The Right Foot
The Daring Bakers Challenge for February 2012 was quick breads in either loaf or muffin format. I went with muffins, making them progressively casein- and then gluten-free to mirror the changes to Nolan's diet.
The Daring Bakers Challenge for February 2012 was quick breads in either loaf or muffin format. I went with muffins, making them progressively casein- and then gluten-free to mirror the changes to Nolan's diet.
The January 2012 Daring Bakers challenge was to make basic baking powder biscuits, or scones (depending on your location). I made maple-pecan and Swiss chard versions to accompany butternut squash soup!
The October 2011 Daring Bakers challenge was an unusual filled holiday bread called povitica; I made two gorgeous loaves filled with apples, walnuts and cinnamon.
The September 2011 Daring Bakers challenge was homemade croissants. I tried the recipe as written, and also made a sourdough version.
The July 2011 Daring Bakers challenge was a fresh fraisier cake with exposed fruit. My version was lemon chiffon with vanilla cream, raspberries, peaches, and candied lemons.
The April 2011 Daring Bakers challenge was maple mousse served up in edible cups. I made almond-banana cups edged with chocolate, and made maple-bacon s'mores just for fun!
The November 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was making pasta frolla for a crostata; I chose to use it to make a caramel apple cheesecake tart for Thanksgiving.
The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was making doughnuts! Since I've made several types of doughnuts in the past, I selected the new-to-me pumpkin cake doughnut recipe, a perfect snack for a very rainy afternoon.
The September 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was decorated sugar cookies pertaining to the month of September. I made chalkboard cookies to commemorate my son's first day of preschool.
The August 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was brown butter pound cake combined with homemade ice cream into baked Alaska and ice cream petit fours.
The July 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was a Swiss roll-lined ice cream bombe. I chose to go with an almond and summer fruit theme, making almond cake, boysenberry jam and caramel, and apricot and honey-almond…
The June 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured chocolate pavlovas or meringues topped with chocolate mascarpone mousse and a creme anglaise drizzle.
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…
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…
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.
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.
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…
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.
The September 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured homemade puff pastry baked up into little cups called vols-au-vent. I filled mine with scrambled eggs, sauteed spinach and mornay sauce, in a breakfast-for-dinner riff.
The August 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured a classic Viennese pastry, the Dobos Torte, in which five thin layers of sponge are stacked with chocolate buttercream and topped with a decorative caramel-glazed cake layer.