French Fridays with Dorie- Gougeres

Today is the start of a brand new cooking group- French Fridays with Dorie. The wonderfully talented Dorie Greenspan has come out with a new cookbook, Around My French Table and Laurie, the founder of Tuesdays with Dorie, along with the help of a few other talented people, has put together a group that will be cooking our way through this gorgeous cookbook.
I feel like Dorie's recipes
have taught me so much about baking and given me the opportunity to bake things I never would have thought to make and I have TWD to thank for that. Dorie's recipes are always fantastic and delicious.

At first I was unsure as to whether I wanted to join in, simply because I like cooking and choosing for myself what I am going to make for dinner.
But, when I looked through this cookbook, I realized that joining this group and cooking through these recipes would push me to try new and fun things. I haven't ever really cooked french food, so I thought it would be an adventure. I absolutely love trying new recipes.

Plus, there are lots of things that I love in this cookbook, like lentils, beets, fish, green veggies, eggs, and of course desserts, so I decided to go for it.

Dorie chose this month's recipes and started us off with Gougeres-cheese puffs, that are made with pate a choux dough, the same dough you use to make sweet cream puffs, eclairs, or profiteroles. Dorie says that these are made everywhere in France and calls them one of France's "national treasures".

The dough comes together quickly and if you follow the recipe directions, these are a really easy thing to make. They puffed up beautifully.

My only regret is that I didn't buy the more expensive Gruyere cheese to use in these Gougeres. I used sharp cheddar because it was much more affordable, but the cheese flavor wasn't as pronounced as it should have been in these lovely cheese puffs.

The recipe makes a lot of gougeres, and Dorie said they bake up well if you freeze the little mounds of dough and bake them straight from the freezer.
I only baked up 5 of these, so that we could taste them and froze the rest for later- they would be a great appetizer at a party, filled with some sort of savory deliciousness.

If you want to see who else joined in on these tasty little cheese puffs, check out French Fridays with Dorie!

Dorie has posted this recipe HERE or you can find a pdf copy of October's recipe HERE!

Cinnamon Bun Cookies

A couple of my blogging/twitter friends started Secret Baker. Basically, a bunch of us bake and then send treats to our "secret" person, once a month.
This month I got these Cinnamon Bun Cookies. So, I didn't make them, but I took a picture of them because Margaret is going to post a round-up of all the goods that were received.
These were just so yummy, I thought I would give you the link, even though I didn't make them myself. They would be a great addition to a holiday treat plate!

Thanks to Whitney of Nosh and Tell who sent these to me!

The post on Nosh and Tell about these cookies.

Recipe for Cinnamon Bun Cookies

Spiced Pumpkin Doughnuts

Let me just start out this post by saying that I do not enjoy frying foods at home. I rarely ever do it. And even when I do fry things, I use just a tiny bit of oil.
I saw these Spiced Pumpkin Donuts in, (surprise!), a holiday baking magazine and loved the fact that the dough was very simple to mix together- there was no yeast involved, and was interested in a pumpkin flavored donut.

I mixed up the donut dough/batter the night before I wanted to fry the donuts because it had to rest for at least 3 hours in the fridge, so I figured why not overnight?
I decided to make them on a school morning, so I had to get up a little earlier than usual to get them done. It was the day that I was taking my mom back to the airport. It also happened to be my son's teacher's birthday. He wanted to take her something, so he ended up bringing her a warm donut.
These donuts couldn't be easier. (Sorry the picture above is so blurry! My camera was dying and I was hurrying to get to the airport)
Like I mentioned before, you mix up the no-yeast-involved dough and let it rest in the fridge for couple of hours. Then you roll out the dough, but it into donut shapes and fry them for a few minutes on each side. Then they are rolled in a spiced sugar mixture.
I let my kids each have one, my son took one to school for his teacher and my hubby took the leftovers to work. The flavor was good and the spiced sugar was really tasty on these donuts.

When I went to fry them, I only had a tiny bit of canola oil, so I barely had enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan I was using. I was scared that the donuts wouldn't puff up or cook because I didn't have enough oil, but they still came out just right.

If you have a special occasion over the holidays or want to make a special breakfast, these donuts would be a perfect addition!

Recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Doughnuts

Celebrating National Bundt Day: Buttermilk Bundt w/ Spiced Vanilla Icing and Chocolate Zucchini Mini Bundts

(If you are looking for a MSC Cupcake, it is posted below this post, I promise)

So, how many of you know that today is National Bundt Day?
I wouldn't have known if it hadn't been for The Food Librarian.

30 Days ago she started her "I like Big Bundt" countdown to National Bundt Day, which means that for the past 30 days, leading up to today, she has posted a different bundt cake everyday. She started with the Pumpkin Spice Bundt with Buttermilk Icing, which I couldn't resist. I saw that bundt on day 1 and made it immediately.

The past 30 days have brought lots of delicious looking bundts. I really really wanted to make this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, ok, well, obviously, you get the idea.
I love Holiday Baking Magazines and I saw this bundt cake recipe in a special edition of Fine Cooking called Sweet Cakes. The link to the recipe is at the very bottom of this post.
I was very intrigued because this bundt cake contains shredded butternut squash. I have never seen a baked good that called for shredded butternut squash, so I decided I would make this bundt for National Bundt Day.

