Sunday Polo, Concert in the Park, and Cherry Plum Crumb Tart

Cherry Plum Crumb Tart, Cherry Plum Crumb Tart, Cherry Plum Crumb Tart...say that three times!

I'm just about a week late on this one, but it came in handy when I needed to put something together Sunday morning for Sunday evening's Concert in the Park. I had to leave home by noon to make it to the Aloha Sunday polo match with my photography group, so I was up early and scrambling to get this baked. It never would have happened without the sweet tart dough I happened to have left over in the freezer, or the cherries and plums I purchased the day before. I did have to to run out and get almond flour, but then it all came together easily...

I was lazy and pressed the dough into the tart pan, pricked it all over with a fork, and threw it in the freezer while I made the crumb topping. While the tart crust was baking, I made the almond filling, and pitted the cherries and plums. Dorie's recipe is for a cherry tart, but I had some cute little plums and decided to mix the cherries and plums. Because I was in a rush, I didn't even allow the crust to cool. I spread the filling into the crust, pressed the plum halves and cherries into the filling, baked the tart for 40 minutes, sprinkled the crumb topping over the top, baked for another 30 minutes, put it on a rack to cool, and raced out the door to the polo match. When I returned home at 4:30, I wrapped the cooled tart in plastic wrap, threw it in the picnic basket, and raced over to the park!

It was very crumbly, due to the buttery, flaky crust and crumble topping, so I just broke it into rustic shaped pieces and started handing out small plates to those who were sitting around me. I don't know how I managed to escape with a small piece to go with my coffee this morning, but I did! I served it room temperature at the concert, and chilled with my coffee, but I bet it would be perfect served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as well. This one is a keeper.

 A quick photo taken at the concert...

Cherry Plum Crumb Tart

The Company Men at Coronado Concert in the Park

A few photos from the polo match...

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Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. The group bakes from two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I occasionally bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. The group bakes two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

See more Cherry Crumb Tarts here.

Apricot-Blueberry Galette for Tuesdays with Dorie

I was bad. I strayed a bit from the Apricot-Raspberry Tart we were supposed to make this week out of Baking Chez Moi. I couldn't help it. The Blueberry-Pecan Galette on the cover of this month's Bon Appétit was so enticing, with its rustic, free form shape and golden brown, sugar sprinkled crust. I strayed even more by using Thomas Keller's pâte sucrée from Bouchon Bakery, which he uses for a stunning plum tart with almond cream.

The pâte sucrée is made with all-purpose and almond flours, powdered sugar, vanilla bean, butter, and 56 grams of eggs. His recipes are so precise, but one large egg was right on the money. This dough is wonderfully silky and easy to work with, and there was no pre-baking required.

Of course, I had to play around with an old copper pan, and the fresh apricots and blueberries. I could only find a few basil leaves to add some greenery, but they did not go into my galette.

Apricots and Blueberries

Apricot-Blueberry Galette

I apologize, Dorie. Sometimes I feel the need to wander, experiment, and give a little love to some of my cooking magazines and other cookbooks hanging around. However, I did take a peek at several of the Apricot-Raspberry Tarts posted this morning, here, and must say they are gorgeous! Maybe I'll get back on track for the next recipe...

*** 

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. The group bakes from two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I occasionally bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. The group bakes two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Rhubarb Upside-Down Brown Sugar Cake from Baking Chez Moi

I'm late being late!

I missed making and posting this Rhubarb Upside-Down Brown Sugar Cake on May 26, because I couldn't find any rhubarb. Periodically, we are granted a "rewind" where we can make up a recipe we missed. For some reason, I was thinking today was the day to post my rewind, but it was actually last Tuesday.

When I stopped at the store on the way home from work last evening, I spotted a few stalks of rhubarb nestled by the strawberries. I grabbed the best looking ones and a box of organic strawberries, knowing I had the rest of the ingredients at home. By the time I was finished baking the cake, I was too tired to think about dinner. I needed to taste the cake so I could write a quick post…and that took care of dinner. A small slice also went well with coffee this morning. Now, please get this cake out of my house and away from my mouth!

Dorie recommends peeling the stalks to remove the fibrous strings, but that also removes most of the color. With younger, thinner stalks, I don't think it's necessary, but mine were kind of thick. After that, you cut the stalks into one-inch pieces, toss them in some sugar, and allow some of the juice to drain out. The rhubarb is briefly sautéed in butter and more sugar until slightly caramelized and arranged on the bottom of a buttered cake pan. The batter, made with eggs, brown sugar, vanilla extract, melted butter, flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt, is poured over the top and the cake is baked for about 30 minutes. After inverting the cake onto a plate, you can brush some melted currant jelly over the top to fill in some of the cracks and make it glossy. I used a drizzle of warm homemade salted caramel.

