TWD/BWJ: Pecan Sticky Buns {Hello Butter!}

Hands down this is my favorite recipe (so far) from the Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia group.

I was a bit anxious making these Pecan Sticky Buns as I've never baked with so. much. butter. in a single recipe before and I wasn't sure what to expect.   Worries aside, the dough was easy to work with during the refrigeration and freezer process and rose beautifully each of the three times required in the brioche and bun recipes.  Although time consuming, I thought the end results speak for themselves...buttery, caramelly and sticky!

These were a hit at my house!  One pan full of buns for my family and the other shared by my daughter and six of her friends. 

I will definitely make this recipe again.

For recipe and results from other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers, please visits our hosts Lynn at eat drink man woman dogs cat and Nicole at Cookies on Friday

 

TWD/BWJ - Hungarian Shortbread

Around 8pm tonight I finally had time to make this week's Tuesdays with Dorie - Baking with Julia recipe.   Recipe's need to be posted by midnight, so I'm just squeaking by with enough time for a short post about this amazing recipe.

Today's  recipe is Hungarian Shortbread. The recipe calls for a Rhubarb filling.  I was pretty excited about that because I had several jars of my Strawberry-Rhubarb preserves  in my pantry left over from last summer's crop.

I loved that the dough in this recipe is frozen for 30 minutes and then shredded with a box grater...yes, a box grater.  Ha!   I got a kick out of that one.

Here's my little pictorial run down...

It's now late Tuesday night and my kitchen smells so good! I cannot wait for my shortbread to cool  so I can devour a piece before I go to bed.

For the recipe, please visit our hosts this week:  Lynette of 1 small kitchen and Cher of the not so exciting adventures of a dabbler.

Goodnight!
 

TWD/BWJ: Lemon Loaf Cake

My 11 year old granddaughter came to visit during Spring Break and together she and I made this week's recipe from TWD/BWJ: Lemon Loaf Cake.

The weather was cold and rainy and by the time the cake was finished baking and cooling on the counter top, we had hail, thunder and lightening -

 

Reviews are mixed.  My husband, kids and granddaughters loved it and requested that I make it again.  My husband really liked the light lemony flavor and the pound cake texture.  On the other hand, I prefer a real zesty, lemony cake and I thought this one, although really good as a pound cake, didn't quite deliver as a Lemon Loaf Cake.  Next time I make this, I'll add lemon juice and make a lemon icing to drizzle over the top for that little something extra I crave.

Our hosts this week are Truc of Treats and Michelle of The Beauty of Life.  Check out their sites for the recipe and more results.

TWD/BWJ: Irish Soda Bread

Today's TWD: Baking with Julia adventure is a basic, traditional loaf of Irish Soda Bread - coincidentally, a nod to my Irish mother.

As usual I improvised a little.  I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I used whole milk and lemon juice instead and let it curdle on the counter for about 20 minutes.  It was nice and thick so I think it worked nicely...we'll see tomorrow how it affected the taste.  Also, I got a little distracted talking with my son and my 1/2" cut on the top of the loaf was closer to 1" deep.  A bit too much I think.  Otherwise, I think all went well.

The loaf is straight out of the oven and is cooling on my counter - and it smells delicious.   Breakfast tomorrow will be Iris Soda Bread toast and jam (if I can wait that long).

For the recipe, visit our co-hosts Cathy of My Culinary Mission and  Carla of Chocolate Moosey

TWD: Rugelach

Mom and Dad, before Dad's passing.

Today is Tuesday  which means another installment of Tuesday's with Dorie: Baking with Julia.  Our TWD:BWJ recipe for today is Rugelach (roo-ga-lah).   Rugelach is an eastern-european Jewish pastry and I've been looking forward to making it for the past several weeks.  Without this challenge, I would have never attempted this recipe which would have been a shame.


You see, I'm polish and as I spent the morning making this little treat I thought about my ancestors - especially my Grandmother, Josephine Solinski Brodowski.  I called her Nana.  She spent many years working in a bakery and I'm sure Rugelach was one of the treats she made. 

I could also feel the presence of my dad, Richard Brodowski - I think he is smiling down on me today :)

My own results were delicious - and they came out looking just like the picture in the cookbook!  Happy day.

P

I changed things up a little bit by making a date levkar (like a fruit butter). I used 2 cups of dates, 1 cup water and 1 Tblsp. lemon juice - no sugar needed. Oh wow! Super good.

For the Rugelach, I used the date levkar, white chocolate chips and blanched toasted almonds.   The combination was heaven.  Pure heaven.  

While I was photographing the results, one of the teens in our neighborhood stopped by and tried a sample, or two, or three. 

Our hosts for today are Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker.  You can also check out results from our group at TWD: Baking with Julia.

What a fun adventure this is turning out to be.

 

TWD: Chocolate Truffle Tartlets, er...Tart

Chocolate Truffle Tart - approved by 14 year old sons everywhere

TWD: Baking with Julia - Chocolate Truffle Tartlets - or in my case, Chocolate Truffle Tart

A few concerns about the ingredients called for in this recipe.  First, I can't eat bittersweet chocolate. It hurts my mouth and that's just wrong for chocolate to hurt this mouth - especially if I'm the one baking.  Second, no biscotti in the house...anywhere.  I think my 14 year old is to blame for that one. Third, no tartlett pans.

My substitutions worked really well:  I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in place of the bittersweet; Cinnamon Ritz Crackers (really!) in place of the 4 biscotti which added a flavorful crunch, and instead of tartlet pans, I used my 10" springform pan since the recipe had an option to use a 10" tart pan.

The results speak for themselves.  The tart is dense, chocolatey and totally over the top.  Exactly how we like things around here.

We have four hosts this week for TWD: Baking with Julia - check out their blogs for the recipe, tips and results Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon, Spike of Spike Bakes,  Jaime of Good Eats and Sweet Treats, and Jessica of Cookbookhabit.

TWD: Baking with Julia - White Loaves

Post Edit:  Thanks TWD friends for the encouraging words.  Because of you I tried this recipe again - I purchased fresh active dry yeast, used bread flour instead of all purpose, made rolls instead, and stole borrowed this idea from our host Jules - a cool way of measuring dough during its first rise.

Adding dough to cereal container - marked with a sharpie to indicate # cups

45 min rise - doubled in size (already a good sign!)

Let's try rolls instead

After 1 hour - 2nd rise complete

After baking for 17 minutes,  I took the temp of the rolls - a perfect 200 degrees 

My family declared these a success! 

So, so good!

I joined TWD earlier this month - Tuesdays with Dorie - and we, myself and 300 other bloggers, are baking our way through Dorie Greenspan's book Baking with Julia - (you can read more about our group by clicking on the link in my sidebar).

Well, the BIG day has arrived. Today, I overcame my fear of yeast.  Yessiree, I sure did.  I had quite a bit of trepidation over this recipe because it rained today.  The 1st rise went very quickly but my bread really struggled during that 2nd rise...it took 2 hours in front of my fireplace just to rise even with the top of the pan.  I took no further chances and popped those babies right into the oven.  I really stressed over that!!!    Would the loaves taste good?  Would they look good?

But alas, all of my effort was worthwhile.

The two loaves of white bread turned out - not as high and fluffy as other results I've seen today, but they did turn out!   SUCCESS!   Big sigh of relief here.  The bread is wonderfully brown on the outside, delightfully dense and delicious on the inside.  No kidding...it tastes really good and not just because I slathered one of the slices in strawberry preserves either. 

I'm linking up to our hosts for today's challenge.  Jules and Laurie.  You can find the recipe on Jules' blog.

I'll definitely make this bread again...just probably not when it's raining.