Chocolate Pavlovas with Mascarpone Mousse
The June 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured chocolate pavlovas or meringues topped with chocolate mascarpone mousse and a creme anglaise drizzle.
Category Archives: Baking
Roasted Apple Muffins with Buckwheat Caps
My spiced apple muffins, made with roasted Fuji applesauce and a buckwheat crumb topping, are tender, flavorful, and not too sweet.
Hot Pockets
Leftover roasted chicken is mixed with Latino spices and an offbeat combination of dates and capers in a satisfying filling for flaky baked empanadas.
Mess o’ Greens Revisited
A nutty quinoa-rosemary tart crust encloses a colorful, piquant filling of turnip greens. I paired this elegant vegetarian pastry with tangy-sweet barbecue pork, made with homemade sauce and redeemed from a disappointing grilled recipe.
Meet Betty
A homey, adaptable dessert made with trashy white bread, fresh fruit and panko breadcrumbs, in fun individual portions. This version uses Oregon strawberries, and garnishes of whipped cream and strawberry-balsamic syrup.
Feeding My Bread Fiends
Prosciutto-wrapped salmon was the main course, but hearty white bean ragout and home-baked bread stole the show. A drizzle of balsamic reduction ties all the Italian elements together.
Criss Cross
A celebration of spring in a pretty latticework package: classic strawberry-rhubarb pie.
The Full Montée
The May 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured the croquembouche, a tower of cream puffs glued together with caramel or chocolate ganache. I filled my choux puffs with chocolate and vanilla praline pastry cream based on…
Thin Wheats
A homemade version of the popular Wheat Thin crackers, perfect for snacking.
Sopapillas
Who knew sopapillas were so easy to make at home? These tender-crisp pockets of fried dough can be served in sweet or savory variations.
Pocketful of Lamb
Grilled lamb with Mediterranean spices and seasonings was tasty on its own, but fantastic served in homemade pita with a smear of yogurt sauce.
The Cake Hunter
We celebrated my son's 2nd birthday with a decadent sour cream-chocolate cake, layered with cream cheese-peanut butter frosting and topped with a shiny flood of chocolate-peanut butter glaze. Do not attempt without a steady supply…
Orange Tian
The March 2010 Daring Baker's challenge featured homemade orange marmalade, pate sablee and caramel sauce in a French dessert called an orange tian. My variation used sweet Cara Cara oranges, a buckwheat-tinged crust, and a…
Tea-ramisu
The February 2010 Daring Baker's challenge featured that coffee-lover's dream, tiramisu, with homemade ladyfingers and mascarpone cheese. My version substituted vanilla and chai teas for the coffee and Marsala wine, since we don't drink either.
Nanaimo Bars
The January 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured nanaimo bars, an iconic Canadian bar cookie that combines graham cracker crumbs, chocolate, coconut, almonds, and frosting. Very nearly too sweet, even for me, but still oddly addictive.
Filling in the Gaps
This is a summary post overviewing the meals and baked goods I made over the holidays, concluding with the highlight of my father making ebelskivers.
Cannelloni and Cannoli
The November 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured a classic Italian dessert, cannoli. I dipped the edges of my crisp cannoli shells in chocolate and coconut, and filled them with vanilla, chocolate and banana cream made…
Chocolate Bellyflop
The October 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured that delicate and refined French confection, the macaron. My ganache-filled chocolate macarons in no way resembled the classic cookie, but they still tasted great.