I think most people know rhubarb and strawberries are a classic combination, but my Flavor Bible also gives high marks to caramel. A dollop of whipped cream finishes it off and balances the tartness from the rhubarb.

Finally, for all the men out there, remember these words of wisdom from The Joker…"Never rub another man's rhubarb!"

*** 

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. The group bakes from two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I occasionally bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. The group bakes two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Baking Chez Moi - Roasted Peach Shortcakes Franco-American Style

If you haven't been to Coronado's Sunday Concerts in the Park, or experienced a festive Fourth of July on the island, you're definitely missing out! I am fortunate to have experienced both for several years and never grow tired of the community spirit and camaraderie.  Although I whine quite a bit about lugging everything to the park for our gourmet spread, and coming home to a disaster in my kitchen, those few hours relaxing with friends and family make it all meaningful.

This past Sunday was Father's Day, but it was also National Peaches and Cream Day! Our Baking Chez Moi recipe was Strawberry Shortcakes Franco-American Style, but I put a little twist on it for our culinary theme of "Peaches."

Biscuits à la cuillère, or ladyfingers, provide the French component in the form of soft and light cakes. I made ladyfingers once before for a Daring Baker's Challenge, but it's been a long time and I forgot how easy they are to make. Once the ladyfingers are baked, roasted peaches, bourbon-spiked whipped cream, and a dusting of powdered sugar complete this summer dessert.

Roasted Peach Shortcakes

I assembled the shortcakes at the park, which did add extra lugging of dishes, forks, separate containers for the ladyfingers and roasted peaches, my pastry bag, and an ice chest to keep the whipped cream cold, but I'm very happy with my Costco Foldable Wagon. I can load everything in the Jeep, drive over to mom's place, park in her extra parking space, unfold the wagon, load it up with food, strap on the roll up table and a few chairs, and walk across the street to Spreckels Park.

Here are a few more dishes from our peachy menu...Enjoy your week!

Holli's Peach-Stuffed Pork Loin with Peach Chipotle Sauce

Nina's charcuterie and cheese platter with Ghost Pepper +Peach Preserve

Pam's Curried Chicken and Peach Salad

Mom's Spinach, Grilled Peaches and Pecan Salad

Kai's Peachy Ceviche

***

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. The group bakes from two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I occasionally bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. The group bakes two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Baking Chez Moi - Chocolate-Cherry Brownies

Simmer dried cherries in red wine until plump.

Melt dark chocolate with butter.

Mix in sugar, eggs, and flour.
Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Gently fold in drunken cherries.

Toss in finely chopped chocolate.

Pour luscious batter into pan and bake.

Cool, chill, cut into squares.

Serve with red wine.

Fall in love.

Go to bed.

Sweet dreams.

***

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. The group bakes from two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I occasionally bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. The group bakes two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Check out all the other decadent brownies here.

Baking Chez Moi - Limoncello Cupcakes

Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur mainly produced in Southern Italy. Very special, small batch productions are also released a few times a year out of the DeLauro home, overlooking Mission Bay, in sunny San Diego ;-)

Holli's Limoncello

I'm several days late in posting April's first Baking Chez Moi recipe, only because I wanted to make these luscious lemony cupcakes to share at Holli's cooking class today. We will be learning to make three different types of sausages - breakfast patties, chicken-apple, and Jim's hot Italian sausage. These cupcakes, along with Francesco's cookies, should be nice treats for dessert.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any of Holli's limoncello in the house (it doesn't last long), so I bought a bottle of Pallini limoncello, made with Sfusato lemons grown on the Amalfi Coast of Italy. The cupcakes recipe has six tablespoons of limoncello divided between the batter, syrup (brushed on the tops of the warm cupcakes), and frosting. There is also lemon zest and lemon juice in the recipe! Very lemony indeed! The frosting is AMAZING...

As an additional option, you can drop a teaspoon of lemon or orange marmalade into the center of the batter as you are filling up the cupcake liners. I chose to add wild (as opposed to tame) blueberry preserves. Lemon-blueberry is such a classic flavor combination. I also added a touch of yellow coloring to the frosting and piped it through a star tip.

