TWD: Chocablock Cookies

Tuesdays with Dorie this week is all about the Chocablock Cookies, chosen by Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet. Do you remember the Granola Grabbers? What about the Chocolate Chunkers? Well, these Chocablock Cookies really remind me of both - except that I really liked both other cookies better.

Unlike many of the other TWDer's this week, I have no issues with molasses, which was a main component in these cookies, but I am really just not a fan of dried fruit. Period. I guess it is just a matter of taste.

Since I did have some dried apricots in my pantry though I decided to try it anyway and give them a chance. So, for my cookies, I used the basic recipe in the book, but used macadamia nuts instead of walnuts or pecans or something else. I used the dried apricots, included the coconut and all the chocolate chunks. Out of sheer curiosity with all the add-in's I actually dumped them all in a large glass measuring cup to find out that this recipe pretty much does equal out to a full 4-cups worth of add-ins. Therefore, it is safe to assume that if you are the type of person who doesn't like cookies full of 'stuff' then these are definitely not for you.

If however, you are a lover of the dried fruits in baked goods thing, well, then these should be right up your alley and since they were easy and quick to toss together you should just go make them right now.

So, why were these cookies just 'meh' for me? Well, like I said, it is just a matter of taste. If I had gone with my usual modus operandi and bagged the dried apricots, I would have really liked them just fine. Since I didn't, and I really couldn't stand all the bites with the apricots jumping out at me, I really didn't enjoy the cookie. It's a real bummer too because, did I mention, a full 4-CUPS worth of mix-in ingredients!!

Either way, the cookies won't go to waste. They will just be pawned off to friends and family who like dried fruit in their baked goods.

To see all the other variations (and if the P&Q was any indication there will be lots of versions out there) be sure to check the TWD Blogroll or check the main page for the new Leave Your Link (LYL) feature where members can leave their direct link to their post each week.

Survival Seeds Giveaway WINNER!

slush said...

Brody wanted to plant some flowers and vegetables to give to his teachers. We went and picked them out at Home Depot. Carrots, Marigolds and Zinnias. We are on day 7. Nothing has sprouted yet. He is waiting, ever so not patiently.

Before this stint, I really have no major gardening experience. My Dad was a huge gardener when I was a child. He planted everything. Flowers, veggies, trees, fruit, etc... I think I have been turned off for a long time on gardening because of all the 'weeding' we did as kids in my Dads garden. But, Brody shows interest. So, I am willing to give it another go. After all, I have kids who can weed now. ;)

CONGRATULATIONS

to my darling and perfectly fabulous friend Laurie aka slush

on winning the Survival Seeds Giveaway from HometownSeeds.com!

Good luck girl! I hope it works out!

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TWD: Sweet Cream Biscuits

Sweet Cream Biscuits are this week's recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, as chosen by Melissa of Love at First Bite.

Although biscuits seem innocuous enough to make, I've often found them to be quite a challenge. It has actually taken me several years to get the hang of it. Pretty much, my problem was always, without fail, overworking and handling the dough too much. It always results in a 'hockey puck' type of biscuit that just really doesn't appeal.

Since I got my copy of Dorie's Baking book I have actually made these biscuits several times. I really love how they turn out, tender, flavorful and light with just a little sweetness. I love how easy they are with skipping out on the process of cutting the butter or some other type of fat into the flour mixture. It seemed a little sketchy at first to just mix in heavy cream, but after some thought, and the fact that heavy cream, when beat long enough turns into butter, really started to make a lot of sense.

Our favorite way to eat biscuits is just with some soft butter and homemade jam. Yum!

Check out the TWD Blogroll to see all the biscuits!

The Cake Slice: Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I love chocolate, that is no secret. I also love bananas. So, that said, you would think that I would looooove this cake. In fact, I did like the cake itself, but surprisingly, to me anyway, the cake with this frosting was just waaaaay too sweet. Knowing my penchant for all things sweet, that may come as a shock. It certainly did to me. I thought the cake itself was very nice, but the frosting was tooth achingly sweet for me. Go figure.

That said, the cake and frosting were both a snap to make and I was glad to be able to participate in this month's round of The Cake Slice Bakers. I'm still playing a lot of catch up around here and hope to have many more posts up soon. I counted the other day and have at least 15 items just waiting to post, pictures and all, so hopefully I'll get on the ball soon.

