Amy Ruth

In the world of Aroma Therapy, certainly someone has created a facial or out of body experience with the scent of brown butter.

This recipe reads that you must, at one  point,  decide if you would like to add freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon and or salt to your (stewed or cooked) apples.  All I could do was inhale the aroma of the apples drenched with brown butter.  Uh, must I really choose?  What if the spices totally detract the beautiful smell and flavor of the brown butter?

I stepped up….after all people,  this is just baking and I can probably make this again.  I should think of it as an experiment.  I’m in the lab, right?  I did add  a little freshly grated nutmeg and some Saigon cinnamon. After enjoying a slice, I may be more generous with spices the next time I make this torte.

You’ll need this recipe and you can click over to The Whimsical Cupcake where you’ll see the recipe for your very own use.  Then of course there is the book, Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. There are any number of sources for all of the famous Dorie Greenspans work and or play, depending on how you look at this thing called baking and or cooking. :”)

Thanks for the fun and enjoy your Tourtely Apple Tart, I know I will.

Woops, didn’t babysit the oven = seriously golden brown edges…. better pay closer attention.  Perhaps the oven was hotter than 400 degrees, you think?  I carried it with me to work and cut it for a sample bite.

I think it is a good tart as are many of Dorie’s.  I’ve really grown fond of tarts since baking with TWD.  Dorie’s sweet tart dough is amazing.  I always think of the tart as “goodness” on a wonderful shortbread cookie .   Maybe some ice cream or whipped cream would be a perfectly American accompaniment with this delicious (there I said it) apple tort.

Happy New Year!

Happy Third  Anniversary to Tuesday’s With Dorie.

Happy Me, its a new year and, like many, I have done a small requisite amount of reflecting.  I will attempt to be Wonder Woman.  HA HA HA.   Not so much.  However, I really like chatting on Twitter and making new friends online.  That really means you don’t get to see them and the real bonus: they don’t get to see you with unkept hair, no makeup, and in your pj’s at 4 PM.  While many of us like to give the illusion of perfection….. HA HA HA, it just doesn’t exist.  Not even in the net world.  Its just in your/my mind.

Its been quiet on my little old blog.  The family has gone on without my blogging.  I have found out that the kitchen, yep even the ovens still work.  One oven had a little hiccup with the clock/timer’s going off at random hours.  I fixed that…. let me introduce you to the breaker box, sista.  Until I come up with the gazillion’s of dollars to replace my secondary Jenn-Air oven with a worn out timer module that still bakes,  I’ll just flip the switch.  Its not a part under warranty and these days you have to consider age with cost of repairs.  Funny company.  What  happened to customer service anyway?

Really?  Tuesday’s With Dorie has been around for three years?  Laurie, its been like raising another child, I’m sure.  My only words are Thank You!  I’m sure many words of praise are out there this week along with thanks, and remarks like “TWD has changed my life.”  I can say that too.  Many life lessons have been learned as well as some friendships, baking tips and, “OH, let me learn something new!”  The most fun part is the satisfaction of doing something new and achieving success.  That is fleeting.  However, the sharing of love with baked goods and the warmth in your heart, that is not.

I’ll tell you how I really feel.  While a lot of this blogging world is a popularity contest and is sort of that old cliche, “you get back what you put into it.”  As long as you don’t take “yourself” too seriously, it is rewarding and the contacts you make become friends, the food you make becomes a connection both in you and the people you share with and love.  You might actually learn a new word or two, ( I was hoping for learning to write) and remember the English language that evaporated while raising a herd of children.

Last night, around 11, that would be PM I figured on just getting to it…. so the Midnight Crackles really were mixed up around that time.  Corbin emerged from his cave to ask “What are ya makin Mom?”  I replied “Well, remember that blog I used to bake along for and TWD and oh yea, tomorrow is Tuesday?”  He just smiled and waited for me to describe the recipe for the week.  Turns out it really is so simple to put together, not many ingredients, and well, I’ll let you know later in the blog post how they turn out.  I’m guessing since they are mainly chocolate, butter and brown sugar they must be spectacular.  I love things like that.  :”)  Additionally, the more time you spend in Dorie Greenspan’s, Baking From My Home to Yours, the more likely you are to have the same sense of love and simplicity in the kitchen that she conveys.  That baking really isn’t a magic science but more like a product of your energy, resources and love.  She just shares hers in print and therefore allows many others like us bloggers to share with our families and friends all over the world.

Sorry if I’m sounding a little cheesy.  hehe

Well, here they are…. Libby and I think they are delightfully delicious.