I couldn't resist teasing Trapper for a few minutes to take this photo. I was a bit nervous about him grabbing one out of the pan and/or shaking his head and letting the drool fly, but all worked out well and he was rewarded with a more appropriate dog treat.

***

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. The group bakes from two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. We bake two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and post on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Baking Chez Moi: Crispy-Topped Brown Sugar Bars

Now we're talking! A chewy brown sugar cookie base, covered by a layer of partially melted Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate, topped with boozy-caramelized Rice Krispies. Dorie's friend says they are Rice Krispies Treats born in France. Mine are Rice Krispies Treats tipsy on Tuaca.

In Baking Chez Moi (p. 325), there is a gorgeous photo of one of these bars in a bowl, nestled up to a scoop of vanilla ice cream, with a few random Krispies trekking across the frozen tundra. As I was pressing the brown-sugar cookie dough into the 8-inch square pan, trying to make it stretch enough to cover the bottom, I was thinking to myself that this is going to be an extremely thin base. Although I suspected the base would spread like cookies do during baking, I made a last minute decision to switch to a a 9 x 4-inch loaf pan. The bars are supposed to be "supermodel skinny" but I liked the way they turned out, with a few extra curves...

The Tuaca idea came from a version of Rice Krispie Treats I've made before, with coarsely chopped dark chocolate, almonds, and Amaretto liqueur. I didn't have any Amaretto, so I added a splash of Tuaca to the sizzling caramel before folding in the Rice Krispies.

Loved these!

***

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. The group bakes from two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. We bake two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and post on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Baking Chez Moi: Lemon Lavender Madeleines

No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin.

 And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me...Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it?

... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea.

—Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time

I realize my petite muffins are not true madeleines - little French butter cakes that look more like cookies - because they were not baked in a special "madeleine" pan with distinctive shell-shaped depressions. However, I just didn't need another special pan that I would probably use once or twice and never again. I already had one of those in my collection, an ornate mini muffin pan, destined to be used once or twice and never again…and it worked just fine.

Reading about the historical origins of madeleines was more interesting than baking and eating them. I wasn't necessary disappointed in the final product, but it has been pretty tough topping that incredible Marquise au Chocolat last month. I'm sure the best madeleines are those found in Paris! They are just one of those treats that require the whole Parisian experience to truly enjoy.

Madeleines appear to be simple to make, but the goal is to produce a unique little cake that is browned and crispy on the outside, and spongy and soft on the inside. It must also sport a cute little bump on its back.

To achieve the classic bump, the batter is chilled for an hour before pouring it into the molds of the pan, and then the entire pan is chilled for another hour. Additionally, while the oven preheats, a baking sheet is placed on the rack to get nice and hot. When ready to bake, the cold madeleine pan is placed on top of the hot baking sheet for baking. My little muffins formed domes on their backs with this technique.

David Lebovitz agrees double-resting the batter twice is the key to achieving the characteristic hump or bump. Check out the hump on these beauties from Blé sucré bakery.

Dorie's recipe in Baking Chez Moi is for classic lemon-scented madeleines, dusted with powdered sugar. If you wish to partake in another step, you can add a lemon glaze.

"But the icing on the cake (or should I say the icing on the Madeleine?) is the light citrusy glaze that moistens and elevates these Madeleines from being something ordinary to being the moist, yet delicately-dainty little cakes that makes writers rhapsodize about." - David Lebovitz

The only addition I made to Dorie's recipe was adding a half teaspoon of dried lavender to the sugar and lemon zest mixture. For the finish, I opted for a simple dusting of powdered sugar.

Madeleines are traditionally paired with afternoon tea, but morning coffee worked fine for me. They are also best served the day they are made, or they start to loose the crispness on the outside.

Muffeleines?

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. We bake with two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I bake along with the Baking Chez Moi group. We bake two recipes per month (voted on by the members in advance) and post on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Baking Chez Moi: Not-So-Pink Grapefruit Tart

The second recipe of the month from Baking Chez Moi is a Pink Grapefruit Tart that can be found at Hugo & Victor Pâtisserie in Paris. Other than being petite, mine looks nothing like Hugues Pouget's tart. Dorie's version is a full size tart, with picture perfect pink and yellow grapefruit segments beautifully spiraled around the top of the tart. Mine looks nothing like Dorie's.

