Kitchen Therapy

Tag Archives: Tuesdays with Dorie


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Jammer Cookies

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This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is the Jammer Galette. Dorie describes it as “a vanilla sable topped with a spoonful of jam and circled with streusel.” The recipe is for a “thick, chunky galette” however I couldn’t get the idea of small, cookie sized jammer out of my mind. I wanted something I could just pop into my mouth and savour, and these turned out perfect!

As I was making these I was thinking about this blogging thing and the love and effort that we all put into it.
We buy the ingredients, we make the food, we photograph it making it look as pretty as we can and then we write about it. It’s a fair amount of work!

Recently, I have come across people on various social media sites (totally unrelated to any of these groups by the way!) posting photos of food that they have taken from magazines or other sites and claiming it is their own. I’ve read about this on other blogs and in my naivety I always thought no, that doesn’t really happen! However, having witnessed it, it’s been on my mind a lot recently.

My first reaction was “wow! the audacity!”and I laughed it off (that’s often my first reaction to most things). As time has gone by I realise that it actually does bother me. With each recipe we make I’ve become more and more mindful of the time, commitment, love and effort involved. Sometimes the efforts are rewarding and other times nothing goes right from start to finish! Either way we are in this, doing it, and for that I have a huge respect.

These little cookies didn’t have many ingredients however they really were a labour of love.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
In hindsight my little slap of reality has been good for me.

We loved these and I can’t wait to see what recipe the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie group cooked!
I found Dorie’s recipe for these on the Epicurious website if anyone is interested in trying them 🙂


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Odile’s Fresh Orange Cake


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So much is happening around the world these days I am really keeping the focus on simple home pleasures.
The last few recipes from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking Chez Moi have fitted this brief perfectly!
I have made the last few recipes many times and they have been very rewarding for little effort.
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe continues this run of quick, easy and delicious food.
I knew this cake would be a hit at home, so I baked it without the poached oranges a week ago and it was gone within a few hours.
(It brings me so much satisfaction to see what I’ve baked eaten and enjoyed!)
We loved the cake soaked with orange syrup.
I made it again topped with the oranges poached in water, sugar, cinnamon and ginger and again it was eaten by the end of the day.
I honestly don’t know which way I preferred it, I loved both versions equally.
I thought the oranges would make it more sweet however they added a freshness and lightness to the cake that surprised me.
It was a win win for us with this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe!

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*I am typing this while helping one son work on a paper on Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War and listening to my daughter’s chatter about her classes on first week at university. I hope I have made some sense in this post!!!


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Matcha Financiers

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In my last post I made fun of my 8yr old son not wanting to eat Dukkah Roasted Cauliflower, the recipe of the week for the Cook the Book Fridays group. It was funny when it was him doing it. Not so funny when I caught myself thinking “I can’t! I just can’t eat green cake” while grimacing. Then to make things worse, I think I beat him in the immaturity game when I caught myself, many, many times throughout the week, thinking “I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am” while thinking of these Matcha Financiers.

I tried to like these, I know Matcha is pretty popular and on point (or at least I think it is, I see it everywhere on Instagram etc.) I wish at times that I actually cared about what is popular. My 15 yr old is awesome at this. If it’s on trend he will wear, drink, eat, whatever is the latest. I worry about the tattoos that will be “in” when he turns 18!

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I really did not like the look or taste of these. I tried really hard to like them. I made them with coconut flour and also with hazelnut and almond flour. I put raspberries in some, chocolate in others and even combinations of both. I made tiger cakes out of them (as pictured) and used dark, milk and white chocolate in case it made a difference. My daughter had to stage an intervention and tell me to “let it go, it’s okay if you don’t like them mum!”

I am curious to see what others in the Tuesdays with Dorie group thought about these Matcha Financiers.
I have enjoyed all the recipes from Dorie’s book until now and I am looking forward to making Odile’s Fresh Orange Cake next post!

