{BwJ} Alsatian Onion Tart

I know I haven’t been with the group much, the Baking with Julia group, but somehow life got crazy and I wasn’t baking as much. And then I actually did make this tart and then forgot to post it. So better late than never!

I made just one small tart. Just for me. I ate it. It was WONDERFUL! Is there anything better than caramelized onions? Why, yes, there is. Caramelized onions with bacon!!

This was super simple. A small disk of puff pastry covered in “melted” onions mixed with cream and bacon. Done!!

You can see the rest of the tarts by clicking over to Baking With Julia. And you should try this. Really!!

Recipe is on page page 426 of Baking with Julia and was contributed by Michel Richard.

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{BwJ} Mocha Brownie CAKE!

Somehow when the words BROWNIE and CAKE are used in the same sentence it is enough to make one’s heart beat fast and entice one to make a recipe more than just one or the other. After sitting down and calming one’s heart!! And while I really wanted to make the whole cake I knew we didn’t need it, so I made 1/2 in a 5″ springform pan.

Now, picture a moist, fudgy cake layered and topped with dark chocolate ganache.

PERFECTION!! I only made one change in the recipe, contributed by Marcel Desaulniers, I used DARK chocolate (63%cacoa) rather than the semisweet chocolate called for. I think I liked it better! AND — it’s healthier!!!! {YEAH, RIGHT!!} Oh, and did I mention it has COFFEE in the filling? It is a subtle flavor enhancing the chocolate. Cannot beat that!!

You can find the recipe in Dorie’s Baking with Julia on page 282.

Check with the other DORISTAS for their chocolate goodness.

 

{BwJ} Chocolate-Mascarpone Cheesecake

I know I have said it before. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert. Ever! The creamy concoction of cream cheese, flour, eggs with various and sundry other ingredients depending on whose recipe you use. I have my faves – Junior’s is always good. AB has a good one. And I have one I found EONS ago that has become my go to. Dorie’s is also good. I haven’t found a cheesecake yet I don’t care for. This weeks Tuesday with Dorie/Baking With Julia recipe was a cheesecake with an ingredient I have not used before – Mascarpone Cheese. It is not something I buy very often. Not unless I have a recipe that actually calls for it. I had a potato recipe that called for 2TBL so when I bought it I knew eventually I would use the rest. So thank you BwJ for this weeks cheesecake.

I usually make 1/2 or 1/4 of baking recipes these days because with just the two of us we don’t need a lot of sweets. But we were going to friend’s for dinner so I made the full recipe. Instead of one cake I made 12 bite-sized and a 4″. Perfect!

While good, it wasn’t my fave. And it rose so much it just about overflowed all my pans.

You can see it cracked. A lot! So no party for this cake.

The recipe called for all the chocolate to completely mixed into the batter until no white showed, but I like a swirled cheesecake so I only mixed it some. It didn’t affect the taste, just how it looked.

I don’t think I will make this one again. But visit with the other Doristas and see how they liked it.

The recipe is on page 256 of Dorie’s Baking with Julia and was contributed to the book by David Ogonowski

 

{BWJ} Vanilla Chiffon Roll

I have only made one other cake roll. Well, ALMOST made. Chocolate. For my Mom’s birthday. Years ago. It didn’t work out. At all. So I was a little leery about this weeks cake – a chiffon cake roll. The chocolate one completely fell apart as I tried to roll it. Whatever I did wrong was major. MAJOR!! So I never tried it again. UNTIL….NOW.

You can see that it worked out just fine.

What you are looking at is a simple, okay, not really simple, vanilla chiffon cake that is rolled around a nutty chocolate mousse. The recipe called for walnuts but we aren’t fans so I used pecans instead. That worked out well.

The cake is 17 inches long so I immediately cut it in half and froze part of the cake. Sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with some chocolate ganache it was pretty and tasty. I did make one change. I used 1/2 cup of Splenda subbed in for an equal amount of the sugar in the cake. It came out just fine. I would also advise you to chill the cake a little before you roll it up with the mousse. Some of the mousse was pushed out.

This would be an easy cake to roll around other fillings – ice cream, lemon curd, the possibilities are endless. Guess I will be making more rolled cakes now that I know I can do it.

The recipe was contributed to Baking with Julia by Mary Bergin. You can find the recipe HERE and there is also a video of the cake being made. But you really need to buy the book – Baking with Julia and try all the recipes in it along with the members of Tuesdays with Dorie..

 

{BwJ} Madeleines

In May of last year I was just finishing up catching up with all the TWD recipes I missed. Three of them were Madeleines. I had not made them before because I did not have the pan. Now I am always looking for reasons to make them just so I can use my single-purpose pan!! How perfect is it that this week’s Baking With Julia pick is Madeleines

I Love the shape of these little cakes/cookies. These are made with a Génoise batter which was new to me. Others I have made were more of a cake batter.

These were rather plain so I decided to dress them up a smidge. I dipped some in chocolate

And some I sprinkled with Cinnamon Sugar

AS much as I like love chocolate I liked the cinnamon sugar ones better.

