Midnight Crackles

This recipe for Midnight Crackles is one that I found in BAKING From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. This is a chocolate cookie with a kick (thanks to some unexpected spices)! This smells and tastes like it should be a cookie that should be baked for the holidays. 

Chocolate-Cherry Brownies

I would not have tried making these Chocolate-Cherry Brownies if it wasn't for the Tuesdays With Dorie group. This recipe was not high on my list of recipes to try because I'm not a big fan of dried cherries. However, I was surprised that I liked the taste of these brownies more than I thought I would. The tartness of the dried cherries were subdued by the decadent chocolate. If anything, these should be called "Super Chocolatey Chocolate-Cherry Brownies." This was definitely a fudgy brownie that chocolate lovers would appreciate.

Fudgy Brownies

This is the kind of recipe that's perfect for people who don't have a lot of ingredients to work with. How do I know? My refrigerator only had some eggs, milk, cheese, butter, and experimental baking things in it. When I see these things listed, it seems like I'm big on dairy!

These brownies are great! I'm usually a fan of box brownies because of their texture and taste, but this recipe surpasses the box mixes, hands down. This recipe makes seriously fudgy brownies with a nice crispy crust, crunchy corners and edges (the best part), and a chewy center.

Toffee and Chocolate Chip Cookies

To be honest, this was supposed to be a Brown Butter, Toffee & Chocolate Chip cookie post, but I failed at making brown butter. I browned my butter, but not enough. How do I know this? After I browned my butter, I Googled what it's supposed to look like, and it looked like I didn't have as much brown "stuff" at the bottom of my pot. I just made "almost brown butter." Nonetheless, this recipe worked out great! I was left with a slightly crispy, slightly chewy, sweet and chocolatey cookie that I'm sure would go extremely well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Bubble Éclairs

I originally made these Bubble Éclairs because I wanted to test out Dorie's pasty cream recipe. However, I gave up on the pastry cream after several failed attempts. I ended up making these Éclairs with a cocoa whipped cream filling instead. I also wanted to make these Éclairs because I thought I could knock 2 recipes out in one shot (also making Chouquettes).  All in all, these turned out well and I would make these again.

Merveilleux

I had never heard of a Merveilleux until a couple of weeks ago, and certainly never tasted one either. I stumbled across a photo of one of these on Instagram or Facebook a couple of weeks ago and I have been obsessing over them ever since, just trying to find a recipe. I looked up photos of Merveilleux on Frederic Vaucamps's website, drooled, and told myself that I absolutely needed to make them. It looked simple enough to make: 3 meringue cookies sandwiching whipped cream, enveloping everything with even more whipped cream, and covered in a layer of shaved chocolate or anything else that might taste delicious.

Crispy-Topped Brown Sugar Bars (TWD)

This was one of the first recipes I tried out when Baking Chez Moi was released.  Here is a link to that post with my process photos. The caramelized Rice Krispies are outstanding!

Cocoa Almond Meringues

 I made these Cocoa Almond Meringues after seeing a picture of the ones in Dorie's book, Baking From My Home to Yours. Her pictures featured these crinkled meringues that I could just taste in my mind, if that makes any sense. I had all of the ingredients anyway, so I figured I should make some for myself (and to share with others, of course).

Chocolate Dobash Cake

I know I just made a chocolate cake, but I wanted something that was a tiny bit sweeter and fluffier. I decided to try my hand at a Chocolate Dobash Cake, Hawaii style.  It has layers of cake and pudding-like frosting that is light and delicious!

Chocolate Layer Cake

I felt like I needed to take a break from making cookies and realized that I don't have a good chocolate cake recipe at hand. There are thousands of search results on the internet for chocolate cakes, but my colleague forwarded this Chocolate Layer Cake recipe to me, and naturally I wanted to try it out. This is a recipe that comes from Emily Luchetti, a two-time James Beard Award recipient. 

Desert Roses or Roses des Sables

Desert Roses or Roses des Sables are what I think the easiest things to make in Baking Chez Mois, and it tastes delicious, too! This recipe is basically melted chocolate poured over cornflakes. I didn't follow Dorie's recipe, at least by not adding dried fruits and nuts, and kept it very simple. This recipe is what she described the Rice Krispies treats of Paris; in fact, the recipe is included on the cornflakes boxes in France!

Valentine's Day Dessert

Valentine's Day came and went, but I was lucky enough to spend it with good friends. For dessert, we had Marquise au Chocolat with Creme Anglaise, Macarons with Rose buttercream and Macarons with a Vanilla and White Chocolate Ganache, and what Dorie calls Macaron Biscotti (inspired by Sadaharu Aoki).

Snickery Squares

I felt like taking a short break from Baking Chez Moi, so I started going through Baking: From My Home To Yours. I came across the recipe for Snicker Squares and immediately started drooling. It might have been the mention of dulce de leche or it might have been the candied peanuts. Either way, both the photo and the recipe caught my attention and made me want to eat it.

Marquise au Chocolat

The first time I had eaten Marquise au Chocolate was when a friend made it for a small group of us for New Year's last year.  It was incredibly delicious, but we didn't know what the proper name for it was - we called it "fondant." When I got Baking Chez Moi, I read through this recipe and thought it sounded extremely familiar, so I was very happy that it was a selection for the Tuesdays With Dorie group, and can confirm that it was like the "fondant" we had.

This is pretty much a fancy frozen chocolate mousse that I served with vanilla crème anglaise.  I was so happy that I made the crème anglaise because it really complements the chocolate well - I cannot express in words how good these two taste together! 

Edouard's Chocolate Chip Cookies (again)

I made Edouard's Chocolate Chip Cookies again. I think these are pretty good. They're crispy on the outside and a little soft in the middle. The almond flour adds a nice nutty flavor, too. I'm thinking these might taste good sprinkled with a little bit of salt on top, too. Maybe I'll try that next time.

My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies (Dorie Greenspan)

Another day, another recipe. Today was a chocolate chip cookie kind of day, so I turned to Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking From My Home to Yours." In it, she has a recipe called "My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" which included a large photo of magnificent looking chocolate chip cookies. I was hoping my cookies would end up looking like those in the book, but it didn't.  Mine had more of a "French bake" to it.  I'll have to try this recipe again to see if I can get mine looking more like Dorie's.

The Rugelach That Won Over France

Before I got Baking Chez Moi, I had never heard of Rugelach.  To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure if I'm pronouncing it right (is the "ch" silent?). What I do know is that The Rugelach That Won Over France is currently the recipe of the week on Tuesdays with Dorie! I compared this recipe in BCM with the Rugelach recipe in Dorie's Baking from My Home to Yours.  I decided to use the filling recipe in BCM and the technique in BFMHTY.

The "Everything" Cookie

This is a chocolate chip cookie that pretty much has everything you could possibly put into a chocolate chip cookie. Different types of sugar, different types of chocolate chips, oats, some nuts, and something extra to kick things up a notch, too.

World Peace Cookies

I saw the recipe for these World Peace Cookies all over the internet and had to try them for myself.  This recipe is the work of Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan. They know how to make a serious cookie! Dorie wrote in her book Baking From My Home To Yours, "When I included these in Paris Sweets, they were called Korova Cookies and they instantly won fans, among them my neighbor Richard Gold, who gave them their new name. Richard is convinced that a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness."

Edouard's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thanks to Dorie Greenspan's latest cookbook, Baking Chez Moi, I now have many new recipes to try out! This was the first recipe I tried from Dorie, and I think it's a keeper!  It has a nice crunchy texture, and the amount of chocolate that's in the recipe is perfect!

Edouard's Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is on page 298 in Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi.