Review of "Desserts 4 Today"

This is my very first cookbook review and I couldn't be more excited. Pastry chef, cookbook author and Fine Cooking Magazine contributing editor, Abby Dodge (short for Abigail Johnson Dodge) wrote another wonderful cookbook called Desserts 4 Today. This gem of a cookbook is filled with recipes that require only FOUR ingredients. Yes, I said 4! The instructions are very well-written and each recipe has a section with very helpful suggestions for Switch-Ins and Gussy It Up, giving you numerous flavor combinations and recommendations. A lot of recipes are accompanied by beautiful full-color photos. The recipes alone will make you want to bake every single item, but those beautiful pictures sure help a lot, should you need extra convincing :o) This book is a true gem and, in my opinion, another winner by Abby Dodge. Whether you're a novice baker or an experienced baker, you'll love the variety of recipes this book has to offer. And, at an affordable price of only $17.95 (or even less if you buy it on Amazon), this book deserves nothing less than a spot in your bookshelf (or your friend's) :o)

I learned about Abby Dodge almost two years ago when I got her book, The Weekend Baker, from the library. I baked several things from it and loved every one of them. You can find her recipe for super easy chocolate pudding HERE. Anyway, I contacted Abby through her website to let her know how much I enjoyed her recipes and she was very gracious. Earlier this summer I asked her if she was working on any new books, and she told me about Desserts 4 Today. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I made it to her "reviewers" list for her new book. Needless to say I felt very honored.

Although it was very hard to pick what to bake first, I ended up making 2 chocolate recipes: Nutella Fudge Brownies and Flourless Chocolate Mousse Bites (the latter is flourless and thus gluten-free). Both are loaded with chocolate flavor and have a great moist texture. I took both treats to work, to my husband's dismay (!), where they were very well received.

Both bite-sized treats are a perfect addition to any dessert table, especially if you're looking for easy and quick items to add to your New Year's party dessert menu. Just a thought :o)

Let's bake!

Nutella Fudge Brownies
adapted from Desserts 4 Today by Abigail Johnson Dodge
(reprinted with permission from publisher and author)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Nutella spread (I used a nut-less spread)
1 large egg
5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts (I used almonds)

Instructions:

• Heat the oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup mini muffin pan with paper or foil liners. I used a silicone square mini brownie pan instead.
• Put the Nutella and egg in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended. Add the flour and whisk until blended. I added half of the nuts to the batter.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.
• Bake until a pick comes out with wet, gooey crumbs, 11 to 12 minutes. Set on a rack to cool completely. Serve immediately or cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
• Switch-ins: in place of the hazelnuts, switch in one of the following: 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (add with the flour), or 1/4 cup chopped peanuts.

Flourless Chocolate Mousse Bites (gluten-free)
from Desserts 4 Today by Abigail Johnson Dodge
(reprinted with permission from publisher and author)

Ingredients:
2 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp granulated sugar, divided
2 large eggs, separated and divided

Instructions:

• Heat the oven to 325F. Line a 12-cup mini muffin pan with paper or foil liners and lightly coat with cooking spray.
• Put the chocolate and butter in a medium, heatproof bowl and heat in a microwave or over simmering water until melted. Whisk until smooth and blended. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar and whisk until blended. Set aside.
• Put 1 egg white (discard or freeze the remaining egg white) in a small bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until the whites hold soft peaks. Continue beating while gradually adding the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Beat until medium-firm, glossy peaks form.
• Add the 2 egg yolks to the chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Using a rubber spatula, fold the beaten white into the chocolate mixture until well blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins.
• Bake until the bites are puffed and a pick comes out with wet crumbs, about 14 minutes. Set on a rack to cool completely. Serve immediately or cover and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.
• Switch-ins: in place of the granulated sugar, switch in the following: 3 Tbsp brown sugar.
• Gussy It Up: add one or more of the following to the butter-chocolate mixture: 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 Tbsp chopped peanuts, 1 Tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger, 2 Tbsp finely chopped dried cherries, 2 Tbsp toffee bits.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Desserts 4 Today from the publisher, The Taunton Press. All opinions expressed in this blog post are mine.

HCB - The Bostini

Another "Free Choice" week for the Heavenly Cake Bakers this week. This time around, selecting a recipe I had skipped previously, was easy: The Bostini. A deconstructed Boston Cream Pie. Everybody had raved about it so I had to make it. And boy, did I ever. I made The Bostini three ways.

