Ladylike Lemon Loaf Cake

The Apr. 16th recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is Lemon Loaf Cake from the book Baking with Julia (see the sites of my fellow bloggers Truc or Michelle for the full recipe or refer to the cookbook pages 252-253).

Learn more about Tuesdays with Dorie and see links to the blogs of my fellow bakers.

There is something just so cozy about a loaf cake. I find it extremely pleasurable to curl up with a slice of loaf cake and a cup of tea. And they are so simple to make!

I made this Lemon Loaf Cake as a dish-to-pass for a large family Easter buffet dinner. I was afraid it was going to be under-cooked, so I gave it an extra 5-10 minutes. I wish I hadn't because it ended up a touch dry for my taste. Easily fixed by adding some saucy berries that another guest so thoughtfully brought! I would make this again and not be afraid of a wet-looking toothpick.

I tried to look up the history of the loaf cake online, but other than finding them mentioned in early 20th century American recipes, there wasn't much that I could find in my five baby-free laundry-free minutes. To me it seems like an old-fashioned European/British afternoon cake to eat with tea, but this could absolutely be my own fantasy.

Next time Hungarian Shortbread!

Mmmm Pizza

The Apr. 3rd recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is Pizza Rustica from the book Baking with Julia (see the sites of my fellow bloggers Emily or Raelynn for the full recipe or refer to the cookbook).

Learn more about Tuesdays with Dorie and see links to the blogs of my fellow bakers.

Pizza Rustica!

This will be a quick post as my day has gotten away from me.

Cheesy filling goodness.

Shredded prosciutto. Not such a pain to shred as I expected.

Pretty pie! But wait there is more!

This was kinda a pain. I wasn't sure I had enough dough left for the top, and

I didn't use up all the extra on the bottom either!

Tasty! The dough is kinda sweet, which my husband loved. I gave my piece a drizzle of balsamic vinegar to cut the sweetness a bit.

I would make this again, but I would experiment with the filling, add some tomatoes or arugula. :)

Next time Lemon Loaf Cake. I love loaf cakes. I love lemon even more. I can't wait!

Sláinte Irish Soda Bread

The Mar. 20th recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is Irish Soda Bread from the book Baking with Julia (see Chocolate Moosey for the full recipe or refer to the cookbook).

Learn more about Tuesdays with Dorie and see links to the blogs of my fellow bakers.

I think this is possibly the best Irish Soda Bread I have ever eaten. Certainly it is the best (and easiest) I have ever made!

This recipe was so easy! Four ingredients. I went with the non-currant/raisin option.

Mix it all together to make a dough.

Shape into a round and bake.

Mmmm... so pretty!

I took this bread to a St. Patrick's Day party. Mindful of the "hard as the blarney stone" short shelf life comment in the cookbook, this bread went into the oven at 3pm for a 5pm party. I transported it wrapped in a partially damp cloth wrapped in a plastic bag. It traveled great and received many compliments at the party. I served it with Irish butter and Catholic Elderberry jam (thank you Trappist Monks!)

Success!

Next time Pizza Rustica! I love savory pies so I'm pretty excited about this recipe.

Supermom Rugelach

The Mar. 6th recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is Rugelach from the book Baking with Julia (see http://www.goodeatsblog.com/ for the full recipe or refer to the cookbook).

To learn more about Tuesdays with Dorie and links to the blogs of my fellow bakers:http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/

Absent husband, sick baby, and the Rugelach still got made! Whoohoo! I still have a pile of cookie sheets on my counter waiting to be washed, but I'm ignoring that fact for the moment.

Cream cheese dough was easily made in the mixer. I find I kinda like making dough.

I made two versions: one with fig butter and one with apricot jam. That is what they had at the store (which was even in a Jewish part of the city, but still no lekvar for my rugelach). The fig butter version turned out way better. The extra sugar in the apricot jam made the rugelach a little too sweet and the jam oozed out of the pastry when baked. I will definitely only make this with fruit butters in the future.

When I rolled up my Rugelach, I had no idea what I was doing. I had a hard time relating "jelly roll" to what was happening under my hands. I don't think I've ever eaten a jelly roll, much less made one. I ate a piece of pumpkin roll once. It worked out, but I forgot to take a picture.

Also I used this recipe as an excuse to order a big box of hazelnuts. Love love hazelnuts. My husband does not, which means they will last for more than two days in my house and I can actually savor the remaining bags. Every single nut used in this recipe was a gloriously delicious Oregon hazelnut.

Mmmm... cinnamon sugar hazelnutty goodness! I used an assortment of raisins re-plumped in Calvados (thank you for the inspiration, Nigella Lawson) and dates for my fruit. Wasn't so sure about all that dried fruit at first, but chopped up it worked really well.

