{BCM}1980’s lava cake

On page 191 of Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi is a small cake that was a hit in the 1980s.  Every restaurant and good home hostess served them.  Sometimes with a little ice cream.  Sometimes just ‘molten’.  It was a soft cake that was still liquid in the center when it came out of the oven.  Chocolate Lava Cakes.  aka Soft-Centered Chocolate Teacup Cakes.

I loved them in the 80s. I still love them so I was looking forward to making them.

That doesn’t look like what I had in mind when I put them in the oven, however.

I decided instead of a chocolate center, since I was mainly making them for The Man, I would make the center liquid PB.  Unfortunately, all the little PB chips floated away from the center and didn’t melt like I had hoped.  Didn’t matter, The Man thought they were good and that was all that mattered.  I think making a small PB truffle to go in the center would work much better.

I let mine sit a little longer…

….so mine was more fudgy.  Just the way I like it.

I made 1/2 of the recipe and that resulted in two sweet treats.  I really didn’t need any extras sitting around!

Definitely make these again.  They were soooo good!!

Check out the rest of the Doristas and their baked goodies.  W had a choice of either one of this month’s selections so you will also see some Panna Cottas in the mix.  Looking forward to that one.

 

{BCM} Apple Pielettes

What is it about ‘mini’ things that simply make them more ‘wantable’? It’s the attractiveness, food wise anyway, of a sweet treat that is small and, therefore, calorie affordable. {As if with Dorie that really matters!} Like these ‘mini’ apple pies from Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi

Two bites, okay, three…, of sweet apple-ly deliciousness.

Thankfully, Dorie did give us permission to play with these. I had some canned pears from our garden so I used those. And, instead of raisins, I used dried cranberries. I liked the little bit of sharp with the sweetness of the pears.

These are definitely more fun to eat and make than a regular apple pie. And the Galette Dough is infinitely more usable than a regular pie dough. {My tip here is to make sure your dough STAYS cold because otherwise it shrinks when you fit the rounds into the muffin tin.}

Pielette recipe is on page 123
Galette Dough recipe is on page 420

Check out the other Pielettes at Baking Chez Moi

 

{BCM} Apple Kuchen

It is Fall, well, one day from, and the fall apples are coming into the stores. If we had an orchard near by I would be there every day to pick some fresh, but alack and alas we are way too far south for that. This is the time of the year when SOME of the apples are really good – Jazz, Fuji, Braeburn – so it was easy to find some good Fuji apples for Dorie’s Apple Kuchen…

…which is this weeks ‘assignment’ for Baking Chez Moi/Tuesday’s with Dorie. Since the Man’s birthday is this week and I always make Dorie’s “Bill’s Big Carrot Cake” from Baking From My Home to Yours {the BEST carrot cake recipe EVAH!!} for the occasion I only made 1/2 of this apple dessert in a 6″ springform pan.

The crust is sweet, the custard is creamy, the apples are softly crisp. Just a yummy dessert!!

The only change I made was to sub in some dried cranberries soaked in the rum rather than the raisins.

The rest of the Kuchens are on the BCM webpage so come on by. The recipe is on page 16 of Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi

 

{BCM} Jam Filled Sandwich Cookies

Somehow the whole month of August just slipped by me along with two desserts for Baking Chez Moi. THAT is not happening this month. Last month I missed Cherry Crumb Tart and Bubble Eclairs. Both would have been fun to make. Ah well, REWIND week is only 3 weeks away!

But this week I did make these delightfully crisp and sweet sandwich cookies.

When the recipe name said sandwich cookie I was thinking two separate cookies held together with jam. NOT!! What we have are two cookies baked with jam in the middle. MUCH BETTER!! And the cookie – best sugar cookie ever!!

I filled mine with White Chocolate Strawberry Jam. Perfect!

Want more cookies – Baking Chez Moi. How many different jams will there be?

The recipe is on page 275 of Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi

 

{BCM} Panna Cotta

This is one of those desserts I have been wanting to make but just haven’t. No reason. I see recipes all the time but just never have followed through. Imagine how excited I was to see if on the August list for Baking Chez Moi/Tuesdays with Dorie. FINALLY!!!

This one, and there are a couple of more, is made with mango as the base. And it is lovely when it is all put together. Full of the sweet/tart taste of the mango puree on the bottom and the sweet vanilla panna cotta on top.

I can see this with lots of other variations – blueberry, strawberry, lemon.

The recipe is on page 270 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. We don’t print the recipes but if you buy her book you can join in the baking!

And check with the other Doristas for their Panna Cottas. I am sure there will be some lovely variations.

 

{BCM} Strawberry Shortcakes Franco-American Style

It’s summer. Officially. Although, here in the deep south our summer started about 2 weeks ago when the rains FINALLY stopped and the sun came out. Talk about HUMIDITY!!

Summer means lots of cold drinks, cool salads, BBQ-ing, and Strawberries. And if you have strawberries then you absolutely HAVE to make Strawberry Shortcakes. I mean, its like a law or something…..

