Grandma's Kitchen Table

TWD Dorie's Cookies: Cherry-Nut Chocolate Pinwheels

       The Dorie's Cookies group recipes for October are Chocolate and Walnut Bars (page 45) and Cherry-Nut Chocolate Pinwheels (page 245).  This week I chose to make the Cherry-Nut Chocolate Pinwheels.
        Ingredient list:  flour, cocoa powder, butter, sugar, salt, egg white, vanilla, dried cherries, chopped walnuts, sugar, and optional: sanding sugar and white chocolate chips for the drizzle. 

        The dough comes together quickly and easily with all the usual lineup of ingredients.  It has to chill in the freezer a bit, at which time you can make and cool the filling which is also not at all difficult, although it did take me twice the amount of time to get it to reduce to be the spreadable consistency Dorie detailed in the recipe, but that just gave me a little longer in the kitchen so I used the time to straighten the pantry.  Again, not at all difficult (straightening the pantry was the more difficult of the two tasks actually). After filling the pinwheel dough (what a luxurious dough this truly is) it is again parked in the freezer before slicing and baking.  All in all, a pleasant little cookie to make, something a bit unusual for us around here with its fruit and nut filling.   

        Two chocolate cookie recipes in a row…my husband is very happy, he says they are delicious and worth repeating as he loved the combination of cherries and walnuts with the chocolate. Praise enough, which is why I bake.

       The Tuesdays with Dorie group is baking from Dorie Greenspan's book, Dorie's Cookies.  The posts are the first and third Tuesdays of the month and can be linked at the main Tuesdays with Dorie website here.  You can also find the information on joining in and/or see the posts from those in the group baking along at this location.  I don’t publish copyrighted recipes, so if you’d like to bake along, buy the book, it’s well worth it. 

GFGF: Vegetables (Winter Squash) - Italian Sausage Butternut Squash Soup

       This week in the Good Friends Good Food theme of Vegetables, Margaret chose Winter Squash. Here is the recipe I used for Italian Sausage Butternut Squash Soup if you would like the recipe to make it for yourself:  click here. 

 

       The ingredients:  onion, red bell pepper, butter, Italian Sausage, garlic, butternut squash, chicken broth, bay leaf, northern beans, fire roasted tomatoes, salt, pepper, and parsley (optional heavy cream for garnish).

 

       This week I hauled out my trusty soup pot that spends its summer break in my pantry.  It happens every year, grilling weather cannot be counted upon in Indiana during October, so at-the-ready is my soup pot that can lounge on the stovetop a good part of the morning or afternoon producing a warm and comforting lunch or dinner when the temperatures outside are suggesting just that.  Over the years I have made various forms of butternut squash soup and loved them all, so a new recipe seemed an ideal way to use my choice of butternut squash this week.

 

       There is something so relaxing about chopping vegetables and ingredients for soup.  So really, the comfort part starts well before it even hits my spoon.  I like the slow and steady progress of making soup/stew…a little of this and a little of that creates something way more delicious than just the sum of all its parts. It’s an odd thing really that I love soups/stews so much because generally I don’t like foods touching on my plate, or too many ingredients in close quarters, but it all seems okay in soup/stew. It’s a mystery.  This soup is very flavorful, a nice amount of spice to it all, and a cup goes a long way, very satisfying.  Although the recipe says that it is all ready in under an hour, it’s so much more delicious if you let it simmer longer so that the flavors have a good amount of time to buddy up.  Definitely worthy of a repeat, on the Soup Rotation List here already.

 

       To see what the others made with their Winter Squash, you can click on the members’ blogs listed here:  Peggy, Margaret, Ulrike, Nancy.

 

       Next up is Season’s End Fresh Produce (pick whatever vegetable you like that you can still get fresh), posting date on November 5.  If you would like to join in, just leave a link to your post in any of the comment sections of the participants and we will come and see what you made.

 

TWD - Baking with Dorie - Miso Maple Loaf

      Here we go again, my my…another book from Dorie Greenspan, Baking with Dorie, was released for purchase today and to honor that, the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group selected the first recipe for the Baking with Dorie (BWD) group to make and blog, Miso Maple Loaf.  I pre-ordered the book and decided to jump in at the beginning so I could enjoy baking again with old and new friends in the group (not that any of us are “old,” of course, just in a manner of speaking, since we first met in 2008 when we all started baking together from Dorie’s Baking From My Home to Yours for several years).

 

       Miso Maple Loaf  ingredients:  flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, fine sea salt, orange zest, butter, white miso, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and orange marmalade.

