TWD-Orange Berry Muffins

Here we are again, with this weeks edition of Tuesday with Dorie. When I joined in on this a few weeks ago, I just figured that we would bake a recipe each week and make a few great friends and just post about it, so that I could go back a year from now and remember my experience on it. I never dreamed that Dorie herself would check it out and actually comment. So, a great big THANK YOU to Dorie for the comment!



This week was chose by Michelle with Sugar and Spice. What a great choice! These are perfect for any morning snack....or late morning, early afternoon...bedtime...ok, anytime of the day perfect. The orange flavor is a background flavor, just as Dorie said in the book. It is not a really strong flavor at all. I also made half of mine with sugar sprinkled on top and the other half not. I liked the half that had the sugar on top, it gave a little extra sweet crunch, although, my 10 year old son did not like the sugar topping.



The batter came together quickly, and because I made mini muffins, 10-12 minutes later, I had perfect blueberry muffins.



This week, we have 2 new chicks to join our escapade..Nicole from Crazy Delicious and Ashley from Eat Me Delicious. A great big welcome to you guys. And of course, don't forget to check out Laurie, Michelle and Jaime, too!



We have a great one already picked out for next week!

Orange Berry Muffins


Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
About 3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries–fresh preferably, or frozen (not thawed)


Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds of a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough–the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be.

Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully bakes, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Lemon Meringue Pie Daring Baker Style

This months challenge was hosted by the lovely Jen at The Canadian Baker, and she chose Lemon Meringue Pie. I was so excited when I got the news that this would be the Daring Baker Challenge for January. What a great way to start the New Year.

As the month went on, there was talk from other DBer's that they had a problem with a watery filling. This made me nervous, surely this would not happen to me and that putting my pie together would go perfectly.

Made the pie dough...went together great! Baked it....perfect. While the crust was cooling, I made the lemon curd...oh, that wonderful, tart lemon curd! Very tasty. Let it cool, and then I made the meringue without any problems. Can this be? Did my pie turn out just the way that it should? Unfortunately, no. I had the watery mess, but, it did taste great!

I don't regret making this pie. That is part of being a Daring Baker...some turn out, and some don't. A great big Thank you to Jen for choosing a great dessert to start off the New Year. Check out her Lemon Meringue Pie for the recipe. And, don't forget to check out all of the other Daring Baker's on their experience.

Jennifer M. Parcell

Who is this person you ask? She was a 20 year old marine, fighting the war in Iraq, that was killed on February 7, 2007. I came across the blog, The Mother's Day Project, and felt that I needed to be a part of this. Once you volunteer, you are sent a piece of cloth with a female soldier's name stamped on it, that has lost their life in this war. You then stitch over the name and send it back, and eventually, it will become a tote bag, along with all the other women that have lost their lives.

To be really honest, I don't really have an opinion on this war. But, I do believe in supporting our men and women while they are there fighting for us. And, I am grateful to the ones that have lost their lives. When, I received my swatch of fabric in the mail, and saw my name, immediately tears came to my eyes. I didn't realize how this "name" would touch me. I wanted to try to find out more about her, was she married? Did she have children? Where was she from? And I found that she was 20 years old, she was from Maryland, and joined the Marines with her brother. She has a My Space page dedicated to her, go check it out for yourselves and see what a precious person she must have been. You can find her here.

I am truly blessed to have been made aware of this woman. I know that her family is very proud of her.

Double Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes

This month's Cupcake Hero theme is Coffee, in honor of Mr. Quirky Cupcake's birthday. I am the only coffee lover in my family, so I had to make something not too strong for the Mr. and kiddo's would eat them. I made a white chocolate cupcake, filled with a chocolate espresso ganache and topped with a chocolate buttercream frosting.

I had to make the chocolate espresso ganache a day before, and you can easily roll this ganache into truffles. They are excellent and really easy to make.

Chocolate Espresso Ganache: (a.k.a. Gale's Famous Truffles from Butter, Sugar, Flour and Eggs)
1 1/2 Cups creme fraiche or sour cream (I use sour cream)
2 Tbsp finely ground espresso
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Combine the sour cream and espresso in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as it boils, turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, put the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Strain the hot sour cream mixture into the bowl. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cover and let rest in a cool place overnight. Do not refrigerate. The mixture will become firm but not hard.
(If you want to roll into balls, I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight.)