And while I tried to like these madeleines they aren’t my favorites. They seemed dry and awfully dense. Ah, well.

The batter (page 41) and the madeleines (page 334) were contributed to Baking with Julia by Flo Braker. Hosting this week are Katie and Amy Thisdell of CounterDog and you can find the recipe on her blog.And stop by and visit the bakers of Baking with Julia for their Madeleines, too.

 

{BwJ} Rustic Potato Loaf

The fragrance of fresh bread wafting through the house is one of the most comforting things ever! That means that baking bread is always a plus since you have something tasty to enjoy and a comforting feeling as well. And so it was this morning as I was making Leslie Mackie’s Rustic Potato Loaf (supposed to be Loaves but I only made one)

Mackie’s loaf is beautifully rustic. By baking this bread with the seam up rather than down you get the nice rough top, or as she put it, “…with a jagged, flour-encrusted crease…”. Love it!!

The loaf is made with mashed russet potatoes, complete with skins, and AP flour with a little EVOO and potato water thrown in for good measure. You end up with a nice crusty bread perfect with a little dipping oil. And little pieces of skin showing up through the bread.

You can find the recipe for these lovely loaves on Dawn’s Site – Simply Sweet. Or, if you want to join the Baking With Julia fun the loaves are on page 138 of Child’s Baking with Julia

And please stop by and visit the other Members of Baking with Julia and see their gorgeous breads.

 

{BwJ} Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies. I am always on a quest to find just the right recipe. And I have tried one or two or three. There was even a cookie with Espresso in it but I didn’t make those. Now that I am So Much More Sophistocated (Yeah, Right!) I have learned to use Espresso and like it. Especially in these!!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Using Cadbury’s Dark Chocolate and regular Semi-Sweet chips I added just one 1 Tbl to half the recipe and ended up with 3 dozen cookies. I wish I had added just a tad more espresso. The chocolate seemed to drown out the taste and one was left with just a hint of a coffee aftertaste. But for me, that was okay because I really don’t care for coffee much. I made them more for the Hubs. I would make these again, however.

Peggy of Galettistais this week’s host and the recipe will be on her page.

And please visit the other members of Baking with Julia for their cookies. Maybe they will share!

 

(BwJ} Craig Kominiak’s Focaccia

Baking bread makes the kitchen smell so cozy and homey. I love making bread. It is just so relaxing. Baking this Craig’s focaccia was no diffrent. While it took two days the recipe resulted in a lovely silky dough, enough for three loaves, and a nice chewy flatbread.

Focaccia is always fun to make. This one was different than what I am used to. While most Focaccia is dimpled Craig’s is slashed…

..which means lots of places to catch the olive oil and mixed herbs.

If you want to try Craig’s Focaccia you can visit Sharmini of Wandering Through for the recipe and a lovely picture of her Focaccia.

The recipe is also on page 43 of Baking with Julia

If you want to join us just visit for the rules.

 

{BwJ} Pizza with Onion Confit

There are several not so healthy foods I really enjoy – but only occassionally. One of them is PIZZA! Yes, we are talking about the regular cheesy, tomatoey, mushroom and sausage pizza. We have a couple of GOOD places here in town but I also like to make my own. Again – not very often because I like LOTS of goodies on mine. ‘Specially cheese. When I was reading this month’s choices for Baking with Julia all I saw was one word – PIZZA! It wasn’t until I really started looking at the recipe that I realized just how different this pizza was going to be.

Pizza with Onion Confit

This was a pizza with not tomato sauce, no thick layers of cheese, no meat. Yes, it was definitely different.

I was afraid I would not like it – onions caramelized in red wine and red wine vinegar. EWWW!! But – wait – new horizons, out of the box! Different but GOOD!!!!

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I would be the only one in the entire household (two of us) who would even think of trying this one (and I wasn’t sure about me….) so I made the whole recipe of pizza dough (can always use THAT) and 1/3 of the Confit. I used 1/3 of the dough and made one 7″ pizza with the confit, olives, and shredded Parmesan cheese. Good choice! I liked the flavor of the whole pizza but it not something I would eat every day.

Our host this week is Paul of The Boy Can Bake and he has on his blog.

 

{BwJ} Gingerbread Baby Cakes

Dorie described these small gingerbread cakes, contributed by Johanne Killeen, as –

“…spicy, robust, and bursting with the heat of ginger and black pepper.”

And she was absolutely correct!

Cooled off with a small swirl of whipped cream sprinkled with ground ginger they were the perfect snack.

I found myself without any molasses so I used some lovely thick cane syrup gifted to us by a friend who makes his own. It is absolutely wonderful. I cut the espresso by 1/2, but the rest of the ingredients stayed the same. They were moist, spicy, peppery, and delicious.

The gingerbread cakes are hosted by Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories and you can find the recipe on her blog.

We are using Baking with Julia now for Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe is on page 247. You should find a copy of the book and bake along with us. Lots of goodies in store!!!!