Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread (with pears)

This week's selection for Tuesdays with Dorie is a dark, chocolately gingerbread. Many gingerbread recipes rely simply on powdered ginger and molasses for their spiciness, but this one calls for a handful of chopped fresh ginger as well. Dorie recommends adding some stem ginger in syrup or candied ginger but I decided to add some poached pear chunks instead, just for something different. I had saved the poaching liquid from the French Pear Tart, which quickly sweetened and softened a couple of pears.


Dorie's gingerbread incorporates chocolate in two forms - melted and chunked. I loved the chunks - ginger and chocolate are such a great combination. I skipped the chocolate frosting that she also recommends, as it just didn't seem necessary to me (and I was being lazy).

As for the cake itself, I found mine to be almost too molasses-y - it verged on a licorice flavor that was just a bit too strong for me, even though I like licorice. Mine also looks darker than Dorie's and some other bloggers'. I wonder if my organic molasses was too dark, perhaps. But nevertheless, I liked it and it was a hit with my taste-testers.


I made Dorie's ginger-infused whipped cream as well -it was fantastic! You just steep some fresh ginger into heavy cream, let it cool, then whip with some sugar. I have added maple syrup, vanilla beans and other flavors to whipped cream before but the ginger was so good. I can't wait to try it with pumpkin pie. I really think gingerbread calls for whipped cream - the cream provides a nice contrast to the spices and makes the whole experience much more divine than just a piece of spicy cake.


Thank you to Sherry of Sherry Trifle for choosing this week's recipe and reminding me how much I love gingerbread, especially when it's "mitt schlag." You can find the recipe on Sherry's blog.

I'd like to leave you with a recent picture of one of my kitties, Go Go Boots. I just love this picture (and its subject, too!).

Savory Corn & Pepper Muffins (TWD)

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake chose Dorie's Savory Corn & Pepper Muffins. I have talked about my love for all things corn before, so I was really happy to try a new corn muffin. These are yummm-eeeee. They are studded with corn, cilantro, jalapeno & red pepper which adds such a great kick and tons of flavor. The crumb is tender and they are really buttery.



A lot has been written about the Southern/Northern debate over sweet vs unsweetened cornbread. Personally, I like it both ways, according to the menu and my mood. I love it baked in cast iron so it gets a nice crust and I generally like to add a bit of honey or maple syrup, but I sometimes prefer it unsweetened too -- despite my Northeastern origins.


In these muffins, I think the small amount of sugar works, because they have a lot of spiciness from the hot peppers and it balances out. I love how colorful they are and that they're a nice change from straight-up cornbread. We had them one night with chili and another night with an orange-chipotle pork stew -- they were great with both, or on their own in the morning.


If you'd like to see the recipe, go to Rebecca's blog. You can also see what all the other TWD bakers thought by checking out the blogroll.

TWD: French Pear Tart

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie selection is the French Pear Tart chosen by our patron saint of baking herself, Ms. Dorie Greenspan.


I was excited to write this post until I realized that I actually have some critiques of the recipe and I soooo don't want to offend Dorie, especially on a week when she might actually read all 200+ posts. So Dorie, if you're here, if you made it to the letter K in the alphabetical listing, I just first want to say how much I admire and respect your work (and you). I love the book, I have at least 10 pounds of Dorie baking weight now added to my frame and many happy friends who enjoy the treats I bring them weekly. I have learned so much from the book!

Nevertheless.....oh and I so hate to go here but....I have to say that this recipe had me more confused than most.


So, Dorie, here are my questions: Was I supposed to knead that tart dough or leave it crumbly? It seemed like a contradiction in terms to me.

Was I supposed to leave the stem on the pears after halving them - I think you meant that, but I totally didn't get it even after reading the recipe twice and I ended up slicing them entirely. I think that's okay but after the fact, I wished I had left the pear halves intact and then fanning which is what I think you intended us to do (oops).


The almond cream seemed a little bland to me (so sorry, Dorie! just being honest here!). Did it maybe need a dash of salt? I have learned so much about the value of added salt from you Dorie, I really think it was needed here too.

To counter the blandness of the almond filling, I decided to brush my tart shell with some melted bittersweet chocolate after the partial baking. I loved it like that, though my husband thought it ended up too sweet and too rich. I of course had no problem with either of those things, since I am still eating it, 4 days later.