The Bostini - Rose's way, served in a cup

The Bostini - the trifle way

The Bostini - the cupcake way

The cupcakes were very light and soft with a wonderful orange aroma. I happen to love orange-flavored baked goods so I modified the pastry cream sauce recipe by omitting the vanilla bean and using the zest of 1 orange instead. I also used a little bit of gelatin to thicken the pastry cream sauce a bit.

Look at all those orange specks in the pastry cream sauce!

An inside view of the Orange Glow Chiffon Cupcakes

Final thoughts/tips:

• My husband loved this dessert. But then again, he's partial to sponge-type cakes because he likes "fluffy" cakes. The chocolate sauce wasn't overpowering and the orange flavor came through wonderfully. He gave it a 9 out of 10.
• Another one of my taste testers ate The Bostini Cupcake and said it was the best dessert ever!!
• I took the trifle to a dinner party where everybody loved it and some had seconds.
• The pastry cream was thickened with gelatin. I dissolved 1.5 tsp of gelatin powder in 5 tsp of cold water. This mixture was added at the very end of the pastry cream's cooking process.
• The other change I made to the pastry cream sauce is using 50% heavy cream and 50% milk (1%) to cut down on the calories.
• The last change I made to the pastry cream sauce is to substitute the vanilla bean with the zest of 1 orange.
• I also used less butter in the chocolate sauce (1-to-3 ratio instead of a 1-to-1 ratio).
• Needless to say, I enjoyed this dessert too. The cupcakes were light and moist. I loved the orange flavor in the little cupcakes as well as the pastry cream (to me personally, taking the "orange" route was a good change). The dark chocolate sauce was a nice contrast. Will definitely make it again.
• If this has you itching to go into your kitchen and make it (any of the three ways), you're in luck. Global Gourmet has posted this recipe. Although I highly recommend purchasing your own copy of Rose's Heavenly Cakes because you're going to want to bake all the other recipes in there too.

ABC - Maple-Pecan Medjool Date Rugelach

This month's Avid Baker's Challenge is the Eastern European pastry called Rugelach; Maple-Pecan Almond Medjool Date Rugelach to be exact. I've been intrigued by this pastry for a long time. I've never eaten it or baked it, but when I saw the recipe in Flo Braker's book, Baking for all Occasions, I knew I had to make it. This pastry consists of a lightly sweetened cream cheese/butter pastry dough, subtly accented with citrus zest, wrapped around a brown sugar/nut/Medjool date filling. I happen to love dates, especially Medjool dates, so this recipe was like music to my ears.

Coming up are some step-by-step pictures that I'd like to share with you. I hope these pictures inspire you to head into your own kitchen and bake lots of Rugelach :o)

HCB - Chocolate Genoise with Ganache Glaze (rewind)

Before I begin my HCB post, I have something fun and exciting to share: my State Fair baking adventure of this past summer is featured on Rose's blog alongside Woody's first State Fair entry!!!! Thank you Rose and Woody for your kind words about my baking. You can read all about it HERE.

This week's cake for the Heavenly Cake Bakers to bake is the Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake. Almost exactly a year ago to the day, I made this cake as part of a super awesome Volcano Cake for a close friend's daughter's 11th birthday. Click HERE to check it out!! So this week, I opted to do a rewind and make the Chocolate Genoise that the HCB-ers made a couple weeks ago. I used regular ganache instead of the prescribed Peanut Butter Ganache. The other change I made is substitute an equal amount by weight of corn starch for the flour and I threw in a handful of toasted almonds, which I chopped finely in the food processor. My inspiration for this change comes from Hector. A while back, he mentioned experimenting with corn starch in the Genoise to make the cake gluten-free. His reasoning for this change is that a Genoise gets its structure from the egg foam and not as much from the proteins in the flour.

I used my standby recipe for syrup which consists of sugar, water and orange juice. The cake's texture is super soft. It's melt-in-your-mouth tender. I thought it was moist enough for a Genoise (I used about 1/2 cup of syrup). The chocolate flavor was just right and the ganache was very smooth. Unfortunately, the cake formed a thin layer of dense and rubbery mass at the bottom, which I had to cut off prior to serving the cake. Other than that, the cake was fine, and I would call this a successful gluten-free experiment.