Joanna’s World

First off, let me just say how proud I am that these cookies look like the ones online!  They crackled exactly as they were supposed to, and for the first time in a L-O-N-G time my products looks like it is ready for a photo shoot.  I can not express what this means to my ego.

Now, on to the taste.  They. Are. Perfect. They pair with milk. They are wildly chocolaty (I used half semisweet chips and half milk chocolate chip, because that’s what I had in the ‘fridge, not the bittersweet Dorie called for), but not bloatedly so. The spice makes them sophisticated and fancy, and I love them.  They need nothing.

So, how can I justify eating them for breakfast? Let’s turn to the fine folks at Hershey:

Antioxidants like those found in dark chocolate and cocoa, called flavanols, have also been linked to some of the hallmarks of good cardiovascular health such as enhanced blood flow, healthy cholesterol levels and, in some cases, reduced blood pressure.

Dark chocolate and cocoa contain cell-protecting flavanol antioxidant compounds. Two tablespoons of natural cocoa have more antioxidant capacity than 3 ½ cups of green tea, ¾ cup of blueberries and 1 1/3 glasses of red wine.

So, I can eat chocolate cookies for breakfast because it’s better than being hammered at work?

Thanks, Laurie and  Julie, for picking this treat and for hosting the Tuesdays with Dorie site!

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How many different ways can I serve a sour cream bundt cake? Breakfast in the car, after dinner on a plate with a linen napkin, after a take-out lunch of Potbelly sandwiches with the in-laws. It was THAT good. The cake was dense but not heavy, not too sweet, delightfully moist and terrifically pleasing. Many, many thanks to Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort for her selection.

The chocolate and cinnamon swirl was delish, except the fruit seemed horribly out of place. Skip the raisins.

But the lunch with the in-laws got me thinking.  It seems the cake reminded one of us of another one of us’ favorite cake, the one his mother always made for his birthday and that he still requests as a 40-plus-year-old-person: a sherry raisin cake.

Really? Sherry raisin for or a kid’s birthday? It’s not the alcohol I question, it’s the something-other-than-chocolate-or-vanilla issue that makes me raisin an eyebrow. I doubt I would have liked that as an 8-year-old.

Apparently his brother’s birthday cake was pineapple upside down cake.

? Again, something I really enjoy now at 30+, but not something I’ll whip out when my baby has a b-day.

Does anyone else think this is odd, or do you share this untraditional birthday tradition?

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FAIL

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I started eating peanut butter out of the jar, with a spoon, when I was in college.  It was one of those bad habits people develop when they stay up all night doing important things like writing 10 pages papers that count for 70 percent of their course grade and writing articles for the school paper about how many health code violations the dining hall had racked up that month.  It’s not a habit I’m proud of, nor one that I’ve held on to (except for a brief period when I was pregnant, but that doesn’t count), but in dire moments that burst of protein did wonders for both my energy level and my mood.

But I still love a good peanut M&M, peanut butter cup or peanut butter cookie, so I was glad when Jasmine Cuisine chose them to bake with Dorie Sept. 7.  They were quick and easy to assemble and I had high hopes because I ate a ridiculous amount of raw dough while I assembled them….and then I pulled mine out of the oven and thought that maybe they were too easy.  My cookies were flat as pancakes!  Still delicious and not too sweet and tender to bite, but not at all like the picture in Dorie’s book.  Her’s looked more like a toasted English muffin, and mine were similar to manhole covers.

Was it because I left out the peanuts? Or because I sprinkled mini chocolate chips into the top? Would it have made a difference if I had chilled the dough before I rolled it into balls and then rolled the balls in sugar for baking? I’ll just have to try them again I guess.

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Just like the Cookies on Friday blogger who selected this recipe last month,  I love baking bar cookies. It’s a simple way to create a good volume of cookies (whether you are sharing them with others or simple curling up with a glass of milk after a bad day), and there is something unbelievably therapeutic about pressing batter into the corners of a pan and then licking it off your fingers when you have it Just Right.

Picking different flavors to add into the bars is too big a decision for me on most days, so I stuck with Dorie’s recommendations on this one: butterscotch chips, milk chocolate chip, walnuts and coconut. The only on I regret is the coconut, as it was really the only thing I tasted. Maybe it’s me - coconut isn’t my favorite thing - but it didn’t stop me from gobbling these up! The cookie base that carries whatever add-ins you choose is just perfect enough to make these irresistible, regardless.

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Cherpumple, of course:

(Click on the picture for the video of how to make this delicacy)

This is right up there with the Dream Omelette, in my book.

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I’m a big fan of cakewrecks and the disasters that some paid bakers pass off as cakes - which is why I am that much more impressed when Professional decorators do things well.  Check out these finds from koldcast.tv

Well done, Talented and Creative Bakers! Admire their work, and then check out all the ways Cakewrecks found to screw this cute guy up here.

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I baked Tuesday and then worked late Wednesday, which means that when I got home after dark I found PT asleep and The Other Eater (is he now Another Eater, since there are three of us?) cooling off with a glass of milk and two brrrr-ownies.

And he seemed pleased with his find. I was glad, because they sure were unattractive when I finished slicing them. Dorie wasn’t kidding when she recommended chilling them before slicing, because they are sticky and sweet and the counter-cooled creations stuck to the knife like skin to vinyl upholstery in August. But fresh from the fridge at the end of another humid July day, Another Eater said they were perfect! Gooey but not sticky. Minty. Dense and chocolate-y. I’m looking forward to my snack after work tonight!

If you can see beyond my shotty slicing job, they look good, with the big white chucks peeking through the shiny dark chocolate. They are the perfect picnic treat, but they’d melt on the buffet.  Hmmmmm…too bad I’ll have to hoard them in my own fridge this week! It’s hard being me.

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I wasn’t overly impressed.

But first, an apology: I’ve been away for far too long.  But I have a GREAT excuse.

P.T. was born March 13, and he’s kept me quite busy. Sure he looks cute and serene here, but man does he have lungs! He’s a good baby, and I’m working hard to keep up with him. Baking has been secondary.

But now, back to the cookies. They were good cookies - dunked in milk they were loaded with brown sugar and made a great late-night TV-watching snack. I mixed dark chocolate chips, mini chips and semi-sweet chips in mine (honestly, I was cleaning out the baking drawer and just threw in all my remnants, but my story is that it made for a nice surprise when you bit into a chip). But these are still cookies and thus too crisp for my taste.  I prefer cookie bars because they are softer and more cake-y.  But I can see how they’d be a hit at a picnic this summer or in a room full of kids. Bake away!

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This tasted like spring!

The sun is finally shining in Chicago, just enough to melt the icicles off the  side of my house and clear the blacktop driveway. It doesn’t matter to anyone that it’s still cold enough to safely store groceries in the back of your care for long periods of time; we are all just thrilled to have enough daylight to find our keys at the end of the work day.

This bright yellow lemony pound cake seemed to further my feeling that spring is on its way!

The cake was moist and buttery, with just the right amount of lemon flavor. But the liquor (my mother-in-law and sister-in-law made their own a few summers ago, and it is still wonderful) kept the cake from being too sweet to eat for breakfast, lunch, while I was cooking dinner, and then again before I went to bed. IT didn’t last too long in my house, and I’m thinking another loaf will find its way to my freezer before this baby is born and I’m too pooped to bake.

I’m so glad to have found it online! You can find the recipe here, at MyBakingAdventures.com

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