already am. These cookies are a perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea.



I was never a big walnut fan in years past, but it seems as I grow older I am really starting to dig walnuts. My nut philosophy is as follows: I always toast my nuts. For cookies and brownies you can really tell the difference. Somehow toasting kind of rejuvenates the nuts and they take on this... well... true nuttiness, meaning walnuts taste more like walnuts. I'm doing a horrible job of explaining this but if you're a nut toaster, you'll catch my drift. I decided to give Dorie's Thumbprints For Us Big Guys recipe a go and switched out the hazelnuts for walnuts and it was a smashing success. The dough was yummy, the cookies straight from the oven were yummy and the final filled cookies... you guessed it, yummy! My little one, with a mouth full of cookie said, "These are wicked good Momma. I. Love. Them." I love little kids.



These cookies are so pretty as well. They bake up as a beautiful, tender, melt in your mouth nutty shortbread, then are sprinkled with icing sugar and the middles are filled with ruby red raspberry jam.

I'm on a huge Dorie kick. I feel like because I've only been in Tuesdays with Dorie for 6 or 7 months I'm way behind on full realization of Dorie's complete awesomeness. This weekend I'll be making three other Dorie recipes as we're having friend's over. It's getting into Ina territory... don't worry Ina, you'll always be my number one domestic goddess inspiration. ;o)

A Dorie Weekend: Chocolate Cream Tart

Hello? God? Am I in Heaven? This tart sent our hearts a flutter... Utterly delicious and everything I love about dessert... it's dessert perfection!



The pastry cream was super easy to make, it took only a few minutes and came out great. Super delicious warm so I couldn't wait to have it as part of the pie. The crust, well... I feel like my kitchen was a little hot and so I was having trouble with the crust dough kind of melting a little and it seemed, at the time, super fussy and I couldn't imagine it would be sooooo good that it would be worth the fuss. In fact, prior to eating the pie I was complaining about the crust to my husband, I think it went a little something like this, "This crust was a pain in the a**, I'm never making it again." ~Me "I think you should try it first, it's probably wicked good." ~J
Sure enough, I took it back, the crust is AWESOME and totally worth the fuss! It smelled like chocolate biscuits were baking. The tart is extremely decadent - buttery chocolate shortbread crust, heavenly rich and creamy bittersweet chocolate pastry cream, slightly sweet whipped cream - one of those once a year desserts.



The tart components were made on Friday. On Saturday I assembled the tart minus the whipped cream. The tart kept really well. We ate it on Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night and simply made fresh whipped cream each night for individual slices. Worked out perfectly.

River Cottage Bread Handbook: Pain Perdu

I love that pan, it's the best pan ever. Cast Iron Crepe Pan. Worth it's weight in gold, at least I think so!



Left over Brioche Pain Perdu with a drizzle of yummy honey. Delicious. Even the pooch's mouth was watering!

Do I have spinach in my teeth?

Yum...

And yum!

Tea Party!

Being a stay at home Mom is more fun than I ever imagined. Earlier in the week I planned an elaborate Tea Party. A full on finger sandwiches and sugar cubes fancy kind of tea party.

It. Was. Awesome.



The little girl in me loved the idea of getting dressed up, wearing gaudy baubles, heels and princess crowns and eating petite sandwiches with the crusts cut off. My little princess had lots of fun. "Hey Mum, can we have a real tea party everyday?"



We had cucumber and cheddar and egg salad sandwiches, a dark chocolate/white chocolate marble loaf, and some apple and chamomile tea.



It was so much fun! :o)

River Cottage Bread Handbook: Brioche

I've wanted to try my hand at Brioche since I started this love affair with bread baking, but it seems that every recipe I read spoke of the difficulty of making Brioche by hand and recommended a stand mixer. Well, up until recently this was a bit of a challenge for me. I patiently waited for the Holidays to wind down so I could get on with trying to make Brioche on my own.

Over the weekend I whipped out many of my trusty cookbooks, I didn't realize how many variations of Brioche I had at my fingertips. I've decided to start with the River Cottage Bread Handbook's recipe. I love this little handbook to bits and I knew could trust it to turn out a great loaf of Brioche. Perhaps I'll start a little experimentation and see how each of the recipes that I have differs in taste and preparations... we'll see! This Brioche came out amazing! I'm dying to try the other recipes and see how they compare. The only thing that happened was there were some large bubbles that baked up on the top of my loaf, but no matter, it still tasted delicious!

As for now though, on to Daniel Stevens recipe.

This was simple, simple, simple. You measure everything out, throw it into the bowl of the mixer and let it knead away until it's breathtakingly gorgeous.

Then you shape it into a round and pop it in the fridge over night.

