ABC - July 2019: Mixed Berry Ginger Crumb Cake

This month's recipe for the ABC bakers is the Mixed Berry Ginger Crumb Cake from The Brown Eyed Baker's blog. I almost didn't bake this because it was like a million degrees in my kitchen (aka 90s F). Then I came up with the following plan:

• Be done as quickly as possible, so I
• Skipped the fruit marinade which didn't make sense to me anyway.
• Skipped the crumb topping because in my experience, the crumb topping is only crunchy and delicious on the day you bake it, and I was going to take it to work the next day.
• Substitute coarse cornmeal with almond flour because I only had fine cornmeal.
• Use a different fruit combo so I can save myself a trip to the grocery store.
• Substitute a mixture of sour cream and plain yogurt for the milk, and adjust the leavening accordingly.
• Ground ginger and candied ginger are yummy, but I wanted to give it more so I added some ground cardamom to the cake as well.
• Finally, bake the cake in the toaster oven, which is big enough to hold a 9" x 9" cake pan.

The cake was fragrant, tender and very flavorful. Bon Appetit! :)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog or visit us on Facebook for more information.

ABC - February 2017: The Browniest Cookies

This month's ABC recipe was fun, quick and delicious: The Browniest Cookies from the blog Smitten Kitchen. Fearing that the cookies would be "too chocolate-y", I made only half the recipe because I didn't want to be "stuck" eating all of them :) You may remember that hubby is not a huge (dark) chocolate fan.

Oh so delicious!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Pumpkin Buns

The ABC challenge for the month of November wouldn't be complete without a pumpkin recipe. When I saw these cute Pumpkin Buns, shaped like little pumpkins, I couldn't resist adding them to the list.

Only made two pumpkin shaped buns with an almond for a stalk :)

So light and fluffy!!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Classic Dutch Apple Pie

I baked this October ABC recipe a couple months ago. The Classic Dutch Apple Pie recipe from the Weekend Bakery was amazing! Just the way I remember this childhood favorite dessert :)

There's a big difference between your traditional American apple pie and a Dutch one. Instead of a flaky crust, the crust is more like a sweet cookie crust. The filling has a minimal amount of sugar, allowing the apples to really shine.

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Dutch speculaas gingerbread cake

This month's challenge, Dutch speculaas gingerbread cake, is one of my favorite things to eat when I was growing up. I had a lot of fun baking this recipe. The batter came together really quickly and only took about 25 min to bake. It smelled amazing. The flavor reminded me of that childhood snack :)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Croûte d’abricots with Lavender & Honey

The August recipe for the ABC club was the Croûte d’abricots with Lavender & Honey. Although I left out the lavender, it still tasted awesome. So awesome in fact, that I baked this recipe twice: one time with apricots and one time with raspberries.

First time: made half the recipe in a 6" round pan

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Easy Peasy Cheesy Cookies

This June challenge for ABC was something I've always wanted to try: savory crackers. Although the recipe is called Cheesy Cookies on the Weekend Bakery blog, they're really crackers in my book. The dough comes together really quickly in the food processor (yes, "easy peasy" indeed).

I added some interesting spices to kick things up. Instead of rolling out the dough and using a cookie cutter, I went a different route (it was also VERY hot in my kitchen as the AC was out of service). Inspired by these tiny savory Moroccan crackers called "Petite Fekkas Sale", I decided to shape them like that instead. They baked up in less time also which was a plus (remember, no AC!).

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - No Knead Brioche

In May, the ABC bakers were challenged to bake a No Knead Brioche. I was quite intrigued when I saw this recipe on the Weekend Bakery blog. It's an enriched dough which means it has eggs, butter and a sweetener.

Soft and fluffy No Knead Brioche!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Kersenvlaai: cherry pie with bread dough

The ABC recipe for April is a typical Dutch pastry called "vlaai" which is loosely translated to pie. Essentially it's a pie-like pastry made with a lightly sweetened yeast dough, and as with any pie, the filling variations are endless. For this month, we made Kersenvlaai which is made with cherries.

