January 29, 2012

Dories Pumpkin-Spice Muffins

On one of my favorite food blogs, Tracy's Culinary Adventures, she was saying why limit pumpkin goodies to October/November?  So, I made Dories Pumpkin Spice Muffins from her Baking: from My Home to Yours cookbook.  They were delicious and should definitely not be limited to fall cooking.

FFwD: Broth-Braised Potatoes

My family loves new potatoes and the local ones that we get are delicious.  Most of the time I just boil them and serve with parsley and butter or I roast them with herbs.

This was a super easy recipe that added a nice flavor to these little potatoes.  I used rosemary instead of thyme and served with simple sauted chicken and snow peas.  I cooked down the cooking water from the potatoes and added a tablespoon of butter right at the end which gave it a nice creamy, buttery flavor... yummy!  Everyone loved this one.

January 20, 2012

FFwD: quartre-quarts

What an easy and delicious cake to make!  I tried it with a teaspoon of cognac and a teaspoon of vanilla which gave it a really nice flavor.  I baked it for 25 minutes and checked it with a toothpick, but after it started to cool it began sinking in the middle.  Why do cakes sometimes do that?  It was perfectly cooked in all the places I tested it, just not the very center, which I'm sure I checked.  Anyway, it was yummy with a cup of tea and enjoyed by all!

Can you see that hole emerging right in the middle?

Gooey right in the center

Cut the goo away and it was just right!

January 13, 2012

FFwD: m. jacques armagnac chicken

I don't know what happen to my chicken, but it came out of the oven basically the same color as when it went in???  I covered it with foil and then the lid to make sure it had a tight fit, mystery.

This was a very easy dish to make, I always love a meal made in one pot.  I used Cognac instead of the Armagnac because for some reason we had 2 bottles of it in the panty and we don't even drink Cognac, yet another mystery ;o)  I didn't have any prunes, but I did throw in some dried figs I had from the holidays.  The chicken was very tender and the sauce did have a nice flavor.  Just OK for me on this one.

Happy French Friday!


All tucked into the veggies, ready for the oven...

What happened??  Where's my golden, crispy beautiful skin??

Last week's roll still looks good?  Just kidding,
I made everything last Sunday ;o)

January 8, 2012

FFwD: Bubble-Top Brioche Rolls

Happy New Year!  Well, I let my being more organized resolution slip on this recipe.  I didn't read through the recipe until Thursday evening.  The recipe says these are best for breakfast - Saturday mornings are busy and on Sunday morning the last thing I want to do is get up early to bake bread.  So, we had them with dinner this evening with next weeks chicken dish - how's that for being organized!  

The smell of these baking was delicious!  We were having these with dinner, but I didn't time them right, so had to have 2 right out of the oven, yummy!  They were definitely better hot and would have been great for breakfast.  Once they cooled and we had them with dinner, they were just rolls at that point.  We'll try the left-overs toasted in the morning.

This was my first experience baking bread (other than the banana or pumpkin variety), I can't imagine doing this whole process by hand... thank goodness for stand mixers!


dough rising!



all egg'd up and ready for the oven

I made bread!