The next day, shape the dough in to whatever shape(s) you like and allow it to rise until doubled, the dough is cold so this could take quite a while - between 3-4 hours.

Read a book, draw, watch a movie, play while you wait... tick tock... :o)

Glaze the dough, pop it into a hot oven and bake...

When it's done let it cool and then eat the whole loaf... trust me, you'll want to it's so darn good.

The French know a little something about bread, I think.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Happy Anniversary! Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake

In honor of Tuesdays with Dorie's second anniversary the group was given the option of baking either Dorie's Tarte Tatin or Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake. I chose to make the latter for various reasons. As much as I love Tarte Tatin, I simply cannot pass up the opportunity to bake a chocolate cake!



As soon as I saw the recipes posted for January I jumped at the chance to bake this cake for New Year's Eve dinner at my Mum and Dad's. It was a lovely night and this cake made it all the better!



The cake is really stupendous! It's moist and it's not a fluffy cake per se, it kind of reminds me more of a denser, devils food style cake. But, it is moist and lovely. The frosting is everything a chocolate frosting should be in my opinion, sweet, chocolaty and with a very creamy texture. Over the top awesome! That malted milk really does something special to the frosting, it's to die for!

*Snow*

Snowball Fight!



What a beautiful weekend. We got lots of snow and ate lots of delicious food. It was perfect! :o)

Nothing like a bowl of hot chili after playing out in the snow.

A New Year & A Look Back At 2009

Happy New Year! Not only is it a new year but we are heading in to a new decade and a new decade for me as far as age goes. I'll be the big 3-0 this year and although I can't say I am overly excited to be leaving my 20's, I have a feeling this is going to be a good year... at least I'm optimistic that it will be a good year.

I'd like to take a look back at the blog throughout 2009 and pick some of my favorite things...

January

January was a huge month for me. It was the the month in which I discovered the joys of homemade bread for myself. My mother had baked bread when I was a child but I have long been afraid of baking yeasted breads and this was the month I felt the fear and dove right in. I'm so grateful to have started with the River Cottage Family Cookbook's Raisin Bread recipe, it was heavenly!

February

Valentine's Day! I will always be excited for Valentine's Day, I just love it!

March

March! My blog turned One on March 7! It was exciting to think about how I had grown and learned in the first year and how much I had begun to really love blogging.

April



I started a new adventure to chronicle on my blog: cake decorating.

May

May is a special month for me, it's the month in which I got married so I always get a little giddy when May rolls around. It's also Mother's Day, which is really exciting too! I think what I enjoyed most though was our trip to Maine for our anniversary and the mouthwatering lunch we had at Duck Fat in Portland.

June

My birthday was my favorite thing this month. We went to Plimoth Plantation. We couldn't have wished for a more beautiful day weather wise and it was really a lot of fun!

July

Super exciting month! I joined Tuesdays with Dorie as well as the Daring Bakers and participated in my first challenges.

August

August was fun. I finally did a post on my favorite cinnamon rolls and I made these rockin' cupcakes for a family party! All in all a great month!

September

September marked my first year going to the local Greek Festival and I hope to go for as long as we live in Massachusetts. The food was phenomenal and it was so much fun. I also participated in this month's Daring Bakers, which took my cooking to a whole other level when I successfully made puff pastry from scratch. Amazing feeling to watch it puff up in the oven. It tasted delicious and I was so proud of myself! I also made a ton of other delicious things in September: Alfajores, Irish Soda Bread, Spinach Bagels and Bakewell Tart were some of my tops favs of the year!

October

October was a bit of a tough month as my computer was infected with a virus for most of the month. But I did make homemade danish pastry this month and it was a smashing success!

November

My Little Princess Turned 4!

December

Well, what can I say about December?

Pan Fried Onion Dip

This is one of those dips that will have people begging for the recipe. I've become a seasoned pro when it comes to making this dip. I could probably whip it up with my eyes closed I've made it so many times. It is irresistable, you'll be coming back with chip after chip, moaning and groaning, "Mmm mmmmmm."

In the beginning there were a bunch of raw onions...

I love onions. Onion soup, onion bread, onions in my salad and on my pizza... oh onions! I've perfected the art of caramelized onions. After years of fiddling with herbs and other little touches I've managed to create perfect caramelized onions every time. A girl's got to have a few secrets though and my onions will remain as such. ;o)

Almost there...

We're doing a big New Year's Eve dinner at my Mum and Dad's vacation house this year and this is one of the goodies I'll be arriving with.

The gorgeousness that is caramelized onions!

I loosely use Ina Garten's recipe for Pan Fried Onion Dip. But over the years I have tweaked it a bit and added a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I think it's best to make it a day or two in advance so the flavors can hang out and become friendly. It's also easier to test the flavor after it's been sitting in the fridge to see if you need more salt or pepper. Make it! You'll thank me, I promise!

