The things I learn at the gym...

I spent a good hour on the elliptical machine today. I know, I was WAY over the 45 minute time limit, and yes, I DO know the rules. But the fitness floor was fairly empty and besides I had some serious reading to do.

The membership at our Y is pretty diverse, and as the magazine rack is comprised entirely of member cast-offs, the reading selection reflects the membership. While I pride myself on reading a variety of genres and periodicals, I must admit that my pop-culture literacy is entirely attributable to my Y membership.

This week, I learned:

1) how to refinish a banister from This Old House

2) which type of bikini might be most flattering for my body-type. This, however, requires my identifying my body type; I'm not ready to go there. (Glamour)

3) All about Ashlee Simpson and Fall Out Boy Pete's wedding. Side story: Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson are on the outs. (US)

4) There is this really cool double oven/convection oven range on the market now. I'm not in the market for one, unfortunately, but a girl can dream, right? (Home Renovation or something similar)

5) Northwestern University has a really good women's lacrosse team. (SI)

6) There is a really great recipe for Oat Struesel Rhubarb crumble bars in Better Homes and Gardens

There's a disconnect when a trip to the gym leads directly to home baking in the afternoon!

Daring Baker's Opera Cake

It's my first Daring Baker's challenge. When I printed out all eight pages of this recipe, I was impressed by the sheer scope of the challenge. None of the individual components looked difficult but the project management (combined with the TWD sticky buns) aspects would take juggling.

I ruminated on possible flavor combinations for several weeks. With one week left to go, I took a hint from the grocery store and picked up a pound of strawberries. Strawberry and orange are one of my favorite flavor combinations. My sister, who bakes at a cupcake bakery in Charlotte, swears that fresh strawberry buttercream is one of her all time favorite frosting.

My layers included:
Joconde -- as written in the recipe
Syrup -- with orange oil
Buttercream-- fresh pureed strawberries mixed in at the final step
Mousse-- white chocolate with orange zest and Cointreau
Ganache--white chocolate, powdered sugar, melted butter, cream and pureed strawberry

I found my buttercream to be very stiff after its stay in the fridge, but it softened up nicely when I spread it across the joconde with my fingertips. I was worried that the yield might be a little low, do feel that more buttercream might have made a better cake, but overall it worked well.

Saturday night: Had one of A.'s colleagues over for dinner. I cut my opera cake a delivered tall, multi layered confections, which were enjoyed by all. So much so, that A. offered to send a large portion of my remaining cake (which did serve 20) home with our guest. I muttered under my breath; I was planning to serve the second half of this cake at a potluck Sunday night. Fortunately it's quite rich, right?

Sunday night: My 10 very small, almost petit four like squares were dusted with pink sprinkles. Frustrated when the less-than-tasty Whole Foods fruit tart was more popular on the dessert table, I felt no shame in sneaking the last two slices for myself!

TWD: Pecan Honey Sticky Rolls

Madam Chow of Madam Chow's Kitchen selected Pecan Honey Sticky Buns as this week's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe. Now, I LOVE cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, and similar sweet breakfast foods. I have a long lasting commitment to the cinnamon rolls that were served at the Junior League of St. Louis (published in the 1994 cookbook St. Louis Days/St. Louis Nights), and a more recent love affair with the gooey, frosting covered cinnamon rolls by Orangette. With both of these recipes a comfortably incorporated in my repertoire, it was time to attempt the brioche dough as a base for this recipe.

I had placed a few too many things on the "to do" list this weekend, and found myself faced with a one day timeline for this recipe. At 6:30am, I added the yeast to the water and milk. A short while later, my mixer was doing its best to move from the countertop to the floor. While incorporating the buttethoroughly impressed by r, I was any TWD baker who completed this by hand. As my mixer danced along in the 10 minute knead, I had concern that the two loaf brioche would just be too much.

By 10:30, my dough was at least partially deflated, and I took off with A. and the kids for a little bit of canoeing before catching the Johns Hopkins lacrosse team in the NCAA championship game. (It was a losing effort for the team, but an enjoyable dough resting activity nonetheless.) When I returned to my dough, the butter had, of course, changed the dough from a stretchy mass into a solid one. I gave it a few minutes rest while setting up the filling and the glaze.

