Cranberry Upside-Downer

I decided that since it is now February, it was time to use up the cranberries that I had been hoarding in my freezer since fall (and make more room for chili!). I flipped through my copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours, and saw the Cranberry Upside-Downer. It looked simple, I had all the ingredients on hand, and seemed like it would be delicious. I made some vanilla ice cream to go along with it, as Dorie suggests (and I am never one to turn down ice cream!). This turned out SO good! I will definitely be making this one again next winter!


Cranberry Upside-Downer
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

~1 cup all purpose flour
~1 tsp baking powder
~1 tsp ground cinnamon
~1/4 tsp salt
~1 3/4 sticks (14 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
~1 cup minus 2 Tablespoons sugar
~1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
~2 cups cranberries-fresh or frozen(if frozen, do not thaw)
~2 large eggs
~1 tsp vanilla extract
~1/3 cup whole milk
~1/3 cup red currant jelly, for glazing the cake

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Put a 8x2 inch round cake pan on a baking sheet. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Melt 6 Tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in 6 Tablespoons of the sugar and cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Pour this evenly over the bottom of the cake pan, then scatter over the nuts and top with the cranberries, smoothing the layer and pressing it down gently with your fingertips. (If frozen berries cause the butter to congeal, don’t worry - everything will melt in the oven.) Set aside.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining stick of butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Pour in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Mix in the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Spoon the batter over the cranberries and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and run a blunt knife between the sides of the pan and the cake. Carefully turn the cake out onto a serving platter. If any of the berries stick to the pan-as they might-just scrape them off with a table knife and return them to the cake.

Warm the jelly in a small saucepan over low heat, or do this in a microwave oven.
Gently brush the glaze over the hot cake.

Pear and Ginger Brioche Snails

Here is a twist on a great Dorie Greenspan recipe... Brioche raisin snails. I wanted to incorporate pear, and while looking at her pastry cream variations, saw ginger pastry cream and thought it would go so well with pear! Dried cranberries seemed like a great substitute for the raisins. I was sooo excited to flambe something for the first time, and since I had the pear theme going, I went with some pear brandy. Yum!

Hello, gorgeous!





Pear Ginger Brioche Snails
Slightly adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

~1/2 cup craisins
~1/2 cup diced pear
~3 tablespoons pear brandy
~1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
~Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/2 recipe for Golden Brioche Loaves(page 48), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating overnight)
~1/2 recipe Pastry Cream (page 448)

Put the craisins in a small saucepan, cover them with hot water and let them steep for about 4 minutes, until they are plumped. Drain the craisins, return them to the saucepan, adding pears, and warm them over low heat while stirring constantly. When the fruit is very hot, pull the pan from the heat and pour over the brandy. Standing back, ignite the liquor. Stir until the flames go out, then cover and set aside. (The fruit and liquor an be kept in a covered jar for up to 1 day.) Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.

On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches wide and 16 inches long, with a short end toward you. Spread the pastry cream across the dough, leaving 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Scatter the fruit over the pastry cream and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Starting wit the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it up to 2 months; see Storing for further instructions. Or, if you do not want to make the full recipe, use as much of the dough as you’d like and freeze the remainder.)

With a chef’s knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends if they’re ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into rounds a scant 1 inch thick. Place the snails on a parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly cover the snails with wax paper and set the baking sheet(s) in a warm place until the snails have doubles in volume–they’ll be puffy and soft–about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When the snails have almost fully risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the wax paper, and bake the snails for about 25 minutes, or until they are puffed and richly browned. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove from sheet.

Golden Brioche Loaves

2 packets active dry yeast
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can– this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you’re doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you’ll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You’ll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. The next day, pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Use immediately for snails or wrap well with saran wrap and foil and store in the freezer.

Pastry Cream

1 cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cups sugar
8 teaspoons cup cornstarch, sifted
4 to 5 quarter sized pieces of fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature

Bring the milk and ginger pieces to a boil in a small saucepan. Cover and let steep for one hour.
Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the steeped milk through a strainer to catch the ginger – this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (making sure to get the edges of the pot), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk in the vanilla. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are full incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the pastry cream until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly–as I always do–put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water, and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.

No TWD. For a while. :-(

I made a very hard decision recently to leave TWD for a while. I have a lot going on right now (nothing really bad, in fact, most good!), and I have to put down the whisk and spoon and bowls and (gasp!) give ye ole stand mixer a break. One day I hope to rejoin the ranks and finish baking through the book. I have loved every second of being a part of such a great group, and already miss it very much! Keep bakin' strong!

Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers, and their Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops, here.