As for the tart filling "browning" in the oven, that never happened. No matter how long I left it in there, it seemed to reach one shade of golden and never go beyond it. I was also worried my pears were too wet as it looked very moist even after baking 15 minutes longer than specified, but I finally just took it out. Then I thought I had overbaked it because when it cooled, the filling had separated a bit from the pears and wasn't so pretty. Nonetheless, it turned out pretty darn yummy.

I loved the idea of poaching the pears first. If we liked alcohol in our desserts at my house, I might try poaching them in red wine & cinnamon next time. Another idea is to try adding some chocolate to the almond cream filling and make it a really chocolatey pear tart. Clearly, I need to make this one again and I know one little boy who might agree...

Bernie enjoying his tart & cake!

Chocolate Chunky Cups

You guys all read Orangette, right? At least all you food bloggers do, no doubt. Orangette was one of the first food blogs I found. I don't even know how I got there but I remember a post about her kitchen and a UPS package and that she had polaroid-style photos. I was captivated instantly. One thing I really admire about Molly's blogging is that it's generous in ideas but spare in both its prose and posts. She doesn't post every single thing she cooks. She obviously self-edits, only writes up recipes that are well-tested, and she doesn't show off.

And when she refers back to an earlier post about something from the past, I always follow the links. Because invariably I will find something else to swoon over. But for all the months that I have been reading Orangette, I had not actually cooked anything from it yet. Well, I think I started off on the right foot. In a recent post about holiday baking, she mentioned "chocolate blocks." Cacao-freak that I am, I had to check it out. Which is how I wound up with a friend dubbing me a "chocolatier" and making me laugh out loud. If they only knew how easy it was! Easier than making chocolate chip cookies. Easier than making fruit crisp. And way, way easier than making a pie crust.


Here's the basic idea: Start with good chocolate. Melt it. Add your choice of dried fruit & nuts, and some sea salt. Chill. Done in an hour.

You can find the recipe here. My big change - and with all due respect to the food blog goddess herself, I think it's a huge improvement aesthetically - was to chill my chocolates in mini muffin cups and to reserve some fruit & nuts to sprinkle on top*. So much prettier this way and alerts everyone to the presence of nuts in case of any allergies. Molly chills hers in an 8-inch square baking pan and then cuts into small blocks. I tried that method on the first go-round, but found it hard to cut neat squares. You also lose a lot of the edges if you want them all to look nice - and I hate to waste chocolate! (I melted that batch and started over - it's a forgiving recipe).

The fruit & nut combinations are endless. Dried cherries are so good with dark chocolate, and I combined them with golden raisins, peanuts & pistachios. I added chopped crystallized ginger to a second batch and that was terrific! Hazelnuts would be great if you had them - but really, any nut and any dried fruit can work. I also sprinkled fleur de sel both in and on the chocolates - just be careful of over-salting if your nuts are salted, too. I wish I had had dried apricots in the house because the orange would be pretty - perhaps next time.



A bonbon cup might be a more manageable size for popping in the mouth, but the mini muffin cup is easier to fill and I used my 24-cup mini muffin tin to store them while chilling - very handy.


For my holiday gift bags, I packed 4 chocolates into small Wilton brand candy boxes that I found at Michael's Arts & Crafts, and tied with ribbon.

I will never give up baking, but I have to say that chocolate-making -- at least this kind -- is so simple and so rewarding. I've started reading recipes for homemade peanut butter cups - oh lordy, we're in trouble now....


*Full disclosure: I got this idea from the French Chocolate Bark in Ina Garten's new Back to Basics book. I am a food plagiarizer, guilty as charged.

No Pudding in the House

If you came here looking for a TWD post on butterscotch pudding, I am sorry to disappoint you. There is just way too much holiday baking to be done for me to squeeze in pudding also. Pudding can't be put in a gift bag so that rules it out for this week.

Also, I have been making the most amazing butterscotch pudding for a number of years now. It comes from a New York restaurant called Drovers Tap Room and the pudding was a signature dessert there for a long time. It requires no cornstarch and is baked slowly in a bain marie, producing the silkiest pudding ever. I just can't see going back to the cornstarch method after knowing the Drovers version. The NY Times published the recipe a decade ago and I've been making it ever since. You can find the recipe here.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Still I'd Like to Save One Soul

I'm not Christian. I need to say that upfront because I am about to tell you about my favorite Christmas cd, "William the Angel" by Rob Mathes. It's a song cycle about angels, the birth of Jesus, the meaning of Christmas and the power of faith. It's not even the type of music I typically like - being more ballad-y, ez-listening-y and schmaltzy than I normally choose. But I think the songwriting is excellent, the music will make you dance and sway and the story is a universal one about hope, redemption and belief. I love it. It puts me in a Christmas mood every year about this time and brings tears to my eyes if I am feeling a little sappy. It also reminds me of my first year of dating my husband when we went to one of Rob Mathes' annual Christmas concerts. That was a magical evening; I remember being awed by the music - we saw Mavis Staples among others - and feeling so madly in love. Anyway, give it a listen. This is the title track but the whole album is beautiful. (Sorry but I can't embed the video as it's protected on youtube).

