Creme Brulee

This has been a hard week. After returning from a week in Portland (which was fabulous), I have again been working like a crazy person. Luckily, I have two TWD friends who have also been working like crazy people.   My friend Julie (who worked from 9:00 am on Sunday through at least 11:00 am on Monday) said, "I think our group needs a permanent disclaimer regarding periodic disappearances."  That comment was made in response to the post below entitled, "Please forgive me."

On to the best part of the week- this week's creme brulee recipe chosen by Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake. I was very excited about this recipe- I didn't own a torch, but I have always wanted to make creme brulee, so I bought one.  I also bought one for my friend Cathy, who is a part-time parter at the law firm where I work.  She is also one of the funniest and smartest people I know.  She and I filled her torch at 11:45 p.m. on Sunday night AT WORK.  

I sampled the pre-baked custard and I thought it tasted almost exactly like Dorie's vanilla ice cream base, which I LOVE. I may have cooked the custards incredibly too long- Instead of the 50-60 minutes in the cookbook, I left mine in for about 90 minutes because the middles never looked set to me.  After I chilled the custard, it firmed well.

I LOVED the creme brulee!!!  It was by far the highlight of my week.  I think I will make this many many times.  It was much easier than I thought and it was as good as any I have ever had. 

Dimply Plum Cake

This week Michelle of Bake-en chose Dimply Plum cake.  Her pictures are AMAZING!!!!!!  I made the recipe by the book except that I used cinnamon instead of the cardamom.  See Cathy's blog to find out how expensive cardamom is...

I thought the batter was yummy, but my husband thought it wasn't sweet enough.  My friends at work enjoyed it a lot!!

Please forgive me :-(

I hereby nominate myself for the worst member of TWD.  I have not blogged in four weeks.  I failed to email our fearless leader.  I have not even visited the TWD website, much less any of my co-bakers websites (except for an occasional glancing at Peabody's site).  I am here now to beg for your forgiveness and grovel as much as possible to be allowed back into everyone's good graces.  

I have really only missed one recipe- the chocolate chunkers.  I did make the oatmeal peanut butter cookies (pic above) and the whopper cookies (no pics- I know, I know...).  I made the dimply plum case tonight (Friday) and I am planning to make the creme brulee this weekend, too.  

My only excuse is that I have been working like a crazy person and I have done a poor job of making TWD a top priority.  Making the cake tonight reminded me of how much I love love love TWD.  Something about mixing ingredients and creating a yummy treat completely clears my mind a way that nothing else can.

So, I am so so so sorry and I PROMISE to do better from now on.  Forgive me?

Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte

This week's recipe was chosen by Amy of Food, Family and Fun. I made this for one of my co-workers, John. I am trying to bake something for everyone's birthday in my group at work. I am over two weeks late for John's b-day, but I hope he really enjoys the torte. His favorite ice cream is mint, so I used that instead of making the respberry ice cream. Also, I really have to break down and buy a new larger food processor!! Mine wouldn't have been able to handle this ice cream.

I liked the idea of this torte, but I do not like semi-sweet chocolate AT ALL- even the gourmet brands. I don't think I would have liked the ganace. John's pallate is much more distinguished than mine (I really think he had organic buckwheat noodles with edamame, sliced red peppers and fizzy water for lunch in elementary school while I enjoyed my pickle loaf sandwich and fruit roll-up), so I'm sure he will appreciate the ganache more than I would. I will post a picture tonight, but my only picture is from the top since I brought the torte to him still in the springform pan since the recipe says to take it out of the pan 30 minutes to 3 hours before serving it.

Granola Grabbers

First- another recruit- YAY!!!!!   Please visit my friend, Cathy's, new TWD blog The Tortefeasor.  I really enjoy my friends at work being TWD members, too!!!  YAY!!!

This week's recipe was chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking.  I made these last weekend because we were out of town this weekend at one of my husband's triathlons.  I bought Vanilla Almond Granola at Target to use- it was the best granola ever!!!    I was a little concerned about how little liquid held these things together- only one egg??  The batter was VERY thick, but yummy.  

These cookies surprised me- I didn't like them very much warm out-of-the-oven, which is usually how I prefer cookies.  I REALLY liked them the next day, though.  Weird!!!  I really like the raisins and coconut in these.
Also, I LOVED that the recipe gave instructions to cook ALL the cookies at the same time.  So, I only baked for about 10 minutes.  Great choice, Michelle!!

Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

This week's recipe was chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. I didn't own an ice cream maker, so I bought a small electric one- the kind that has the gel canister you have to freeze. I had to freeze it for 10 hours!!! I thought the ice cream was delightful. The texture wasn't really creamy, but I loved the flavor. I love sour cream, though- Since we only needed 3/4 cup, I ate the rest of my 8 oz container with a spoon :-)

Black and White Banana Loaf

This week's recipe was chosen by Ashlee of A Year In The Kitchen, a food blog that I love and visit often.  This was my first time to make a "loaf."  I had to buy a loaf pan.  I made the recipe exactly the way Dorie says to and I thought it was fabulous.  I was very pleased with the way the marbling worked.  The only thing I would change is the cooking time- I think 1 hour and 20 minutes was probably about 10 minutes too long, resulting in tougher sides.  I thought this was a great pick!!This is my batter in my new loaf pan- pre-marble.
I can't wait to see all the other TWDers swirls!!!!