Those are some beautiful looking desserts!!

thanks ingrid for hosting and for posting the pics. my marmalade cake photo seems to be missing- there's a link, but not the actual picture...

Thanks to Ms. Ingie for her hospitality. She hosted such a large group and made it look easy. Wow, what an array of desserts! I only tried a few. Pie Lady is my hero with her fudgy chocolate orange whoopie pies. I am very partial to the chocolate orange combination.

Pairs4Life asked for the recipe that I worked from to make the Zwiebelkuchen. Changes that I made to recipe were that I used about 1 teaspoon honey to activate the yeast. I made my dough in a stand mixer, so I reserved about 1/2 cup of flour for dusting my pastry board when rolling out the dough. I also used less water (about 1 cup) and less salt (about 3/4 tsp.) for the dough - the amount called for in the recipe sounded like too much to me. For the custard, I used skim milk and whole eggs (instead of 1 yolk).

Bread pudding recipe was from the Fannie Farmer cookbook (and was made with skim milk).

Frances translated her fantastic Pear tart recipe from a German cookbook, so I don't have a source for that.

Ruth used an Alice Waters Chez Panisse recipe for her lemon meringue pie. I really liked that there was no corn starch or flour used in the filling. It made for a bright lemon flavor.

Thanks to all for their dessert contributions. I look forward to trying more in the days to come.

Frances' Pear Tart

For the dough:

200 g (7 oz) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
125 g (4.5 oz) sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar
1 egg
125 g (4.5 oz.) butter at room temperature

Fruit:

2 kg pears, sliced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 - 1 1/2 tsp sugar

Bake tart at 375 degrees F for 20 - 30 minutes

Apricot Glaze:

3 TBL apricot jam
1 TBL water

Mix the apricot jam and water in a pan and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Brush over pear tart immediately after baking.

Very nice indeed.

I really dug Ruth's cookies. She should have put them out! I wish I had taken a few home with me.

mrsm wrote:Thanks to Ms. Ingie for her hospitality. She hosted such a large group and made it look easy.

This is always the case. I'm hoping she'll pass on her secrets.

mrsm wrote:Pie Lady is my hero with her fudgy chocolate orange whoopie pies. I am very partial to the chocolate orange combination.

Aww, thanks! Orange is one of the best combinations with chocolate, matched only by mint, peanut butter, and raspberry.

Everything came from Whoopie Pies by Viola Goren. I made the candied oranges through the recipe for Candied Orange WPs, but I couldn't use that cake recipe because I ran out of almond flour. So I used the Easter WP recipe near the back of the book and just threw in the zest from one blood orange. I filled 'em with the cooked Chocolate Buttercream recipe. I found that once the buttercream chilled, it was really hard, so I melted it down again and added some milk. I don't have a whoopie pan so I just used a piping bag with a large hole and counted to 4. I found that these didn't spread very much.
https://books.google.com/books?id=wJCPn ... 22&f=false

Sooooooooo, Mr.pairs4life is wondering if justjoan has a large batch of the candy bars ready for his "quality control sampling" and if not can you please provide the recipe?

Yes please. Joan gave a basic recipe of good quality chocolate, krispy rice cereal, some peanut butter and honey and salt on top, but don't know quantities.

Ms. Ingie wrote:Yes please. Joan gave a basic recipe of good quality chocolate, krispy rice cereal, some peanut butter and honey and salt on top, but don't know quantities.

here's my version of the Mast Brothers chocolate crunch bar (which you can find online): i used 1.25lbs. 62% belgian chocolate plus .25lbs. unsweetened chocolate, melted in a heavy pot with 1 stick unsalted butter. then add 1 T. honey, 2t. vanilla, 1/2t. of espresso grounds, 2 T. peanut butter and stir over low heat till smooth. transfer to large bowl filled with 4cups rice krispies and combine all. spread in a 9x 13 pan (greased) and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. chill at least 2 hours and cut as desired. definitely eat at room temperature within 2 days, as the rice krispies lose their krisp. eat and enjoy responsibly.

Loved having such a great selection of desserts.

Pairs4Life - I just had the buttermilk and poppy seed ice cream at Boltwood in Evanston. You should make a trip and try it out. It was excellent. I loved yours and will have to try that recipe myself soon - probably when it (hopefully) gets warmer out.

Loved the sour cherry cookies-
Laura will you share the recipe?

It was a lovely evening. Thank you, Ms. Ingie, for hosting the exchange. There were so many great desserts. I
tried as many as I could. And enjoyed what I brought home.
You are a gracious host. It was a relaxing and enjoyable evening.

A very belated thank you to Ms. Ingie for hosting such a great dessert exchange! It was so nice to have a such a big group together (though a little overwhelming with so many desserts to try - a good problem to have). Here is the recipe from Ottolenghi for the cookies:
Sour Cherry Amaretti (makes about 20)
1 2/3 c. ground almonds
1/2 c. plus 1 1/2 T. superfine sugar (I used regular and it was fine)
grated zest of 1 lemon
3 drops almond extract
pinch of salt
scant 1/2 c. dried sour cherries - coarsely chopped
2 egg whites
2 t. honey
plenty of confectioners' sugar for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 325. Put ground almonds, sugar, zest, almond extract, and salt in large bowl. Rub with your fingertips to disperse zest and extract evenly. Add cherries and set aside.
2. Beat the egg whites and honey (electric mixer or by hand) until they reach a soft meringue consistency. Gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture. You should have a soft malleable paste.
3. With your hands, form the mixture into 20 irregular shapes. (I found it to be pretty sticky, but keeping my hands slightly wet made it easy to manage) Roll them in plenty of confectioners sugar.
4. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake about 12 minutes (I baked mine for probably 20 minutes - quite a bit longer) The cookies should have taken on some color but remain relatively pale and chewy in the center. Leave to cool completely.

Does anyone here know if you can freeze cookies with confectioners sugar or do you just dust the confectioners sugar once you thaw the cookies.

LauraS those cookies were lovely.

The sugar will melt off if you freeze 'em but you can just dust 'em after they thaw.

Those sour cherry cookies will be great for Passover- no flour!