spike.bakes

Midnight Crackles

These midnight crackles may look like little lumps of dough (doesn't that sound appetizing) but they really are quite tasty. I refrigerated the dough and when I took it out of the fridge, it was much too solid to work with. I let it warm up on the counter but alas, it was still hard and crumbly when I tried to form the cookies. I did the best I could, baked up a few and hoped for the best.

The best came a day or two later- once the chocolate had fully hit the cookie after some time relaxing on the shelf, these were so good. I ate some for breakfast New Years Day. Obviously, I'm not one for resolutions.

Later I took some more dough, still rock solid, and put it in the mixer with some crushed up white chocolate pretzels and candy cane bits. I beat it up and made some more cookies. Still unattractive but a great mix of salty and chocolaty.

Try the recipe, but don't refrigerate the dough for long! The Recipe.

Paris Mushroom Soup

I love mushrooms, or flavor sponges as those in the know (moi) call them. I made this soup on sunday while half watching the Pats destroy the Dolphins and lamenting that it was my last day off before back to the grind. The soup did make me feel better.

I took a few liberties with the recipe. I added some amazing grey salt with herbs de provence that I have. I added a splash of red wine instead of white because that's what the cabinet held. When blitzing up the first half of the soup in the food processor, it seemed too watery so I took out about a cup of liquid and pureed the rest. I like the consistency better that way. I also left out the little mushroom salad you make for the bottom of the bowl.

This is a great hearty soup, perfect for winter. Not so perfect, however, for photographing. Nothing like a bowl of gray soup. I guess that's why the photo in the book is of the ingredients before they become soup!

Buy this book for the recipe.

Holiday Treats

I finally got around to a bunch of cookie and treat making this past weekend. Here's a look at the spread.

Very tiny rugelach, molasses cookies, peppermint bark, and chocolate caramel matzoh. Thanks to all for the great suggestions. I have a few more recipes on my list yet to try. I'd highly recommend the candy matzoh recipe from David Lebovitz (here's the recipe). Very easy and it got the best reviews at the office.

I did make a TWD recipe for this week, eating a muffin for breakfast as I type. I tried the cardamom cake awhile ago when I had delusions that it was the chosen recipe on a week it was not. It wasn't my favorite. Instead I made a Dorie inspired muffin mix and put leftover pecan crumble topping on top. Pretty tasty.

Coconut Pecan Cake

Long story short... I didn't have apples so this is just a small coconut cake with a few pecans added in. I'm in new jersey with no cake (although I do have a few molasses cookies). I had a small bite before I left and thought this was a decent cake but probably would have been a whole lot better with a few apples thrown in.

Later this week christmas cooking and baking begins! If you have a cookie or dessert to recommend-m leave me a comment. I'd love to try a few new recipes this year.

Want to try the recipe as written? Check out Amber's of Cobbler du Monde blog.

Gerard's Mustard Tart

Look! A non iphone picture! A few weeks ago I dropped my camera and the lense was stuck at one point so it couldn't focus. As of wednesday night, I still hadn't dropped it off to get fixed. However, this big strong dude showed up at my house and said "let me see that" and in two shakes, it was corrected. My hero.

Wednesday was also the night I baked up Gerard's Mustard Tart for the brand spanking new group FFwD. Although Dorie mentions that the tart is best served right away, I was too hungry after work and had to eat my dinner right away before the tart even made it into the oven. When it did come out, it was so pretty (and puffed up) that I wish I had room for a tasted. Patience prevailed. The puff deflated into this loveliness and I was able to control myself until lunch the next day before taking a taste.

I went with a tomato version of this tart. I oven-dried a mix of red and green tomatoes from the garden, mixed in a little fresh chopped basil for good measure. The result? So nice. A light tart with good mustard flavor- prefect with the roasted tomatoes. Made for a very nice lunch.

Marie-Helenes Apple Cake

I've been down on apple recipes lately. I love this here apple cake but the other recipes I've tried lately were just too boring. Then this cake from Dorie Greenspan's newest cookbook came along and turned everything around. Reading over the recipe, I though that this was just too simple to be an amazing dessert. I was very wrong.

The lightly rum flavored batter just barely covers the chopped apples but when it bakes, it fills in and you have a perfect cake where the apples are really outstanding. No cinnamon needed!

I only made a small version of the cake to have as dessert after our dinner of mussels and chorizo last week. It was gone in seconds. In the future, I'll probably double the recipe instead. Thanks for another great pick Dorie and thanks to Marie-Helene for a priceless recipe.

Chocolate Espresso Shortbread Cookies

I made these cookies for the third time this weekend. No, I didn't screw up the previous batches. I first made the cookies months ago and loved them. Repeated a bit later and then made again for this week. This time the cookies are headed over seas for Operation Baking GALS along with the yellow cake cookies also pictured.

I love anything coffee and chocolate. Except maybe a cup of mocha coffee but that's another story. The cookie batter comes together in seconds, you get to use Dorie's gallon bag trick for rolling them out, and the dough freezes really well. Not much to improve on there.

Donna will be posting the recipe for you here.