TWD: Fresh Rhubarb Upside-down Cake

I'm a manager with twelve direct reports and it's been performance review time for too long.  For the last four weeks it's generally been working during the day and then at night writing the reviews.  This is the first time that I've been this behind in keeping up with my baking for this group.  I'm back on track now!

This week I went on the hunt for fresh local rhubarb.  I went to a couple of wonderful small grocers near my work and I could not find any rhubarb!  

Tried at home this weekend but only was able to find rhubarb that was packed as I call it Florida-style - slightly sad looking stalks on a foam tray wrapped in plastic wrap. I salvaged the best of the best stalks and went with it.

I heeded the instructions to fold the flour and sour cream (could not find creme fraiche) gently in the batter.

I did one large 12-inch cake using a cast-iron pan.

I made this cake for a day before-mother's-day-dinner gathering.  It was a hit.  The caramel pecan rhubarb top was subtle but delicious.  My husband especially loved it because it was not too sweet. I would definitely make this again, I think with peaches or the traditional pineapple. Or even with apple!

Had to include this on my blog.  Sarah made this one Sunday breakfast not too long ago.  She was so proud of herself.  Who could blame her.

Happy Mother's Day to all the ladies in the house, you don't have to be a mother to be a mom.

Warmly,

Broad Brook Baker

TWD: Rewind Irish Soda Bread

This was such a surprise hit with the kids that I needed to make it again so my husband could try.  Last March when we made this recipe he was on a business trip and the kids reported over the phone to him what he had missed. They've been talking this up ever since.
   


I made half the recipe and added in one tablespoon of sugar and grated peel of one lemon.



This is best in our book when toasted and served with butter and honey.




Sarah loves it with sugary foamy milk and tea.  

Mommy loves it with a cappuccino  What a treat and so easy.  

TWD: Madeleines

My big take-away from this recipe was the fact that I clearly have never eaten a fresh Madeleine or a properly made one until this past Sunday after we baked our first batch.  I was telling my husband as he bought the Madeleine pan on Amazon for me, "I'm not too excited about making these cookies - they are just so cakey and plain."  Was I wrong. Fresh out of the oven these melt in your mouth. 



I made the recipe as is, so did not add any other flavors like orange or lemon peel but I bet that would be very good also.



I forgot to take a photo of the batter!  This time I got the genoise correct.  Last year when we made the French Strawberry Cake, I completely messed up incorporating the flour into the whole egg meringue.



I made 26 of them.  After the first two batches I realized that I had a little more batter left. The flour was not incorporated very well so I stirred the last bit and put in the pan.  These two rose higher than the others.  My husband and I both ate one of these last two.  They tasted good but they were not as light and airy as the others.  Honestly they tasted like most Madeleines that I've eaten before.



The neighborhood kids were all over and had two each. They gobbled them down plain and powdered sugared.  We had some left over the next couple of days.  They loose that fresh out the oven taste, but with a cup of coffee or tea they are still great.




I did a rewind with the left over Croissant dough too!

Rustic Potato Loaves

This is absolutely a new favorite.  I went shopping with my mother-in-law for Easter.  I mentioned the idea of using sweet potatoes in this recipe instead of the Russets that it called for.  She said, "Why not, go for it!"  I'm so glad that I decided to take the chance.



I cut the sweet potatoes in small pieces because they take a bit of time to soften.



The yeast blossomed really lovely.



The potato dough was such a wonderful peachy tone.



Sarah did a great job adding the flour to the towel.



I was amazed how much these loaves rose in such a short period of time.



These smelled fantastic! We all had to fight the urge to eat all of it, the night before Easter.



A slice cooled a bit out of the oven was heavenly.  There were small bits of sweet potato that you could see in the bread. This went well with county ham the next day.

Warmly,

Broad Brook Bakers

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

I must say I rarely meet a cookie I do not like.  These were wonderful.  Let's review - coffee and dark chocolate in a cookie - what could be better?  I broke down and bought espresso powder from the on-line King Arthur store.  Totally worth it.  I only used one tablespoon of the strong stuff not the 2-3 as suggested in the recipe.  Nathan also asked me to put in a little extra vanilla which I did. Hey I love vanilla!  The kids loved the mocha taste, I thought we might not get to baking the cookies!  I did have a little trouble with the cookies spreading a bit more than I would have liked, despite the fact that I did cool the dough for quite some time.  



Every great recipe starts with butter!



The dough was delicious.



They did spread quite a bit. But they were still crunchy and chewy.



We had another winter storm here in Connecticut today.  Here's to nicer weather coming soon! And the April recipes a celebration of the spring season.

Cheers,
Broad Brook Bakers

TWD: Croissants

I should not have been so scared of making croissants all these years. It was an investment of time but we did not find them to be overly complicated to make.

This was more of a family affair than usual; we were all Broad Brook Bakers this time around.  My husband and mother-in-law serving as photographers as well as assisting in parts of the croissant making. The kids as usual loved the dough making especially.

Nathan and Sarah are watching the video of Julia and Esther McManus. This video was so helpful every step of the way.



We did not have a problem finding the yeast at our local market (Big Y.)


















This was lots of fun and remarkably easier than I thought it would be; thought I would have butter all over the place.









Bought chocolate batons and almond filling from King Arthur Flour.







Our croissants did not look like they came straight out of a professional bakery but they were pretty in their own handmade way.





Well worth the time and investment.  Honestly, these were the best croissants I've had next to my memory of when I did my study-abroad in Paris.  I highly recommend the chocolate batons from King Arthur.  The chocolate was perfect, not too sweet, exactly how I remember. We ate the bulk of them for lunch along with cheese (fromage!), ham (jambon!) and strawberries (fraises!).  We felt very French.

A bientot!

Broad Brook Bakers 

TWD: Boca Negra

This dessert reminded me of those wonderfully rich Best-Ever Brownies we made not too long ago.  It is rare that I meet a sweet that is so rich and chocolaty that I can only have a small slice.  

Sarah and I had considerable trouble incorporating the butter. The butter simply may not have been completely room temperature. We ended up melting the butter and it was much easier.

We probably should have used the food processor method but we got our exercise instead.

Like many of our fellow bakers, we cooked the cake for longer than the 30 minutes; our went for about 15 minutes longer in fact.

I was close to sure that this would not come out of the pan and miraculously it did.

We let this sit at room temperature until the next evening when we had our slices.

Like the best-ever brownies, this dessert was not for the kids. It was simply too rich and dark chocolaty...for them.  My husband and I agreed that the white chocolate cream was more than this dessert needed.  Something more subtle and light would have worked. But the cake itself was divine and wonderful.  A very small slice is all you need.

Cheers,

Broad Brook Bakers