My modified Kersenvlaai which turned out to be more like a sweet calzone :)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Veggie Danish

This Veggie Danish recipe from WeekendBakery.com instantly captured my attention. It's like a savory cinnamon roll, and you can use whatever filling strikes your fancy. In my case, I used homemade (nut-free) basil pesto, green olives and an Italian cheese blend. I served it with a bowl of homemade vegetable soup. Everyone loved it! The only downside was that this dough almost killed my bread machine (more on that later).

As for the shape, I decided not to mess with cutting the dough into rolls and made a faux-braid instead. Who said braided breads can be sweet only?

Soft and fluffy bread hugging an aromatic pesto/olive/cheese filling. Yum!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Deluxe Cinnamon Buns

Something I've wanted to try for a long time: custard filled cinnamon buns. So when I came across this recipe called Deluxe Cinnamon Buns on the Weekend Bakery blog, I knew I had to select it for one of our monthly ABC projects.

The other interesting thing about this recipe is the usage of low protein flour. Pastry flour to be exact. It's supposed to make the buns super light and fluffy. I was a bit skeptical but gave it a try anyway. I didn't have pastry flour, so I made my own using 2/3 all-purpose flour and 1/3 cake flour, by weight.

Deluxe Cinnamon Buns. Hubb's half had pecans on them :)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Homemade Rondo's

Happy belated New Year! I hope you had a good holiday season with lots of oven trips :)

We're starting 2016 with a new recipe source: WeekendBakery.com. I couldn't be more excited about that. I've baked recipes from this blog before with great results and I'm certain you will too.

The first ABC recipe of the year is: Homemade Rondo's. This is a traditional Dutch pastry consisting of a buttery crust with a sweet almond filling that gets its slight tang from the citrus zest. I love how Rondo's are decorated with a whole almond on top. I grew up on these cookies. I usually got them from the grocery store. Sometimes I'd splurge and buy them from a fancy bakery, eating them slightly warm. Yum! I have to admit that these homemade Rondo's are another step above that.

Homemade Dutch almond pastries called Rondo's

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

Book review of "Flavorful" by Tish Boyle

I'm excited and honored to be doing a book review, right here on my blog, of Tish Boyle's newest book called "Flavorful: 150 Irresistible Desserts in All-Time Favorite Flavors". Tish Boyle is co-editor of Dessert Professional magazine, an experienced pastry chef, and has written many cookbooks and co-authored several others. If you've never heard of her, you might be living under a rock :) 

As you may or may not know, I'm huge fan of Tish. One of the most popular posts on my blog to this day is still the Brioche Cake with Caramel Custard Cream, from her book The Cake Book. I baked several recipes from that book, which you can find here, and each one has turned out great, every time! That's what I like about Tish's recipes: they're always reliable!

When I heard about her new book, Flavorful, I was really excited. This book is divided into nine "flavor" categories: vanilla, berries and cherries, apple, citrus, sweet cheese, nuts, caramel, coffee, and chocolate. Any time the mood strikes for something specific, you just go straight to that chapter. Brilliant!

ABC - Caramel Custard Pumpkin Seed Pie

This is the last recipe of the year which means this is the last recipe from Scientifically Sweet for the ABC bakers, or at least for the bake along. Feel free to bake from Christina's blog anytime as she adds new recipes almost weekly (these rugelach and these biscotti look really yummy but that's for another time). It was a delicious ride. I hope you enjoyed it just as much.

For this monthly challenge, the ABC bakers baked the Caramel Custard Pumpkin Seed Pie, or in my case, Caramel Custard Bars with Almond and Pumpkin Seeds. I needed a dessert to feed a lot of people at a work potluck, so I made some tweaks :)

Caramel Custard Bar with Almonds and Pumpkin Seeds

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

***ANNOUNCEMENT***

In 2016 we will be baking from a new online recipe source that I'm very excited about: "Weekend Bakery" (http://www.weekendbakery.com/). They offer a variety of recipes: breads, rolls, cakes, cookies, you name it. Happy baking!

