TWD: Nutty choclatey swirly sour cream bundt cake

The best thing I can say about the cake is: Yummy. Make it.


I found a few spare minutes on Wednesday and baked this bundt cake. I left out the currants. We didn't miss them.


I was also somewhat haphazard with my swirl layer, figuring that I couldn't really control the outcome.


In the end, the cake came out beautifully -- the cake didn't stick to the pan, the swirl layer magically disappeared into the batter (through no fault of my own), and the final result was super delicious. We both agreed that this will be on the "bake again" list.

For the recipe, head over to Jennifer's blog, Cooking for Comfort.

BBD36: "Corn"y Breads

Every New Year's Day, I make a traditional meal of curried black-eyed pea soup and corn muffins. There is usually a 'green' component. This year it was a kale salad -- definitely a repeat for future years.

A few days after New Year's, the challenge for Bread Baking Day was announced: corn-based breads. Easy enough, I thought. Done, I thought. There were the corn muffins.

But, I thought, perhaps that is too easy.

While I was on my week-long cruise, I decided to search for a more interesting corn bread recipe upon my return, and submit that instead of the usual muffin.



The search was successful, and I found a most delicious, yeasted corn bread. Not the usual, but definitely delicious and worth making.


The dough rose nicely.



The loaf had a lovely color and shape,


and texture.


This month's Bread Baking Day is hosted by girlichef. Shortly after Feb. 1, she will be posting all the corny bread submissions.

Thanks always to Zorra for having such a brilliant, bread-making idea.




Sour Cream Corn Bread

3/4 cup sour cream (or yogurt)
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon soft butter
2 1/2 cups bread flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup frozen corn, thawed and well drained
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon toasted dried onions
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant active dry yeast

Place all ingredients into a bread machine container, according to the manufacturer's directions. Select the manual cycle.

When the dough is finished, remove it, let it rest briefly, then form into a loaf shape and place in an 8 1/2" by 4 1/2" bread pan.

Bake at 375F until the internal temperature is about 195F and the top is golden brown.

Remove from pan, place on a rack, and let cool for about one hour.

FFwD: Parisian Mushroom Soup

January has been a crazy month and the next few weeks will only get worse. While I fully intended to cook all the delicious FFwd January recipes, the mushroom soup was the only one I could manage.



It tuned out just fine. It disappeared quickly.




If time permits, I will tackle the others, but they may have to wait until after the moving and settling.

Hildegard's Spelt/Oat Bread

This month I had an opportunity to bake with the Bread Baking Babes and Friends. Astrid of Paulchen's FoodBlog chose Hildegard's Spelt Bread. You can find the recipe on her blog.

That's Hildegard of Bingen, actually one of my favorite people to learn about. I love listening to the music she wrote and reading about the interesting things she did.



I also had spelt flour in the freezer that I needed to use up, so it was a perfect recipe.


Shaped dough rising


The only missing ingredient was spelt flakes. I searched several local stores, but was unable to locate any. So, I substituted oatmeal flakes.

I also put sesame seeds on the top of the loaves.


They promptly fell off when I took the loaves out of the pan. grrrr

Cooling loaves



This is a substantial bread with a nice crumb and a nutty flavor.


I had no issues while making this. All the ingredients came together nicely, and the dough had a good texture for the final short knead. I did bake it an extra ten minutes or so after taking the internal temperature, as I was looking for something close to 190F.



I bet it will be delicious toasted and buttered.

TWD: Scrumptious Disappearing Muffins

How about that muffin!!

Oh, wait. That's the arch at Los Cabos.

I'm back from the cruise, and ready to cook, bake, and eat, although it's a wonder after seven days of non-stop eating and pampering. I'll be playing catch-up for awhile, with both food and work. At the same time, I will diligently walk the dog and borrow my daughter's hoop (as in hula) for much needed workouts.


First item of business: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, with a few changes.


Since my lemons aren't quite ready for harvesting, I used one of my blood oranges. First off the tree! It's not very dark, and you can just see the red color starting to form. The longer on the tree, the redder they get.


As luck would have it, I bought new poppy seeds over the holidays. On the down side, my sour cream was rumply, green, and fuzzy. Ooops. So, I substituted vanilla Greek yogurt that my older daughter had bought before our trip. (Those muffins were so good, I might just keep using Greek yogurt!)


The only other mistake I made was to make half a recipe. Six. They didn't even last 18 hours.


I wish I had one right now.



C'est la vie.


For the recipe, stop by Betsy's blog, A Cup of Sweetness. Since I'm a tad bit late with these, you'll see something else on the Tuesdays with Dorie blog this week. Once I replace the sour cream, I will be back in business again, at least for a few weeks.

TWD: Midnight Crackles

Happy Three Year Anniversary to Tuesdays with Dorie!

I've been baking with this terrific group since February 2008. Hard to believe.

For the celebration recipe, Laurie and Julie chose Midnight Crackles, an interesting cookie that becomes more delicious with each bite.

I apparently didn't squash mine enough compared to everyone else's cookies. Mine came out as rich, brownie-like nuggets. No matter. They taste ridiculously delicious, as my daughter said.

I chose not to chill these before rolling into balls, based on chatter at the P&Q site. Except for leaving my hands exceptionally greasy, they turned out just fine with very little spread while baking.

The recipe appears on the TWD blog. It's definitely worth a try.

Thanks to Laurie for being such an inspiration. Thanks to Julie for being a great assistant. And, thanks to Dorie for creating such wonderful treats.

Happy New Year to all.