TWD: Fold-Over Pear Torte - One Sentence Post

Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen selected Fold-Over Pear Torte on pages 348 and 349 for this weeks Tuesdays With Dorie, this one was a huge hit all around: at work, with my dad and with my friend!

One day late - TWD: Tarte Fine

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was picked by Leslie of Lethally Delicious. It was extremely easy and quick to make. I made the 'Playing Around'-version and also added some cinnamon to the apples: it was delicious!!!

Four weeks ago I started going back to college/university: I'll be studying to get my Bachelor in Communication and am so glad that I made the decision to go back to school. However, this does mean that I will barely have spare time left as I work full-time, attend classes two nights a week and have to study.

I do want to keep baking and cooking things, but know that I won't be able to write lengthy posts. Therefor as long as I have classes my posts will be pics and 'One Sentence Posts'. When I do have time (e.g. during school holidays) I will try to write longer posts.

Dorie's Dimply Plum Cake with Rosemary

CEiMB - Mixed Berry Cobbler

Just pics for now, will try to find some time tomorrow to write a little something-something about this gorgeous dessert!

TWD: Mini Quick Classic Berry Tarts

When I turned 30 last year I had an afternoon tea party at home, the next day I took the leftover cupcakes and brownies with me to work. A couple of my coworkers were so enamored with my baked goodies that they asked me if I would consider baking some things for them to share with coworkers for both of their birthdays. Of course I told them that I would be more than happy to oblige.

Summer came and went, as did Sinterklaas, Christmas, Easter and several other special days and I had totally forgotten about my promise until my coworker approached me last week and asked me if I still wanted to bake for them. I had to check my schedule first to see if I had enough time and then said yes. My coworkers really wanted something chocolaty and two other fruity options. For chocolate I made brownies, I also made Dorie's Yoghurt Lemon Cake.

For the final fruity treat I decided to adapt this weeks challenge for Tuesdays with Dorie. Christine of Cooking with Christine picked Dorie's Quick Classic Berry Tart, which I loved!! This tart actually combines two delicious recipes: the sweet tart dough and pastry cream. I doubled the tart dough recipe and baked the tarts in my mini cupcakes/muffins pans covered with foil for 15 minutes and an additional 10 minutes without the foil, I ended up with 38 tart shells. The tarts I served at my coworkers birthday at work were topped with raspberries and blueberries. For the ones at home I used up my leftover blueberries and strawberries: huge hit!! Everyone loved them even if I did forget to add the drizzle of jelly on top of them!

The recipe can be found at Christine's blog. For tips and tricks I suggest you read the P&Q. Go check out how my fellow TWD-ers tarts turned out here and leave them comments is you like what you see/read!

TWD: Chockablock Cookies

Chockablock Cookies: Cookies filled with loads of goodies, such as nuts, dried fruits and coconut. These cookies were picked by Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet for this weeks Tuesday with Dorie.

For nuts I used pecans and my dried fruit of choice was fat golden raisins. These tasted really good, but I think I would have loved them more without the oats! Go here to check out the recipe and here to see what my fellow TWD-ers thought of these cookies.

Taste & Create: Mrs. B's Lemon Meringue Pie

Just a short post today. This is the second recipe I made for April's Taste & Create. I was paired with Jen of The Misadventures of Mrs. B and apparently she loves lemony desserts as much as I do. As soon as I found this lovely Lemon Meringue Pie I knew I had to make it. I have always been intimidated by meringue and was super-excited by the thought of finally tackling it!

In fact I was so excited that I made one huge mistake.... I cut the pie when the custard wasn't quite set yet.... Oops!! So the first piece looked like crap, it tasted wonderful though! For the crust I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Sweet Tart Dough (page 444 of Baking From My Home To Yours) or here. I used the juice of 5 lemons for this and that amount was ideal: the perfect flavor combination with the tartness of the crust and the sweetness of the meringue.

After some time in the fridge the custard set as it was supposed to and looked gorgeous. The recipe can be found here over at The Misadventures of Mrs. B, go check it out! I know I will be frequenting Jen's blog from now on to see what other scrumptious dishes she comes up with!

Dutch Appeltaart

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win a set of 4 silicone Le Creuset Multi-Coloured Prep Bowls and a Nordicware Multi Mini Bundt pan! Go here to check it out!!!

Growing up my mom always used to bake apple tart on special occassions such as birthdays, in fact the first thing I ever baked probably was a apple tart or Appeltaart as we call it in Dutch. When I baked my own I always made my dough from a box. But since I joined Tuesdays with Dorie I haven't baked anything out of a box.

I also haven't been baking Appeltaart since joining TWD.... A couple of weeks ago it was my moms birthday and she asked me to find a recipe for Appeltaart. I found her this recipe at Expatica.com. It was absolutely perfect!! Better than the box-version I knew, way better! We had two slight alterations: mom used craisins instead of currants and just a little bit more cinnamon.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Here's another round of cupcakes that I baked up for my Mom's birthday on March 5th. This recipe is by Martha Stewart, she calls these Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes. The cupcakes are topped with Sprinkles' Strawberry Frosting. The recipe for the cupcakes can be found here and the frosting here.

This recipe made 36 miniature cupcakes that needed 15 minutes in the oven. Again these were a big succes with my moms colleagues!

TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

This week Michelle of Bake-en chose the Dimply Plum Cake for our TWD challenge. Since I'm not a huge fan of plums or peaches I hesitated about participating. In the end I decided I would actually make this cake and I'm so happy I did!! The cake was delicious!!



I bought some yellow plums at the market, I quartered them and used lemon zest instead of orange. I bought a basil plant 2 months ago and it's still alive, which is a miracle on it's own as I don't have green fingers.... So far all the plants I had died in recordtime: either because they drown in water or because they get dehydrated by lack of water...... Since this basil plant is still very much alive and kicking I decided to add some of it to the cake.



After 40 minutes the cake was not quite done, so I left it in the oven for another 10 minutes. The first bite was sour and than it turned sweet, a scrumptious combination!! I really don't understand where the tartness comes from.... I tasted the plums beforehand and they were sweet. After baking they tasted a bit bitter.

Dad's verdict: 8 out of 10.

P.S. More crappy pictures this week, but it's probably the last time: I just got a letter from the insurance company and they are going to reimburse me for my broken camera!! So it's shopping time!!! Does anyone have some tips for which camera I should buy???