I am also a huge fan of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life." I am a total sucker for it and cry every time, and not just at end - I cry through the whole thing. There was a good article in the NY Times this week about its subversive nature as a cautionary tale about the disappointments of adulthood and conformity - I agree that that is in the movie and it's what makes it more than just a Christmas story to me. It's that cynicism veiled in saccharine which makes me love the movie on more than a sentimental level.

Why do I celebrate Christmas if I don't believe Christ was a saviour? I've been asked that many times over the years. Well, I love all the cultural trappings - the cookies, the carols, the lights, the tree, the big dinner, Rudolph, Santa, the Grinch, champagne & eggnog. And as someone who doesn't participate in any organized religion, I find it important to have a time when we focus on family, friends, helping others less fortunate than us and finding joy in an often-cruel world. Tom and I have already started talking about the traditions we will give our daughter for Christmas. Yes, there will be gifts, a tree and the myth of Santa Claus. But we will also create a day when we remember the most important and invaluable gift of all - love. Love for our family & friends and for those we don't even know.

Now I need to get back to the kitchen and bake more cookies!

Triple Ginger Buttery Jam Cookies (TWD)

This week for Tuesdays with Dorie, Heather of Randomosity & The Girl, invited us to make Buttery Jam Cookies.


Peering into my fridge, I found a jar of ginger preserves that I had bought for the Fruit Galette back in the summer. Inspiration struck and I decided to make a triple ginger cookie. Dorie's original recipe calls for powdered ginger, so I just upped the ginger-y-ness and added the preserves, along with diced candied ginger. I think this made a different cookie than was intended but as a big fan of ginger, I didn't miss the fruit jam at all.



The cookies are puffy and soft - not my favorite cookie texture. But I think they're still a nice cookie, and the ginger is especially good for this time of year. My dad loves all things ginger so I'll be baking up the rest of the dough for him on Christmas Eve.

You can find the cookie recipe on Heather's blog and if you'd like to make my version, just throw in a handful of chopped candied ginger at the end. I also flattened the balls of dough after putting them on the cookie sheets, to ensure a more uniform shape - if you follow Dorie's instructions, you'll get a more spherical shape and the bottoms may cook faster than the tops.


It's a cookie time of year and I was happy to add another one to the roster - thanks, Heather!

Grandma's Sugar Cookies ( TWD)

Sugar and spice. And butter. And salt. And well you know, a few pistachios and dried cherries don't hurt either. For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, we are making Grandma's Sugar Cookies, which are a very simple cookie that offers lots of room for improvisation. These cookies were chosen by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein and you can find the recipe on her blog.


I baked two versions -- one a simple version with lots of spicy cinnamon baked inside (I love Penzey's Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon) and a light dusting of cinnamon sugar sprinkled on before baking. These remind of a crisper, neater Snickerdoodle and they are really well suited for accompanying afternoon tea or late night cocoa.



My second batch was studded with dried cherries and pistachios. I love this combination for the holidays as you get the red & green effect but in more muted tones than brightly colored sugar. And the flavors are so good together.

For the record, I don't make shaped, frosted cookies for the holidays. Or for anytime. I have nothing against those cookies, and I know that the TWD bakers are going to knock themselves out with creativity and artistry on this week's challenge.

But you see a while back, I worked for a cookie company that specializes in hand-iced cookies. The cookies look gorgeous, and sometimes they don't taste bad either. But when you have a job where you watch people ice cookies for 8 hours a day, and they do it really, really well and really, really fast... Well, let's just say your motivation to do it at home definitely wanes. I ate so many iced cookies at that job. And I have never even liked iced cookies that much to begin with! But they were everywhere, all day long, and when a hunger pang or a boredom streak would hit, there the cookies were - so pretty, so inviting, so damn fattening. Sigh.


Every once in a while, we would have to test out new packaging and we would try eating really old cookies to see how they had fared. Needless to say, somebody has to spit out yucky, rotten cookies in order to tell you when they are "best eaten by." And that person was occasionally me. So, yup, I'm over iced, shaped cookies. They look pretty, and I bow down to all of you who slave over them. But as for me, I am now solely a "slice and bake" gal when it comes to sugar cookies.