The highlight of making this yummy Cranberry Shortbread Cake, besides eating it was cooking the cranberries in the juice from the navel orange.  The clear red color of the cranberries as they cooked was so beautiful and vibrant.  It just made me smile.  This recipe was chosen by a darling girl from Texas, my former state. Jessica of A Singleton in the Kitchen made her Da da Da choices this week.  :”)  It seems not only does she have great taste she also has great timing.  This is the season for cranberries and its easy so its perfect for your holiday table or your friends holiday table.  She has the recipe posted on her site so click through her name and you too can bake this seasonal and delicious cake or is it a tart?  If you don’t have Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours yet, I don’t know what you are waiting for, Christmas?

This will be among my Thanksgiving desserts along with traditional pumpkin and pecan pies for my Daddy.    I hope it will be for you.  Its a natural!  It a wonderful combination of the sweet and tart cranberries with a hint of orange finished with a sweet and buttery shortbread.  The cranberries are fresh cooked fruits cooked with orange zest, juice,  segments and a cup of sugar to form a jammy fruit for the middle of the shortbread top and bottom layers.  That simple!

Apple Pie has been a challenge. Too juicy or the crust just was not baked to my liking.  Any list of objectionable reasons not to bake apple pie.   Generally my remarks about apple pies have always been less than favorable.  Bottom line, I just was not happy with the results of my efforts.  Let’s face it…. the efforts for an apple pie are a little more time consuming than some baked goods, especially if the fruits of your labor were less than satisfactory.  However, practice does make “better.”  The more you do it the better you get at it.  I haven’t made the All American All Delicious Apple Pie before because I thought ugh it won’t turn out the way I would like it.

Last night something came over me and I just knew I had to participate.  I bought the apples, Golden Delicious (2), Granny Smith (2), Cortland (2 BIG ones) and went to work peeling away.  I had made the pie dough yesterday morning before work so that part was done and resting in the refrigerator.  I was intent on getting this pie made and so it went together happily and smoothly.

It may not be the prettiest slice of pie out there but it is pretty darn delicious and I just can’t say enough about Dories  Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough.  Its probably my favorite.  Its such a fun time when a project turns out to your liking (I didn’t say it was perfect folks) and  you can see that there is hope for a delicious and beautiful Apple Pie.  I may just make another one soon.

Thanks to Emily of Sandmuffin for choosing a recipe that makes one rise to the challenge, and where you will also find the recipe for this apple pie.    Challenges make you better.  Isnt’ there a saying that goes something like “What doesn’t kill ya makes you better?” I still have breath.  hehe  You probably know by now, unless you are new to my blog that the recipes here can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking From My Home to Yours. The library is a great source if you like reading from a book.  Lots of selections can be found with google as well.  Thanks Dorie for all the fun we have had as a group baking in the Tuesdays With Dorie blogging group.  You’ll want to see all the darn delicious apple pie so visit the blog roll for more.  Just make sure you’re not hungry.  That would be bad.  :”)  Thanks!

Early in the morning, or late at night when you still have lots to do, you might just need a kick in the head as some of the old crooners sang.  Now Michael Buble and a whole host of Michael “wanna-be’s” are singing, “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head?”   I spent 10 or 15 minutes on YouTube watching/listening to videos while the muffins were baking away.

These muffins are really called Coffee-Break Muffins and the recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s, Baking From My Home to Yours. I have baked with Tuesdays With Dorie, intermittently for a while now.  I have to say there is a lot positive, like new recipe favorites, lessons learned, new friends both locally and on the internet and of course more incentives to exercise a little more diligently,  hehe . That being said, the list of ingredients contain both coffee (yes, the kind from your coffee pot) and instant espresso powder.  The idea is for us coffee lovers to have just one more reason to love coffee because we can have them in our muffins.  There you have it!

Just take a little trip over to  Chocoholics Anonymous and it will net you the recipe for these quick little muffins.  It only takes some left over coffee and a handful of other ingredients, and “snap” you have yourself a great little “pick me up.”  Thanks Rhiani for choosing a simple recipe this week for TWD.

Thank you for stopping by.  If you have your coffee cup in hand….. I have a muffin to share.  :”)

Just a side note:  Corbin, the last of the Schleider kids at home, has been spoon feeding me this whole blog thing and teaching me to use Aperture and FileZilla and Photoshop.  Oh My….yawn.  Its late and we giggled as he took me through, step by aching little step.  Bless his patient little almost 17 year old heart.  Thanks Corbin!  You are the best!  (Its about time I learn, huh?)