Linzer Sables
This week, I’m a little late posting, but I *did* make the Linzer Sables picked by Dennis from Living the Life.
Though I left out the nuts in the cookies, I made up for that by doubling the filling – chocolate plus strawberry jam! Yum.
Yummy chocolate-strawberry filling.
Will I be making these again? Probably not. Too dry and hard for my preferences, and there are so many other cookies that I prefer. But still, they were definitely yummy.
Linzer Sables
Happy Thanksgiving!
I love pumpkin pie. I love pecan pie. So why not both in one?
Even though she isn’t from the US, Vibi of La Casserole Carreé chose the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Very thoughtful of her, because this is perfect for those of us in the US who needed a pie to bring to our Thanksgiving celebrations… like me! (I hope my family likes it as much as Son and I do!)
I know a lot of people had problems with this pie – although I had to bake the pie at 300° for twice as long as the recipe called for, there was no burning and the pie tastes wonderful. Very festive.
Oh, and there were also complaints about having too much filling. I doubled the recipe to make two pies, and with what was left over I made a mini pie in a custard cup… perfect!
Erm, and then there was that issue of rum. Yeah… I don’t drink alcohol. Son doesn’t drink alcohol. So spending that much for a huge bottle of rum that we’ll never use? Definitely not. However… over the summer, we were lucky enough to be invited to an awesome dinner party held by Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple. There was a gift exchange, and we got a bottle of walnut liqueur from Brooke of Food Woolf. For a while we were scratching our heads, not quite sure what to do with it, but now we’ve finally found a solution! The subtle walnut liqueur works amazingly with the pumpkin pie filling and nutty pecan pie topping.
Here, have a slice of pie.
Plus, I have another reason to love this pie. Before this pie, I have never, ever had a pie turn out well. Either the pie ends up looking more like a turkey, or the filling never sets… it’s never a very pretty pie. Until now!
Pumpkin AND Pecan in one pie… yum!
Kugelhopf
Kugelhopf, like rugelach, is another baked good that I had never in my life heard of before Yolanda from All-Purpose Girl picked it for TWD. However, I wasn’t too intimidated by this one – I’ve made brioche before (several people said this was similar) and I figure I can deal with any bread studded with chocolate chips.
Just look at those chocolate chips!
Wait, chocolate chips? Didn’t the recipe call for raisins? Well, yes, but I’m not a huge fan of raisins, and didn’t have any in my apartment, so chocolate chips it was.
I’m cutting a slice just for you…
Also, no traditional kugelhopf pan – I can’t justify buying a pan that I’ll probably never use again. But it turned out just as well in a regular loaf pan.
The airy bread would be perfect with a cup of coffee.
I even made a mini loaf of kugelhopf! Unfortunately, no pictures. We ate it as soon as it had cooled – sliced up the mini kugelhopf loaf and bananas, and scattered them atop some ice cream and drizzled it all with chocolate sauce. Seriously guys, it was an amazing way to eat the kugelhopf. The crispy, airy, somewhat dry kugelhopf paired incredibly well with the ice cream and bananas, and what isn’t improved by a little chocolate sauce?
Would you like some?
Rugelach
When I heard this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie pick by Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal was rugelach, well, I was a bit skeptical. I’ve never even heard of rugelach, never mind actually ever having some. So you can understand why I might be a wee bit nervous about making a brand new sweet, especially when I still have baked goods from previous weeks laying around.
See the gooey jam and chocolate oozing out?
Oh man, were my worries unfounded. Although I was reminded of something I had made before by the way they were rolled, the rugelach were so much better. Seriously. I ate four as soon as they were cool enough to touch. It’s possible that there won’t be any left tomorrow.
Just look at that… yummy, sweet, gooey…
Rather than using the exact fillings that Dorie lists, I used her suggestions more as guidelines. For the jam, I used my favorite jam in the whole wide world – my grandmother’s strawberry jam. Seriously, I’m spoiled. I won’t eat any other jam. (Remind me to get that recipe from her someday… I must learn to make it!) I used just a sprinkling of pecans for the nuts (I’m not a huge nut fan), and a ton of chocolate. What? I like chocolate. Although a lot of the jam melted all over the pan rather than staying in the rugelach, it still turned out wonderfully. And very addictive. I have a feeling these (along with the biscotti) may be making another appearance during the holidays…
Mmmmm… strawberry jam…
Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes. What’s not to love about chocolate cupcakes? Particularly when the deep chocolate cupcakes are glazed with a dark chocolate ganache.
So yummy.
I’ll say it again. Chocolate. Cupcakes.
Don’t you want one?
This week for Tuesdays with Dorie, Clara from I ♥ Food for Thought picked the Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes. Yum, yum, yum. My favorite TWD recipe thus far!
I think I need to have another. Right now. Yum.