TWD: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

YAY!! It was finally my turn to select a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie. I literally went through every single page in the book, and wrote down my favorites. I had 9 possible recipes to choose from. I contemplated using a random number generator (dorky, I know) to pick, but then decided to involve my husband in the decision (so I could make sure he helped me eat it!). Initially, anything without a picture was a no-go for him. But ultimately, the draw of peanut butter was too much, and he chose the Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (what can I say... the man loves his Skippy!)

Oh, hi! Best.cookie.dough.ever!
True to my own heart, I had to incorporate Dorie's suggestion to make an ice cream sandwich out of them. Since the cookies have so much going on, I just went with plain vanilla.

I hope everyone enjoyed making and eating these cookies - I know I did!


Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters
From Baking, From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, page 73.
Makes about 60 cookies
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

These are three really great cookies rolled into one. They're chubby, crispy, chunky and crackly topped, perfect for dunking into a big glass of milk, dipping into a bowl of ice cream or keeping company with coffee and super for school bags, picnic baskets and kitchen counter cookie jars. The oats and chocolate chips make the cookies plenty crunchy, but if you're like me and think tons of crunchy is only just enough, you'll opt for a peanut butter that's studded with nuts. (I use Skippy Super Chunk.)

~3 cups old fashioned oats
~1 cup all purpose flour
~1 tsp baking soda
~2 tsp ground cinnamon
~1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
~1/4 tsp salt
~2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
~1 cup peanut butter--chunky (my choice) or smooth (but not natural)
~1 cup sugar
~1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
~2 large eggs
~1 tsp pure vanilla extract
~9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

Getting Ready:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. Mix in the chips. If you have the time, cover and chill the dough for about 2 hours or for up to one day. (Chilling the dough will give you more evenly shaped cookies.)

If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes. The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula - they'll firm as they cool.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Serving: I can't remember when I actually served these. They're more often plucked from a cookie jar than picked from a platter.

Storing: Wrapped airtight or piled into a cookie jar, the cookies will keep at room temperature for about 4 days. Wrapped and frozen, they'll be good for 2 months.

Playing Around: You can substitute soft, moist raisins for the chocolate chunks or just stir in some raisins along with them. If you're really looking for crunch, toss in chopped peanuts too (salted or not). With or without the chocolate chunks, raisins, and nuts, these cookies are great with ice cream or around ice cream - think about them the next time you want a chipwich-ish ice cream sandwich.

TWD - Chocolate Banded Torte

I had SO much fun making this! Maybe it's my love for ice cream, or cool looking desserts, but I had noooo problem with the waiting game that some people weren't crazy about. I loved making my layers! Of course, I loved digging in even more, so the pictures were quick and therefore not so stellar. I didn't bother re-freezing it after the unmolding, so it got a little messy. My chocolate layers really started to melt down.

I halved the recipe and filled 3 (7 oz) ramekins with plenty of ice cream and ganache leftover. I used the saran warp method, which resulted in less than desirable wrinkling, but the parchment paper was not playing nice that day. I used my homemade vanilla ice cream, combined with mixed berries instead of just raspberries. My ice cream is designed to be lower in fat, and I think that contributed to the crystallization from all the freeze-thawing that took place. For the best texture, you really need a full fat ice cream. Taste-wise, this can't be beat. The strawberries really came through in the ice cream, and the ganache was like a great hot fudge. Next time, I think mint ice cream would be great in this! YUM!

Chocolate Banded Torte
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Amy of Food, Family and Fun.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD - Granola Grabbers

I was so excited to be making cookies this week. They tend to be quick, easy, and so yummy! These Granola Grabbers were no exception! The batter came together in a few minutes (while my stand mixer was working the butter and sugar, I got everything else together). I overfilled a 2 tsp cookie scoop to make my cookies, and just popped them in the oven. I went slightly over the suggested cooking time for my tray of larger cookies. I did notice that mine flattened right out. I'm not totally sure why. It didn't really bother me though because they were really good! I made a few adjustments... omitted the almonds and peanuts because my granola had almonds in it. I was cutting the recipe in half, but forgot to halve the egg (may have contributed to my spreading problem). Either way, YUM. As a side note, I found a granola I love! I had tried Bear Naked granola before, years ago, and at the first bite definitely noticed how little sugar there was. Maybe I have gotten used to lower sugar foods, or maybe this is just that good, but I LOVE their Vanilla Almond Crunch and almost didn't want to make the cookies and use up 1.5 cups of it! (Photo from Bear Naked website)
Granola Grabbers
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD - Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

I sorta feel like I am cheating a bit here. I made this over a month ago and just never posted about it. I have all intentions of either making it again tonight or making cherry sour cream ice cream tonight... so hopefully you'll see the latter (if I make it) tomorrow. I really liked this ice cream, despite my probably going overboard with the sour cream. It was very pronounced for me. I will definitely be measuring more carefully in the future!

Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD - Black and White Banana Loaf

This week's recipe was a Black and White Banana Loaf. I had lots of fun trying to make a nice marble without actually reading any of the marbling techniques. ;-) I think they still turned out pretty good. My loaf was quite dense, and I almost forgot it was going to be chocolately when I bit into it. The chocolate was very subtle for me (I used semi-sweet), so being a non-chocolate lover, I really liked that. I served it to friends who loved it, and one even was able to pick out the run flavor.

Black and White Banana Loaf
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Michelle from Michelle in Colorado Springs.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD - Summer Fruit Galette

I wanted to make a mini version of this, so I just gathered a few apricots, plums, one peach, and one nectarine. Once I had this all cut up, I realized it would not fit in as small of a galette as I had imagined. I made a... probably 7 inch galette with all of that. I am dying to see how the rest of you fit 8-9 of EACH FRUIT into a 9 inch galette!! **** I also didn't totally get on board with this custard thing. I added some to it, but I think I would have liked it better without. I found the fresh fruit to be a much better photographic subject than the cooked galette, so today you get more raw fruit than galette :-)

I enjoyed this galette much more than the cherry apple cobbler, and much more than I expected myself to. I honestly don't think I've ever had an apricot before, so this was a new flavor for me. Overall, I enjoyed it for what it was, but didn't love it.




Summer Fruit Galette
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Michelle from Michelle in Colorado Springs.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

****OK, I am an idiot and can't read... Bridget so kindly pointed out that Dorie says 8-9 pieces of fruit, total. oops!

TWD - Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

I'm just going to come right out with it... I wasn't a fan. I'd take my Mixed Berry Cobbler back any day. I'm not sure if I'm just not a fan of cooked cherries, or the apple (oh, yeah, I subbed apple for rhubarb) and cherry combo wasn't doing it for me, or I obviously used too large a vessel for the amount of fruit, or what. I just wasn't diggin' it. So here is one picture of my ridiculous looking (can't wait to see the other cobblers and how bad I messed mine up!) mini Cherry Apple Cobbler.

Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD - Chocolate Pudding

There isn't much to say about this. If you can access this recipe, MAKE IT. I don't even like chocolate and it was GONE in about 2.2 seconds. So, if you are a chocolate lover, make it, be the most patient you have ever been for 4 hours while it sets, then grab a spoon, sit back and go to heaven. It is velvety smooth and such a rich chocolate flavor. See? I can't even think straight long enough to come up with a real description. Just go ahead and make it, please, so you'll understand where I am coming from. :-)

Chocolate Pudding
From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Melissa from Its Melissa's Kitchen.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

*Please don't remind me how horrific these pictures are... I was gone all weekend and only had Monday night to make this. **Wishes for better lighting and a new lens**

TWD: Blueberry Pie

I don't think I've ever had blueberry pie before. I'm kinda of an Apple Pie girl, and to be honest, I wasn't even really interested in trying this. Oddly enough, my "I don't really like sweets" husband seemed VERY interested in it. So, I made a big pie to take to work, and a little mini pie just for him. :-) This pie definitely got rave reviews, so I snuck a small piece for myself. It certainly won't replace apple pie at the top of my list, but it sure was some great pie!

Once again I faced the no-food-processor challenge. My itty bitty processor stand-in was even too small for half the crust recipe, so I had to do it in quarters. I was quite happy with how it all came together... I consider my first blueberry pie adventure a success! I even made homemade vanilla ice cream to serve with the pie to friends. :-)

Double Crusted Blueberry Pie, From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Amy of South in Your Mouth.
Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD: Apple Cheddar Scones

Since I seem to be the Queen of destroying all things biscuits and scones, I didn't have high hopes for this week's recipe, Apple Cheddar Scones (chosen by Karina of The Floured Apron). I am fairly certain I over mix/beat the batter, and end up with something resembling a hockey puck, only moderately better tasting. But, I am in this group to bake, so bake I did!

I know better than to plan on being able to bring edible scones to work, so I cut the recipe down to make 3 scones. When I was getting ready to form them, I caught my mini muffin tin out of the corner of my eye... and voila! Mini muffin scones were born. These came out a little dry for me, probably over baked and without enough liquid in the batter. I didn't get much apple flavor from them, and think they'd be great taken in a different direction... jalapenos, perhaps? All considered, they were my best biscuit/scone attempt, yet... so maybe there is hope for the QODATBAS?

Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler

As promised, I am back with the Mixed Berry Cobbler. This week's recipe was chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life, and I was very excited to have yet another easy recipe! I was quite proud of myself for diving right into the dough without batting an eyelash. I made a few changes after reading comments from other bakers... I used brown sugar instead of white, and added some cinnamon and nutmeg. I cut the whole recipe down by about 1/5, and baked it in a little soup crock (which I love!), for just about the same time as the full recipe.

This was very simple to put together. Yes, I am still omitting sugar from my diet, but I snuck a bite of this to try it out. It was GREAT, even without the ice cream! I can only imagine this warmed up and topped with a nice scoop of vanilla...mmmmm! And cutting down the recipe went very smoothly, I could definitely see making myself a personal cobbler every so often when I roast some spaghetti squash (gotta love two things that bake at the same time and temp!). Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD: La Palette's Strawberry Tart

This week's recipe was chosen by Marie of A Year from Oak Cottage, and BLESS her heart for choosing something so simple! It was my "weekend off" from the kitchen after sort of over-doing it last week, so I was trying to do as little as possible. As an added bonus, the second time seemed to be the charm with the sweet dough. It had a completely different texture this time around, and I think I was a lot closer to what it is meant to be. I cut down the recipe and made two mini tartletts out of it.

This was simple to put together and I used the "forest berry" preserves that I got for Dorie's Perfect Party Cake, which I will be making later on tonight. I had 4 pounds of strawberries, so I was happy to have a place to put them! The dough is certainly not a soft dough, but was very good. Overall it was a delicious end to the weekend. Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

TWD: French Chocolate Brownies

I couldn't WAIT to make these brownies, after all the buzz about them. Since I can't leave well enough alone, I wanted to doctor up the recipe. I finally decided on adding little York Peppermint Patty Baking Chips to the middle of the batter (which subsequently sunk to the bottom, btw). In case those were bad, I still wanted the original recipe, so I split it in half and used two load pans. I don't know if it was the way I cooked it (semi-burnt) or just the recipe itself, but I did not care for it, at all. Oh, hi butterscotch caramel brownie recipe, you are still my fav!

French Chocolate Brownies
Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
See more TWD bakers here!
Makes 16 Brownies

~1/2 cup all-purpose flour
~1/8 teaspoon salt
~1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
~1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
~1 1/2 tablespoons water
~1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
~6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
~1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
~3 large eggs, at room temperature
~1 cup sugar

Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it. Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

TWD: Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

This was a LOT easier than I thought it was going to be! I was a little nervous about making the brioche loaf, but I, uh, let the stand mixer do all the hard work. :-) Overall, the worst part about these was waiting so long to get to taste them! They were very yummy, and disappeared quite quickly at work, but in the future I might reduce the amount of honey because I found it to be too much.

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Madam Chow of Madam Chow’s Kitchen
See more TWD bakers here!
Makes 15 buns

For the Glaze:
~1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
~1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
~1/4 cup honey
~1-1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)

For the Filling:
~1/4 cup sugar
~3 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
~1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
~3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Buns:
~1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche loaves (see below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating it overnight)

Generously butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is perfect for this).

To make the glaze: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it out as best you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinkle over the pecans.

To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.

To shape the buns: On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months . . . . Or, if you want to make just part of the recipe now, you can use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder. Reduce the glaze recipe accordingly).

With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. (Because you trim the ragged ends of the dough, and you may have lost a little length in the rolling, you will get 15 buns, not 16.) Fit the buns into the pan cut side down, leaving some space between them.

Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns have doubled in volume, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The buns are properly risen when they are puffy, soft, doubled and, in all likelihood, touching one another.

Getting ready to bake: When the buns have almost fully risen , center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and gorgeously golden; the glaze will be bubbling away merrily. Pull the pan from the oven.

The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven. If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet lined with a silicone mate or buttered foil. Be careful - the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.

What You'll Need for the Golden Brioche Dough (this recipe makes enough for two brioche loaves. If you divide the dough in half, you would use half for the sticky buns, and you can freeze the other half for a later date, or make a brioche loaf out of it!):

~2 packets active dry yeast (each packet of yeast contains approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
~1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
~1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
~3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
~2 teaspoons salt
~3 large eggs, at room temperature
~1/4 cup sugar
~3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm.

To Make The Brioche:
Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. (After this, you can proceed with the recipe to make the brioche loaves, or make the sticky buns instead, or freeze all or part of the dough for later use.)