My first baking order!

I am so proud and excited to say, I have just completed my first baking order ever! One of our family friends heard about my insane amount of baking this summer and took a look at this little blog, and decided she'd love for me to bake a couple things for her son's camping trip over the weekend. So, after a bit of discussion and advising, she decided she'd like me to make my Blondies and Chocolate Chip Cookies. The only change I made was to take out the peanut butter chips (in case of allergies!) so I increased the dried apricot and chocolate pieces. (Beware, adding more dried fruit makes the dough take longer to bake- so if you make the recipe linked here, make sure you add about 8-10 more minutes baking time)Since I also had half a bread dough left in the fridge I made some Baguette, and for my last day of work (!!!!!) I made a typically French dessert, Madeleines!

Luckily, I had Miss Dorie's wonderful Madeleine recipe waiting for me in Baking From My Home To Yours, so I made the batter before work so it would have plenty of time to set to make lovely humped cookies.

Thankfully, even though I feel like I've been going nonstop since 7 am this morning, I managed to bake up everything I wanted to, and I hope that our friend enjoys the desserts this weekend!

Lemon Madeleine's

(lovingly borrowed from Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 large eggs. at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 stick (6 tbsp)unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Working in a mixer bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl. Working with the whisk attachment, beat the sugar and eggs together on medium high speed until pale, thick and light, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days. (You can also spoon the batter into the greased and floured madeleine molds, cover and refrigerate, then bake the madeleines directly from the fridge.)
3. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F. Butter and flour the madeleine mold and place the pan on a baking sheet.
4. Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don't worry about spreading the batter evenly, the oven's heat will take care of that. Bake the madeleines for 11-13 mins, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan from the oven and release the madeleines from the mold by rapping the edge of the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the madeleines to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature.
5. If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch, make certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pan before baking.
6. Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioners' sugar.

*The recipe is said to yield 12 large madeleines, but I easily made 24 in my "large" madeleine pan. Just be sure to not over-fill the pans, the batter grows considerably in the oven.*

Happy Baking!

Jessica

Dorie's Thumbprints

After such a long day yesterday watching my brother play a golf match in Antioch- it was 100 degrees all afternoon! I just did not have the energy to bake anything when we got home at 11pm. It was great to finally watch Zach play a full round and I am so impressed that he's able to play golf day in and day out, without being exhausted ALL the time! As I write this, he's on his way to a course in Aptos with my dad for another round! :-)

So today, I am fully making up for my missed day by making Dorie's "Thumbprints For Us Big Guys." I'd had my eye on them all week but I'm so happy I waited until I had some free time to make them in a leisurely way, they were so simple and classic, but easy to customize with a simple change of filling. I used raspberry jam in some, apricot preserves in others, and of course Nutella in just a few. ;-) Easy and low-key but cute and tasty, give them a try!

Thumbprints For Us Big Guys

adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours

• 1 3/4 cups finely ground walnuts
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
• About 1 cup jam/preserves/Nutella for the filling

GETTING READY: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together ground nuts and flour.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the extracts and beat to blend. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the nut-flower mixture, mixing only until it is incorporated into the dough.

Working with a teaspoonful of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms to form small balls and place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Steadying each cookie with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, use the pinkie of your other hand (or the end of a wooden spoon) to poke a hole in the center of each cookie. Be careful not to go all the way down to the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies should be only slightly colored–they may even look underdone, which is fine: they should not be overbaked. When the cookies are baked, remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheets for 2 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks with a wide metal spatula and sifting confectioner’s sugar over them.

Repeat with the remaining dough, remembering to cool the baking sheets before baking the next batch.

Bring jam to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat, or bring to a boil in a microwave oven; remove from the heat. Fill the indentations of all the cookies with enough of the hot jam to come level with the tops. Cool to room temperature.

Happy Baking!

Jessica

Sugar Cookies

Here's a super easy recipe that was perfect for a relaxing evening of catching up on my new favorite show, "The Mentalist." Easy to mix, easy to refrigerate, and easy to cut and bake.

Enjoy!

