New Spin on Rollie-Pollies

Rollie-Pollies

with Rose's Cream Cheese

Pie Crust

are tasty little morsels.

Never one for saving pie dough,

a new batch was mixed up.

I tried the dough hook and it worked!

Rolled out, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar,

chilled then sliced on the diagonal

and sprinkled with chunky sugar in the raw,

they bake for a bit, flipped over and baked a few minutes longer.

No matter what the shape,

these little gems are a

nice, simple treat

for anyone who loves pie crust.

Count me in!

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Late Summer Pesto

Pesto 

is one of my very favorite things.

I like it on pasta, pizza,

crostini and in sandwiches.

We've been making it for years

so I was eager to try

Rose's recipe.

The key difference is

her use of walnuts

rather than pine nuts.

Pesto is incredibly easy

to whiz up in the mini Cuisinart.

It may not be the authentic 

time honored mortar and pestle way

but it works.

This is good pesto

and if I had never had

it made with pine nuts

I would think it was wonderful.

I prefer the sweetness

pine nuts impart.

I like Rose's recipe

with the pinch of sugar

and dash of cayenne pepper

and will use it again

substituting pine nuts.

~

Rose's Melting Pot: A Cooking Tour of America's Ethnic Celebrations

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Heavenly Chocolate Mousse Cake

All's well

that ends well.

The sponge cake, 

which I was dreading,

turned out fine.

Filled with confidence

I started melting chocolate 

with cream for the mousse.

Simple enough

except

an hour later 

it still wasn't 

up to 77C degrees.

I gave up at 74C

and popped it in the frig

to chill.

But wait...

why was there a bowl of egg yolks

sitting on the counter?

Retrieving the chocolate soup

I whisked in the yolks,

all twelve of them,

and tried to bring it up to 77C degrees.

All seemed to be going right,

the chocolate was thickening nicely

and then

the most peculiar thing happened;

oil started seeping out of a 

chocolate-y congealed mass.

 I "calmly" asked myself

what would the Alpha Bakers do?

Whisk it back to life!

Miraculously

the KitchenAid

did just that.

Tackling the

sponge was another thing.

My too large loaf pan

completely out witted

 the template geometry.

The ends 

pieced together

like brick walls.

Spackling the 

rather thick mousse 

neatly

inside the cake lined

loaf pan

was a bit tricky.

Wrapped in plastic

and back to the frig

since by

now it was late into the night.

It flipped out okay

but looks can be deceiving. 

Mousse is a bit dense

straight out of the frig

It isn't symmetrical like

Orin's.

Still it made for a mighty

tasty breakfast.

The chocolate mousse

is definitely worth

the stirring.

The hardest part

is waiting for it

to come back

to room temperature

(or 6-8 seconds per slice in the microwave for the impatient moi)

but once it does

the airy chocolate

is amazing

with the tender sponge cake.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Lemon Curd and Raspberry Pielets

Rose's Lemon Curd and Raspberry 

Pie and Pielets

are truly luscious.

Regular raspberry season is over

but

I came across these

golden raspberries.

They are sweeter than the darker ones.

I made two mini pies

and one eight inch.

Perfect for this holiday

weekend.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Frozen Lime Meringue Pie

This pie!

Delicious!

Fudgy Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

These are probably the best

plain chocolate cookies

I've ever had.

Turning them into

ice cream sandwiches

with Haagan Dazs

vanilla ice cream

 takes them over the top

in a very good way.

The batter was so fluffy.

I resisted the urge to

pour it all into a pan

turning it

into brownies.

Or grabbing a spoon 

and diving right in.

Making these into

brownies 

is now on my bucket list.

Rose really nailed this recipe.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum