Gingerbread Buche de Noel

This seemingly simple cake was quite a project! Thanks to Tuesdays with Dorie, I pushed myself to make this recipe (which I initially overlooked immediately after seeing it in Baking Chez Moi because it looked too complicated for me).  This cake turned out to be more fun to make than I thought!  There were 4 steps to this cake: 1) Praline; 2) Cake; 3) Filling; and 4) Frosting.

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.

Gougères

When I first saw this recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table, I immediately marked it as a "Must Try" recipe.  I had never made choux before, but I read recipes in different cookbooks and watched a few Youtube videos for demonstrations.  I realized that the ingredients and techniques are pretty much all the same. I most recently acquired a copy of Baking With Julia, and saw some pretty helpful hints on how to make choux, too, like making sure that your mixture of water, milk, butter, and salt are vigorous boil, and not just bubbling at the sides before adding flour to the mixture.  In the end, I was just amazed at how such simple ingredients can turn into something so fancy and delicious!

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."

Cranberry Crackle Tart

The photo in BCM of this Cranberry Crackle Tart was the reason why I wanted to try it out for myself - not so much for the baking experience, but to see what this combination of flavors would be like.  It's a tart with a layer of jam, topped off with a combination of meringue and cranberries.  Luckily it is Thanksgiving week, so there are a lot of fresh cranberries available.

Apple Weekend Cake

Although there was no photo in Baking Chez Moi for this Apple Weekend Cake, I had a general idea of what it was supposed to look like.  According to Dorie, the French use the term "weekend cake" because that's how long these cakes will last before being completely devoured.  I also learned from her book that the French will call anything that is loaf-shaped a gateau (cake), vs. what we may call bread (i.e., banana bread, zucchini bread, etc.).

Orange Macarons

It has been a month since I learned how to make macarons with an Italian meringue.  A small group of us went to Paris and we all learned how to make macarons from La Cuisine Paris. Our instructor was incredible and I can't wait to go back to learn more!

Crispy-Topped Brown Sugar Bars

I was going through Dorie Greenspan's latest book, Baking Chez Moi, and this recipe caught my attention.  It's basically a brown sugar bar/cookie with  a layer of chocolate, and topped with caramelized Rice Krispies.  Words don't do this justice! If you have BCM, I highly recommend using caramelized Rice Krispies instead of cereal straight out of the box; it adds an intense crunch and a great rich flavor.

Caramelized Rice Krispies

I wanted to make another recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi called "Crispy-Topped Brown Sugar Bars."  She said that it can be made one of 2 ways: 1) by using Rice Krispies straight out of the box, or 2) by putting just a little more effort into it and caramelizing Rice Krispies first.  I decided to go the extra mile (which really felt like a few extra steps) and cook some Rice Krispies!

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.

 "Do the work you are most proud of."  -Dorie Greenspan