 

 

 

 


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Hot Chocolate Panna Cotta

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This is the perfect summer dessert when you’re over summer and looking forward to cooler weather and the foods that go along with cooler temps, like hot chocolate!
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie’s recipe tasted heavenly to me. It was cold, silky smooth and refreshing. At the same time there was no mistaking the flavours of a good hot chocolate.
It’s still summer in Australia and we have had temps that have sat around 30 degrees celsius (that’s mid to high 80’s in fahrenheit) or above, pretty much every day this month. It’s starting to wear thin! I’m ready for some diversity, a little bit of cool weather, maybe throw in some rain! Dorie’s recipe felt like it fit perfectly with where I am at. Hinting of cooler weather pleasures but satisfying the need for food that is still  cold and refreshing.
What we have been taking advantage of this summer are the long days. Going for walks at 7 and 8pm at night along Manly beach. The tourists have gone home for the day and the ocean breeze is a welcome relief. And it’s a great way to walk off all the desserts I’ve been enjoying from Baking Chez Moi!

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I am looking forward to reading what everyone else in the group thought of this dessert.
We decorated our hot chocolate panna cotta with cream and raspberries to make it look pretty for our dinner guests.
So the following day I made it again and I have to say, it doesn’t look as pretty, but I preferred it like this. The hot chocolate flavour was clear and the texture reminded me of the puddings my mum used to make for me when I was a little girl back in Yugoslavia.

 

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Black Forest Soft-Centered Teacups

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These were so quick and any easy to make!
Melt some butter and chocolate together until smooth and glossy.
Beat some eggs with sugar until fluffy, throw in a couple of spoons of flour.
Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and cook 10-12mins.
Very little effort for an amazing outcome!

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I have been craving Black Forest Cake, it’s a favourite of mine.
So I took Dorie’s suggestion and threw in Morello cherries.
I’m also not a big chocolate fan, I do like it though when there is another flavour to break up the sweetness.
The tart Morello cherries tasted amazing in these little teacups.

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The only problem I had with this recipe is that makes 4 cups and we are a family of 5!
As soon as I made these, my husband and I had to run off to the Year 10 Information Night at my son’s school.
When we returned, the kids were kind enough to leave us one cup to share.

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I will definitely be making these again, they are too easy and satisfying not to! Everyone loved them.
I am looking forward to reading what the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie group thought.


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Lemon Slice – Australia Day 2016, Dee Why Beach

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Lemon Slice on Australia Day? Why not!!!
It’s straight out of the fridge and icy cold, the perfect bite for out hot Aussie weather.
This fortnight’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a great addition to our Australia Day Celebrations.

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January 26th is Australia Day and as usual we head out to Dee Why Beach on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.
We have bacon and egg or sausage and egg sandwiches.
There are pancakes with maple syrup and butter or lemon and sugar.
And this year we had Dorie’s Lemon Squares!

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The festivities include a car and bike show, thong (flip flop) throwing competitions, rides, performers and music.
Tattoos are a must, as are hats, flags and anything else that bears the Aussie flag wrapped around your body, your car or even around your house. I usually end up with an Australia flag tattoo on my cheek at some point in the day.
It’s tradition 🙂
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And of course there’s always a few kangaroos hopping about…

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The celebrations start early on Australia Day so we head home around lunch time, when the heat is at it’s peak. We have a rest and put lamb (another Australia Day tradition) in the oven for hours of slow roasting then head back to the beach for a swim while it cooks.
We return home tired and famished. The smell that greets us is soothing and we can’t wait to eat!
This year we will be finishing off a great day and great meal with Lemon Squares topped with dollops of whipped cream.

You can find the recipe (with raspberries added) here.
* We have nut allergies in the house so I left out the almond meal and used normal flour.
I also left off the almond slices that were to be scattered on top of the squares.

 


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Fluted Carrot Orange Cake

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I have been indulging my sweet tooth over the Christmas break. Pavlova, caramel slice, vanilla slice, panna cotta and a variety of Italian pastries from Nutella filled Ricotta Cakes to my favourite, the Butterfly, a double profiterole filled with vanilla and chocolate pastry cream. It has been a very sweet holiday! So… when I saw this as the recipe of the week I have to admit I didn’t feel too excited. A cake with carrot, ginger and orange? It felt almost… healthy. I wanted more of the lush creaminess I was indulging in for the past few weeks. The only thing that stood in this recipe’s favour was its simplicity. That and the fact that I had missed being a part of the Tuesdays with Dorie group! So I baked…

 

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The smell, colour and texture that came together in making this cake surprised me.
The kids started to migrate towards the kitchen asking what the smell was. Always a good sign!