 

       As with most of Dorie’s recipes, this one comes together easily and with great success the first time.  Her recipes are so well-written that if you just follow along nicely and do as she instructs, you can’t go wrong.  So that’s exactly what I did…just gathered everything, followed along nicely, and was rewarded with a lovely orange flavored loaf that was soft and moist.  Husband-approved. The glaze was “optional," so I checked with Mark, and after discerning this would be used as dessert, he thought the glaze would be a nice touch. And, it was definitely a nice touch, in looks (glossy and shiny) and taste (extra orange flavor). Using the loaf slices as a snack or as breakfast toast are also good options. Definitely worthy of repeating.

 

       If you would like to join in, just make it, bake it, and leave a link to your post at the Tuesdays with Dorie website:  click here.  At the website you will find the postings for the current recipe, the list of recipes chosen each month, and some baking chit chat that is definitely helpful as well as fun.  Currently there are two groups baking at this website:  this one, Baking with Dorie (BWD), and one that is in its final year, Dorie’s Cookies (DC), which uses recipes from that book.  We don’t publish Dorie's recipes here, but you can buy the book and have them all at your fingertips, what a deal! 

GFGF: Parsnips - Cinnamon Parsnips

       This week in the GFGF theme of Vegetables, Ulrike chose Parsnips. Here is the recipe I used for Cinnamon Parsnips if you would like the recipe to make it for yourself:  click here. 

 

       The ingredients:  Parsnips, butter, cinnamon, garlic powder, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. (I threw some chives on top as I have a nice big pot of them growing and that first frost is going to get them sooner than I'd like.)

 

       When I saw that parsnips were chosen for this week, I was thinking I needed to find something new to do with them as I usually just add them to stews/soups or roast them in the oven with various seasonings.  Those are not unhappy occasions, as parsnips are great used those ways, but maybe there was something else I could be doing with these guys.  And so I stumbled upon this Cinnamon Parsnips recipe…another way to use cinnamon, one of my favorites in sweet or savory.

 

       The recipe is easy and delicious, addictive really...you have a couple then a couple more, and before you know it, you've eaten a dozen, a nice little side dish…and, just as I wanted, something new to do with parsnips. It also gives me all sorts of ideas about using other seasonings with them prepared this way. Definitely worthy of a repeat.

 

       To see what the others made with their Parsnips, you can click on the members’ blogs listed here:  Peggy, Margaret, Ulrike.

 

       Next up are Vegetables featuring Winter Squash chosen by Margaret, posting date on October 22.  If you would like to join in, just leave a link to your post in any of the comment sections of the participants and we will come and see what you made.

 

TWD Dorie's Cookies: Chocolate and Walnut Bars

       The Dorie's Cookies group recipes for October are Chocolate and Walnut Bars (page 45) and Cherry-Nut Chocolate Pinwheels (page 245).  This week I chose to make the Chocolate and Walnut Bars.
        Ingredient list:  bittersweet chocolate, walnuts, flour, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, cream, sugar, and water.    
        Dorie Greenspan is releasing a new cookbook this month entitled Baking with Dorie, Sweet, Salty, & Simple.  The Tuesdays with Dorie group is going to bake/blog the book beginning at some yet undetermined (but soonish) time.  I’ve been baking/blogging with the group on and off for the better part of 13 years and decided it was time to dust off the blog writing keys and get back into it, so back into the current Dorie’s Cookies group I go. It will be nice meeting up with and baking with dear friends again.

        Mark suffers greatly with "the disturbing lack of homemade chocolate offerings here at the house" at times…I’m not a chocolate fan so it’s usually last on my list of Fun Interesting Tasty Nutritious Favorite things to make…therefore, it’s always a good idea for me to be in a group where they REQUIRE you to bake outside your comfort zone. This week’s chocolate recipe was a good place to jump back in…highly encouraged by my husband.

         There are a lot of bowls, utensils, appliances, and such to execute this recipe…not a complaint, just an observation.  (After all, I already have these things, so I might as well be using them, right?) The process is a lot of “hands on” but none of it is complicated, there are no exotic ingredients involved, it goes together easily in a decent amount of time, and you end up with a nice sense of accomplishment. I made half of a recipe in an 8"x8" pan and baked it for 25 minutes.  It netted 9 manly sized bars...you know, "What's the point of needing to go back twice or taking two when you can just have one really nice big bar?"  Oh…and the taste…well, you get to hear about that from Mark as you all know how I feel about chocolate. He loved these bars, apparently they were nice and chocolatey, like a brownie, and satisfied that chocolate craving most pleasantly.  He would like them repeated, praise enough. And here, making the guy happy is what it's all about, especially with chocolatey things.

        The Tuesdays with Dorie group is baking from Dorie Greenspan's book, Dorie's Cookies.  The posts are the first and third Tuesdays of the month and can be linked at the Tuesdays with Dorie website here.  You can also find the information on joining in and/or see the posts from those in the group baking along at this location.  (I don’t publish copyrighted recipes, so if you’d like to bake along, buy the book, it’s well worth it.)