TWD: Devil's Food Party Cake

 

TWD: This week was an amazing bake… our recipe challenge was Dorie’s “Devil’s Food Party Cake” found on page 89 in her cookbook titled “Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple”

I was excited to try this recipe, because my husband loves homemade chocolate cake and our Anniversary is coming up this weekend. Plus the photo in the book makes it look really delicious… 

AND IT WAS!!!!!

Couple of interesting things I learned along the way was the importance of time…

First thing: In Dorie’s instructions, she shares with everyone that we needed to beat the butter, sugar & salt together on medium for 4 minutes and then drizzle the oil along the sides of the mixing bowl, mixing until you have a light and creamy mixture, about 3 minutes. In my baking mind, I was like no way, I have never beat sugar and butter for that long, 7 minutes? Why? And then I watched the magic happen…(see first photo) I finished the recipe just like it reads…

Second Awha: when making frosting, I have always used extra cold milk, Dorie’s recipe calls for milk at room temperature to be drizzled in on low speed until blended, then beat to complete. OH MY HEAVENLY FROSTING, as most of you know, I am not a frosting fan, but I can honestly say… “I WILL NEVER MAKE CHOCOLATE FROSTING FOR MY LAYER CAKES ANY OTHER WAY ANGAIN”

Sad news is that like the other challenge recipes, we have been asked not to share the exact recipes on social media, but I know they are out there... EVERYONE NEEDS TO TRY THIS ONE!!!  

 

 

Throwback Thursday - “Baking Yesteryear”

 January 16... "Throwback Thursday"

We have been having so much fun reminiscing over our favorite childhood recipes as we browse through our new "Baking Yesteryear" cookbook, by B. Dylan Hollis. (Such a funny dude, we love his videos) 

Anyway, we thought today would be a great day to share with you all our two bakes so far for the month. 

We chose "Continental Johnny Cake" (corn bread) on page 78 and "Wacky Cake" on page 104. Both turned out fantastic. You will notice that the corn bread may look a little dark speckled in color, that was because we mixed yellow cornmeal and blue cornmeal together. 

TWD: “Tender Biscuits”

 January 14…. TWD: “Tuesday’s With Dorie”

I have missed baking with the group that bakes with and from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbooks, so I decided to catch back up with everyone this year. 

Today, they were baking “Tender Biscuits” found on page 42 in Dorie’s newest cookbook titled “Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty, & Simple”. 

I had to laugh at this year’s kickoff recipe because “tender” is not the word I would ever use to describe my biscuits… lol BUT!!! My hubby makes the best biscuits ever and almost every Sunday I wake up too amazing Biscuits & Gravy at my bedside. 💝

Pork Chops & Applesauce

 January 10... "Fruit-Full Friday"

A few weeks ago the video came acrossed my news feed and I was intrigued.  Here is the link... https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BCnfsCXXm/?mibextid=WooXLz

For my one-hit wonder, I basically followed the recipe, lol... only using pork ribs instead of pork chops, Fresh Tri-colored potatoes and garlic instead of carrots and cinnamon, mixing mushrooms and onions in with my green beans instead of soup. 

The whole thing was actually very tasty, we would make it again... 😁

TWD…. “Mulled-Butter Apple Pie”

 TWD::::: Our second bake with my “Tuesday’s with Dorie” group this month was “Mulled-Butter Apple Pie”. We actually made this pie last Saturday, so that we could include it in our Thanksgiving desserts. 

As delicious as this recipe sounded, I found it to be a little lacking in flavor and texture. I think though it could have been me, the baker, I only had two apples and one pie crust left, so I think that rich boldness that would have come from a deep dish style pie would have been better. 

If you would like to try this pie, you can find the recipe on page 245 in Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook entitled “Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple”

Happy Thanksgiving Table full of pies….

Along with our standard favorites like banana cream and pumpkin,

We had three new pies to taste this year…..

Butterscotch S’More Pie (Lily’s Idea)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl (Parker made it)

Mulled-Butter Apple Pie ( my “Tuesday’s with Dorie” 2 challenge this month)

Homemade Noodles

 This week my WORKDESK was my kitchen table full of homemade noodles for our traditional noodle gravy for Thanksgiving this weekend…

My recipe for noodles is a little different than I make for my homemade pasta, because we like the noodles in our gravy to be a little thicker and softer, more like a dumpling. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons cold heavy cream 

Instructions

1. Whisk together flour and salt. Create a well in the middle.

2. Add egg and cream into the well. Using a fork, whisk egg and cream allowing flour to mix into the dough slowly. Stir until a dough forms. The dough will be sticky.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and shiny. Knead another 5 minutes  

4.  On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to desired thickness, about 1/4 inch thick, (Remember, they will swell a bit as you cook them.)

5. Roll dough into a tube, lightly dusting dough with flour with each roll. (like a jelly roll) Using a dough cutter, or sharp knife,  cut noodles into even strips, (remember the wider the strip the wider the noodle.) Unroll the noodles to dry and spread out on table or cookie sheet to dry. 

6. Let dry for a least 2-3 hours, better if they dry for 2-3 days. Package noodles in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 8 months.