The dip just prior to mixing.

Jane Austen & River Cottage Pizza

"It is not what we say or feel that makes us what we are. It is what we do, or fail to do." ~Marianne, Sense and Sensibility

Tonight my husband had a work commitment and so it was a girls night for Lily and I. Mr. H was so good to me this year. He kindly left the Sense and Sensibility Collector's Edition, which includes Andrew Davies adaptation of Sense and Sensibility as well as the BBC/PBS latest production of Persuasion and Miss Austen Regrets, in my stocking. Everyone has their favorite Austen, mine is Persuasion with Sense and Sensibility coming in a close second. I just adore classics. I will never tire of watching endless hours of adaptations of such wonderful novels! I always enjoy seeing how different individuals interpret the classic novels.

We spent hours watching Sense and Sensibility today. We stopped only for a brief intermission to make some yummy River Cottage Pizza.



The River Cottage Bread Handbook has a great recipe for pizza dough. It's super easy and creates a beautiful dough that always bakes up tender and light on the inside and crisp on the outside. Tonight I made a bit of a thicker pizza with a hearty topping of meatballs, onions and mozzarella. It was delicious and it made a great "picnic" on the living room floor while we watched Sense and Sensibility... with our tissues close by, of course! Oh, doesn't your heart just melt when Edward arrives at Barton Cottage at the end? *Sigh*

River Cottage Pizza Dough
makes 6-8 small pizzas
(I usually make one large pizza w/this recipe)

250g white bread flour
250g ap flour
5g instant yeast
10g salt
325ml warm water
1 Tb olive oil

Mix up the ingredients in the usual way and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a round and allow it to rise, covered, until doubled in size.
You'll want your oven to be screaming hot. I bake my pizza @ 500F (make sure your oven is clean or you'll wind up with a smokey mess). Shape the pizzas, add your toppings (use a light hand with the toppings if you choose to roll your crust very thinly) and bake them on a preheated pizza stone or sturdy baking tray for 10 minutes or so - your baking time will depend on how thinly your crust has been rolled out. When they are golden and look ready take them out and pop them onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool slightly. Then enjoy the fruits of your labor ~ the most yummy thing ever is homemade pizza!

Ina's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

My beautiful sister and her children came for a visit today. About a month ago my sister gave me a signed copy of Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa: Parties! I'm completely in love with Ina's cooking and recipes so this was one awesome gift! Since she was coming for a visit today I thought I'd get up extra early and whip up a Sour Cream Coffee Cake. ;o)



The recipe was simple and straight forward. It only took about 10 minutes to put together and it smelled wonderful while it was baking. Any chance to use my mixer is all right with me.



The cake itself is utterly incredible. The crumb is moist and tender, there's just enough sweetness with the streusel and the glaze puts the whole thing over the top. Ina Garten is THE best!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Low and Luscious Chocolate Cheesecake

This week's recipe was chosen by the Tea Lady of Tea and Scones. She chose the Low and Luscious Chocolate Cheesecake and the recipe can be found on her blog.



This was an awesome recipe. Not something I am sure I would have made if I wasn't forced to. I'm not the biggest cheesecake person... when I was a child there was an instance where I ate a bit too much cheesecake and for probably at least a decade even the sight of it would turn my stomach. I'm growing to like it again, little by little. But, if it's on a dessert table and there are other options that I like more, I'll definitely pass it over. This recipe ended up being a pleasant and delicious surprise.

I decided to make this recipe for one of the desserts we served with Christmas dinner and I so pleased with how great it turned out and how easy it was. It definitely lives up to it's name, it bakes up low and it utterly luscious!

Buon Natale! The Newest Edition To My Cookbook Library

I only asked for one cookbook this year... as crazy as that may be. But I've recently gotten quite a few new ones and I haven't even had the opportunity to cook from them yet so I didn't want to feel too overwhelmed. I've wanted Dolce Italiano since it made it's appearance on the shelves. Being part Italian I have great affection for Italian food and culture, especially Italian pastry. My mouth waters just thinking about some of the recipes in this book... sorbetto di limone, baci di cioccolato, pane di pasqua, panforte, biscotti, panna cotta, gelato... I could go on and on. I've thumbed through it numerous times already and it's a no nonsense, extremely informative cook book. Gina De Palma has done an amazing job capturing not only some wonderful Italian recipes but also the giving you a glimpse at different essential Italian ingredients and kitchen equipment.

There will definitely be some yummy Italian offerings in the not to distant future... stay tuned!

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas Everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying this special time with their family and friends. May the New Year bring joy, health and happiness to all. Hope that Mr. Claus was good to you! *wink wink*