TWD: Redeeming myself

After my slight mishap with the TWD cookie pick 2 weeks ago, I was eager to redeem myself with this week's choice - Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters. This was particularly so given my new found love affair with all things peanut butter, which started with a heavenly peanut butter dessert that I had while on honeymoon in Bhutan and was further spurred on by a peanut butter torte which I made several weeks ago.

Having been on vacation the whole of last week, I had to hurriedly whip together this recipe on Monday night after getting back from work. Slightly taken aback by the large quantity of cookies the recipe makes (60 cookies!), I decided to half it to make a much more manageable 30 instead.

All the while that the cookies were in the oven, I could smell the peanut butter aroma wafting through the kitchen and, indeed, the entire apartment. Try as hard as I might to resist eating them, I just had to pop one into my mouth while it was fresh from the oven. I thought the cookie was good, but personally, I found the nutmeg to be slightly overpowering. The granola grabbers from 2 weeks ago is still the winning cookie recipe for me although I think next week's pick of Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops may give it a good run for its money. Stay tuned to see which recipe will be the ultimate winner!

For recipe, click here.

TWD: Granola Grabbers

Its Saturday now and I'm only just getting round to putting up my post for this week's TWD. Its just been one of those weeks. You know, late nights at work and all.

So, its no surprise that this week's recipe was Granola Grabbers, which has been already been blogged about (on time, no less!) by so many other TWDers. Still, I thought I'd still put up my post since I did make the cookies. 

Like many other TWDers, I was really looking forward to making these since its been such a long time since anyone picked a cookie recipe for us. The shortbread cookies near the beginning of TWD's existence, which was before I joined, could have been the last time. Having had too much, for now, of pies, tarts and other too rich desserts, I really liked the sound of this one. After all, with granola as a main ingredient, its got to be healthy right? :)

When I was taking my cookies out of the oven, I immediately noticed that mine looked different from the ones featured in Dorie's pictures (and from those of other TWD members). Its not only after I re-read the ingredient list that I realized I omitted the wheat germ and neglected to add in a substitute. As such, you'll see that my cookies spread out more than normal and were very thin and crispy around the edges. Still, the cookies were delicious and I was able to serve them to J, M's little brother, who was visiting from out of town. I loved them as all - in fact, I had some for breakfast this morning. Nothing like granola to start your day!

For recipe, click here.

TWD: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

I love making ice cream, but since the main consumer in our household of ice cream is M, often times this means I end up making his favourite flavours which are, in descending order of popularity: mint chocolate chip, chocolate chip, anything chocolate flavoured, or anything with lots of candy/nuts/cookies in them. While I like ice cream myself, I try not to eat too much of it and my tastes run counter to that of M's. I hate candy or nuts in my ice cream and while I do like chocolate ice cream, I also like to sample the more unusual flavours such as goat cheese ice cream and olive oil ice cream. As such, I was glad that this week's TWD recipe allowed me to incorporate a great summer flavour into ice cream - blueberries!

Following the advice of some of the comments I read on the TWD board, I substituted the sour cream with creme fraiche as many TWDers noted that they found the taste of the sour cream overpowering. I found it quite unusual that there were no eggs in this ice cream as I am used to making a creme anglaise base for most, if not all, of my ice creams. Still, since the recipe didn't involve eggs, it meant that I could easily whip it up in an evening and have it churning in the ice cream maker by night.

I've yet to have a proper serving of this ice cream but I did lick the ice cream scoop and my first impressions are that it tastes a little like blueberry cheesecake and that the texture is less rich than some of the egg-based ice creams I've made in the past. Still, I thought it was yummy and will definitely be helping myself to more over the next few days! 

For the recipe, click here.

TWD: Black and white banana loaf

Several years ago, when I was back in business school, one of the first things that I dabbled with baking is banana bread. It was one of the first few things, besides brownies and chocolate chip cookies, that started my whole love affair of baking and dessert making. So I was genuinely excited to see this week's TWD pick and to try Dorie's variation on banana bread.

One of the obstacles of making banana bread is having ripe enough bananas in the kitchen. And we're talking super-ripe. The type that has is mottled with black spots and one you probably don't want to eat. So almost a week to the day that I was due to bake, I picked up a small bunch of bananas and set it aside on the countertop with a message to all not to eat it.

Come the weekend then, my bananas were wonderfully ripe and just perfect for whipping up this recipe. Rather than making the standard 9 by 5 inch loaf, I decided to make mini loafs, which was just as well since I got a little greedy with the chocolate flavoured batter and ended up with way more than half the batch flavoured chocolate. As such, I ended up with 6 little mini loafs and one small chocolate banana loaf.

To be frank, I wasn't a huge fan of this recipe, much preferring some of the other banana bread recipes that I've used in the past. Still M liked it, so it wasn't a total loss.

For the recipe, click here.

A pudding that will change your mind about puddings

I have to admit, I used to be a snob about pudding. I love chocolate mousse, creme brulee and pots de creme, but pudding to me always sounded like the kind of dessert that you make out of a box. Like a creamy jello of sorts.

This week's TWD pick, Dorie's chocolate pudding, has made me change my mind. Homemade pudding is different from anything that you'll ever get out of any box. This pudding, although made only with milk, is as creamy as any chocolate mousse you'll ever taste. And the texture, is so incredibly smooth.

I read on the TWD comments section about this recipe that one of the TWD member's son said that if you could put a dress on pudding and marry it, he would. That just made me laugh, not because its an exaggeration, but because that's how I feel too. Although in my case, it would have to wear a suit. Try it and see for yourself.

For the recipe, click here.