In the US this means using those little round sponge cakes that soak up all the juices. Or using a sweet biscuit. But the star of the show is always the berries. Sweet. Red. Juicy – if you are lucky enough to find them. It doesn’t matter what you serve them on. This weekthe Doristas are using Lady Finger cookie disks. It’s different.

But different can be good. As these French style sweet treats were. Dorie says we should call the Ladyfinger Disks Indies: Celebrate Independence Day in the US and Bastille Day in France. I’m just gonna call them DELISH!!

Layers of Indies with sweet berries and sweet cream. Cannot beat that on a hot day in the Deep South.

Check out the other Shortcakes on the Tuesdays with Dorie website where we leave our links for this week’s “assignment”.

The recipe is on page 338 of Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi.

 

{TWD/BCM} Limencello Cupcakes

Limencello! I have seen that name several times as ingredients for recipes. I know it is an Italian lemon liqueur but really hadn’t thought about it much. When I saw it was used in this week’s Baking Chez Moi cupcakes I knew I would have to find some. And I did, but it was WAY more than I would ever need. After considering the alternative – NOT making the cupcakes – I decided I would see if I could make some. Fortunately there are LOTS of recipes out there. I made just enough to make these cuppys and have a little left over.

I have to admint it would not be something I would actually DRINK as many in Italy and France do, but it does make a nice little cupcake and frosting.

I was really afraid we wouldn’t like the cupcakes since we didn’t like the liqueur at all but it just adds a little kick to the whole treat.

And then the orange marmalade adds to the sweet side.

The recipe is on page 194 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. I am sure the other cupcakes made this week by the Doristas are quite lovely and very tasty so click on over to view all of them on the Tuesdays with Dorie Website.

The limoncello recipe I used – The Kitchen

 

{BCM} Crispy Topped Brown Sugar Bars

Move over Rice Krispy Treats! You have a rival! Dorie’s “Rice Krispy Treats” are going to make your Snap! Crackle! Pop! seem plain.

Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Krispy Treats. Especially made with Some Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips. But These. THESE! Are Really Really Good!!

How can you beat CARMELIZED crispies on a Buttery cookie bar and chocolate?

Nuff Said!

Except for one thing – Caramelized Rice Krispies are regular krispies coated in a simple sugar syrup and stirred and stirred and stirred until nice and brown. (page 428)

You can find the recipe on page 324 of Dorie’s baking chez moi.

And visit the other bakers on the BCM website.

 

{BCM} Lemon Madeleines

Madeleines are such fun to make. So much fun that after missing the first madeleine recipe with the first Tuesdays with Dorie group I bought the pan and looked forward eagerly to each and every Mad recipe. We made them several times and once again with Baking with Julia. No matter how often I make them it never gets old so I was happy to see them for this week’s Baking Chez Moi pick.

These little sponge cakes had plenty of lemon zest and then to make them even lemony-er we dipped them in a lemon glaze and baked them another two minutes or so. Yes! Please! I think lemon is my favorite citrus to bake with. The taste is always fresh and summery.

These were made a little differently from other Mads we had made. The batter was chilled. Then after filling the molds the batter was chilled again in the molds before baking in a hot (400 F) oven. The recipe says the batter will make 12 I actually came out with 17. I made a batch and made twelve from the batter but they overflowed the molds so I made another batch and made them smaller.

While I didn’t get much of the characteristic hump they are still pretty and tasty.

I glazed some and left some alone. Definitely something to make again and again. I mean, really, how can you NOT make those pretty little shell shaped sponge cakes??

You can visit with the other Doristas and drool over their madeleines by visiting the Tuesdays with Dorie website. the recipe is on page 212 of Dorie’s Baking Chex Moi. Buy the book. Join the fun!!

 

{BCM} Marquise au Chocolat

I love desserts with interesting names. Basically what it translates into is a Frozen Chocolate Mousse.But that would be doing this dessert a disservice. What you really end up with is chocolate paradise – frozen in a pan. With crunchy stuff!! Well, if you like crunchy stuff. According to Dorie this dessert is from the 17th and 18th centuries when the titled were living the decadent life. This dessert is a testimony to that decadence.

The ingredients are simple – chocolate, butter, egg yolks, sugar and cream. And while today these don’t sound like decadent ingredients the sugar, and chocolate were NOT that easy to come by then.

One Bonne Idée from Dorie is to add some texture to the some of the marquise with some cookies – mostly Petit Beurre (recipe on page 270 of BCM. I know a good idea when I see one. Cookies it is!

I made small individual marquise. Some round. Some loaf shaped and sliced.

There was some concern about the raw egg yolks in the mousse. I followed a hint from the ‘gang’ and added the eggs to the warm chocolate mix after whipping with the sugar instead of waiting The temp was warm enough to bring the eggs up the temp (I checked).

We enjoyed one each and the rest are in the freezer waiting to WOW some unsuspecting dinner guest in the near future.

The recipe for the Marquise au Chocolat is on page 357 of Dorie’s Baking Chex Moi.

And if you visit the TWD/BCM page you are like to see all shapes and sizes of the marquise from the creative gang who cake along with TWD.