ABC - Spiced Apple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

This month's ABC recipe is perfect for the fall season. Warm spices like cinnamon and cloves are very appropriate for this time of year. This recipe for Spiced Apple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, represents a cake, a cheesecake and caramelized apples, all in one. I really loved it and so did my coworkers. I did make a few changes (such as changing the name) which I've posted at the bottom of this post.

Apple Cheesecake Bars with Caramel Drizzle

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Lemoniest Little Lemon Muffins with Chocolate Ganache

With so much citrus available this time of year, I had to pick something citrus-y for this month's ABC recipe. I absolutely love lemon (with orange as a close second). This recipe for Lemoniest Little Lemon Loaf had both lemon zest and lemon juice, so I knew it would deliver on the lemon flavor.

Instead of baking the batter into a loaf, I followed Karin's muffin example. One of my favorite cakes growing up was a lemon pound cake with a dark chocolate glaze on all four sides. I thought I'd bring back some of those memories by putting a chocolate ganache glaze on some of my muffins.

Lemon cornmeal muffin with chocolate ganache glaze!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

TBB - Swedish Apricot Walnut Bread

I was excited about baking a yeast recipe this week. The Swedish Apricot Walnut Bread needed a few tweaks to suit my taste and allergies, but turned out great in the end!

I loved the soft, light and airy crumb of this bread. The sweetness from the dried fruit was just the right amount!

ABC - Orange, Date & Almond Biscotti

I love biscotti and lucky for us, so does Christina Marsigliese. Her blog, Scientifically Sweet, contains many biscotti recipes. The one that caught my eye immediately was the Orange, Date & Almond Biscotti, probably because my favorite biscotti is one that a close friend shared with me, many years ago. It's a Cranberry, Almond and Anise Seed biscotti.

Delicious cup-a-tea with a biscotti. Notice the scalloped top. I explain later how I did that :o)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Double Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

It's a new year, so it's a new recipe source for the ABC bakers. We'll be baking from the Scientifically Sweet blog by Christina Marsigliese. I've been following her blog for a couple years now and really enjoy her scientific approach to baking. What else would you expect from a food scientist? So let's "get our geek on" :o)

Before I move on to this month's challenge, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the ABC bakers (past and present) for their active and enthusiastic participation in 2014. I enjoyed reading your posts, seeing your pictures, and learning from your experiences. Thank you for making the ABC baking group successful. I'm sending you all a virtual hug :o)

This month's challenge, Double Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, is one of my favorite things to bake anytime I have ripe bananas. And when I don't have time to bake while the bananas are ripe, I mash and measure them, put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them. That way they're ready to go whenever the baking mood strikes!

Yummy chocolatey goodness with a hint of banana!

I've baked these at least a dozen times, got my sister addicted to them and now I'm trying to do the same to you (mwuaaah haa haa) :o) 

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

TBB - The Ischler

The Ischler that almost never was. It was this week's baking challenge for Rose's Alpha Bakers. Such bad timing for me! I've been battling a really nasty cold all of last week, I really dislike roll-out cookies, and I dislike sandwich cookies even more because for the amount of work you put in, you're only getting half the number of cookies. I deliberated skipping this week's challenge. Then my brain went into problem solving mode: "are there any kind of shortcuts that can be made?". Well, I could make half the recipe, skip any kind of fruit, use the chocolate ganache leftover from the Eclairs I made recently, and use almond meal from the freezer so I wouldn't have to mess with the extra steps of finely chopping the almonds (Trader Joe's sells unblanched almond meal). And so, my "quick(er)" version of The Ischler was born :o)

Ganache dipped Ischler with toasted and chopped almonds

And then I went overboard with shapes, dipping, and chopped almonds.

Did I mention overboard? It did look pretty though!