Don't miss the rest of the cakes and how the other bakers thought it all turned out - visit the blogroll.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Banana Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened

1½ cups sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup buttermilk*

1½ cups mashed ripe banana

Chocolate Frosting

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup evaporated milk or half-and-half

4 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

* If you don’t have buttermilk you can make your own by stirring 1½ teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice into ½ cup of milk and leaving for 10 minutes.

To make the cake, heat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to combine well.

In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat well, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then the vanilla. Beat well for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally until you have a smooth batter.

Using a large spoon, stir in half the flour just until it disappears into the batter. Stir in the buttermilk and then the remaining flour the same way. Quickly and gently fold in the mashed banana and then divide the batter between the 2 cake pans.

Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks. Then turn out onto the racks to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the butter, cocoa and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes, until the cocoa dissolves into a dark shiny essence. Remove from the heat and stir in the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at low speed until you have a thick smooth frosting.

To complete the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate and spread about 1 cup of frosting evenly over the top. Cover with the second layer placed top side up. Spread the rest of the frosting evenly first over the sides and then covering the top of the cake.

Survival Seeds Giveaway

Growing up, I always wanted to have a garden. Unfortunately, in the area of Wyoming where I grew up, about the only thing that wanted to grow was sagebrush. Not so helpful for growing, or at least so I thought. Frankly, we never really tried - just figured it wasn't going to work.

Since moving to Utah, I've long wanted to give this dream another shot, but never really got around to it. Thanks to my packet of Survival Seeds from HOMETOWNSEEDS.COM I think this is the year. The package comes with a generous assortment of seeds that will grow an assortment of veggies that will provide a bounty of a harvest throughout the year - and hopefully I don't screw it up! :)

If you want your own chance at planting your garden, just leave me a comment here and tell me about your gardening experience, or like me, the lack thereof. I'll use Random.org to draw a winner on Thursday, April 22nd - you have until at 12AM to enter.

What will you win? A package of Survival Seeds, just like mine. You can see a listing of what that includes here. Trust me, it is quite the array of seeds and pretty much everything you need to get started with a really decent garden.

So, here are the rules for entry - PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ITEM YOU DO:

Entry #1: Leave your comment about gardening - any tips, tricks or ideas are all welcome - or even just what you would most like to grow

Entry #2: Go to HometownSeeds.com and look around - tell me what you see that you most like.

Entry #3: Tweet about the giveaway and leave a comment with the link to your tweet

Entry #4: Facebook about the giveaway and leave a comment with the link to your post

Entry #5: Blog about the giveaway and leave a link to your post

Special thanks to my friend Tiff at Food Finery for the gorgeous copper 'tin' you see above.

TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake

You would think from the lack of posting I've done in the past few weeks that I'm also not really doing any cooking or baking to speak of. You would almost be right.

I actually have been doing some of both, though perhaps not back at my usual pace and full speed ahead yet, but what I have really lacked is the time to have two free hands to write any posts or upload any pictures. Hopefully later this week I will have a chance to catch up because I have several things I want to tell you about and the lack of writing is really beginning to irk me - mainly since I think it is probably just due to mismanagement of time (or just complete lack of time I guess) on my part. Seriously, aren't there supposed to be 48 hours in a day?! Maybe it's just me. ;)

Anywho.

Tuesdays with Dorie for this week, which I absolutely couldn't miss, hosted by the lovely and so dear Nancy at The Dogs Eat the Crumbs, was for the Swedish Visiting Cake. This cake couldn't be more delightful or easy to make. I think, if I'm remembering how I put it together anyway, that it involved a bowl, a whisk, a spatula and a baking dish (I went the cast iron skillet route in this case), plus some measuring cups and spoons. While that may sound like a lot, at the bottom of it what that all means to me is that this is a no machine, one bowl kind of dessert. Which is a beautiful thing, especially with three kiddos at our house now. Needless to say, with a new baby around, simplicity has been the key to our current attempts at sanity.

Overall, this is a simple, easy and fun cake to make. It requires the minimum amount of fuss, mess, cleanup, etc.. It also has an absolutely lovely combination of flavors balanced with lemon, almond, vanilla and butter. The cake bakes up moist and delicious with a nice sugary crunch on top from the almonds. A definite keeper.

It would be fun to make this cake again using another citrus, orange or I'm even thinking about tangerine sometime. However, someone mentioned a similar cake in the P&Q that has baked apples in it. That basically got me thinking about trying a version with peaches. I imagine it would be a lot like a delicious cobbler / cake with lots of extra 'crust' topping, which I would love. When I get around to it, hopefully soon, I will definitely share the results with you all.

For more variations in the meantime, visit the TWD Blogroll.