createdbycarlene

Not all are beautiful, but wow, they taste great!

I worked on these for over a week.  Now that sounds like a long time, but I just did one task at a time on different days when I had a few spare moments.  I started by making the Apricot Lekvar.  I chose the apricot as opposed to the Prune option because I already had a bag of dried apricots on hand.  It was very easy to make and easily stored.  Next I worked on the nuts.  I used a mix of almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts.  I had to toast the pecan pieces that I had.  The almonds and hazelnuts that I had were already toasted.   After toasting,  I chopped all of them and measured them and stored them covered for several days as well.   Then I worked on the dried fruit.  I used Calimyrna figs, Medjool dates, and Crimson Raisins.  I pitted the dates and chopped the figs and raisins, then mixed them all together and added them to the growing ingredients.  Then when it came to the weekend I made the pastry dough in my Bosch mixer with my new cookie paddles that I ordered from Pleasant Hill Grain.  Then into the refrigerator for an overnight chill, well actually two nights because I didn’t get back to it until Sunday morning.  My original plan was to roll and fill the dough on Saturday night, but life intervened and that didn’t happen.  I was a bit apprehensive that I could get it all done on Sunday as the filled rolls needed to chill another four hours before baking.   I didn’t find it difficult to roll the dough out, but I did find it difficult to get the pastry rolled tight with all the wonderful filling ingredients stuffed inside.  

My first roll was too loose so when I cut and baked it quite of few of the pieces split open.  I found when cutting and baking the third roll , that if I submerged the cookie in the cinnamon sugar outside coating  and held it cupped between both hands and pressed it all together I had better luck with them staying rolled as they baked.  Falling apart during baking didn’t hurt the taste any, just the aesthetics.

These cookies are very rich and a lot of work to make.  I don’t think they will be on my list of regular cookies to bake.

For the adventuresome baker, the recipe can be found on page 325, of Baking with Julia, or on one of host blog sites for this week, either; Jessica of My Baking Heart or Margaret of The Urban Hiker.

Tuedsays with Dori’s (TWD) recipe for our second week is, Chocolate Truffle Tartlets, Baking with Julia, page 382 &383.   The recipe calls for biscotti, so my first task was to bake the biscotti.   Since this is Tuesday’s with Dori,  I turned to another of Dori’s books, Baking – from my home to yours for a biscotti recipe.  This was the book for the first go round of TWD.  I chose Lenox Almond Biscotti.  As I wasn’t a part of the first TWD group, I went back and read some of the posts about this recipe.  A lot of the bakers didn’t like the addition of the cornmeal in this recipe, but I actually liked it.  It added crunch.  I love the wonderful almond flavor.  You can find the recipe in the book on page 141 or on the host blog post for TWD, October 14, 2008.

Now, back to the Tartlet–the recipe looked intimidating, but it really wasn’t all that bad.   I started the crust in the food processor, but I think it would have been just as easy to do it all by hand.  Smearing the dough across the work surface with the heel of your hand really turned the crumbly pile of flour and butter into dough.  I chilled the dough overnight and rolled it out and baked the crusts the next day.    For the filling I used Ghirardelli Bittersweet chips and then used Ghirardelli Milk and White chocolate bars chopped to add with the biscotti.  Because the biscotti was large, I only used three.  The filling was easy to make and I had just enough for my six tartlets.  I did bake them just a bit longer, maybe 15 minutes instead of 12 because I was testing the center of one of the tarts to make sure it reached 160 degree requirement suggested by the USDA for egg yolk safety.   They had actually reached 165 degrees when I took them out of the oven.  You can see the holes where I tested two of them.

The taste is wonderful!  It is quite rich and I am sure would be even better served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  My husband and I only ate one tartlet.   Five of my girlfriends and I were celebrating one member of the groups 60th birthday with dinner at PF Changs.   So I individually wrapped the other five tartlets and gave each of them one to take home for dessert.

I am pretty sure I will make this recipe again some time for a special occasion.  The crust was wonderful and could be used with many other wonderful fillings.  I loved the small tartlet size.  It’s just perfect for a small dessert for two and makes a great gift for those who just want a little something sweet.

If you would like to make this lovely tartlet and don’t have the book, the recipe can be found on the one of the host bloger’s sites —Jessica, Spike, Jamie, and Steph.

Our first recipe as we start the journey through Baking with Julia!  This beautiful white bread tastes as good as it looks.  I made one loaf and the other half of the dough I made into rolls.  It was Superbowl Sunday and we were having a “NO Football” potluck at my yarn shop.  My contribution to the potluck was “Pulled Chicken” and I brought the rolls for the sandwich bread.  They were a hit and held up nicely with the shredded chicken and BBQ sauce.   I still have some slices of the loaf in the freezer and it makes excellent toast.   I have a Bosch mixer which handled kneading the 7 cups of flour in this recipe with no problems.  Yum!

The cookbook challenge for Baking with Julia has begun.   I decided to join in, and as one of the requirements for joining is having a blog to post your results, I am starting a blog.  Baking with Julia was written by Dorie Greenspan,  hence the name of the group, Tuesdays with Dorie.  The group has been in existence since 2008 and just finished baking every recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s, Baking: From My Home to Yours.  They decided to tackle another of Dorie’s wonderful cookbooks, Baking with Julia.    I purchased this book when it first came out in 1996 and really haven’t used it much.  It certainly has some great photos in it.  Some of the recipes are really going to be challenging.