White Chocolate Cupcakes:

6 oz. white chocolate, chopped
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 Cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
6 eggs
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Place white chocolate and butter in mixing bowl over saucepan with simmering water. Stir until melted and combined. Remove from heat and add the sugar, mix well. The butter will separate and come to the top. This is ok. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat with electric mixer for 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. The mixture will thicken and will combine together. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture, mix on medium speed until blended.

Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes. Rotate pan and bake for 7 minutes longer.


Chocolate Buttercream:
2 Sticks butter, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
8 Tbsp. cocoa
2 lb. bag of powdered sugar
milk

Mix the butter and cocoa together with a mixer, add vanilla. While mixing, gradually add the powdered sugar and add milk to get the consistency that you want.


To assemble the cupcake:
Cut out a cone in the top/middle of the cupcake. Fill the hole with ganache and top with the piece of cupcake that you cut out. Pipe or spread on the buttercream.

TWD-Perfection Pound Cake

This week's TWD was chosen by Laurie, Perfection Pound cake. Again, this will be a make again recipe. It is very easy to put together, it only took me about - minutes to get it all together. It is a very thick better, but very tasty! I also tried it with some red current jam that I received from my friend Molly over at Batter Splattered. The tartness from the jam, along with the buttery sweetness of this pound cake is wonderful!

Don't forget to check out Laurie and Michelle to see how their pound cake turned out, as well as our newest partner in crime, Jaime. I am so glad to have her join us!!

Perfection Pound Cake

by: Dorie Greenspan

2 Cups all-purpose flour or 2 1/4 Cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temp

1 Cup sugar

4 large eggs, at room temp

1 tsp vanilla

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9X5 inch loaf pan or an 8 1/2X4 1/2 inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1-2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you're working, scrape down the bowl and the beater often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated-don't over mix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. If it's browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you're using a 9X5 pan, you'll need to bake the cake for 70-75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted keep into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes.

Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

I've been tagged....

My friend Megan has tagged me for a meme. I have never been tagged, and I am both excited and kind of reserved about it. This really makes you have to tell things about yourself that you thought that you may never have to relive. So, here I go.....


What were you doing 10 years ago?1998-I had a 2 1/2yr old and a 3 month old.

What were you doing 1 year ago? I had just started a new job that I HATED!! I came home crying the very first day that I started!

Five snacks you enjoy?
Do I have to limit it to just 5?! 1.hmm, chocolate truffles, 2.lemon pound cake,3. marshmallow popcorn--yum!,4. marble slap ice cream, and 5.chips and salsa!

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to?
1.Stay
2.You've got the right stuff (yes, that would be New Kids on the Block!)
3.A kiss to build a dream on
4.Love Bites
5.Straight up by Paula Abdul.

I am so laughing my butt off about this!!


Five things you would do if you were a millionaire?
1.Buy a bigger house
2.Pay off my debt
3.Set up college fund for my kids
4.Open a business.
5.Travel. The first place that I would go would be Paris.

Five bad habits? letting my laundry pile up, eating way too much sugar, not cleaning my car out, biting my nails, letting my daughter sleep with me. (she has got to start sleeping in her own bed!)

Five things you like doing? Baking,making marshmallows, blogging, going to the beach (I wish I could live there), and shopping

Five things you would never wear again? Jellies, do you remember those shoes? bikini, bright blue eyeshadow, red lipstick, and spandex

Five favorite toys? My new chef knife, my kitchen torch, kitchen aid mixer, chocolate fountain, candy molds

There you have it!!

Tag, you're it!

Michelle and

Emiline

TWD #3- Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte

First of all, let me say that this looks nothing like the one in the book. The one in the book has a perfectly brown crust, as well as the filling being the perfect cream color. I have got to find out how they do that! Mine turned out a little brown and cracked on top. Anyway, it still tastes wonderful! Next time, I will use a little more jam on the bottom, but it still tastes great. I love the fact that you have that little bit of fruit taste with the cheese cake. This filling calls for both cream cheese and cottage cheese, you put them into a food processor and pulse until it is smooth. The verdict on this one? Wonderful, and I will absolutely make it again. I would also try mini size to go on a tea party menu!