This bundt was a basic buttermilk cake with nutmeg and ground ginger, both of which I doubled because I like spices (ALOT). The shredded butternut squash is folded in at the end, right before you pop it in the oven. The icing also has buttermilk and nutmeg (doubled again) and I added ground ginger, for a little extra zing. Crystallized ginger is finely chopped and sprinkled over the icing.
I don't have a review on how this one tastes, yet. I wrapped it tightly and shipped it to my family in Utah, because I knew my younger brothers (17, 21) would be able to devour the entire thing in a matter of minutes and their bodies would never know the difference. And because my mom always said that sharing makes it taste better.
I did taste one tiny little crumb and it was good.
My girls were dipping their fingers in the leftover icing that had drizzled down the sides onto a piece of foil and they LOVED it
Of course I had to overdo it on National Bundt Day and make some baby Bundts to join in the fun. I really wanted to make the Chocolate Zucchini Bundt that Mary featured a couple of weeks ago and I happened to have a bunch of zucchini that needed to be used asap. I tried talking myself out of it and finally decided that I would just make 1/2 recipe and make some mini bundts.
When I was flipping through my copy of King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, I saw a recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake which only used whole wheat flour and which could also be made in a bundt pan, so I went with that recipe instead. The whole wheat made me feel better about making it and eating it.
I made 1/2 of the recipe and it made 5 mini bundts. I skipped the glaze since I was going for a healthier treat anyway and just made a simple powdered sugar/milk glaze instead.
My kids really, really, really liked these mini bundts. I was going to send some to work with my husband, but they just didn't last long enough.
You can tell that they have whole wheat in them, because they do taste a little bit heartier and healthier than normal cake, but it really goes with the whole zucchini thing anyway. Very, very good.

I hope you have a wonderful Bundt Day! Bake someone a bundt and share the love!


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Chocolate Zucchini Cake from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
use 9*13-inch pan or a 10-cup Bundt
Cake:
2 1/2 cups traditional whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar (I used dark)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, or vegetable oil (I used butter)
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips
Glaze: (optional)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 tsps corn syrup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the pan of your choice. (I used baking spray w/ flour)
Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, powder and salt in a medium bowl (I added 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to this mixture).
Stir together the sugars and butter (or oil) in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla; mix well.
Add half the dry ingredients. stirring until evenly moistened. Stir in the zucchini, then the remaining flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until the top springs back when lightly touched, 45 to 50 minutes. (My mini bundts were done in 23-25 minutes). Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes.
If using a bundt pan, remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.
If using 9*13-inch pan, you can serve from the pan of invert cake onto a platter and drizzle with the glaze.

To make the glaze: Heat the heavy cream to a simmer, and pour over the chocolate chips in a bowl. Stir in the corn syrup, and keep stirring until there are no more lumps and the mixture is smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake, if desired.

Recipe for Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Spiced Vanilla Icing

Cauliflower Fritters

I saw this recipe in Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine. It was a 5-ingredient recipe and I just thought it was too interesting to pass up. Plus with only a few ingredients, I figured it would be really easy to put together. I really like recipes that use vegetables in different ways than the standard ways they are prepared.

I steamed my cauliflower and tried to mash it with my potato masher, but it was more difficult than I thought.
I ended up transferring the cauliflower to my food processor and it was cauliflower puree within seconds.
I read some of the reviews from people who had tried this recipe on the website and one reviewer mentioned that they subbed seasoned breadcrumbs for 1/2 of the flour called for. I decided to try that, just so the fritters would have a little bit more flavor.

I also reduced the amount of oil the recipe called for to cook the fritters in and coated my pan with cooking spray.
These little fritters were ready within minutes. I plated everyone's salad greens and squeezed a little lemon juice over our greens and then topped it with the fritters.

My kids really liked these. They ended up picking them up and eating them with their fingers, but I was just happy that they liked them.
I thought they tasted really great with the salad and lemon juice. Simple and fresh tasting.

I am interested in using cauliflower puree in other recipes. One of my blogging friends said she has made this recipe for Mac and Cheese, which uses cauliflower puree and it was good enough for a repeat appearance. Looks like that will be appearing on the menu in the near future.

Do you have a fave recipe that uses cauliflower puree?

Cauliflower Fritters adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine

• 1 large head cauliflower (about 2 1/4 pounds), trimmed and chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup Italian flavored breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbls grated Parmesan cheese
  
• 1 large egg, beaten
• One 10-ounce bag salad greens
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Steam the cauliflower until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, mash and let cool for 10 minutes. (I pureed the cauliflower in my food processor because I couldn't mash it very well).
   

2. Stir in the flour, breadcrumbs, cheese, and egg; season with salt and pepper and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Roll 1/4 cupfuls into balls, then flatten into patties, to make a total of 12 to 14. In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, fry the patties until golden-brown, about 4 minutes on each side. Serve with the salad greens tossed in olive oil and the lemon juice. (I just drizzled my greens with lemon juice)
   

Homemade Tortillas

Tortillas
Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 ¼ cups warm water

1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add vegetable shortening or lard, or use a combination of half lard, half shortening. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.
3. Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do not need very hot water. Knead the dough for a few minutes.
4. Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form about 12 small dough balls. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like. This is a good time to heat up the 10-12 inch skillet. You will want to set it at medium to high heat. If it is too hot the tortillas will cook too fast.
5. Now you can roll out the dough with your tortilla rolling pin. It is a good idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. Lay the rolling pin in the center of the dough ball and roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the dough and turn it. Again, rolling pin in the center and roll. Roll them out fairly thin.
6. Lay your tortilla on the hot 10-12 inch skillet. It takes just a few seconds to cook. Flip to the other side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. Place them in a towel. They are ready to be served.