Rhubarb-Brown Sugar Plain Cake- TWD

Well, it’s been a while since I posted but let me tell you I came back with a real winner. I loved this plain cake and I pretty much stuck to the recipe other than substituting rhubarb for blueberries. It’s rhubarb season here and it seemed a shame to not use local produce as the earth seems to have finally woken from its winter slumber. I picked the rhubarb at my Aunt’s house last weekend when we were in town for Claire’s wedding shower.

Let’s talk about this cake. Now I was a bit skeptical of the fussiness, I mean beating egg whites seemed like a bit much for a “plain” cake but I was wrong. It wasn’t too much as the cake was light and delicious and I assume the egg white peaks had something to do with this.  I made the cake this morning and brought it into work. There was only one piece left at the end of the day so I think it was a hit! A couple of people asked for the recipe, here’s hoping that the egg white beating doesn’t dissuade them.

Thanks to Cindy of Everyday Insanity for choosing this recipe. And of course a big thanks to Dorie for giving us this little gem. I can’t wait to make it for my family, they are going to love it!!!

Caroline

TWD Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

I can’t believe I almost forgot to write this post! It is late on Tuesday evening but I am squeezing this post in before the deadline:)

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Toronto visiting my TWO (!) nieces, as well as spending some quality time with my mum on Mother’s Day weekend.

To celebrate Mother’s Day, Caroline and I hosted a brunch for our mum and big sister who welcomed the arrival of her second beautiful girl just last week! So this was definately a weekend to celebrate. Our brunch included a variety of yummy food and drinks, in particular, this bundt cake! This cake was a big hit with everyone (except with my niece who thinks that if it isn’t made of chocolate than it’s not that great). I omitted the nuts and used apples instead of pears but otherwise stuck to the recipe. This cake was definately a great brunch cake since it is not too sweet but if you were interested in making it a bit sweeter, it would be great with a glaze. Caroline and I were plotting a blueberry version with a lemon glaze to make in the future!

Thanks to Peggy from Pantry Revisited who chose this weeks recipe. It was definately a recipe I would likely have not chosen on my own but really enjoyed. You can find this recipe on Peggy’s blog or on page 179 of BFMHTY.

Cornmeal Shortbread-TWD

I know, I know, we have been failing badly here at Bake With Us in the posting department. We could blame a lot of things: end of the semester, wedding planning, illness, work, etc. It just wasn’t a priority in the grand scheme of things. But things are looking up and so here we are back TWD’ing.

Let me just say that I loved this shortbread. It was delicious. I halved the recipe and used a ceramic mold that I had been gifted by a dear friend one Christmas. It was a short-cut, I admit, but inspired nevertheless. The mold worked out really well, so pretty!

cornmeal shortbread & my easter present to myself

Head on over to Valerie’s beautiful blog for the recipe or check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bloggers to see what they did with these treats. And of course thanks to Dorie for another great sweet.

Citrus Sunshine Muffins-TWD

Wow, it has been a long time since there has been activity on the blog!  It has been a busy month for both Caroline and I, but rest assured we have some good recipes coming soon which should hopefully make up for our neglectfulness this past month.

First off, a new Tuesdays with Dorie post! I spent a good portion of this past weekend on the 401 between Ottawa and Toronto, being a good sister and attending Caroline’s birthday party! I stopped in Kingston on Saturday while en route to Toronto to visit my mum. I made these muffins for her hoping that they would  bring a little sunshine into her weekend.

My mum and dad had these with tea after I left, and they were enjoyed by both. I had a taste of one on Friday night when they were just out of the oven and they tasted quite nice! I made a few adjustments to the recipe including blueberries instead of raisins and margarine instead of butter (for a slightly more healthy muffin).

Thanks to Lauryn of Bella Baker for choosing this weeks recipe. They certainly were a nice intro to some more spring-like baking. You can head over to Lauryn’s blog to get the recipe or it can be found on page 7 of BFMHTY.

Cheers,
Claire

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops- TWD

Welcome everybody! We are super excited to be hosting this week’s Tuesday with Dorie bakers. Like others in the group, we started Bake with Us for the very purpose of joining TWD. I (Caroline) had been given Dorie’s cookbook for Christmas one year and when I stumbled upon these fabulous bakers, I wanted in on the action. So I talked Claire into blogging with me and here we are today hosting. The highlight of being part of this group is that we get to try recipes that we never would have thought of baking and of course I mostly fall in love with them.

Like many other bakers we had a hard time picking this week’s recipe. For our visitors, Claire and I are sisters who love to bake and stay connected despite living five hours apart through this little project. It only took us a few emails back and forth to settle on these delicious cookies. I whipped them up on Valentine’s morning to bring to work. I am fairly new at this job and I hope that they don’t mind all the baked goods I bring in. There aren’t too many of us in the office so the jury is still out whether I make them happy or make them regret hiring me because of the calorie laden treats that I bring in;)

Thanks to all of you who baked with us and special thanks to Dorie for creating these delicious treats! I can’t recommend Baking: From my Home to Yours enough. Go check out your local bookstore and treat yourself today.

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

Getting Ready: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl and sprinkle over the 1 tablespoon water, then add the brown sugar, followed by the chocolate. Stir occasionally until everything is just melted. Don’t let the ingredients get so hot that the butter separates from the sugar and chocolate, and don’t be concerned if the mixture looks grainy.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs on at a time; the mixture will look shiny. Whisk in the dry ingredients, stirring only until they disappear into the dough. Stir in the oats. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each spoonful.

Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until the cookies are dark around the edges and just slightly soft in the middle. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature. (If the cookies are difficult to lift from the baking sheet, wait a minute and try again.)

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Great Grains Muffins TWD

I love muffins. There are no two ways about it. I have a preference for banana and pumpkin but really I will eat any kind possible. And of course, they are even better if they contain chocolate. I made these last night and I have to say that I dig them. Not as much as the lemon blueberry muffins from a few weeks ago (Dorie outdid herself on those ones!) but those contained lemon curd. Hands down, no competition, these ones didn’t have a chance, but regardless they were good. I really dug the cornmeal and maple. When I offered some to S. he said “sure, they sound healthy!” I sheepishly replied “well, I added chocolate chips” and he said “Of course you did. That’s my girlfriend.” In my defense, I think that the chocolate chips really added something.

If you want to try these out for yourself, you can head on over to Christine’s blog Happy Tummy for the recipe or better yet check out Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Caroline

TWD Nutty, Chocolatey, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This recipes marks a first for me. My first bundt cake! I asked for a bundt pan two Christmases ago and it has been sitting in my cupboard patiently waiting for me to test it out. And let me tell you, it was worth the wait! This cake was absolutely delicious!

With anything I make for the first time, I am usually a little nervous about whether is cooked enough, etc. especially when working with such a deep pan. But this cake came right out of the pan and was baked perfectly. As always, I made a few changes including omitting the nuts and raisins. Next time, I will try and improve my swirling technique, but I think I did well for my first time:)

I served this cake this past weekend while at Mont Tremblant with friends. We stayed at a hotel and made our own meals. I brought the cake wrapped in tin foil and didn’t think about the need to take pictures, hence the ugly tin foil shot! I was a little nervous about it because I know some people aren’t into orange and chocolate but everyone seemed to enjoy it, including myself! This cake is a definate make-again and was a great first foray into the world of bundt cakes!

Thanks to Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort for choosing this weeks recipe. You can head on over to Jennifer’s blog or you can find the recipe on page 182 of BFMHTY.

Lemon Poppyseed (and Blueberry) Muffins- TWD

Let me just say that I now believe that all lemon muffins should have lemon curd in them. The sheer genius of that is unparalleled. I was fortunate enough to have a little container of lemon curd in my freezer and when I saw that suggestion in the playing around section I jumped on it. I am smitten with these muffins. Basically you make them as normal but put a tsp or so of lemon curd in the middle. Scrumptious.

Now I am not the biggest poppyseed fan so I made half with blueberries. They IMHO were superior. But I guess that’s a preference. I didn’t glaze them as I am taking them to my parent’s house this weekend and I needed to freeze them. I will confess that I had two for supper on Sunday night. My coworker commented that muffins aren’t the healthiest dinner. But what about the blueberries and lemons? Aren’t they healthy;)

Thanks to Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness for picking this recipe. BTW I love the header on Betsy’s blog, so pretty!

Caroline

PS We are hosting the Tuesdays with Dorie crowd in February!!!! It was really hard to pick a recipe. In case your wondering, it’s of the chocolate variety. Stay tuned.

Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madelines TWD

So I have had a madeline pan for a year and a half and I confess I have never used it. My parents went to France on vacation and I asked them to bring me back a madeline pan but I think my mom actually purchased it in Ireland! Regardless, I like to think of it as my french baking pan. I whipped up the batter last night and baked them tonight. I don’t have a piping bag so I had to improvise but I did get some fluff into them. I decided against the glaze, mainly because I am so tired. The new job is wearing me out!

I didn’t actually taste these. I am trying to exert some self-control after a December with none. Thanks to Margot for picking this week’s recipe. You MUST go to her blog to see what these are supposed to look like. She made a great choice and has great photos to show you how it’s done. If you haven’t yet picked up Baking from my Home to Yours, I suggest you do!

Caroline

Pumpkin Muffins TWD Rewind!

Hey, it’s me Caroline. Have you been wondering where I am? Claire has been holding down the fort here while my life has been a little topsy-turvey. December was a wild month for me. I finished one job, packed my apartment, moved to a new city, started a new job and wrote a 20ish page term paper. Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of time for baking and blogging. Now that doesn’t mean I didn’t bake, but when I did, I didn’t manage to take photos. So many thanks to Claire, who has been busy herself planning a wedding, for looking after our little piece of cyber-space.

 

Pumpkin Muffins

I actually baked a rewind in November, knowing that things would be crazy in December, but it got eaten before I had a chance to take a photo. My bad. This one almost was a miss too, as I left my camera in Toronto, forgotten in all the Christmas festivities. So I snapped a photo with my cell phone. Obviously, it isn’t stellar but what can you do. These pumpkin muffins were delicious. I, of course, used chocolate chips instead of raisins. For the recipe head on over here where Kelly made a great pick!

I hope to be back in the baking game in the New Year (which I MUST share as I have a bridesmaid to fit into in a few short months!) Hope you all have a wonderful NYE!