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The cake was light yet moist.
The flavour was full and satisfying and it was eaten in one day.
I think it was a welcome change to be honest.

It has been an intense year in our household, my daughter graduated from high school and after months and months of studying for the final exams she recently received her results and smashed her tests! She needed a high mark to gain entry into the double degree she had her heart set on and her hard work paid off. She worked so hard, I could not be happier for her or more proud.
So we celebrated her results as well as all the usual Christmas/New Year festivities with lots and lots of cake as I mentioned above.

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My daughter graduating from high school, celebrating with friends and off to her Year 12 formal above.
She liked Dorie’s Fluted Carrot Orange Cake the most and has always been excited to taste the latest Tuesdays with Dorie group recipe.


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Tiger Cakes

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In her book Baking Chez Moi, Dorie Greenspan describes these mini bite sized cakes as “…a traditional French pastry made with egg whites, almond flour and lots of butter. The addition of finely chopped chocolate that melts and stripes the little cakes explains their name.”

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That sums up nicely this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe!
The problem for me however was that two out of my three children have nut allergies.
So after a little bit of research, I substituted almond flour with coconut flour.
I had read that coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture and can result in a dry and flaky end product.
Google had many suggestions on how to fix this little problem and to be honest the more I read, the more I felt overwhelmed with ratios, quantities of eggs and liquids etc to add moisture.
So I decided to keep it simple and keep the almond flour and coconut ratio the same, I replaced the cup of almond flour the recipe called for, with a cup of coconut flour.
I mixed the flour into the egg whites as the recipe instructed and then I added a cup of milk to the mixture before following the rest of the recipe as it is in the book.
My little cakes didn’t rise with baking and I was worried!
However I pulled them out and they turned out amazing.
The outside was firm and the inside was moist and delicious.
The family loved them and the only complaint I heard was “I can’t stop eating these!”
The boys in the family loved them dipped in chocolate, my daughter and I preferred the naked 🙂
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Nutella Buttons

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This week is catch up week for the Tuesdays with Dorie group. Which is great for me since I have a lot to catch up on! The Nutella Buttons were an easy choice. We are a Nutella loving family! My daughter turned 18 a few weeks ago and her friends arrived with a 5kg tub of Nutella.

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My husband is the only one who doesn’t like Nutella. He’s also the only one in the family who isn’t into superheroes and comic books. We don’t understand it but we love him nevertheless 🙂
So when completing this week’s recipe I took Dorie’s suggestion and filled some of these bite sized mini muffins with jam.

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It’s school holidays here so these didn’t last long. They were delicious!
Looking forward to reading the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie posts.


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Apple Kuchen – Baking Chez Moi

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I cooked with the French Fridays with Dorie group, on and off, for many years. I enjoyed being part of the group. However, for the last year or so of the group I was more than off than on. I decided it was time to challenge myself in my career and changed jobs. A huge learning curve kept me distracted and busy and unfortunately, away from many activities that nurtured me. Like the French Fridays with Dorie group. When the Tuesdays with Dorie group announced that it would be cooking from Dorie Greenspan’s new book Baking Chez Moi I felt excited! Here was my chance to start from the beginning and carve out a scheduled fortnightly routine that would provide me with down time. Time to switch off and create something that would bring me fully into the present moment.

I posted the first recipe and the I went on to cook the next 3 or 4 scheduled recipes without posting them. I planned to get around to doing it but life just kept getting in the way 🙂
I then planned to add all those photos from the beginning on today’s post, however getting back into the routine was a bit overwhelming. My brain is still struggling after a bad run with glandular fever and to be honest, I couldn’t even remember my WordPress login and password! So I decided to keep this post simple. I forgot how liberating ‘simple’ can be.

The Apple Kuchen pictured above was completed over the day. It’s school holidays here and steps were fitted in between running kids around. It took a bit of thought and organising but worked out well. I love baked apples (or anything baked with apples) so I was excited to be returning to the group with this recipe. I enjoyed the flavour of the apple kuchen but for some reason expected there to be more custard filling. My filling was very dense with apples, however saying that, the apples were soft and tender and full of flavour. I am looking forward to cooking with this new group and finding out what they thought about this recipe!