TWD- Irish Soda Bread

This was a nice easy recipe after the all-day affair with rugelach.  I have always liked Irish soda bread and am always a little puzzled how this can be such a great bread despite its lack of yeast.  On Mondays I work from home, so I didn't even start on this bread until lunch time on Monday.  I even had to go to the store to get buttermilk and still had time to make the bread during my lunch hour.  That worked out well because about the time it came out of the oven I had the mid afternoon munchies.  I couldn't wait till it cooled completely as instructed in the book, but I thought it was mighty good still warm.  When I saw the caution that this would be hard as a rock the next day, I felt free to eat quite a few pieces to spare the bread a death in the trash can.

TWD - Rugelach (and a pencil skirt)

When I was leaving work on Friday, several co-workers asked "big plans for the weekend?" 
"Yes" I said, "I'm making rugelach and a pencil skirt."  They gave me that kind of look you save for crazy cat ladies.  Despite their looks of "she has no life" I was rather excited because save one soccer game, I had nothing else on the agenda for the weekend.  So Saturday I devoted to making the pencil skirt (I'm new to sewing, so this was an all day project).  And Sunday was rugelach day which also turned out to be an all day project. I should have done like Mom and worked on the rugelach in stages because by the end of Sunday I was over rugelach and wanted nothing more to do with it.  But on Monday morning, when all the dirty dishes were put away and I was at my desk with a big mug of coffee, I was so in love with rugelach I wanted to marry it.

I used the Baking with Julia recipe for the apricot lekvar and found that easy enough, but found it made a little over 2 cups instead of the 3/4 cup it said in the book.  I also found the dough easy to roll out into the rectangle.  The real challenge of course was stuffing it and then jelly rolling it with all the ingredients.  I used chopped dried figs, raisins and chocolate chips for my fillings.  My first batch in the oven was a real mess.  They split apart and were oozing all over my Silpat.  By the second batch I figured out to work quicker to keep the dough cold and then pinched the seams back together.  This seemed to yield a prettier cookie.  Of  the three kinds, my husband and my favorite were the fig ones.  My daughter liked the chocolate ones the best. 

Mom and I are already scheming on how to make these again, but streamline the process a little.  We are thinking of taking what we like of this recipe and combining it with Smitten Kitchen/Martha Stewarts' recipe. 

And the pencil skirt? I'm hoping it's done by the time I make Irish soda bread for the next TWD!

TWD - Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

As I mentioned in my last post, I am doing TWD with my mom. My mom and dad put 3 kids through college on a teacher and newspaper editor salary. As a result, my mom was the queen of making do with what you have. She made an art of it. So imagine my surprise when my mom sprung for the cute little tart pans. I almost did, but then remembered summer camp fees, piano lessons and soccer fees. So I made do with what I had - a 9" tart pan and three 4" mini cake pans. And it turned out fine.


I wanted to love this recipe and it was very good, but with all the recipes that I still want to try, I don't think I will make this again. I think what prevented this from being a great recipe is the crust. I should have known that baking a crust for only 12-15 minutes at 350 in humid Sugar Land, TX does not a good crust make. I wanted a crispier crust to counterbalance the creamy fillings. I found the crust to be kind of soggy. I will say the next day after the tart sat in the fridge, I liked it more and the crust did not bother me as much.

My daughter loved this recipe, my son said "six out of 10 stars" and my husband who doesn't like chocolate (gasp, I know) didn't try it.

The biscotti recipe that I used for the tarts is a great one. I hadn't made it in awhile, so I was glad to resurrect it for this project. Here's the recipe - it comes from Southern Living:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cinnamon-biscotti-10000000521033/

TWD - White Loaves

I am very excited about this Tuesdays with Dorie adventure. I am doing it with my mom (retirededitor.blogspot.com). We are already having great fun. So here I am with my two loaves of white bread. I used to have such a fear of yeast bread, but then came SAF instant yeast, and now I bake yeast breads with much more confidence. I found this bread really great and a little different than other yeast breads with the addition of butter at the end. I liked the nice tight crumb - makes it sturdier for sandwiches, etc. My kids loved it. I used it to make a sandwich for my son's lunch. He said lots of kids were asking "what's that?" He said "it's homemade bread; my mom made it." He said the kids then asked "you can make bread at home?" and wanted to try it. Now, how's that for a comment on life in America today?

Sophia's Runway Party

Dining on PB&J are Karaleigh, Olivia and Sofia















The runway girls - Elizabeth, Avery, Olivia, Sofia, Karaleigh, Mya and Sophia.

Sophia blows out the candles.

Martha cuts the cake - she knows how to do the "loaves and fishes" with cake.

The excellent makeover team of Michelle and Caroline work their magic on Avery.

Karaleigh, Sofia and Elizabeth

The favors.

Avery struts her stuff.

Bashful Sophie on the runway.

Present time!

Sophia and the snack cart (Molly - note the Martha Stewart letters above the cart)

The runway

The table before the girls arrive.

The invitation.