Don't forget to check out Laurie and Michelle and see what their experience with this one is! Also, next week will be Perfection Pound Cake--yum!

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte:

For the Crust:

1 3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

1/2 Cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

2 large egg yolks

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the filling:

1/3 Cup thick berry jam (I used strawberry)

9 oz. cream cheese, at room temp

8 oz (1 cup) cottage cheese, at room temp

3/4 Cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground nutmeg

2 large eggs, preferably at room temp

Butter a 9-inch spring form pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

To make the crust: Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse just to blend. Toss in the pieces of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse mail. Stir the egg yolks and villa together with a fork, and, still pulsing the machine, add them and continue to pulse until the dough comes together in clumps and curds-restrain yourself, and don't allow the dough to form a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface. If you want to roll the dough, gather it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate ti for about 20 minutes before rolling. Or simply press the dough into the pan. The dough should come about 1 1/2 inches up the sides of the spring form. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Fit a piece of buttered aluminum foil against the crust, covering it completely. Fill the crust lightly with rice, dried beans or pie weights and slide the sheet into the oven. Bake the crust for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5 minutes or so-you don't want the crust to get too brown. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the filling.

Lower the oven temp for 350 degrees.

To make the filling: Stir the jam, and spread it over the bottom of the crust-it's okay to do this while the crust is still warm

Put the cream cheese and cottage cheese into the food processor and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times, for 2 minutes, until you've got a smooth, satiny mix. Add the sugar, salt and spices and process for another 30 seconds. With the machine running, add the eggs and process, scraping the bowl as needed, for a final minute. Pour the filling over the jam.

Bake the cake for 60-70 minutes, or until the filling is uniformly puffed and no longer jiggly. Gently transfer the spring form pan to a cooking rack and allow the torte to cool to room temperature, during which time the filling will collapse into a thin, elegant layer.

Run a blunt knife between the crust and the sides of the pan, then open and remove the sides of the spring form pan. If the sides of the crust extend above the filling and you don't like this look, very gently saw off the excess crust using a serrated knife. Chill the torte slightly or thoroughly before serving.

TWD #2;aka..Tuesdays with Dorie

......ok, so I realize that I don't have #1 posted, but that is because I missed out on that one. Laurie from Quirky Cupcake received the book, Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan for Christmas and vowed to "try" to make one recipe a week from the book and post on Tuesdays about it until she has tried every recipe. Once she posted about this, Michelle from Sugar and Spice joined in, and now I have decided to join in as well.

Michelle chose Quintuple Chocolate Brownies, and oh my word...these have got to be the best brownies ever! Warning, they are very rich, and you put you into a chocoholic shock, but it is well worth it. :)

This recipe calls for 3 types of chocolate and then topped with a 4th chocolate, white chocolate....I didn't add the nuts, because my kids and hubby aren't crazy about nuts, but it is perfect without them.

Week one was devoted to Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread cookies, go and check out Laurie and Michelle's take on this one.

And, don't forget to check back next week for week #3!

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies
For the Brownies:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 oz bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp strong coffee
1 Cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz premium-quality milk chocolate, chopped into pieces, or chocolate chips
1 Cup chopped nuts

For the glaze:
6 oz premium quality white chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and add, in the following order, the butter, the two chocolates and the coffee. Keeping the pan over low heat, warm just until the butter and chocolates are melted-you don't want the ingredients to get so hot they separate, so keep and eye on the bowl. Stir gently, and when the mixture is smooth, set it aside for 5 minutes.

Using a whisk or a rubber spatula, beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture. don't beat too vigorously-you don't want to add air to the batter-and don't be concerned about any graininess. Next, stir in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. You should have a smooth, glossy batter. If you're not already using a rubber spatula, switch to one now and gently stir in the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. Finally, stir in the milk chocolate chops and the nuts. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes our streaked but not thickly coated. Let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Turn the brownies out onto a rack, peel away the foil and place it under another rack-it will be the drip catcher for the glaze. Invert the brownies onto the rack and let cool completely.

Make the glaze:
Put the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the heavy cram to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Wait 30 seconds, then gently stir until the chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Pour evenly over the brownies and spread to cover the entire surface. Refrigerate brownies for at least 20 minutes for glaze to dry, and cut into squares.