Amy Ruth

Baking From My Home toYours, by Dorie Greenspan  characterizes this versatile little cake.  Dorie’s collection of recipes tells us all how she feels about home and family through the recipes she compiled in her book.  A variety of recipes from all her homes and many families she calls friends.   If you are a member of the baking group Tuesdays with Dorie, than this is your impression as well.  If you haven’t acquired the book just yet, a treat is in store for you.

 Just as the French Yogurt Cake  is a beloved little cake that is often lovingly made in the homes of french families, over and over again with an array of variations as limitless as your palate will allow.  This recipe collection is from various families and friends both on the American side of “the Pond” as well as Dorie’s beloved Parisian side of “the Pond.”    I love the opportunity to expand my horizons and experience something different.  

My Mom always had little  loaf  style pound cakes around as I was growing up.  I couldn’t resist baking this recipe in a loaf pan.  I made Dorie’s lemon curd to go with it.  See!  I also used the ground almonds in mind for added texture and richness.  We enjoyed this homey little cake.  It was super simple to put together and took no time.  So dressed up or simply sliced with fruit or a sauce.  Its a winner in my home!

Thank you Lilana of My Cookbook Addiction  for choosing such a lovingly shared French cake for us on this side of the pond.  Stop by her site for the recipe and take a trip to the other side of the pond here.

[SinglePic not found]The holiday panic has caught on at my house.  How about you?  When extended shopping hours, extended baking hours, extended everything hours are part of the season, what better way to soothe the frenzy than sipping your favorite hot beverage and nibbling on Dorie’s Buttery Jam Cookies.  They do spark the memories of eating hot biscuts (from scratch, of course) at my grandmother’s house with butter and honey.  Early on Sunday mornings before church, we always had a hot breakfast with eggs, biscuts and bacon.  A variety of home made jams and preserves were also on the table, made with love from a dear great aunt and uncle.  All of these childhood pictures are the reason why I would find these to be a very comforting little cookie.  The kind of cookie you would share … while visiting with a friend or neighbor .  Coffee and Buttery Jam Cookies.[SinglePic not found]

I followed the recipe as written, using one of my favorite flavors, Apricot Jam.   As I looked down in the mixing bowl I realized  this little cookie really is a friend to savory biscuts as well.  I had a wave of “been there done that,”  maybe with cheese and herbs or cayenne pepper.  I don’t know if anyone else had that feeling or not.  Deja Vu [SinglePic not found]

This cookie was chosen by Heather from Randomosity and the Girl.  Thanks so much Heather.  A nice comforting cookie for your cookie jar.  If you would like to visit Heather for the recipe just click on the link or head down to your local bookstore for Baking from My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan.   

Thank you for visiting and if you have left me comments in the past, I sincerely appreciate the time and effort you gave.  Wishing you a very Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday Season with your family.   

Thanks also to my third child and my youngest son who is my photographer and my web guru.  He and I are enjoying the development and the fun together.  He just had a birthday and turned 15.  Poor guy, now that he is the only kiddo at home, he’s stuck with me and all the attention he missed the last 15 years.  he he

Yes, that’s right.  It was a figment of my imagination.  Just picture this,  American kids,( 2.5 ) Mom & Pop around the kitchen table with Grandmother and Grandpappy in their carefully coordinated Christmas Pajamas. ( Maybe Christmas music playing low in the background)  Oh, and I think a big lazy dog curled up near the kids would fit well.   This special feature stars a Christmas Kugelhopf, in all its sugar sprinkled sparkling splendor.  This is where Grandmother explains about the origin of the bread, or is it a cake?  I prefer to think of it as a morning treat with coffee or tea, jelly?

 Basically, the Kugelhopf  is from the continent of Europe. Some say its from a variety  of countries, Germany, Austria and or France.  I suppose you could just pick the one you most have an affection for and that would fit just fine.  On the other hand Dorie says its orgins are the region of Alsace, France.  There you have it.

