lovesgenoise's Profile

From: , MA USA

Joined: May 2nd, 2011


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September 24th, 2012

The Baked Brownie from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

These were quite good! A couple of notes: first, the recipe calls for chocolate that contains 60-72% cocoa solids. I used 70% chocolate and for me, they were almost too sweet (though I still managed... read more >


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lovesgenoise's Reviews


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6 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 6Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Rose's Christmas Cookies

By Rose Levy Beranbaum
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1998

These are incredibly good, sort of like a cannoli shell made out of toffee. The brandy is an undertone, they don't taste boozy. Everyone I served them to absolutely loved them, from kids to adults with sophisticated palates.

Here are my notes from making these:

-If the oven runs hot, these cookies won’t spread enough to wrap around the dowel.

-I wrapped my dowel in wax paper, taped only at the center so the cookies can slide off the ends without snagging on tape.

-I found it was best to let the cookies cool for 3 minutes on the dowel before sliding them off, they hold their shape better.

-These get soft/sticky if left out (though not as dramatically as meringue), but they stayed crispy in tupperware-type containers.

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1st June 2011 (edited: 16th October 2011)

Cocoa Brownies : page 47

These brownies are rich and chocolate-y, as well as very easy and fuss-free to make. There are only a handful of ingredients, all of which are already on hand in our kitchen. The last time we made these my ten year-old daughter proudly made them all herself, with only very light, hands-off supervision from the grown-ups. The photo shows her brownies.

The texture is tender and dense/fudgy, perfect for us but maybe not quite right if you're looking for a firm or chewy texture. They are a not-too-sweet brownie, with enough cocoa to balance the sugar in the recipe. However, if you opt to leave out the nuts, they will be a lot sweeter, which may be good or bad depending on how you like your brownies.

For a moist, fudgy texture, it's important not to overbake.

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1st June 2011 (edited: 3rd June 2011)

David's Dreambars : page 117

These are an outrageously good, upscale version of the seven layer bars of my childhood. Possibly the easiest recipe in the book, they depend upon high quality chocolate. A real crowd pleaser.

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2nd December 2011

Lemon Poppyseeds : page 88

These capture perfectly the flavor of the best lemon-poppyseed muffins or cake. And the texture is wonderful- the inside is slightly moist and soft, but crispy from the poppyseeds, while the outside is a bit crunchy.

When I made these, they came out slightly flatter than the hemispheres shown in the book, but I was still happy with them. The roundest cookies in my batch were the smaller ones, and the ones that had more finely ground almonds pressed into the outside.

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1st June 2011 (edited: 1st June 2011)

The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar : page 163

These are wonderful- more intensely lemon than most and not overly sweet.

When you're making them, it's easy to think that there isn't enough of the lemon topping, as the proportion of lemon to shortbread is different than many recipes (the lemon layer is thinner than the shortbread layer). This is because the curd is more intensely flavored than the thicker toppings. When eaten, they are perfect.

Be careful to bake the shortbread long enough, once when I made these the base wasn't as crispy as it should have been because I didn't bake long enough. The top should begin to color, but not darkly.

When making the curd, the author has an update on her blog: stir in the softened butter before adding the lemon juice, and you'll get less stuff left behind in the strainer. Works like a charm.

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24th May 2011

Three-Nut Fingers : page 72

These cookies are a nut-lover's dream- intense flavor from three different nuts and a surprising, almost shocking disappearing texture that makes them a real standout. One of my all-time favorite cookies.

I shape them by forming a log and slicing it, as if making slice and bake cookies. Then I cut each disc in half (into two semi-circles), and put the straight, cut side down on the pan.

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