Speaking of which...I like to wrap my cookies in parchment rather than the saran that Dorie recommends. I find it's helpful if you write the baking time and temp on the packages so you don't have to root around for the recipe later. I usually make 6 or 7 different cookie doughs for the holidays. I freeze the doughs in parchment rolls or individually scooped balls, label them and then bake in small batches for gift bags as I need them.

This year, these cookies will definitely be in the line-up.

Pecan Sable Sandwiches (TWD)

I can't believe I am squeaking this post in under deadline! It's been weeks since I did a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe - I know, I'm a bad, bad blogger. But I did it! 10:13 pm and I can post my pecan sable sandwiches.

Dorie didn't say you could use pecans in this recipe. Did she know something that I didn't? Well, I forged ahead anyway with some of the many pecans stocked in my freezer. I also used light brown sugar instead of white sugar - it's become a standard substitution for me lately as I think it's always an improvement. I filled mine with apricot jam and used a rectangular scalloped cutter that I LOVE. I poked tiny holes with the end of a tapered chopstick as I couldn't find my teeny pastry tip. The holes were a bit too small to give any peekaboo action, but I still love the shape and look of these and will definitely try it again with another recipe.



Despite my abiding love for pecans and brown sugar, I have to say that I found these a little bland. With a few bites I got a shot of salt and that seemed to improve things for my tastebuds but otherwise I'd have to say "eh."


As for the comments from other TWD'ers about the yield, my cutter is 2"x1.5" and I would get at least 30 sandwiches if I baked all of the dough.

Thank you to Dennis of Living the Life for choosing this week's recipe. I had never made sandwich cookies before and I'm inspired to make more types, so thanks Dennis.

On another note, I have a new camera. I am in love with it. Still working on getting the hang of how to use all the features and take better shots, but it's a great improvement and I can't stop taking pictures with it. It would probably help matters if I stopped trying to shoot late at night in my dark kitchen, but that's another issue. I love my new toy - thanks, Tom!

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving...

....and all through the kitchen: the turkey was a-brining, the pie shells were a-chilling and the ice cream maker was a-churning. That's pretty much the status here. Actually, the turkey is no longer in brine but now splayed out on a sheet pan in all its full glory (legs wide open, wings akimbo) in the bottom of the fridge. I am following a Cooks Illustrated recipe, which involves letting the skin dry out before roasting. Supposedly this gives a crisper skin. All I can say is right now I crack up every time I open the fridge door and see that naked turkey butt staring at me.

Every year, I try some new-fangled turkey concept and it's usually a bit of a disaster. Let's not revisit last year's grilled butterflied turkey incident (charred on the outside, raw on the inside, anyone?) or the 18-pounder whose brining solution spilled all over the fridge and the floor the year before. This year, I'm back to the oven method but I still couldn't stay away from a recipe that promises perfection through complex processes. So I'll be turning the turkey over 3 times during the course of its time in the cooker, punching holes in foil to go under it and basting with butter. We'll see what happens. Next year, I promise, really, truly, I will just stick the thing in the oven, shut the door and wait until the timer goes off.

Anyway, also on the menu is stuffing which I haven't made yet but will be fairly basic: bread, turkey stock, celery, onions, sage, parsley, apples and pecans. Sometimes I add sausage and I bought a nice chicken-fennel sausage last Saturday with that intention but we ate it on Monday. Oh well.

Determined not to make the gravy easy either, I followed a NY Times recipe for making do-ahead gravy with real pan drippings. Took me all day Sunday. But I ended up with 2 quarts of gravy that is already done. I hate making gravy - always another stresser. It's hot in the kitchen, people are trying to get in and out of the oven while I'm stirring like a madwoman and cursing that stupid fat-separating measuring cup that never actually works. So the gravy is done and I hope it's okay. I didn't really taste it much on Sunday.

I'm making pies too. More on that tomorrow when I know how they turned out. Pie crust is my nemesis and I'm still not sure I succeeded this time. I made another batch tonight despite already having 2 pie shells in the freezer because I didn't feel confident about one of them (had to roll it out twice). So more rolling on the agenda in the morning. Man, do I hate rolling out pie crust - why is it my favorite dessert??

But I love this holiday. We all get along, there's a nip in the air, no gifts are required and it's all about food!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! May your turkeys be juicy, your cranberries neither too tart nor too sweet and your pie crusts flaky! Catch you on the other side of gluttony.