Everything was moving along pretty well.  Mixed the necessary ingredients. After the big yeast debate amongst the TWD bakers,  I used the traditional active dry yeast.  My Kitchen Aid mixer bowl is large, maybe the reason my dough didn’t do the doughhook crawl.  Boo Hoo   I followed the mixing instructions, I think.  Progress was being made with all the rising and deflating methods recommended.  This is where it got a little tricky. By now the texture of my dough was a little drier than expected so I as put it in the “buttered” cake pan (although I think not buttered enough) it resembled sort of a doughnut.  I had to squish the ends together so that it was continuous.  Oh yea, I used a star bundt pan because I didn’t find a kugelhopf pan in my area.  Then I had to do the final rise,  may have messed up here.  I heated an oven for it to nap in and, maybe it was a little too warm, not sure.  Waited the recommended 3 ish hours, sort of.  I got snagged for some kid driving duties which extended that “napping” time in the warm oven.  This could have been the element of disaster.  Upon my return to “Dorie Duties.” the reality of a smidgen of deflation was apparent.  I forged on and put that bugar in the oven and baked it anyway.  What else am I to do?  

It appeared golden brown actually, nice in appearance, but it was Stuck, Stuck Stuck to my bundt pan.  I managed to  unstick the edges nicely, inverted it and did the Tap, Tap, Tap until at least half of the said cake/bread fell out.  Aahhuuumm.  So disappointing.  A broken Kugelhopf.  It  was appointed with the melted butter and sugar and devoured.  It really was nice morning bread even today with a quick toast and coffee.  So there you have it the Imagined Kugelhopf.

By the way, if you would like to secure the recipe for this delight go on over to visit Yolanda at The All Purpose Girl where she has graciously posted the recipe and some beautiful pictures.  If you follow the TWD bakers and enjoy their adventures you may even want to add Dorie’s Baking From My Home to Yours to your Holiday Wish List.   

Even though my poorly Kugelhopf was too sad for a photo or two, remember there are over 300 TWD bakers who had fun and produced some beauties.  They actually are such creatures of creativity.  So take a little trip and check out the beautiful photos, giggle with them and make some new friends.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I read all my comments and love making friends  Any Kugelhopf fans out there…leave your encouraging words.  Can’t let this one get the best of me.  I’ll definitely refine this one and “I’ll be bach!”  : )

I have learned with each recipe selection in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours, that I have a few little choices to make.  Whether to forge a path and make a few variations of my choosing or to stick to the written recipe.  Bottom line, pretty much stayed with her recipe for the pumpkin muffins.   I was able to compare this muffin to the one I make and decide my preferences. [SinglePic not found]

These were pretty good fall muffins.  I varied each row in the pan.  Mixing up the recipe as written, short of the nuts and dried fruit.  This is the point where I scooped enough batter for three muffins into a cereal bowl.  The first three muffins were  plain, for my only remaining child at home.  The second row of batter, I added a handful of chocolate chips, for me.  I’m not on a diet today!   The third row of batter, toasted pecans and dried cranberries were added.  The last and final row dried apple and toasted pecans were added.  The remaining batter went to the mini muffin pan.  My family loves to pop those little guys into their mouths for snacks.[SinglePic not found]

The muffins are good I thought, however, as I’ve read amongst other TWD bakers who share an affinity for pumpkin, we all seem to like a little “More” pumpkin flavor.  Therefore, one might be able to conclude that Dorie provided us the Pumpkin Muffin recipe for all mankind.  Do you think?   Those who may not be pumpkin eaters and those who are.  I like pumpkin and  I like goodies in my muffins and so any additions are interesting to me.   Whether its chocolate, not the non-chocolate variety  (or white), which was delicious by the way, or dried fruits and nuts they all add to the flavor and interest to the muffin.[SinglePic not found]

I didn’t have on hand, nor did I find sunflower seeds on recent trips to the store so they were never topped with a crown of seeds.  Maybe I’ll try that sometime when baking some Pumpkin Muffins with Dorie.  Thank you,   Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp for selecting this recipe from Dorie Greenspans, Baking From My Home to Yours.  You’ll find the recipe for the pumpkin muffins here or here.  Either way, Enjoy!  As it is a nice time of year to bake pumpkin muffins.  A tip from this baking project I learned and will share with you is freezing the remaining pumpkin from your opened can.  I haven’t tried freezing mine yet, however I read about it and then googled and found many others who have as well.  You’ll find some really interesting suggestions for your remaining pumpkin at ChowHound.