Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops

These were good. Well, bake Whoppers (chocolate-covered malted milk balls) into chocolate cookies with bittersweet chunks and there's little chance it would not taste good. The batter had a frosting-like consistency, resulting in light and almost cakey cookies.

Brought to you by Confessions of a Tangerine Tart and found on page 85, it was a delightful treat, albeit a rich one. I was a little surprised to see that the baking temperature was omitted from the recipe, but it turns out that 350 degrees F works just fine.

It turns out that Whoppers caramelize when baked, leading to a chewy and toffee-like little hunk in the cookie. I envied the bakers who had better access to Maltesers, which I have a hard time finding here in Southern California.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

I love cookies. I especially love cookies that contain some of my favorite things: peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate. This week's TWD is hosted by Stefany of Proceed With Caution and the recipe's on page 73.

With a busy Labor Day weekend away, I mixed the dough last night and baked some this morning. As the diet doesn't really permit lots of cookies, this morning's batch is going to work. Since I'm scrambling to write this post before I go, it's going to be short and sweet.

A spring-loaded scoop is an OCD cookie fiend's best friend. I like my cookies round and the scoop allows that without too much work.

Dorie calls for chunky peanut butter, but I had plenty of smooth peanut butter on hand, so I used that. The texture isn't as rustic as I would like, but it's still delicious. I also went for a mixture of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chunks, as dictated by my pantry.

Mmmm... so diet unfriendly.

On a side note, we're done with the first season of The Tudors, so Henry VIII returns for more TWD and salacious acts in October.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream with Michael Phelps

I'm on a diet.

Don't laugh, I really am.

It's more like an aggressive mission to lose the ungodly amount of weight I've put on in the last 5 years. Hence, there hasn't been much to say about food lately. However, that'll change once I find myself on a better eating routine. Right now, food is energy and I need to limit how much energy I consume. I hate that outlook, especially since I find food so fascinating.

To keep myself from going completely crazy and risking a total binge, I'm sticking to TWD and keeping my skills honed. Hopefully, I'll find some volunteers to consume the products. Since cooking and baking are stress-relievers for me, I'll focus on enjoying the journey instead of the destination.

This week's TWD is Blueberry Sour-Cream Ice Cream (page 434), brought to you by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. Dorie Greenspan calls it the "summeriest of summertime ice creams" and I can't help but agree. It's as light and refreshing as a sorbet, but with the heftier weight of a regular ice cream. She says a hand-crank ice cream maker is perfect for this recipe, which is good, because I have a hand-crank maker with a cylinder that is frozen the night before.

Of course, one should not leave the ice cream in the cylinder and wander off to watch the fabulous Michael Phelps win yet another gold medal. The ice cream froze up nicely, but I didn't aerate it very much, so it's a little dense.

It's also more lemon than blueberry. Dorie calls for the juice and zest of 1/4 lemon, but I have lemons that are either ridiculously tiny or giant mutants. I used the giant mutant and added too much lemon juice. The taste is awesome, but it isn't quite blueberry. There is a nice tartness reminiscent of the berries and sour cream, which goes really well with the acidity of the lemon.

We watched Henry VIII without dessert this week, but I'll have to reunite him with TWD soon. However, the light and quasi-diet-friendly dessert is totally Olympic-worthy. To stick to my portion sizes, I busted out our smallest spring-loaded scoop (about 1 tablespoon total volume) and put scoops in cute square Crate & Barrel pinch pots.

Good dessert, good TV, and for this ex-swimmer, a chance to see her sport in the spotlight for a change. Go Phelps!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Black and White Banana Loaf

Wait, it's Wednesday. Sigh.

Anyway, one of these days I'm going to get back on track with all of the blog-baking, but for now, the Black and White Banana Loaf (page 232), brought to you by Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen. I love this recipe... it was easy to make and I marbled for the first time. Yes, that's a verb. At least I say it is.

The batter should be thick, so it doesn't blend together easily. Don't mix the batter too much once it's in the pan. Run a butter knife in a zigzag once down the pan. Then, don't touch it. No, really, leave it alone. Another key to a tender bread is to minimally mix the batter. Don't develop the gluten too much or else it'll be tough.

For the chocolate, I used Ghiradelli's 70% cacao baking bars. The recipe also called for rum, but I didn't have any, so I used a liberal dash of brandy.

Woohoo! Look Ma, I marbled!

Where was Henry VIII? Well, he missed this week's TWD and we enjoyed his antics with M.S.'s and D.'s chocolate chip cookies instead.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Cobbling with Henry VIII

It looks like TWD will be linked to Henry VIII for now, as we make our way through The Tudors. This Tuesday's recipe is Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler (page 415), hosted by Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake. However, I'm not a fan of baked cherries or rhubarb, not to mention I had a lot of leftover fruit. Without further ado, let me present a Nectarine/White Peach/Blueberry Cobbler:

Dorie's recipe uses a basic dough to form little "biscuits" and the biscuits ride on top of a puddle of delicious goo made from mascerated fruit and a smidge of cornstarch. It's not a cobbler for me without oats, hence the sprinkling of oats.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy. Optional, as always, are the rants of England's whiniest (and most libidinous) king.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie and Henry VIII

I've wanted to watch The Tudors for a while. So, this past Sunday, I had a little get-together for the first two episodes of the show and Dorie Greenspan's double-crusted blueberry pie. To keep my baking muscles in shape, I joined Tuesdays With Dorie. This week's recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours (pages 361-363) was selected by Amy of South In Your Mouth.

I'd say the pie, with its rustic decadence, definitely paired well with the show. Watching Henry VIII whine, pout, and whore his way through his time as king is really entertaining and worthy of an excellent dessert. On a food-related side note, Henry VIII ends up looking an awful lot like Mario Batali. I'm not sure how the producers think that Jonathan Rhys-Meyers will end up looking like MB, but whatever. He's pretty and petulant. Oh, a heads-up to those considering The Tudors: there's a lot of gratuitous boobage.

Great, my first post for the group and I'm talking about boobs.

Right, back to the pie.

The one thing I love about fruit pies is that they're easy to make. This pie took about 3 hours, including chilling the dough. Take Dorie's failproof crust and add macerated blueberries. The crust stayed flaky and crisp, even when I accidentally broke the top crust while transferring it to the pie plate. It had to be rolled back into a ball, re-chilled, and rolled out again. Despite all of the handling, it baked into a crisp and flavorful crust.

It's a fantastic dessert, with the blueberries being both rich and refreshing at the same time. Paired with French vanilla ice cream, it's a moment of indulgence.

Henry VIII would approve.