My original plan was to make the tart on Sunday, expecting to be back from my Houston business trip Saturday night. However, thanks to an incompetent fuel truck driver at Spirit airlines, who decided to ram into the baggage compartment door of the airplane, I ended up spending 15 hours in the airport waiting for the next flight at noon on Sunday. Trust me, you don't want to hear about the hotel vouchers we finally received at 5:00 AM…vouchers the hotel ultimately refused to accept, or the meal vouchers the airport restaurants wouldn't accept. Heck, the flight attendants on the flight back home wouldn't even accept their own meal voucher and the whole fiasco ended costing me another $13 for a double vodka to put myself to sleep and out of my misery. I assure you I will never make the mistake of flying Spirit, and I strongly suggest you do the same. Stuff happens, but the customer service was atrocious.

To top it off, some time during those sleepless and annoying hours, I managed to pick up a nasty cold and have been home sick the past two days. Knowing I would be stuck at home a few days, I decided to try this tart. I started it yesterday, but ran out of steam after making the Sweet Tart Dough, lemon-almond cream, and grapefruit crémeux. I was able to finish off my tarts this morning with baking and assembling.

I decided to make three 4" tartlets rather than one large tart. I could have easily made four with thinner crusts. After the crust is baked and cooled, a layer of chilled lemon-almond cream is spread over the bottom and the crusts are returned to the oven to bake for a few minutes until the cream is set. After the tart cools, the chilled grapefruit crémeux is whisked until soft and smooth, and spread over the lemon-almond cream in the tart shell. Finally, grapefruit segments are attractively arranged on the top of the crémeux and the tart returned to the refrigerator for another two to eight hours before serving.

As indicated, the top of the tart is supposed to be garnished with grapefruit segments. The grapefruit crémeux is also supposed to have a pink hue from Campari. My grapefruit segments came out all raggedy looking (I think my grapefruits were too small) and there was no way the segments were going to add any element of beauty to my tarts. The market didn't have Campari; hence the lack of pink in my  crémeux. I ended up using the grapefruit juice from my raggedy grapefruit to make a grapefruit caramel sauce. That's the puddle under the tart. However, I took the caramel a bit too far on the stove, so it ended up being more like a puddle of chewy caramel.

Would I make this again? Probably. I loved the crust and the grapefruit crémeux. I'm not so sure the lemon-almond cream adds much. I used a pretty thick layer and didn't really taste it. The texture and flavor of the grapefruit segments would definitely enhance the tart, but my segments just didn't make the cut this time.

***

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. We bake with two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I am baking along with the Baking Chez Moi group, which bakes two recipes per month and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

For the Love of Chocolate - Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking Chez Moi

All you need is love.

But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

- Charles M. Schulz

Marquise au Chocolat is a rich, soft, velvety, heavenly, creamy, and incredible dark chocolate mousse that is frozen in a loaf pan, sliced, and traditionally served over creme anglaise. Of course, Dorie provides creative variations for add-ins, molding and garnishing, like adding a crust of crushed cookies, freezing in individual ramekins, and/or serving with whipped cream, but there are endless ways to be creative with this dessert! 

I kept mine simple and elegant with a light dusting of cocoa powder, fresh berries, a few sprigs of mint, and whipped cream.

My Marquise au Chocolat was waiting for me when I arrived home from work last evening, having been made the night before. I couldn't wait to have dessert before dinner, but I had to whip up some whipped cream, slice, plate, garnish and photograph first!

The loaf pan is lined with plastic wrap before the mousse goes in, wrapped tightly in more plastic wrap, and then placed in the freezer until frozen. Dorie suggests using dental floss to cleanly slice it, which I tried, but my mousse was still too firm. As you can see, I got impatient and used a knife. My dusting of cocoa powder was more to cover up the crinkled exterior from the plastic wrap impression, but I think it added a nice touch.

I don't think it's a coincidence the Tuesdays with Dorie members voted to make this dessert just days before Valentine's Day. I'm sure it will be a heavenly ending to a romantic dinner for two!

***

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. We bake with two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I am baking along with the Baking Chez Moi group, which bakes two recipes per month and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Baking Chez Moi - Brown Butter and Vanilla Bean Weekend Cake

Brown Butter & Vanilla Bean Weekend Cake is the first recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi (p. 6), a 477-page cookbook filled with uncomplicated contemporary and specialty desserts from all over France.