I was just so into the show I forgot to take pictures before I ate a couple, and then I got a little lazy with the quality ;)

All-Occasion Sugar Cookies
(Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 146-147)

Yield: About 20 Slice-and-Bake cookies

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.
2. Working with a stand mixer, perferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated – because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finisht eh job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.
3. Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage (the diameter is up to you – I usually like cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter) and wrap in plastic. Whether you’re going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
4. Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
5. If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into ¼-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1½ inches between the cookies.
6. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you’d like. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Happy Baking!

Jessica

Quelle réussite! La brioche française!

Before

Today I baked my brioche! After a very long wait and now lots of sore muscles- mixing that dough by hand was painful! I can finally share this delicious buttery bread with you. I chose Dorie Greenspan's recipe because I had yet to try one of her breads so I was hoping for the best. And it was splendid!After letting it rise for the last 2 hours during our family hike, I came back and glazed it and popped it in the oven. This is SO buttery and tasty- but I find it tastes even better the next day, toasted and smothered with jam or nutella. :)I used a loaf pan and a brioche pan for the dough, but isn't the brioche

one so much cuter? A worthy investment if you ask me. :) I hope you enjoy this brioche, all you French Foodies!

Golden Brioche Loaves

(from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours)

Ingredients:

• 2 packets active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
• 1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk (I used buttermilk)
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

For the Glaze:

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Place 1/3 cup warm water, warm milk and yeast in the bowl of a standing heavy-duty mixer; stir until yeast dissolves and let proof for 10 minutes.Add flour and salt, mix on low speed just until flour is moistened, about 1-2 minutes.
2. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the eggs on low speed, then add sugar.
3. On medium speed, beat until the dough comes together, about 3 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to low. Add butter, two tablespoons at a time, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding next.
5. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl, about 10 minutes.
6. Transfer the dough into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
7. Punch the dough down to deflate it every 30 minutes until it stops rising (it will take 2 hours in total). Cover bowl with plastic and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
8. The next day, butter and flour 2 large loaf pans. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Cut each dough half into 4 logs. Arrange logs crosswise in bottom of each prepared loaf pan. Place loaf pans on baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 2 hours.
9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Brush the brioches with the egg wash and bake until they are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, about 30-35 minutes.
10. Let cool to room temperature, then run a knife around the side of the pans and turn the loaves out onto a rack.
11. The loaves can also be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.

Happy Baking! (and waiting)

Jessica

Another weekend flown by

Happy Sunday everyone!

I must say, I had the best day today, you know the kind, where you have a little day trip planned our and then a luxurious amount of time to relax and do whatever you want? That's the one. I went to Carmel today with my family, which is always a lot of fun, and the weather was just gorgeous. :-)

After a bit of a drive, we stopped at Borders. And I have to tell you, I recently picked up Nick Malgieri's book, "The Modern Baker" and have been loving all his explanations for breads and cakes, from which I will soon be posting a recipe. AND finally, I bought the book I have not-so-secretly been coveting for about 5 months, "Baking From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan. I have read such wonderful things about this book including of course many Tuesday's With Dorie entries, and was patiently waiting for the right Borders coupon to show up in my e-mailbox. So I finally made the leap and bought it, and I can not WAIT to use it! I read Dorie's preface and the first couple of chapter introductions and this woman makes me want to bake every single thing she writes about. From her comments on how to freeze the baked goods to what beverage to serve them with, she inspires me to try all sorts of new things. :-) Basically, I will be pulling from "Baking" a lot throughout the next couple of months.

And now back to my day. ;-) I had a delicious lunch with my mom (while the guys golfed) at our favorite spot, Patisserie Boissiere, and then shopped around at Sur La Table- I seriously could spend hours upon hours in that place and still not feel ready to leave. After picking up just a few things; 2 new baking sheets, cupcake tin liners and a new strainer (which I'm really excited about) we walked around Carmel a bit.

For dinner later we went to Lugano's, a typical Swiss bistro- complete with lederhosen pinned up on the walls along with drawings of cows in fields, and live yodelers who perform every Thursday. (Too bad it was only Sunday!) Fun place, right? :)

The drive home was pretty painless thanks to my dad taking the wheel and now I'm back home ready to start another week of work. Although I did not manage to bake today, I have finally brought my blog completely up to date so I say: tomorrow I'll make two recipes to get back on track! I already know that my mom's fabulous Lemon Bars are on the menu, so we'll see what I come up with to complement those babies.

As always, happy baking and I hope you're ready for a great week!

Jessica