Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart-Take 2

I am a little more rested now, so hopefully what I am going to say will make sense. Crusts are worrisome to me. I have never felt that I can make a great crust, be it pie, tart, graham cracker, etc. I was grateful that I didn't have to roll out this one, though. It turned out ok but I think that I could have gotten it a little more even in spots.

The caramel was next, and I think I had the heat too high for my sugar. It all turned solid at first and I thought that, for sure, I had ruined it. Well, I waited a little bit longer and it did melt, so I continued. By the time I was done with my ganache, the caramel had become very stiff so I followed the directions and warmed it a little in the microwave. I just knew that I had ruined that part with all of the heat.

The ganache was the easiest part for me. I have gotten pretty good at making it, I think.

I put it all together, let it chill and then ate a piece. It was good! Very, very rich, but good! I think maybe a little less chocolate and a little more caramel with the honey roasted peanuts would have been terrific. I used an eight inch pan, so I think my layers were a little thicker (well, maybe just my ganache layer, the caramel layer seemed like it showed in the picture in the book).

Overall, this was fun! All of the melting and bubbling of making the caramel was a hoot! I will probably do it again when my husband gets home, and maybe when a lot of company comes over so that we don't have to eat the whole thing. Time to go share with the neighbors! Thank you, Carla of Chocolate Moosey, for picking this this week!

TWD- Chocolate Crunchy Caramel Tart

Sorry y'all. I am too tired to post about the recipe tonight. I will do it first thing tomorrow.

TWD-Flaky Apple Turnovers

I swore that this week, I was going to do these early. No such luck. Time just gets away from me, then all off a sudden it is Tuesday (usually at around 8 pm) and I have yet to bake that week's treat. Here I am again, it is 11 pm and I just finished the apple turnovers.

I had problems problems problems with these! I just realized that my pastry cutter was lost in the move, went out to buy another and none of the three stores I checked had any! I finally just decided to do the pastry by fingers, which seemed to turn out ok. Next, the rolling of the pastry dough was tough! It took me forever. When I finally rolled it out to get ready to cut the circles, I felt a popping pain in my abdomen every time I went to roll. Ugh. It really hurts! Anyway, then I realized that I didn't have anything big enough to cut the right sized circles, and I hadn't rolled the dough quite to 1/8 inch. Oh well. I just cut smaller circles, then topped on with the other. Granted, I couldn't make as many, but this would just have to do.

They came out of the oven and I had to try one while the insides were still molten hot. They were flaky, but the dough never really puffed up. They were still good, but I think with my thick and double dough, the dough to filling ratio was a little off.

I am happy to report that when my husband gets back in about a month, I will try these again, as he will be very pleased to eat my failures or successes. Thank you, Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen, for broadening my horizons once again. I will post pictures soon. Also, if you would like the recipe, please visit Julie's blog.

TWD-Chocolate Souffle

Wow! I was really intimidated this week when Susan, of She’s Becoming DoughMessTic, selected Chocolate Souffle. I have never eaten a souffle before, let alone actually made one. I always thought that they were too difficult to even attempt. I read through the recipe about 15 times before I actually began. I didn't own any ramekins, so I went out and bought some so that I could make individual portions. The actual process of making this was not too difficult. A little melting, a little whisking, and some beating and folding, and then in the oven. About 25 minutes later, I took these amazing little chocolate air mattresses out of the oven. They had risen very nicely and I was very impressed with myself. I read the comments about the souffles and knew to have everything ready to take my pictures as soon as they came out of the oven, but in all reality, they did not deflate too much. As far as the taste was concerned, my husband said that he would love to have more of this. I thought they were good, but could've used some sort of sauce or ice cream. I was expecting them to be more chocoliscious. The chocolate was more subtle for mine. I wonder if this was the case for anyone else.... Anyway, the overall verdict is that I will be making these again, with some tweaks. Thank you so much Susan! BTW, I like your blog name! I think it is very cute and clever! Oh, and to anyone who would like the recipe, please visit Susan's blog.

TWD Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

Oh my goodness! Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell chose Espresso Cheesecake Brownies, pages 104 and 105 this week. I have to say, Melissa is my TWD savior!

When I was looking through the September recipes, I was thinking of all the different variations that are possible with this recipe. Even yesterday, I was still unsure of what I was going to do. Today, it was very clear: make the recipe like it is written. I know, this sounds like an easy enough conclusion to come to, but with all of the talented bakers in this group, I would like to do something a little different. By reading some of the notes on this recipe, I saw that many of them didn't do the topping but I figured that Dorie knows her stuff, so I included it in mine.

Ok, back up a few steps. First off, I can't ever find bittersweet chocolate. Semi-sweet? Yes. Unsweetened? Sure. Never bittersweet. I ended up doing a combination of semi-sweet and German chocolate for the brownie part. Other than that, the recipe went off without a hitch, although I only have 8x8 pans and not 9x9, so I just baked it for a little longer.

I cut it after the kids went to sleep so my husband and I could enjoy it together rather than rushing off to get the kids' teeth brushed and them to bed. These are amazing! I am a huge fan of tiramisu, and so the combination of espresso, chocolate and a nice light icing sounded wonderful. I think I am in heaven with these! I would love to be a good person at this point and take some to my son's teachers at the German kindergarten tomorrow, but really, there is no sharing these. My husband is even lucky to have gotten some. There is just enough texture difference between the brownie and the lighter cheesecake, and with the slight tang of the sour cream in the frosting, they were better than I could've dreamed. Thank you so much, Melissa! I love you!

Oh, and one last thing. It has become perfectly clear to me that I have no idea how to take a good picture of food. Hey, I'm in this thing for the baking, not the photography, right?