Dorie Greenspan Is In My House!

Baking has invaded my kitchen, and my life.

Joy the Baker has turned me into a cake-mad lunatic, and I just can't help it. Those Lemon Whoopie Pies were so amazing, I think they did something to my brain chemistry. I've never been good at baking cakes--way too much faffing about with measures, ingredient temperatures, and the fluffiness of your mix. Cookies and pies are a lot less scientific, and besides, I like 'em a lot better anyways.

I went to the library and checked out Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours," and spent the next day or so deciding what to make. Dorie is an expert dessert-maker who's written a bunch of award-winning books, and no wonder, her treats look so amazing I just couldn't figure out what to bake first.

I decided on these Chocolate Chunkers. These are insane. There are five, FIVE different kinds of chocolate in them. In fact, these cookies are about 80% chocolate. They do call for flour--a whopping 1/3 cup. They also have nuts and raisins in them.

Frankly, they were a bit too chocolatey, even for me. Next time I make them I'll use a bit less, and I'll make sure I add salted peanuts instead of the toasted walnuts I used here. Still, these are truly fantastic, and not for the faint of heart!

Joy of Baking

Thanks to my new favorite blog, from Joy the Baker, I did some baking this afternoon after the boys and myself woke from a nap.

 

I'd seen these Lemon Whoopie Pie cookies on Joy's website and just HAD to try them. I LOVE lemon-flavored cakes and biscuits, and I'd had these on my mind since I'd first seen the photos. They came out really well. Don't they look good? Well, they are delicious, and I urge you to try them out. Mmmmm.

 

I used my favorite baking tool to make these--Andrew's old General Electric food mixer, circa God-knows-when. Works great!