My rolls sliced up nicely, rose beautifully in their Pyrex dish and baked while we ate dinner. Turned out, they made a really nice, although far from beautiful dessert. Not perhaps the one the weather forecast might have indicated, but tasty nonetheless.

Given the length of the recipe, I’m not going to post it here. Feeling braver than I usually do with recipes involving yeast, I did make a few changes.

In the brioche dough:
I used rapid rise yeast rather than regular, but kept the rise times about the same as indicated in the book.

When adding the butter, decreased the amount by ¼ stick, to 2 ½ sticks. While I have not made the version as written, this didn’t seem to adversely affect the outcome.

My refrigerator rest was only 6 hours. Might not have been necessary for even that long.

In the glaze and filling:
K. helped with the measuring. We probably added 2+tbsp of cinnamon to the filling.

There are no nuts in my recipe. Under the new self-imposed “gas conservation guidelines” at our house, forgotten baking ingredients do not warrant a separate trip out. My inner perfectionist has a hard time with this. My “I really, really, really, hate the grocery store” tendencies find recipe tinkering and substitution to be a great idea.

I used the remaining “touch” of honey in the house (see above), and added maple syrup to make the rest of the glaze. Delicious!

I also reduced the butter in the glaze to 5tbsp.

TWD: Peanut Butter Torte

I have a confession to make. I don't like peanut butter. I never have, and I doubt I ever will. I haven't willingly eaten peanut butter since I was one and my mom set a pb sandwich on my highchair tray. I've mistakenly taken taken an errant cookie once and a while, and spit out more than my share of the peanut butter chocolates. As a teenager, my babysitting fear took the shape of a mother telling me "just make her a pb&j for lunch." The smell was just too much.

With social engagements to attend, I was taking Dorie's Peanut Butter Torte, chosen by Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food.While it took multiple bowls and some timeline planning, it really wasn't difficult and looked quite impressive on the dessert table.

Peanut Butter Torte
1 ¼ c. finely chopped salted peanuts (for the filling, crunch and topping)
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
½ c. mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semi sweet chocolate)
24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt
2 ½ c. heavy cream
1 ¼ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ c salted peanut butter – crunchy or smooth (not natural; I use Skippy)
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
Getting ready: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.
Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Crape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Wipe out (do not wash) the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, ¼ cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.
Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Scrape the mouse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.
To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.
Bring the remaining ½ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and , working with a a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.
Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ½ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.
When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan; it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel damped with hot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Of course, I never ventured near the completed torte. I can quote others however... "sumptuous, luscious, creamy... it was better than..."

I'm losing the battle

For some reason, the Kentucky Derby has become a bit of a "thing" for A and me. For the last who-knows-how-many years, we've made mint juleps the first Saturday in May. We have some friends who are native Louisvill-ians, and perhaps that is in their honor that we continue to raise a toast and mumble along to the words of "My Old Kentucky Home". I even drank a mint julep on Derby Day when A was an intern, on call, and I was at home with the kids. It's definitely not a glamour thing for us; there are no hats involved.



This year, Derby Day gave us a sneak attack. A bit too much on other fronts I suppose. A was reading the sports section after lunch when we made the connection. Alas, the bottle of Elijah Craig had nary a sip remaining. Off to Meijer.



The mint comes from a closer locale -- it's a "volunteer" in the backyard. These days it's exerting a bit too much leadership on the front, taking over all available space. I went back in search of a few sprigs and spent the following 45 minutes ripping roots of mint from around the air conditioner. Worse yet, the sharp little spiny weeds are back with a vengeance, and they HURT. Parts of the corner are looking better, until tomorrow when I know they'll have rejuvenated themselves. I'm fearful that my "pull the weeds" philosophy is just not holding up to nature. I think I'm about at the "kill it all and start over" point.



Clearly, it's nose to nose at the wire.



And the derby, well, it had good moments and bad moments. K and I were rooting for "Big Truck" as he was most similar to "Tank", the horse she rode last week. Big Truck finished at the back of the pack.