Initially, I was not excited about making this recipe at all. I am not a fruit pastry person, give me a chocolate croissant instead any day! Except today. Because I was totally wrong. Rugelach ROCKS. Especially still warm from the oven. My pre-baby jeans will not be fitting this week.

Endurance Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

The Feb. 21th recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is Chocolate Truffle Tartlets starting on page 382 of Baking with Julia (see http://www.goodeatsblog.com/ for the full recipe or refer to the cookbook).

To learn more about Tuesdays with Dorie and links to the blogs of my fellow bakers: http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/

Ohmigod, I'm exhausted. This recipe is a lot of work, especially when you have a weekend full of plans, laundry, a baby, a husband and um... a life! I got up before my three month old on a Saturday to make dough by hand. If that isn't dedication to Tuesdays with Dorie, I don't know what is!

This is my beautiful chocolate dough, in my lovely little tartlet pans that some family members bought me for my wedding shower (thanks family!)

Due to my love for said tartlet pans, I was a little too gentle poking holes in the dough with my plastic fork (there was no way I was scratching up my pretty little pans!!). So some of my shells turned out bumpy like this:

Here is a hole I poked in one to check the extent of my error. Darn, this tart will have to be for me to eat.

Oh well, must push on. In a frantic rush between church and a ladies lunch date (where hungry girls expected these tarts for dessert) I made the filling of egg yolks and dark chocolate with milk chocolate, white chocolate, and biscotti chunks. Mmmm. Notice how big the biscotti chunks are. This a no-no if you want a smooth, sophisticated looking tart. At this point I was happy with sufficient and edible.

At the dough step I had extra dough. Now if you think I'm going to get up at 5 am on a Saturday and make dough just to throw some of it out, you are insane. I made two more shells using fancy little quiche pans also gifted to me at my wedding shower by members of my family (thanks again family!). Also I had extra filling, so that ended up in some ramekins my sister bought me for my birthday. My family keeps Williams Sonoma in business.

Done! The tartlets give a respectable showing at the ladies lunch and when I arrive home I excitedly ask my chocoholic husband what he thinks about the tarts left for him. "Uh" he shrugs, "They were kinda dry. Not what I expected." The sad thing is I agreed with him, they were a little dry. Where was this velvety truffle texture I was fantasizing about?

After all that work and gauging the crowd response, this is what I've decided. These tartlets elicit ohhs, ahhs, and look oh so fancy. But if what you want is a seriously decadent chocolate hit, just make the filling with very good eggs, undercook it a bit in a ramekin, and put a big scoop of ice cream on top. Add other creamy, sugary vices as desired. And sleep in.

White Loaves and the Superbowl

The Feb. 7th recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie is White Loaves starting on page 81 of Baking with Julia (see http://someonekitchen.blogspot.com/ for the full recipe or refer to the cookbook).

To learn more about Tuesdays with Dorie and links to the blogs of my fellow bakers:http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/

White Loves is a hurry-up-and-wait recipe, which the multi-tasker in me LOVES. No guilt for ignoring the laundry and other housework while I putter about in the kitchen because I can do both! The only day I was going to be home long enough (with my husband around to assist with babycare) was Superbowl Sunday. Luckily I don’t care a bit for football, but I love having a block of uninterrupted hours in the kitchen.

I was able to indulge in the ultimate of new mom luxuries (ie a nap) during the afternoon, so I didn’t start on the bread until a half hour before kickoff.

I started mixing the ingredients during the pre-game activities. Right after the national anthem, the mixer went on. I was impressed with how my well-loved Kitchen Aid handled the dough (see the Tuesdays with Dorie website for other mixers that didn’t fare as well) although I was surprised at how warm it was when mixing was done and I had to call my husband away from the game to remove my mixing bowl from the mixer base. This is a serious bread.

Before the first rise

After the first rise

During the first and second rises, I did all kinds of necessary tasks like:

cooked dinner, breastfed the baby, ate dinner, felt guilty the baby was watching so much football, cleaned the kitchen, breastfed again, put the baby to bed, peeked on facebook, previewed the next recipe (which looks much more complicated)

My rolled out dough

My lovely rolled-up dough

(the directions initially seemed daunting, but was much easier that expected)

Bread came out of the oven during the 4^th quarter, with

just over 7 minutes to go.

The finished product! Look at how pretty it is inside!

Mmm homemade bread with homemade jam.

This made me very happy when I ate it.

Next is Chocolate Truffle Tartlets, on pages 382-383. Tune in February 21st!

Tuesdays with Dorie

The only reason I am doing this blog is to participate in Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia. I don't have time for a blog. I work full time and have a house, a husband and a 10 week old infant. But I love the idea of baking my way through a cookbook and have always wanted to try it. Hopefully having a due date and a community to share each recipe with will keep me on track.