TWD-Vegetable Tart

I guess you could say this tart is not photogenic.  It looks better in person than in this picture.  I found the phyllo dough a little strange to work with, but I did like the taste of it in the tart.  I liked the crisp flaky crust as a contrast to the sauteed vegetables and goat cheese.  I didn't ask my kids to eat this.  I know from past recipes, that goat cheese is just too strong of a taste for their palette.  I'm not sure if I would make this again, but I definitely will be making something with phyllo dough again since I have almost an entire box left. I will be Googling phyllo dough recipes tonight.

TWD-Baked Yogurt Tart

I was intrigued by this recipe.  Could something with non fat yogurt taste good?  Well the answer in our house was mixed.  My husband did not care for this and he usually likes everything.  I thought it was good (but I have never met a pie or tart I didn't like) and both my kids liked it.  I thought it was a nice substitute for a heavier cream pie or even cheesecake, but my husband declared it "kinda weird."  So I don't think I will be making it again, but I did enjoy making it.  I love the Baking with Julia pie crust recipe, so it was nice to have some extra pie dough on hand.  I used one of the pie crusts to make a Toll House cookie pie as a gift.  So all in all the experience was a good one, even it it was "kinda weird" for my husband.

TWD-Savarin, the sleeper hit of the summer

I had very little expectations for this dessert. First I was suspicious that the recipe only called for 3/4 cup of flour. And the dough looked so puny in the pan and even punier after it baked and cooled.  But as I added the glaze (I just used a couple teaspoons of black raspberry jam) and the fruit, it started to breath new life.  I added rum to my simple syrup because my husband loves baba rum.  I do wish that I had brushed on the simple syrup while the cake was still hot because I think it would have absorbed more that way.  But other than that, this was a lovely cake.  It seemed so French country.  And my whole family liked it and didn't make suggestions on how it could be better!  I can definitely see myself making this again, especially during peak berry season.

TWD- Brioche Pockets

When my daughter tasted one of these pockets she said "this tastes like something Grandma would like."  And sure enough yesterday my mom had emailed me how she loved these.  My son gave me a "you've got to be kidding me" look.  He just couldn't get into bread stuffed with the rest of his meal.  I liked them, but wouldn't give them the high praise my mom did. I think it was a little too big for my liking.  I would have preferred this about half the size and perhaps with a sweet and savory filling.  But I did love working with the brioche dough.  It rolled out very easily and didn't have the shrinking problem I find with other doughs such as pizza dough.  I used half the dough for the pockets and made the bread on page 189.  I'm going to freeze it and pull it out Memorial Day weekend for french toast.

Did you know....

that a bread I once considered "healthy" in my grocery has 43 ingredients, many of which I can't pronounce?  But this wonderful rustic potato bread only has 6 ingredients.  I am trying to get my family to eat more real and whole foods and less processed food. One small way I am doing that is by making my own whole wheat bread each week for the kids' sandwiches.  This bread is a welcome addition to my bread rotation, especially if I swap out the white flour with wheat flour.  For this recipe I did half white flour and half wheat flour, but when I make it again I would try all wheat flour.  I love that potatoes, skin and all, are incorporated into the bread.  When I make baked potatoes the skin (and nutrients) are left behind, so what a sneaky way to get them in some bread. I also loved the short rise time on this bread.  This bread is low maintence but high in taste and nutrition.  Sounds like a win, win, win for a busy mom!

Coasting with Cookies

This was a nice break after the 2 day affair with croissants.  I was afraid these would turn out flat (as chocolate chip cookies usually do when they have a cup of butter and only 2 cups of flour) and in fact these did, but overall they were a very good cookie.  I love the idea of making these mocha and using a menagerie of chocolates.  For me that meant I could use up little bags of white, bittersweet and semisweet chocolate that were taking up space in my fridge. I left the mocha out of half the batch so they would be kid friendly and so my husband I wouldn't eat all of them!

Crossing the finish line with Croissants

This was a hard one!  I've baked a wedding cake before and I thought this was harder.  I guess harder in that it took more physical strength (my arms are sore today) and croissants are just plain high maintenance. I had a heck of a time getting the dough to roll to that magic 24 to 26 inches. The ruler quickly became my friend and enemy.  Friend when I reached 24 inches and enemy when it would show me I had to pull out some more muscle to makde the dough stretch some more.  It was a stubborn dough. I also had a issue of the butter seeping out of them when the were rising in the oven.  Obviously I made my oven too hot.  But then the butter also seeped out when I baked a second batch and let them rise on the counter.

So was as it worth it?  I didn't try one because I'm participating in a Whole30 challenge so all that flour is out for me.  My son loved them.  My daughter was non-committal and my husband commented that they were quite a bit smaller than the ones at our favorite French bakery.  But I'm glad I did make them and more glad to be finished.  Ever since I saw Martha Stewart make croissant dough on her show years ago, I have wanted to at least say "yeah, I've made croissants."  No biggie.  (but actually we all know it was!)