DB: Dobos Torte

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

File this one in the "looks terrible, tastes great" category. Chocolate sponge cake, chocolate frosting that didn't set too well, and a caramel layer that initially wanted to break some teeth. The layering effect inside was pretty cool looking, though!

TWD: Applesauce Spice Bars

Dorie was right, I'd be inclined to skip right past this cookie. No particular reason, I guess, as I really love apples. When Karen of Something Sweet chose these bars, I figured that she must be like many of my other friends, posting pictures of their kids first days of school, and tucking these treats into lunchboxes. I know the new school year is right around the corner, but I'll savor the last few weeks of summer while enjoying this taste of fall.

TWD: Brownie Buttons

I'm having a hard time prioritizing the baking this summer. These sure are cute, but it takes longer to wash the pan than to eat the whole batch. I added cinnamon instead of orange zest, and then drizzled them with a cinnamon glaze.

Dinner = Failure

Last winter, I served maple glazed tofu, with a side of wilted spinach with citrus butter. The kids loved it. I felt like mother of the year. So tonight, I whipped out the tofu again, with far different results. Looks so good, but they ate only the stir fried beans, leaving behind the pineapple glazed tofu with spicy cucumber salad.

I'm just waiting for someone to tell me, "I told you so!"

Men who cook

I didn't grow up around men who cook.

My grandfather excelled at taking naps after dinner, sitting in the white wicker chair, pretending to be awake, omnipresent cigarette hanging from his fingers. My grandmother had kitchen duty, complete with new fangled Weight Watchers food and jars of dried herbs on the table. She served me stew with calamari in it, and green cheese, while harboring a secret passion for reese's peanut butter cups that my family knew nothing about until just before her death.

Mimi cooked, I think. I have memories of holiday meals at her house and I assume that she cooked many of the same recipes that my mom makes. I remember Helen the housekeeper made amazing pickles (I have the recipe, but remain fearful that in making it, the pickles won't taste as good as they do in my memories). Mimi and I did try to make a gingerbread house from scratch one year. It was great fun, and more than a bit lopsided. At this point, PopPop only exists in vague memories and stories related to photographs. One might have included him at the bbq, but never near the kitchen.

My dad, well he makes good pancakes on weekend mornings when we visit, and somewhat reluctantly mans the grill. When I was a kid, he'd bake loaves of bread to give to the neighbors as Christmas gifts, and at one point he grew his own grapes and made wine. Was it any good? I'll have to ask.

But MEN WHO COOK seems to be a recent phenomenon, and I've been overwhelmed by them for the past few weeks. First my friend Matt, who proceeded to take over my mom's kitchen and turn out masterful food each night. Reduced to sous chef, I made the pizza dough for his pies (soy crumbles, fresh mozzarella and raisins, for one), and the salad to accompany his pasta with yellow squash. Matt even preferred to do the grocery shopping.

Then there's Jim, who for his 70th birthday published a cookbook of his recipes and stories. We had dinner with Jim and my Aunt Chris last week. The cioppino was fantastic, the salad dressing of anchovy paste, lemon juice and a little of the marinating liquid from some artichokes was excellent, but the peach cobbler was unbeatable. Even Allen, a professed lover of crisp, who is usually ambivalent at best about cobbler was wow-ed. My version of Jim's cobbler contains raspberries and the last of the carolina peaches that we brought home. I hope it's half as good.

We finished our vacation (aside from a less than memorable stay at the Super 8 in Galliapolis (that's Gall op o lees, to those of you who aren't familiar with the home of Bob Evans) at my sister's house, where her husband made a delicious fish stew for 12, served over croutons. My contribution: egg salad sandwiches for our lunch at the pool the next day.

It's great to be back home, now with a pile of veggies from the CSA to cook from. We'll see what comes from that.

DB: Milano Cookies

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

My grandfather died when I was in elementary school -- maybe second or third grade. After that, my grandmother moved to Pennsylvania to South Carolina and eventually remarried an old friend, Les.

I don't know whether it was Mimi or Les who chose the snacks that we were offered when we went to visit after school, but my mother was a strong woman to turn a blind eye to their 6pm offerings of Hilton Head Ice Cream (double chocolate or lemon custard, usually), chocolate eclairs, See's Candies that they ordered by mail, and yes, Milano cookies.

I haven't eaten Milanos much since then. The occasional reception, or airplane snack box I suppose, but I set out to replicate them on a really damp, rainy night. The cookies baked on a silpat came out somewhat sticky, those on standard cookie sheets had to be chipped off the sheet. I couldn't decide, which if either, I preferred. By this afternoon, however, some time in the cookie tin had mellowed the texture and they sure are tasty.

TWD: Plum Brioche Tart and Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

Vacations require a bit of planning ahead. So when I started making this tart, I also began working on the ice cream recipe for a few weeks from now.

The plums, fabulous -- the brioche crust, not my favorite. I love brioche (If you've never made Dorie's snails or the Belgian bread Craquelin, consider adding it to the top of your "to bake" list.) I think I'd just prefer more of a pastry crust with this yummy filling. Or maybe I'd prefer that my husband look at the color of the crust, rather than the nut and sugar topping, when asked to "see if it's getting too brown."

Now the ice cream, that's good stuff. I often struggle with recipes for ice cream, as they are usually too eggy for my liking. I took some liberties with Dorie's recipe, swapping 1/2 & 1/2 for one of the cups of cream, and reducing the egg yolks from 6 to 3. I chose not to strain my custard as well, preferring the specks of vanilla bean. The result was delicious, but the attempts to photograph the last spoonful before it was eaten were not successful.