Kit Kat cookies. I know that I had made a similar recipe a few years ago that I really loved. This isn’t it, but not bad! https://cloudykitchen.com/blog/kit-kat-cookies/
7 Likes
I baked two cookie crusts for this panna cotta tart, one was fine, the other was a slight disaster, don’t quite know why given that they were made identically.
Open to tips for a contender for the silliest thing I have asked for help with – anyone have a foolproof cookie crust?
5 Likes
I made this hearts of palm quiche, except I used Stella Parks’ pie crust recipe.
I am fond of hearts of palm and this quiche is a delicious use of them.
Stella Parks’ pie crust recipe is by far the best one I’ve made.
5 Likes
It’s my mom’s birthday and I didn’t want to bake a cake because she hardly ever eats any in attempts to limit her sugar, but last year she loved her opera cake, and she likes tiramisu. I had my other genoise in the freezer, so I decided to attempt a tiramisu cake. Normally tiramisu cakes contain heavy cream in the filling, but I can’t count on that ingredient for now, so I thought I might as well attempt to use Stella Parks’ tiramisu filling even though she warns that it’s too loose and light for a layer cake. I adore Stella’s tiramisu. To me it’s absolutely perfect. I love that it doesn’t contain heavy cream and I love that it uses whole eggs, so it’s not so heavy and rich. The flavor is for my liking perfectly balanced — not too boozy and not too sweet.
I’ve made it with the cardamaro, and it’s lovely, but also great with other options like rum (and people used to boozier tiramisu tend to like the punch of rum and similar spirits). Bailey’s is great in place of the crème de cacao she calls for. This time I used Kahlua and rum.
In order to ensure the cake would hold up, I decided to layer it in a ring mold with acetate lining. I used 2/5 of the filling since it calls for 5 eggs and that seemed like it would be enough for the three layers I needed. This time I folded the whipped eggs into the mascarpone rather than adding the mascarpone to it, because that’s one of the major pitfalls for this recipe, and that decision worked out perfectly. No soupy filling, no breaking.
For the syrup I used half of what she calls for since genoise is thirstier than ladyfingers. Because to me my genoise is less sweet than ladyfingers, I decided to add sugar to the soaking syrup. Three tablespoons seemed enough on tasting it. Still not very sweet, but what I thought should be enough to keep the layers from being too bitter. I brushed the syrup on both sides of the layers I eyeballed the amount of filling between layers and ended up with a touch more for the top than I needed, but only a few tablespoons.
Overall the cake turned out really well! The only thing it would have benefitted from was even more syrup, but flavor is good, it’s not too sweet or too heavy, and the filling holds up perfectly!
15 Likes
Wow, Happy Birthday Mom! Wishing I could reach through the screen for a taste of that!
2 Likes
Thank you!
Have an excess of pears that I would like to use up ( may jam next week-end)…looking for a simple pear bread/cake to make that would easily be transported to work. Considering this https://parade.com/29959/doriegreenspan/dorie-greenspans-pear-flip-flop/ this, https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/bittersweet-chocolate-and-pear-cake/ or a half batch of this… https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/12/pear-bread/
any thoughts or suggestions??
Some times the simple things surprise me.
I have made so many versions of muffins which call for grated zucchini, it’s hard to believe I hadn’t tried a single one which doesn’t call for additional add-ins (carrot, apple, coconut, orange, ginger and the like). I tried a recipe this morning from Taste of Home, and can start weeding out some of the other, more complex recipes I’ve collected. The TOH recipe is perfect. Dead simple, with crispy edges and a moist middle, and the perfect ratio of fruit and nuts to batter. So perfect, in fact, that King Arthur has almost the exact same recipe under a different name.
I used 50% white whole wheat flour and 6 tablespoons of chopped walnuts. The zucchini was wrung after grating and the currants soaked. Baked at 375. Otherwise as per the recipe.
9 Likes
Pear+chocolate is underrated. I vote for the chocolate one!
1 Like
Made some cream puffs to sell. Had some leftover puffs and they’re honestly so good as is. Perfectly hollow on the inside, crisp outside with just a little sweetness from the craquelin.
10 Likes
I’ve made the pear chocolate one and it’s a tricky recipe . Have you read the comments? A lot of people had sinking problems with the center of the cake. If looks don’t matter, it’s a nice cake, mine didn’t sink but my DIL ‘s did and she was very disappointed.
ETA…Yossy has a fig chocolate I made that would work with pears and it’s very good.
I hold the opposite view. To me, chocolate overwhelms the delicate flavor of pears.
The Smitten Kitchen pear chocolate cake is one of the few recipes I’ve made from that site that I’ve disliked.
Well we’ll see how it tastes: mine cooked fully ( from what I can tell!). Will report back when I take it into work tomorrow…
6 Likes
Brava! Looks perfect…enjoy.
1 Like
It was very popular: disappeared over the course of the day! Even with fewer people in than usual…
2 Likes
Terrific! Definitely a make again, happy you had success. I happen to enjoy pear and chocolate combinations, also nice with hazelnuts in the mix. Now I want one, too!
Did you happen to sample?
Just a small sliver, since it went so fast. I enjoyed it, but it was definitely more chocolatey than peary!
1 Like
A bit of cross-cultural baking today for a Diwali party.
Savory multigrain mini muffin bites, a riff on a traditional indian dish called Handvo. (The actual dish is also baked, but in a special stovetop baker that looks like a giant bundt pan with lid - lots of crispy surfaces.)
Batter of rice and assorted lentils, spices and aromatics, and my “secret” addition today of minced broccoli slaw. Tempering on top.
(Now I just have to not eat them all before the dinner tonight for which they are one of the apps I’m contributing… a few have already been “tested”…it’s one of my favorite snacks, haha)
.
.
13 Likes
Puff pastry question for those more experienced with it:
I am making savory puff pastry spirals as an appetizer for a dinner party tonight (stuffed with potato, spice paste, and cheese).
I’ll bake them at home, then reheat them at my friend’s place before they are served.
I made the rolls already (last night, so everything would be well-chilled and easy to cut today).
Does it matter when during the day I do the first bake? Meaning is there any advantage to baking them closer to when they’ll be reheated vs baking them now, and sticking them in the fridge until tonight?
I know they’ll lose something from being twice-baked, but that’s the way it’s got to be. Now I’m just wondering if there’s a way to preserve most of the freshness by timing things a certain way.
Also - I figured I would par-bake them ie cook but not brown, that way the reheating can finish the browning as opposed to overcoming them - does that sound right?
Thank you for any insights!