Baking Chez Moi is divided into seven sections: Simple Cakes; Fancy Cakes; Tarts & Galettes; Baby Cakes & Petite Pastries; Cookies & Bars; Fruit, Creams, Frozen Desserts & Candies; and a section called Basics - with tart doughs, pastry creams, fillings, sauces and the like. As with Around My French Table, Dorie garnishes most recipes with an enlightening description, tips for preparation, personal story, suggestions for variations, and gorgeous food photography.    

This cake is like a pound cake, but taken up to a more sophisticated level with nutty brown butter, seeds scraped from a fragrant vanilla bean, and a splash of dark rum. Dorie uses Armagnac in many of her recipes, sweet and savory, so I had an excuse to break out my bottle to use that in place of the rum. I was correct in my assumption as to why this cake is called a Weekend Cake...if you make it on Friday night or Saturday morning, it is destined to be devoured by Monday morning...a slice with coffee, a slice with afternoon tea, a slice after dinner with some Armagnac or port, a slice toasted the next morning...OMG, I ate the entire cake! Not really, but I could have!

...the concept of a weekend cake is: a simple, sturdy cake that will last the weekend,

that can be put out to be nibbled by family and houseguests,

that will be as good for dessert as it will be for an end-of-the-afternoon snack

or an end-of-the-morning tide-me-over.

I was going to write about a few highlights the past few weeks - like photographing a cooking class with Pamela Sheldon Johns, hanging out in the kitchen at Leroy's for the monthly Chef Collaboration Dinner, and an awesome photography shoot with my Meetup group, Pacific Photographic Society, but I'm just too tired tonight...and it's only Monday! 

I will let a few photos tell the story tonight and plan to share some of Pamela's "Peasant Italian" recipes in future posts. You can always visit (and Like!) Newf in My Soup's Facebook Page to see photo albums of special events and photography outings ;-)

A few of Pamela's cookbooks

Pamela Sheldon Johns

Involtini di Maiale - Pork Rolls stuffed with Ricotta and Spinach

Chef Collaboration Dinner at Leroy's Kitchen & Lounge, with Amy DiBiase of Tidal and Green Flash Brewery

First Course: White Shrimp, Sea Bass Ceviche, Salmon Crudo
Green Flash Beach House Ale Saison

4th Course: Dry aged Prime Rib, Anson Mills green faro, spiced
persimmon chutney, Green Flash Grand Cru

PPS MeetUp Ramona Hawk Watch - Ferruginous Hawk

PPS Meetup Ramona Hawk Watch - Screech Owl

Good night!

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. We bake with two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I am baking along with the Baking Chez Moi group, which bakes two recipes per month and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.

Baking Chez Moi - Granola Energy Bars

I'm glad I made these Granola Energy Bars and our second recipe for January, Brown Butter and Vanilla Bean Weekend Cake, a few weeks ago, or this post may have fallen by the wayside...

Last week was irritating to say the least, with flooding in my bedroom, a backed up kitchen sink, and Trapper battling yet another health issue. Things settled down by Friday, and I had a great time photographing a Tuscan Peasant cooking class taught by cookbook author Pamela Sheldon Johns on Saturday, and a relaxing, rainy Sunday editing photos and getting some things done around the house.

The original plan for this batch of granola bars was to fly FedEx to TN for the start of baseball season and long days, but that didn't happen with all the chaos. Instead, I was able to snack on a few during the week, and passed out the rest to a few friends and coworkers. I plan on making another batch this week and getting them mailed!

I've made granola bars before, but never with brown rice syrup, which is used as the binding agent in these. The remaining ingredients include old-fashioned oats, nuts and seeds of your choice, dried fruit of your choice, shredded coconut, salt, butter and vanilla extract. I used dried apricots and cherries, almonds, sunflower seeds, and pepitas.

The oats, nuts and seeds are toasted...

and mixed with the dried fruit, coconut and salt. The brown rice syrup and butter are melted, vanilla added, and then the hot mixture is poured into the bowl and mixed until the granola is evenly moistened.

The sticky granola is firmly pressed into a parchment lined pan, baked, pressed down again, allowed to cool, and cut into bars.

The bars keep well for a week, and are great with morning coffee or tea, or anytime throughout the day when you need a snack.

Tuesdays with Dorie is an online cooking group where anyone can bake along. We bake with two books – Baking with Julia and Baking Chez Moi. I am baking along with the Baking Chez Moi group, which bakes two recipes per month and posts on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We are asked to refrain from including the actual recipe in our posts, to promote the publishing industry and encourage others to buy the cookbooks.



Two other great cookbooks by Dorie...